It's carrot season! We adapted this recipe from the Heal Your Gut Cookbook - it's awesome!!
It's a flour-less cake made with coconut manna and eggs. To prep the coconut manna place the jar in a pan of water and heat until the consistency is smooth.
We mixed together 2 cups coconut manna, 1/4 cup honey, 1 TBS cinnamon, 1 tsp sea salt, 1 tsp vanilla extract, and 1.5 tsp baking soda.
Add in 10 pastured eggs.
Mix together with a hand held blender.
Fold in 1 cup grated carrots, 1/2 cup raisins, and 1/2 cup shredded coconut. Pour into a greased 9 by 13 inch pan a bake for 40 minutes at 300 degrees.
We topped it with some cashew cream made from soaked cashews and soaked dates blended together.
Yum!
Emotional Intelligence
“In the last decade or so, science has discovered a tremendous amount about the role emotions play in our lives. Researchers have found that even more than IQ, your emotional awareness and abilities to handle feelings will determine our success and happiness in all walks of life, including family relationships.” — John Gottman
We have been working with the Feeling Buddies from Conscious Discipline to learn more about our emotions and positive ways to respond to them.
“In the last decade or so, science has discovered a tremendous amount about the role emotions play in our lives. Researchers have found that even more than IQ, your emotional awareness and abilities to handle feelings will determine our success and happiness in all walks of life, including family relationships.” — John Gottman
We have been working with the Feeling Buddies from Conscious Discipline to learn more about our emotions and positive ways to respond to them.
We met our Feeling Buddies at circle time and took turns sharing about times we felt different feelings.
We also had a lot of fun mirroring the emotions of the Feeling Buddies!
We have a Safe Place in our classroom where we can go when we are experiencing big feelings and follow these 5 simple steps for emotional regulation:
Step 1 (I am) - We are learning that when we first feel an emotion such as anger or fear, it takes over our thoughts, feelings and actions, and hijacks our ability to problem solve. We can go to the Safe Place when a feeling gets a hold of us.
Step 2 (I calm) - We are learning that through deep breathing we can access the relaxation response in our bodies and calm ourselves.
We have been practicing the following breaths:
Star Breath:
I Smile, Take a deep breath, And Relax.
We have been practicing the following breaths:
Star Breath:
I Smile, Take a deep breath, And Relax.
Balloon Breath:
I put my hands on my head. I take a deep breath and fill up my balloon. I let the air out slowly with a fun pbpbpbpbpb sound.
I put my hands on my head. I take a deep breath and fill up my balloon. I let the air out slowly with a fun pbpbpbpbpb sound.
Pretzel Breath:
I cross my legs. I cross my arms. I put my tongue on the roof of my mouth. I take a deep breath into my belly.
I cross my legs. I cross my arms. I put my tongue on the roof of my mouth. I take a deep breath into my belly.
Drain Breath:
I hold my arms out straight and squeeze them tight as I breathe in. I relax my fists and breathe out with a shhhhshshsh sound.
I hold my arms out straight and squeeze them tight as I breathe in. I relax my fists and breathe out with a shhhhshshsh sound.
Step 3 (I feel):
We are learning how to accept our emotional states instead of pushing them away by offering empathy to our chosen Feeling Buddy and, in turn, learning self-regulatory self-talk.
Example - "Hello, Angry. Welcome, Angry. Your eyes are going like this. Your mouth is going like this. You seem angry. Breathe with me, Angry. You're safe. You wanted things to go differently. You can handle this. Let's take another deep breath."
We are learning how to accept our emotional states instead of pushing them away by offering empathy to our chosen Feeling Buddy and, in turn, learning self-regulatory self-talk.
Example - "Hello, Angry. Welcome, Angry. Your eyes are going like this. Your mouth is going like this. You seem angry. Breathe with me, Angry. You're safe. You wanted things to go differently. You can handle this. Let's take another deep breath."
Step 4 (I choose):
We are learning how to turn on our thinking brain with de-stressing activities: drawing a picture, reading a calming book, or a hand massage with one of our plant-based creams - Arnica Boo Boo Cream, Rescue Remedy Cranky Cream or Lavender Concentration Cream.
We are learning how to turn on our thinking brain with de-stressing activities: drawing a picture, reading a calming book, or a hand massage with one of our plant-based creams - Arnica Boo Boo Cream, Rescue Remedy Cranky Cream or Lavender Concentration Cream.
Step 5 (I solve): We are learning the skills of assertiveness in how to use our big voice and resolve conflicts as they come up. We are also learning to accept there are some problems we can not solve and understanding that "we can handle it" through caring connections. The "I Love You Rituals" book is a great resource for connecting activities that help boost brain potential.
We have been expanding our vocabulary of our emotions with some detailed feelings cards. The kids loved acting out the different body figures!
We made our own 'My Feelings' book where we colored, cut out, bound and practiced writing some of the different emotions we can feel everyday.
Valentine Fun!
We made chocolate hearts for Valentines Day! Check out our blog from last year for the recipe.
We made chocolate hearts for Valentines Day! Check out our blog from last year for the recipe.
Salt dough Valentines!
More Valentines!
These Spielgaben sets are some of the most beautiful and comprehensive educational materials we have ever seen!
The exercises below are a wonderful hands on approach to learning about geometry and spatial relationships.
The exercises below are a wonderful hands on approach to learning about geometry and spatial relationships.
Science Experiments!
Will adding salt to the water make the egg float? Kids dissolved enough salt into the water that the water became heavier than the eggs. Then the eggs started to float.
Will adding salt to the water make the egg float? Kids dissolved enough salt into the water that the water became heavier than the eggs. Then the eggs started to float.
Balloon Rocket
How can we get a balloon to fly in a straight line using a balloon, string, a drinking straw and tape? Kids problem solved to get the balloon to rocket across the yard.
How can we get a balloon to fly in a straight line using a balloon, string, a drinking straw and tape? Kids problem solved to get the balloon to rocket across the yard.
Sorting, Collage & Letters!
Spring is coming!
Salad Picking & Spinning!
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Team work!
Check out our Facebook page for the recipe for these scrumptious butternut squash 'cupcakes'...
... and these tasty sunbutter cookies!
See you next time!
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