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."