Recently, at Terra Luz (Krista)

Conversations about Autumn

As we painted with Autumnal colors, I asked the children, "What does Fall mean?"

Ava: "The leaves turn colors."

Alaira: "The Sun is farther away from the Earth...my daddy told me that--he knows everything."

Corbin: "We wear long sleeves."

Anika: "The leaves turn colors."

Mia S: "It rains more...this rain is CRAZY, and it's so, so COLD!"

Jalie: "There might be some germs going around...in our mucus."

Our Yoga Practice:

Lately, we've been chanting a peace mantra in our closing: OM SHANTI, SHANTI, SHANTI.

Like many mantras, this one begins with Om. Om is usually translated as, "The Universal Sound". Shanti means peace. We repeat it 3 times and use corresponding words and hand gestures to symbolize peace in my thoughts, peace in my words, peace in my heart.

Our physical yoga practice has been centered around: hoot owl, tree, frog, rainbow, elevator breathing, gorilla, cobra, lion, happy baby, fish, sky to ground, star, falling star, body drumming, gorilla drums, flower and birthday candle breath, and donkey.

The Classroom Experience:

Allie:"I'm just a grown-up having tea."

Me: "What will you eat?"

Allie:"Let's eat noodles, bread and tea and birthday cake."

Anika: "Maybe, when I get older, I can make some of that yummy, fancy food, like roti."

Anika, showing her babies to Ava: "My babies are sleeping now, so we just have to be really quiet. This one's name is Anika, like me. She's going to be 4 on her next birthday."

Corbin and Gwen, working with the small animals-- naming them, arranging them, counting them, and telling each other stories about animals they know.

Jason and Allie, collaborating on a zoo made out of books.

Sophia, Ava and Allie, playing doctor and talking about germs.

Dia De Los Muertos, as explained by Allie J:

"It's when we give dead people good food because they died. The Day of the Dead is in Spanish. That means that it's a party and we celebrate it."

In the Sandbox:

Ryland, after spending the afternoon on a project, " It's done! I built a canyon!"

Atticus, narrating, "There's a sandbox over here. I'm going to get IN the sandbox. I'm raking the sand, and LOOK, there is an excavator!"

The Nap room:

Ava, taking great care to tenderly comb every one's hair and tuck them in, before, reluctantly, going to her own nap mat.

Mia's First Day

Today was Mia's first day with us. She was here half the day, but beginning next week, she'll join us for full days on Wednesdays. And she did wonderful! Today was spent getting familiar with the casa, the materials and toys. We practiced how to use the new step stairs to get sippy cups back to their designated area on the counter. I've known Mia for over a year, but this was the first time I was actually 'with' Mia. I was floored by the amount of speech and talking she does! I've seen her at playdates, so she's usually quiet amongst all the controlled chaos, so this was a different side I saw today.

Highlights of our day: Austin did lots of stacking, Mia played with our new waldorf dolls and thinks they should be called 'Mommy' and 'Daddy', (they even gave each other lots of kisses), we all explored in the sandbox, which was super fun because the sand was moist from our recent rain, so it was more like beach sand and very easy to mold. Mia taught us all about making sandcastles (she even knew the word for them). This seemed to be Mia's favorite pick of the day. Sophia kept calling Mia to come back to the kiddie pool, but Mia preferred the sandbox. =)

For art exploration, they did printmaking with sponges cut into different shapes. They each got to pick one color, so we had Blue, Yellow, and Purple and we talked about those color words also in Espanol. Mia saw how Yellow and Blue make Green.

Clean up with some water play and then lunch (Austin opted for some extended water play). And then back inside for some winding down time and independent play before nap.















I know her hair is a mess and all in her face, but I love her expression! She was SO excited to have her friends here.