Any Takers?

Hello Families!

We will gather this Sunday morning at Terra Luz to break ground on our Mandala garden, but need some help. So far, we have one family who has volunteered, and would love to have a few more helping hands.

I'll have coffee and morning time grub!

:)

Nap Time Conversations

Allie: Can you tell me a story?

Ms. Kellyann: What story do you want me to tell?

Allie: The story of sleeping beauty.

Ms. Kellyann: Thats a good story, but I think its too long to tell before nap.

Allie: Why? Is it because sleeping beauty has long hair? Is that why its long? :)

After nap:

Allie: You did a good job helping the children sleep... I`m proud of you!

Ms. Kellyann: Thank you, Allie :)

Mckenna`s First Nap at Terra Luz

Ms. Kellyann: Im so glad that you are napping with us today Mckenna, do you take naps at home?
Mckenna: yea.
Ms. Kellyann: Does mommy or daddy tuck you in?
Mckenna: She say " Goodnight" (waiving her hand) "When I get up, mommy see me."

A Beautiful Day (Krista's group)

Today was one of those days that flowed beautifully--for the children and for the guides.

I was honored that Jalie and her mommy shared their special good-bye candle ritual with me this morning---what a special moment between mother and child, complete with Tibetan bells!

The morning gathering was centered around Anika's experience as a new big sister. We are all so excited for Anika and her family! Some beautiful discussion happened around similarities and differences between families. It was a great start to our focus on families, and I especially love that we're emphasizing that each family is unique and special.

In the classroom, I observed beautiful sharing among friends. After a brief tea party, Jalie built a castle with the blocks, pointing out the tunnel for cars to pass through on the way to the bridge.

Zaidan patiently practiced lacing, and when he completed one of the geometric shapes, he announced proudly, "I did it, Krista!"

Corbin worked with the counting sticks, while Sophia and Gwen sorted the light table tiles.

In the Atelier, the focus was on creating with herbs. Ms. Andrea offered a beautifully prepared environment, as well as some guidance and then the children set to work gluing fresh herbs to textured paper.

Eddie chose some basil, and then exclaimed, "Oh, this smells GOOD!"

Zaidan added some glue to his paper and then attached a rosemary sprig to the paper, while holding it in place and counting to 9, (in order to make sure that it adhered properly). He said, "It's soooo stuck, watch me friends, I am counting!"

After lunch, Ava gathered all of the children in a circle around her, as she stood at the top of the slide. She successfully got them to do various yoga poses and other movements before they lost interest--I would say that she held their undivided attention for a solid 8 minutes, which is more than I can say for myself, on some days. She may have a future in organizing...

Just before we came in to get ready for nap, I noticed Ali laying in the grass. She told me that she was Sleeping Beauty and then asked me to watch what she could do. I retreated to a safe distance, and then watched as she called, first Corbin and then Damon, and finally Zaidan over to give her a kiss, before declaring that she was awake and, "done kissing for today."

This Week in Snippets [by Andrea]

Light Table Provocation


Offered by Krista



Congregating



Counting
When the math counters were first introduced last year, they weren't received the same way as they were this time around.
It's about when they're ready--not the teachers. ;)


-Mia and Ava working beautifully.

Jason mastering his second [montessori] botany puzzle (these are not easy).
Amazing.





I enjoy watching how children's encounters with the same medium, can be so different.





Creations

"I'm making a wall" -Mia
"Look! It's a cake!" -Sophia


Puddles and Boots


Allie telling a story about going to her grandmother's house.





Krista made smoothies with the children and she got a standing ovation, I tell ya!



Anika waiting for her Nana to pick her up. Her mama was on the way to the hospital to give birth to her little brother!





Congratulations Anjalika and family!! We cannot wait to meet baby Sejpal!

Urbanite? Old Tires? Planning Underway!

The lovely Jennifer came by this week to get a soil sample, and to pow-wow the design for our mandala garden and we are very excited. It's going to come together in about 4 phases.



1. define the circle and pathways
2. build the center/trellis stucture
3. mulch in pathways
4. plant!

We will begin next weekend, Sunday morning, October 4th, with phases 1 and 2. If any families can come out to volunteer, we will be most grateful! I will have hot coffee, drinks, and morning snacks available.

We are also trying to be creative with materials to reuse, and are on the lookout for "urbanite" (aka broken concrete), or an affordable border material. This way, we can focus our gardening budget toward good quality seeds and plants. If anybody frequents craigstlist or freecycle, we could use some eagle eyes. =)

Loving Kindness Meditation (Restorative Yoga)

It has been such a joy to connect with each of you through yoga and meditation...as promised, here is the Loving Kindness Meditation from yesterday's class:

Guidelines for the meditation:

Start by wishing happiness for yourself.

Move to a friend/relative who you love.

Next, move on to a neutral person (could be the checker at your grocery store, the mail carrier, etc)

Finally, move on to someone that you find difficult to love, or that you've had a conflict with.

Loving Kindness Meditation

May I be happy

May I be safe

May I be well

May I be peaceful

May I be free from suffering

Next Tuesday marks the end of this 4-week session of restorative yoga. Please let me know if you will be signing up for the October session.

*If you were not able to make it to the September session, but are interested in the October session, please leave a comment...we have room for 6 yogis/yoginis...

**Christine and Tanya, let's chat about a make-up session...maybe next Wednesday during naptime??

Namaste

What do you make of it? (A note from Yvonne)

Today I had the opportunity to work with seven of the children in smaller groups of one or two at a time! I think this is wonderful because it gives all of us a chance to have more dialogue about what it is they are doing, and what they are working to express on paper.

With this project, I initiated a drawing of a random shape(s) on each of the children's paper with a black marker. They were then given the simple instruction to, "See what you can make of it" by finishing the drawing. They were offered both crayons and colored pencils, and they enjoyed the possibilities of what was not only offered to them as a starter shape, but what they were drawing on their own.

Some snapshots of the work in progress....

"Let's put these back one at a time (in the jar)" ~Mia

Jalie opted for pencils instead of crayons.

Corbin was very contemplative about how to go about picking one of each color from the lazy susan crayon tray.

Sophia was focusing on staying in the lines.

Here is some detail and quotes from their work...

"It's a circle with a cat!" and "These are my favorite color (the brown crayons)." ~Anika




"It's a snowman on top of a snowman" and "I don't want to draw, I want to go outside!" ~Alaira


"Mine is an octopus...and here's a snake!" and "I want to use EVERY single color!" ~Corbin




"If you use a white crayon on white paper you can't see it." and "Maybe this is an another octopus" ~Jalie




"Look, I drawed a heart! It looks like my mom did it!" and "This is fun!" ~Mia




"This is a cactus. It has green with red and orange and purple" and (to Sophia) "You can always move the crayons where you want them (the jars)" ~Ava


"This is my brother Dominique's hand. He's in the marching band." and "I put some extra colors here!" ~Sophia




We had a great day!

Until next time...
Yvonne

Gratitude

The greatest loss is to receive without Gratitude.
-Buddha



As our week begins, I am reminded of the things I am grateful for.

~*~

Homemade goodies that have made their way to school for all to enjoy.

A mom who not only brings in her recyclables to help build our collection, but also arrives with peacock feathers galore!

A daddy who drove to South Austin to pick up a 150 lb tree trunk, and then to Central Austin the next day to pick up tree stumps for the children to sit on--and is now sanding them down.

A mom who asks the teachers how we like our coffee, and greeted us with 3 warm cups the next day.

The beautiful books which surprised me on our doorstep that were on my wishlist for our program.

The 'Thank Yous'.
The Blessings.
The Hugs.
The Smiles.
And Wonderful Notes.

and

My amazing teaching guides (and collaborators), who not only have helped me create the vision I have for my program, but for also helping me keep my own cup full.

With Gratitude,
Andrea

Restorative Yoga, thus far...

If you leave your mind as it is, it will become calm. This mind is called big mind. -Suziki

How Restorative Yoga Works:

Restorative poses help to relieve the effects of chronic stress in several ways. The use of blankets and props provides a completely supportive environment for total relaxation, and each gentle sequence is designed to move the spine in all directions. These movements illustrate the age-old wisdom of yoga that teaches well-being is enhanced by a healthy spine. This is why in each class we practice forward bends, back bends and spinal twists. Through gentle stretching and breath awareness, we both energize and soothe the body, and prepare the mind for deep relaxation, or savasana.

Savasana is the last and most important pose in your yoga practice. All of the other poses were developed to bring the body and mind into a deep state of restful awareness, which is the ultimate goal of yoga. In some ways, savasana might be the most difficult pose of all.

My teacher, Judith Lasater, says, "As you relax, you may experience some physical comfort, but increased mental agitation. Relaxing is like peeling an onion. As you remove the top layer, the next layer reveals itself. Allow space for your mental agitation--not pushing it, not judging it. Just notice what arises in your body and in your mind, as layer after layer of tension reveals itself and releases."

Philosophy:

In class, we have been studying Buddhist philosophy and applying it to our yoga practice, and hopefully to our daily lives. The beautiful book, Buddhism for Mothers of Young Children by: Sarah Napthali, has been our guide.

In the first class, we used breath awareness and focused movement to remind us to live in the present moment.

In the second class, we continued to use the practice of mindfulness and breath awareness as we worked on patient acceptance and gratitude.

Tomorrow, we will work with intuition and self-observation as we move into deeper stretching and relaxation...

Namaste, friends!

Catching Up ( Krista's Group)

Recent Comments:

Jalie building with the blocks: "Hey look! It's a park, and here's the ramp for the candy-happed people!"

Zaidan, building the pink tower: "I building a BIG tower!"

Corbin, observing me as I used the little sweeper to clean grass off of his feet: "I really love the way you clean the grass off of my feet Ms. Krista!"

Ava, helping two friends share: "Say, no thank you, i don't want it please."

Sophia, finger painting in the Atelier: "I made the ABCs!"

Alaira: "I'm having fun with Sophia!"

Gwen, using a sponge to clean the plant leaves: "I'm really taking good care of this plant so it will grow and grow."

Eddie, surveying the playground: "Oh, this is MY school!"

Mia Stern: "When I grow up, I'm going to chew gum and turn into my daddy."

Key Phrases:

We are encouraging the children to use kind words and phrases when they interact with each other. Here are a few of our favorites:

• When a child is frustrated, it has been helpful to give a gentle reminder to, "use your words"
• When asking for the children's focus, we generally say, "Please listen to my good words"
• "I'm using this" sounds warmer than "that's mine"
• We use "gentle touches" with our friends.
• And of course, "No thank you" and "Yes, please"
• When a child needs to be alone, we encourage using the phrase, " I need space"

Nap Room Reading:

The Tortoise and the Hare

Three Little Pigs

Rapunzel

The Little Red Shoes

The Little Match Girl

Yoga Practice:

Last week, we practiced:

cat/cow pose, lion pose, flapping flamingo, house pose, star and falling star pose, camel pose, windshield wiper pose, gorilla breathing, bee buzzing breath, forest pose, butterfly, warrior I and II, surfer pose, child's pose, silly to calm pose, helicopter breathing, rag doll flop pose, lemonade sipping pose, sandwich pose, mouse pose, monkey pose, frog pose, flower pose and gate pose.

Mandala Garden

There's been chatter about another amazing opportunity that we've been presented with, and here it is!

It is my honor and pleasure to welcome Jennifer to our community! Jennifer recently received her Permaculture Design Certification and is a mentor volunteer with the Sustainable Food Center of Austin. She has a passion for gardening and sharing her skills with children. She will be teaching a Junior Master Gardener class for the EcoSchool this fall, and before she moved back to Austin this summer, established a permaculture garden (via business donations) with the special needs children she taught at a local public school in Tuscon.

Jennifer will be helping design our Mandala garden (how amazing is that???) and will be coming to Terra Luz to work with our children! Feel free to visit her blog and hop on over to her flickr, to see more of her endeavors.

Please help me welcome her.

::

Volunteer Opportunity -- We are going to have fun with this, get a group of parents together, collaborate on a design, and make this a community project.

Any takers for this Sunday morning? :)

*We will, more than likely, have another opportunity for garden volunteering next weekend too. Will keep you posted.

What Made Me Smile Today [by Andrea]

My Story will be in photos.

::

Connecting


Herb Garden Munching


"A Birthday Party"

by Ava

Happiness


Yoga Yummies (and Funnies)









In case anybody is wondering what a sandbaby looks like, here is Jalie donning hers.

Colored Tape and Metallic Paint! (a note from Yvonne)

The children really enjoyed exploring the possibilities of colored masking tape over the last couple of days. They twisted it, crumpled it, and in the end, put it on paper!

The idea was to put the tape on the paper, while using more pieces of tape to overlap the other pieces. The children were simply asked to, “Put tape over tape”. The outcome was an array of random designs.

Next, we painted the papers (and the tape) with metallic paint using foam brushes, so that we could later demonstrate what happens to the look of the paint on the paper once the tape is removed. We let them dry over night…

The objective of this creative exercise was to see how tape, once removed, could leave clean lines while masking specific workspaces. We had an enthusiastic time "gettin' sticky with it"!

Some quotes from the children during this project:

“I don’t want to add more paint, I like it like this” ~Mia G

“I would like all colors of tape!” ~Corbin

“Look, I made a triangle!” ~Anika

“I made a triangle too!” ~Allie

“I made stairs!” ~Damon

"I have all of my tape on!" ~Gwen

“Wow, boo (blue tape)!” ~Jason

“I like mine this way (with straight lines)” ~Zaidan

“Look, I put the tape on the paper!” ~Sophia

“Can I have some purple tape please?” ~Jalie

“I want to paint the whole paper” ~Ava

"Ohhhh, paint!" ~Eddie

“I need more paint, I ran out!” ~McKenna

“I’m ready to paint mine now” ~Mia S.

“I want lellow (yellow) tape! ~Natalie

“I need a lot more tape” ~Alaira

Until next time...

Yvonne