Knits for Autumn

I have been working on some Autumn Knits:  Rye Socks and Barley hats from Tin Can Knit's Simple Collection and a few Milo Vests, Blue one is Tosh DK, and the multi color one and the one on the needles are Malabrigo Rios.  The red Barley hat is Noro Silk Garden and the other Barley hat and Rye socks are discount superwash wool I picked up at a craft store. 

The Little Red Hen

Our Last week of the summer session and in celebration of Lamas, the grain harvest we did The Little Red Hen.   We were treated to a special performance of The Little Red Hen by the younger  grades children and the song "Oats, Beans and Barley Grow" and the older grades children recited harvest poems for us.   On Monday we watercolored yellow wheat. Tuesday we made citrus scented orange play dough suns, and Thursday we stitched little wool hens.

The Little Red Hen

Our Play

Little wool hens stitched by the Playgarden children

Our Sun Bread

Sun Dough scented with citrus oil

The Moon Maiden

Week 4 of Riverlight Cottages Summer Session we heard the story of The Moon Maiden from Wynstones Press "Spindrift".  On Monday we watercolored purple mountains, and Tuesday we modeled mountains and moons with purple play dough we made and on Thursday we wet felted fireflies and made hanging mobiles like featured in our puppet play.

The bamboo cutter's wife told her husband she saw the face of the child she longed for in the moon on top of Mount Fuji. Sure it was just his wife's fancy he followed the silver trail the moon shine down to the top of the mountain.

He found a tiny moon child clad in moonshine, " I am Princess Moonbeam, Lady Moon is my mother. But she sent me to be a comfort for you and your wife. The woodcutter said eagerly, "I will take you home to be our child".

As the years passed by, Princess Moonbeam brought nothing but joy to the woodman and his wife. Lovelier and lovelier she grew. Fair was her face and radiant, her eyes were shinning stars and hair gleamed with moonlight. The prince saw how she lit up her humble cottage and vowed to take her to court.

But she has to return to her mother, Lady Moon, she is happy to return home but she misses everyone she loved on Earth.

She wept silvery tears that took wings and floated away to carry her message of love. Her tears float around the marshes and meadows today, and children happily cry out, "see the fireflies! How beautiful they are!".

We also had a fun day with our Spiral Scouts Circle at Pocahontas State Park.  We went on a scavenger hunt nature walk and spent time learning about reptiles and meeting a few in the nature center. 

My Little Raindrops (the 3-5 year old group at Spiral Scouts)

Mashenka and the Bear

I am a little behind on posts so will update a few week's at once.  Week 3 of our summer session at Riverlight Cottage we heard the story of Mashenka and the Bear.  On Monday we worked on form drawing with straight lines to make pine trees, then we water colored the green forest Mashenka was lost in.  On Tuesday we made blue play dough and modeled Mashenka's blueberry pies she baked and on Thursday we wet felted little baskets like the one Mashenka escaped it, the children did all of the wet felting using the same technique they did to model pies on Tuesday with play dough, then I attached the handles they made and finished up the baskets with a felting needle for them.  On Monday they were given their baskets with little gemstones and crystals in them to take home.

Mashenka and the Bear

Wet felted baskets made my the children

 We also went blueberry picking with our homeschool co-op on Wednesday and made jam, a blueberry pie, blueberry muffins, and blueberry pancakes with blueberry syrup.  We enjoyed the book Peter in Blueberry Land the evening before.

Blueberry Picking

Our Haul

We made 12 jars of Jam

And a blueberry pie

Urishima Taro and the Turtle

Our story this week was a version of Urishima Taro and the Turtle adapted by Suzanne Down, You may read here.

Urishima Taro and the Turtle

Urishima Taro catches the turtle

The turtle takes Urishima Taro to the Sea Princess

Urishima Taro returns to land.

 We added another verse to our sea themed circle:

July Week 2 Circle

Good morning dear Earth,

Good morning dear Sun,

Good morning to the trees

and the flowers, every one.

Good morning dear beasts,

And the birds in the trees,

Good morning to you

And good morning to me.

Here is the Deep Blue Sea  (make wave motion with hand)

Here is the boat, and here is me  (make boat with other hand and you with your thumb go in opposite direction of the sea hand)

All the fish down below  (wiggle hand to make a fish)

Wiggle their tails, and away they go  ( hide hands behind your back)

1,2,3,4,5,  Once I caught a fish alive  (clap hands together and wiggle like a fish)

6,7,8,9,10 Then I let him go again (separate hands)

Why did I let him go?  (hold hands out, shrug shoulders)

Because he bit my finger so!  ("bite" little finger on the right with your other hands two fingers)

Which one did he bite?  (hold hands out, shrug shoulders)

This little one on the right!  (point to little finger on your right hand)

Sing two round of Row Row your Boat

Two little boats out to sea

all is calm as calm can be.

gently the wind begins to blow

two little boats rock to and fro

LOUDLY the wind begins to SHOUT

two little boats are tossed about!

Gone is the wind, storm and rain,

Two little boats sail on again.

(use your hands to act out the lines of this verse, while varying the volume of your voice, I start out with almost a whisper and work my way up to very loud, ending with a normal voice)

Rufty and Tufty were two little elves

who lived in a hollow oak tree.

They did all the cooking and cleaning themselves

and often asked friends in to tea.

Rufty wore blue, and Tufty wore red

and each had a hat with a feather.

Their best Sunday shoes 

they kept under their beds

they were made of MAGIC green leather!

Rufty was cleaver and kept the accounts,

but Tufty preferred cooking.

He could bake a fine cake,

without weighing amounts

and eat it when no one was looking!

On Monday we watercolored gold like Urishima Taro's Golden Fish.  I told the story of father sun, shining so bright on a hot July Day, he sent out so many rays the sky was filled with gold.

Tuesday we made red play dough and modeled the fish Urishima saw in the sea with the sea princess

and Friday we cut out fish from our watercolor painting and made stick fishing rods.  We did a movement journey outside in our courtyard where we rowed our boats to the island where we too would cast our fishing lines and find Urishima Taro's golden fish. 

Our wet on wet gold watercolor paintings

Fishing for Urishima Taro's Golden Fish

Old Gnome and the Sea Star

This week theme was "The Seastar" by Suzanne Down.  

July Week 1 Circle 

Good morning dear Earth,

Good morning dear Sun,

Good morning to the trees

and the flowers, every one.

Good morning dear beasts,

And the birds in the trees,

Good morning to you

And good morning to me.

Here is the Deep Blue Sea  (make wave motion with hand)

Here is the boat, and here is me  (make boat with other hand and you with your thumb go in opposite direction of the sea hand)

All the fish down below  (wiggle hand to make a fish)

Wiggle their tails, and away they go  ( hide hands behind your back)

Sing two round of Row Row your Boat

1,2,3,4,5,  Once I caught a fish alive  (clap hands together and wiggle like a fish)

6,7,8,9,10 Then I let him go again (separate hands)

Why did I let him go?  (hold hands out, shrug shoulders)

Because he bit my finger so!  ("bite" little finger on the right with your other hands two fingers)

Which one did he bite?  (hold hands out, shrug shoulders)

This little one on the right!  (point to little finger on your right hand)

Rufty and Tufty were two little elves

who lived in a hollow oak tree.

They did all the cooking and cleaning themselves

and often asked friends in to tea.

Rufty wore blue, and Tufty wore red

and each had a hat with a feather.

Their best Sunday shoes 

they kept under their beds

they were made of MAGIC green leather!

Rufty was cleaver and kept the accounts,

but Tufty preferred cooking.

He could bake a fine cake,

without weighing amounts

and eat it when no one was looking!

After circle time we would hear the story, "Old Gnome and the Sea Star", from Suzanne Down's book Old Gnome Through the Year.

On Monday we wet on wet water colored the deep blue sea featured in Old Gnome's Story.  

This is the story I told as we watercolored:

Blue was high up in the sky looking down at the earth, but could not find any blue!  Blue raced across the sky looking far and wide for blue on earth, filling the sky with beautiful shades of blue, but still could not see any down below.  So Blue sent a tiny drop of blue down to the earth to search that little drop searched East and West then North and South growing wider and wider until the Earth was almost completely covered with beautiful blue water. 

On Tuesday we made yellow play dough and then cut out "Little Star" from our story using cookie cutters, then baked Little Star in the sun. 

On Thursday we wet felted over a rock with silk ribbons tied to it, to create a shooting star.  At the end of the week each student had their own Little Star story set to take home.

Our First Week

Wet on Wet Watercoloring

First Day of "School"

We took a walk to the canal walk a few blocks from our space.

And saw the canal boats

And made flubber

Transforming Our Space

Here we go!  I had one week to transform this space before our open house and 10 days before the first day of our summer session.

The blank canvas

Due to the lack of natural lighting I decided to add a bit of sunny yellow to the traditional peach blossom color you find in early childhood classrooms.

The wee folk were really good sports as we basically lived in this space from sun up to sun down for a week.

And Done!