Wednesday Gardening Exploration

When friends arrived this morning, they were invited to examine few gardening and nature books along with growth cycle photos of green beens, spinach, radishes, and sunflowers displayed on the lunch table. Some friends enthusiastically told us about their gardens at home. 

We also invited friends to paint with photos of the above vegetables and sunflowers available for reference. We took a look at the printed words, Green Beans, Radish, Spinach, and Sunflowers and talked about the first letter in each word. 

At circle, we read the book, Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger.  We were delighted by the green wiggly worm (as Finley described it), the celadon luna moth, the glowing green fireflies, and the green tree ripe with red apples.

Next we learned The Apple Rhyme

Five little apples sitting on the floor, we pick one up and then there are four.

Four little apples up in a tree, we take one down and then there are three.

Three little apples we know what to do, we pick one up and then there are two.

Two little apples sitting in the sun, we pick one up and then there is one. 

One little apple in our lunch, we pick it up and crunch, crunch, crunch.

These invitations are in preparation for our soil delivery (happening Tuesday) for our garden beds. Friends are excited about starting beens, spinach, sunflowers, and radishes (along with other edibles) to eventually plant in our new garden beds. Over the next few days we’ll continue to talk and explore gardening and growth cycles with books, art, rhymes, discussion, and other. We’ll then begin our planting experiments! 

Welcome

We had a wonderful first three days of school here at Lavender Farm. What fun it was to watch and guide our honeybees (my term of endearment for the kiddos) navigate our indoor and outdoor classrooms. 

It was a week of introductions: To our friends, to our teachers, to the classrooms, and to new (and sometimes emotionally challenging) transitions. My friend, G (who went to The Peanut Gallery with me) helped demonstrate our beloved transition song from circle to snack we’ve termed, “The Jump Song.” It’s impossible to jump without a smile on your face and a joyful way to transition. As we gain more familiarity with our daily flow, your kiddos might enjoy explaining them to you. 

Over the next week we’ll continue to practice compassionate transitions along with much exploration, art, and play. As we all become comfortable with morning goodbyes, and classroom flow we’ll begin to add special projects into the mix. It might be helpful to chat with your student about the various parts to our days: Nap/quiet time, circle time, the jump song etc. to help them ease into school.