Where did the Week Go?

The short week went by so quickly- I imagine this will continue to be the case in the next few weeks. Truly, it was a glorious week; large group work, small group work, buddies,beautiful weather, volunteers, parents, gardening, cooking, eating and creating. Enjoy catching a glimpse of some of our work together.

Talk about loving nature! Wyatt suddenly just states ‘I love the tree” and gives it a kiss. His friends then do the same. Love spreads love!

Thanks to Mr.Lai, we look at a demo hive, filled with some real frames and some frames with beautiful, clear photographs.

The children are invited to taste honey directly from the frame. It is such a pleasure to offer this experience to them. Next time they eat honey, will they relate to it in a different way? Will their appreciation of bees and honey change because of this experience?

The Owls taste honey with some comb included. They learn to chew the comb and then politely take it out of their mouth.

Anna-Sophia and Amelia gleefully walk with Tricia. Holding hands while walking is such a natural thing to do that sometimes we forget how lucky we are to connect in this way.

Kate’s small group harvests cattail shoots to eat. A simple pan fry with garlic butter makes them delicious!

Several of the children in my group pretend to make salad out of grasses and sticks. I suggest we can make a real salad that we can eat. So we harvest lettuce, mescluns and numerous herbs for a salad and head back to the cottage to assemble it. Aren’t we so incredibly fortunate to have our own veggies? The children love the salad and many go home wanting to make it for their families.

Thomas and Cyrus explore the new herb garden. Peter, a gardener for the City of Richmond, has kindly planted herbs for the children to use. We are so lucky to be in such a tight knit, caring community.

Learning to trust our senses and eachother while playing drum stalk. (Heidi)

Owls enjoying free play out in the field. We love offering the children unscheduled, free time to engage with each other and create interesting stories.

Mason and our volunteer Maria share a special moment investigating a flower. Maria’s instinct to get down to Mason’s eye level is so appropriate and necessary for good communication.

Some Eagles looking closely at tree tunnel. I thought it would be interesting to re-visit this area with our sketch boards as we have not done so for a long time. It is wonderful to see their observation skills develop as well as their fine motor skills. They are now able to translate their ideas in a clearer, more visible way.

Finn inspired us to build a house of straw for the 3 little pigs. (Heidi)

Taking inspiration from books. The children practiced writing chinese characters. Nathan got really into it, wanting to do a baby cow and a dog. What is it about the character writing that appealed to Nathan more than to some of the other children in his group? (Heidi)

The children in my group noticed all the different flowers on our walk. They smelled the flowers and began to identify the flowers that were the same, just by their smell. We often observe the children using their sense of touch and sight but less so smell. Are there other smells at the farm that we haven’t tried identifying and classifying? (Heidi)

Can everyone fit in the house? (Heidi)

Ty- “I am collecting pollen and nectar for to make honey.” (Heidi)

The children rejoice over a healthy treat of apples – coincidentally they all have them for snack! (Heidi)

For our last day with our buddies from Quilchena Elementary, we draw pictures for each other and frame them with sticks and twine. The day is filled with laughter, conversation and that happy- sad feeling you get when you enjoy something a lot but then it ends.

The Eagles write a letter to Max, who moved to another province a few months ago. We mail the letter and discuss a little about how the mailing system works. The children pretend to have their own mailing box and Kate, Heidi and I think it might be fun to set up a mailing centre in class. What will they mail?