Zooshi making with Chef Dan (Krista)

We welcomed our visiting Chef, 'Mr. Dan' today. In addition to being an accomplished musician and published writer, Dan is an amazing Vegan/Vegetarian and Raw Foods Chef. He is also my sweetheart ;).

Chef Dan prepared wonderful vegan nori rolls as we snacked on raw veggies, explored the textures and smell of the nori sheets and miso paste, and learned about the origins of sushi, nori, miso and tamari. The children were engaged and very interested in the process of rolling the sushi. When it was time to sample the rolls, almost everyone dug right in. Allie J. explained that she doesn't like vegetables, but she likes cooking.

As it turns out, sushi isn't easy for everyone to pronounce. The children asked for more:

• zoo-shi
• you-see
• juicy
• shoe-zee

Everyone had a great time eating healthy, fun food, and we were reminded that the children really love culinary projects. We look forward to seeing Chef Dan again!

Smelling Dill

Tasting and Exploring Sesame Seeds











MmmmmMmmmm Sushi!


Even the teachers got a shot at making a Nori Roll!





Here's a clip of Dan working his yummy magic.

Clay, Crepes, and Shadows

Art
First Steps into Clay: Stage One began this week.

It's said that before working with clay as an art medium, children need to understand its identity. This first step, emphasizes full-body exploration. We stripped the children to bare feet and arms and encouraged them to jump in and explore. They did not know how to begin, and were quite tentative. I invited the children to climb on to the large block of clay, dig into it with their toes--only Lulu and Mia accepted the invitation to stand on it. I told them, "go ahead, stomp into the clay with your feet!" The others used their fingers, and we even tried some elbows. Lulu also tried sitting on it to see if that would work. So, they experienced the responsiveness of the clay--they saw the clay was strong and could hold them up. When I asked Mia, "can you lift the clay?", she tried and said, "it's TOO heavy!" She then realized though, that she could roll the clay over. When I asked Corbin if he wanted to stand on the clay, he said, "I'm too short."

Next week, we'll begin stage two of the clay exploration, which will be moving the clay to the tables and we'll work with individual chunks.

Science/Nature
We focused on Shadows last week. We read It's a Sunny Day and also looked at the Shadow Section in our Nature-A Child's First Library of Learning book. We then went outside and made shadows with our hands and bodies. The children were excited to find their shadows in the grass and also know that their shadow disappears when they are in the shade.

Culinary
On Wednesday, we made Apple Crepes. The children took turns stirring in the ingredients. Too bad Ms. Andrea burned half of them, but there was one crepe which was salvageable, so the children enjoyed a slice while we were outside.

Yoga Snippets

Next Week
Our focus next week will be on Spreading Love.

P.S. And if you don't already know, the property, is a no go.
It's all on my personal blog if you care to read about it. I feel like a broken record talking about it.

*le sigh*

P.P.S. Oh, lookie what arrived yesterday afternoon!!

We have a Light Table!!
Sophia and Lulu have been exploring it all morning. There are countless possibilities for learning on this.

Carousel, Little Folks, and Sprouts

Highlights of Our Day

Imaginative Play
What we spent a good amount of time doing yesterday. Are these little people adorable?







Art
Working on Bird Binoculars


Culinary
We made homemade pizza.
Today's toppings were zucchini, black olives, and hints of rocotta cheese.







Evidence of growth in our Fall Garden as seen by our young naturalist, Lulu.


Gross Motor
Playing chase with their puppies.



My favorite shot of the day below.
Damon loves his Bobee (sp?) as much as Sophia loves Puppy.



We also jammed to some Beatles music today, inspired by Damon's cool shirt.

Bird Binoculars, Azul el Pescado, and Visitors!

Wrapping up the week with some photos.

Art
Painting the rolls which will become our bird binoculars.









Austin helping clean up.



Culinary
The children helped make treats for their pet dogs. And the only one that tried licking the spoon was my daughter. Go figure.







Ok, so did ANY of your pets eat the treats we made? The mix ended up having WAY more flour than the recipe called for, but I promise, my feelers won't be hurt if EVEN your pooch didn't eat them! ;()

I don't think I've given a proper introduction to our school pet.

Meet Azul (name given by Domi).



I rescued him at a dinner banquet in which he was the centerpiece at our table. He's already grown and his color is beautiful now. The kids enjoy feeding him and watching him.

Ita comes to visit
We had a treat yesterday. Mia brought her Ita to come visit the casa for a while. Ita (short for Abuelita), was visiting from McAllen. It was wonderful meeting you Ita. And now I know where Mama Tanya gets her warm fuzzy hugs from.





Practical Life
Putting on shoes and getting ready to go home.

Apple Pie, Autumnal Painting & Washing

What's on our shelf this week:



It's been a bit of a slow week here at the Casa.
Two kiddies were out this week due to illness, so we've been hangin' low.

We read The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall, which has great illustrations for the kiddies and is easy for the kids to understand. As you probably figured out, this week, our focus has been on Apples and today, after the story, the girls and I made, you guessed it, Apple Pie!



They helped mix the ingredients for the crusts, rolled the dough, and spooned in the filling and it was our dessert after our lunch.









Art
We talked about Autumn and how the colors of leaves start to change during this season. Then followed up with Art using the colors, yellow, orange, and brown. Art is still very much a sensory experience for the kids and they love mixing up the colors, and at times, some even use their hands to apply the paint. It's not about the end product, but rather, the process. ;)





The girls did very well today using the potty. They are proud to wear their undies and during this transition period, I keep their shorts or pants off for easy potty runs. They're even beginning to head to the restroom without me at times, and are being self sufficient in getting started.

I couldn't resist posting this image of the girls cleaning up the art materials.


I cut up a sponge and they began to help me wash everything off. They love to help!


*And we have some art smocks arriving tomorrow.
Two mamas have volunteered to stitch some for the casa, and we have a few down. Yippee!

Spanish
Words we've been talking about often this week:

Yellow=Amarillo
Orange=Anaranjado
Brown= Café

Mama Tanya reading the girls a story.