Our big day for all the children to spend it like a colonial child is over!  I was also grateful that we had a great day – no rain and not humid! It was truly gratifying to see the children taking part in all the activities with enthusiasm and a willingness to try new...
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What a blast! Today the students prepared the veggies, butter and corn bread for tomorrow’s lunch.  Everyone knew what they had to do and were busy doing it – kind of like ants. Everyone worked well in their groups and I was pleasantly surprised that you really can peel a potato by scraping it...
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Tomorrow the students will help prep for Tuesday’s lunch – a traditional colonial meal of stew, apple cider and apple pie.  They will make the corn bread, butter and prepare the vegetables for the stew.  It will be fun! Then they will set up their signs for the famous person from the colonial period...
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One of the tasks that we wanted the students to do was to build a log cabin.  We discussed with the students why would they have a log cabin and that everyone would help.  Some of the girls thought that was odd but when your survival depends on shelter from the elements, everyone pitches...
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Every adult knows that biting is a no-no but when children resort to biting someone it is usually an impulse to something stressful or they feel threatened.  I’m scratching my head about this because two students at school bit something this week.  One young child and one older – so it wasn’t the environment....
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My son sent my this link and I wasn’t sure what it was going to be.  We enjoy sharing books and movies together but sometimes we don’t appreciate the same stories so I opened it unsure of what to expect.  It was delightful.  A son interviews his mother and it’s very candid and sweet....
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The older students wrote haiku’s and I marveled at how well they came out.  Here is Helen’s, I really felt she captured the feeling of spring in her poems. The plants are thrashing it is raining all around I got my raincoat. It is spring, spring, spring squirrels hunting, birds singing leaves are growing...
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We had quite a storm on Friday.  Wind blowing the trees, thunder rolling through the classroom and the children were concerned that we could lose the power.  It happened in the middle of quiet reading so children were finding places close together to read or under desks finding comfort in each others presence.  Two...
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I sometimes take it as a matter of course that people, parents in particular, know to treat children with kindness, always.  Then I witness or hear of an incident like the following, it becomes obvious that all parents don’t understand.  The other day a young girl that we will call Sarah was heart broken...
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I came across this quote from Henri Frederic Amiel To know how to suggest is the great art of teaching. To attain it we must be able to guess what will interest; we must learn to read the childish soul as we might a piece of music.  Then, by simply  changing the key, we...
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