All About Apples
Our apple tree is abundant with apples and we have done lots of fun apple crafts, apple dissecting, and apple treat eating! The children have learned all about the life cycle of the apple, how it grows, and how everything comes full circle.
 |  |
We loved listening to this story as we went looking for seeds inside of some apples...
The Story of the Apple Star
"Once upon a time, a young apple tree began growing in an orchard. Each night she would gaze up at the evening sky and admire all the bright and twinkling stars. Oh, how she wished she had just one of those shining stars of her own!
One night, an orchard fairy came to the tree with a promise to grant the little tree one wish. Without hesitation, the young apple tree told the fairy of a wish for a star of her very own. The fairy promised that if the apple tree grew to be big and strong and full of red ripe apples, her wish would be granted.
The apple tree tried her very hardest. Each sunny day she lifted her branches up to the warm sunshine and each rainy day she soaked up all the water she needed to grow. After several seasons, her hard work had paid off and she was one of the biggest trees in the orchard with branches heavy with red ripe apples.
One day the orchard fairy returned and the the tree shook her limbs with excitement, showing off her strong branches and all those beautiful apples. "Look!" she exclaimed "I've worked so hard and I've waited so patiently. When will I finally be given my wish and one bright star of my own?"
"Oh my dear tree," replied the fairy, "Your wish has already been granted. You have among your branches not just one but as many stars as you've admired in the night sky."
"But where? questioned the apple tree, "All I see on my branches are leaves and these ripe apples!"
The orchard fairy gently answered, "just peek inside any one of those apples. there you'll find a special, secret hidden star. It's ready to be discovered by the lucky person who chooses one of the apples you've worked so hard to grow!"
"Once upon a time, a young apple tree began growing in an orchard. Each night she would gaze up at the evening sky and admire all the bright and twinkling stars. Oh, how she wished she had just one of those shining stars of her own!
One night, an orchard fairy came to the tree with a promise to grant the little tree one wish. Without hesitation, the young apple tree told the fairy of a wish for a star of her very own. The fairy promised that if the apple tree grew to be big and strong and full of red ripe apples, her wish would be granted.
The apple tree tried her very hardest. Each sunny day she lifted her branches up to the warm sunshine and each rainy day she soaked up all the water she needed to grow. After several seasons, her hard work had paid off and she was one of the biggest trees in the orchard with branches heavy with red ripe apples.
One day the orchard fairy returned and the the tree shook her limbs with excitement, showing off her strong branches and all those beautiful apples. "Look!" she exclaimed "I've worked so hard and I've waited so patiently. When will I finally be given my wish and one bright star of my own?"
"Oh my dear tree," replied the fairy, "Your wish has already been granted. You have among your branches not just one but as many stars as you've admired in the night sky."
"But where? questioned the apple tree, "All I see on my branches are leaves and these ripe apples!"
The orchard fairy gently answered, "just peek inside any one of those apples. there you'll find a special, secret hidden star. It's ready to be discovered by the lucky person who chooses one of the apples you've worked so hard to grow!"
Arts and Crafts
Diving deep into apples we have done a ton of fun apple crafts this month, as well as some miscellaneous fun crafting. The children are working on their names and building their writing skills.
Apple stamps. Cut the apples in half and dip them in paint for stamping!
Here they put together their own apple trees and wrote their names in the apples.
Watercolors and salt! What happens when we put salt on our watercolor pictures? Turns out it absorbs it and makes colorful crystals!
 |  |
Apple Sewing
Here we sewed together some paper in the shape of an apple and stuffed them with scrap paper. The kids then painted their stuffed apples and added a little stem. They had so much fun with this project and it helped with fine and gross motor skills! Not to mention, they worked on their sewing skills =)
New Moon Affirmations
 |  |
We celebrated the new moon by creating new moon affirmations. The children colored these new moon lacing crafts and wrote something they love about themselves on the back.
Nature Collages
Trusting Ourselves, Personal Space, and Boundaries
We have been talking a lot this month about learning to trust ourselves. As we do this exercise in trusting ourselves, we become more in tune with our wants and needs. As our trust in ourselves grows, we can set clear boundaries and discover what our boundaries are.
Setting clear boundaries with our friends can sound like "I don't like it when you talk to me like that, please talk to me differently", or "I won't continue playing with you if you keep throwing sand at me". Setting boundaries and learning to honors those set by others is a value life skill that we will continue to work on throughout the school year. It is empowering for the children to speak up for themselves and develop language in which to do so.
Along with boundaries comes the great personal space. The children have been learning the great tool of personal space and when and how to ask for it. It has been beautiful to watch these tiny humans stand up for their needs and respect each other's needs as well.
If you would like to dive a deeper into this we have been into the Slumberkins Lynx this month on this theme.
Setting clear boundaries with our friends can sound like "I don't like it when you talk to me like that, please talk to me differently", or "I won't continue playing with you if you keep throwing sand at me". Setting boundaries and learning to honors those set by others is a value life skill that we will continue to work on throughout the school year. It is empowering for the children to speak up for themselves and develop language in which to do so.
Along with boundaries comes the great personal space. The children have been learning the great tool of personal space and when and how to ask for it. It has been beautiful to watch these tiny humans stand up for their needs and respect each other's needs as well.
If you would like to dive a deeper into this we have been into the Slumberkins Lynx this month on this theme.
Science Experiments
This month in science we have made oobleck slime, apple spice cloud dough, and much more. The children have been working on developing hypotheses and conducting experiments, then refining their hypotheses based on new information they've gathered.
  |   |
Here they are piping water onto a penny to see how many drops of water can fit on a penny before the bubble pops.
 |  |
 |  |
Oobleck slime is the most kid requested activity of all! This experiment was so much fun. To create this we mixed cornstarch, water, and food coloring. The children experimented with different amounts of water to find what made the best slime.
What happens when you add hydrogen peroxide to yeast? The kids form their hypotheses and then tested it! This was a super fun experiment for the kids and we found out it foams like crazy!
 |  |
Math and Writing
We have been working on math and writing skills at school lately. Lots of kids are working on learning how to write their names.
We played the game "100" where we start with the number 100, one person at a time picks a number and we subtract that number until we get to zero. Once we get below 20 some more strategy enters the game, whoever subtracts to zero loses! The kids had a lot of fun playing this game and working on their subtraction skills.
Tinkering in the Woodshed
Working on sawing skills in the tinkering shed. Building confidence and independence.
 |  |
In the Garden
So many of the kids love garden time the best! A group of children go to the garden every day to pick some yummy veggies and then help make lunch.
This month, not only did the kids get to pick delicious food from the garden, but they also got to plant some seeds and transplant some seedlings into the garden beds. When planting seeds they learn about measuring depth and how to nurture seeds to grow. And of course, they water them!
This month, not only did the kids get to pick delicious food from the garden, but they also got to plant some seeds and transplant some seedlings into the garden beds. When planting seeds they learn about measuring depth and how to nurture seeds to grow. And of course, they water them!
 |  |
Kids Love to Cook!
So much fun cooking happened this month. The kids helped make coconut apples, mini apple pies, lots of lunches, applesauce, and helped chop lots of veggies!
Check out this 'Call in the Fall' Quinoa Salad!
Check out this 'Call in the Fall' Quinoa Salad!
We know the secret to making perfect fluffy quinoa! It's all about the ratio and our young mathematician-chefs eagerly got to work figuring out how much to measure and cook.
We want to make 9 cups of cooked quinoa. 1 cup of dry quinoa makes 3 cups of cooked quinoa. How many cups of dry quinoa do we need? We counted it out on our fingers and figured out that we need 3 cups of dry quinoa so we carefully measured it out.
We want to make 9 cups of cooked quinoa. 1 cup of dry quinoa makes 3 cups of cooked quinoa. How many cups of dry quinoa do we need? We counted it out on our fingers and figured out that we need 3 cups of dry quinoa so we carefully measured it out.
The ratio is for every 1 cup of dry quinoa we need 2 cups of water. If we have 3 cups of dry quinoa, how many cups of water do we need?
We counted it out again on our fingers, we need 6 cups of water!
It's really important for our measurements to be exact when cooking quinoa and we were very careful to fill right up to the top of the cup and not spill any water.
We counted it out again on our fingers, we need 6 cups of water!
It's really important for our measurements to be exact when cooking quinoa and we were very careful to fill right up to the top of the cup and not spill any water.
To cook the quinoa, there is another secret to getting it just right! Different amounts of quinoa take different amounts of time.
Do you think it takes more time or less time to cook a small amount of quinoa?
Less! That's right!
less quinoa = less cooking time
more quinoa = more cooking time
To get your quinoa nice and fluffy, bring your ratio to a boil, then lower it to a simmer ( around 10 - 20 minutes depending on how much you have). Once the quinoa has absorbed all the water, remove from heat, place a lid on the pan, and allow it to steam for 5 minutes.
Voila! Perfect quinoa every time :)
Do you think it takes more time or less time to cook a small amount of quinoa?
Less! That's right!
less quinoa = less cooking time
more quinoa = more cooking time
To get your quinoa nice and fluffy, bring your ratio to a boil, then lower it to a simmer ( around 10 - 20 minutes depending on how much you have). Once the quinoa has absorbed all the water, remove from heat, place a lid on the pan, and allow it to steam for 5 minutes.
Voila! Perfect quinoa every time :)
To make our 'Call in Fall' Quinoa Salad: we added diced apples, bleached kale, stir fried sweet potatoes, a sprinkle of currants, and a dressing of lemon juice, fig balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and sea salt to taste.
We served our quinoa salad with a delicious garden veggie lentil soup!
The kids loved making these little mini apple pies for our Fall Equinox Potluck!
  |   |
Our Equinox Celebration was a blast! Thanks so much to all the teachers and families who contributed to make it extra special!!
 |  |
Jacqueline did some amazing face painting!
We had some fun and special music time with everyone at the potluck. Thank you to Kumba's family for leading the music circle.
Music
We love music class! The children get so into creating music, making up new songs, dancing around, and enjoying the moment.
We love music class! The children get so into creating music, making up new songs, dancing around, and enjoying the moment.
Spanish
Teacher Brianna, a native Spanish speaker, comes in for special Spanish classes and all the children love to gather around for stories, songs, and counting in Spanish. Check in with your little ones and see if they can remember how to count to 10 en Espanol!
Teacher Brianna, a native Spanish speaker, comes in for special Spanish classes and all the children love to gather around for stories, songs, and counting in Spanish. Check in with your little ones and see if they can remember how to count to 10 en Espanol!
Sweet Friends
  |   |
See you next time!
RSS Feed