The children have been industrious these past couple weeks, as always. The hammers have made a comeback and we discovered a nice, somewhat soft log that was perfect for hammering into. The children are more interested lately in trying to get the nails out with the other end of the hammer. Another game that has been well loved lately is "space ship" which is generally played inside, but has sometimes continued outside. They build a giant structure out of chairs and playstands, and everyone gets in. Electricians and fire crews are always needed as well, and food is imperative on their long journeys, so there's work for everyone.
We started work this week on a project for our "Apple Festival", which is my version of the Michaelmas celebrations often observed in Waldorf schools. Because the holiday falls near apple harvesting time, I generally focus on the apple harvest. However, part of Michaelmas is a celebration of the season of shooting stars, of the celestial coming to Earth. So we are felting some shooting stars to throw and enjoy during our own celebration.
I've been incorporating a few fine motor exercises for the purpose of mastering pencil grip. One of these exercises is transferring pom poms from one bowl to another using a clothespin. The children loved practicing this but oddly enough, they only wanted to use the sparkly purple pom poms. No one wanted to transfer the sparkly green. Another exercise is stringing beads onto a pipe cleaner. We'll continue with various exercises throughout the year. It also can provide a quiet respite during their busy day!
Last week, we acted out our previous week's story of "Little Spider Spins Her First Web". The children loved playing the different characters and had no trouble remembering what to say since I had told the story so many times to them. This week, I told a story about Old Gnome picking blackberries for his birthday tea. By far their favorite part was the song Old Gnome sings,
Jam cakes, jam cakes, blackberry pie and tart bakes
Blackberry syrup, pancakes, YUM!
Ripe juicy blackberries in my tum!
The children sang this loudly each time it came up. At lunch this week, we read "Hairy Maclary, Rumpus at the Vet". As you can imagine, any story with the word "rumpus" in the title is bound to be good.
Jam cakes, jam cakes, blackberry pie and tart bakes
Blackberry syrup, pancakes, YUM!
Ripe juicy blackberries in my tum!
The children sang this loudly each time it came up. At lunch this week, we read "Hairy Maclary, Rumpus at the Vet". As you can imagine, any story with the word "rumpus" in the title is bound to be good.
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