Dandelion Cookies

Have any dandelions blooming in your garden? Try these tasty cookies made with dandelion blossoms.

Healthy ingredients too!

Whisk together 4 eggs.

Mix in 1/2 cup honey, 3/4 cup coconut flour, 1/4 cup palm shortening, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp salt.

Gently fold in 1 cup of dandelion blossoms (fresh or dried).

Spoon dollops onto a baking sheet covered in parchment paper.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes and enjoy with friends for a birthday celebration!

This month we are highlighting how we are inspired by the Reggio Emilia Approach and how families can cultivate a Reggio learning environment at home.

The Guiding Principles of Reggio Emilia:

Children are active participants in their learning. Children are highly capable, curious learners, who are supported in developing and following their own interests.  Most of our projects are inspired by what the children are naturally interested in learning about. We learn what they are interested in by observing their interests and documenting their activities.

Learning is best acquired through a multi-sensory approach. Touching, listening, seeing, hearing and moving allow children to thoroughly understand.

Teachers/parents are mentors and guides, but not the keepers of all knowledge. They should work alongside children to ensure true understanding, but keep in mind that the learning process should be primarily child led.

The environment is seen as a “third teacher”. Materials are carefully selected. Rooms are free of clutter. Natural light, order and beauty are hallmarks of a Reggio classroom.

Project based learning is encouraged. Instead of isolating subject areas, students are encourage to truly research their interests from many angles. Whatever they choose to learn about can be read about, written about, painted, built...

Documentation is paramount. One highlight of the Reggio approach is the importance it places on documentation. Examples of student work are highly visible on the walls. Teachers record students’ thoughts and activities and then showcase them to make their thinking visible.

Communication is imperative. In the Reggio approach, children are talked with, listened to and respected. They are encouraged to use language to explore, and in the early years, sounds, rhyme and rhythm are toyed with. Later, rich conversations drive much of a child’s learning.

The Hundred Languages of Children: One of the most important ideals driving the Reggio Emilia philosophy is referred to as the Hundred Languages of Children. This means that children have many different ways to express their thoughts and learning. Hands-on learning and play are ways that children can demonstrate their learning, along with song, dance, drawing, writing, painting, physical activity, pretend play and storytelling, just to name a few. Each of these activities are seen as valid methods of learning about the world and work together to compose an entire child.

A love for aesthetics, beauty, and items from nature also play an important role in Reggio inspired learning. Pine cones, stones, shells, sticks, bark and leaves can be used for many purposes. Children can create from them, examine them, and use them to represent concepts.

​Other open ended types of materials may include a collection of wooden blocks, scraps of fabric, a basket of scarves, ceramic tiles or mosaic glass pieces, cardboard tubes, or any other type of material that children may be interested in. 

One hallmark to the Reggio approach is the use of mirrors and light tables in the play/work area. The light table is an engaging way to explore materials from a new perspective and provides another point of view and depth of understanding. 

Activities are set up as provocations or offerings. The intention of provocations is to provide an invitation for a child to explore and express themselves.  They are usually simple and displayed beautifully to provoke interest.

 Inquiry Based Learning
One of the best ways to determine ideas for study is by listening to the questions your children ask, or observing them while they are playing. Perhaps they said “It is so cool that water turns into the shape of my bucket when I pour it.”, or “why don’t you ever see raccoons in the daytime?”. These simple conversations can lead to some of the best lessons you can do with your child. Stock your work area up with books about matter or nocturnal animals. Follow your child’s lead.
Once you have stumbled upon a topic that seems to grab your child’s attention, look for ways for them to explore it. Provide them with materials that can deepen their understanding and allow them to express themselves in one of the one hundred ways!

Check out this free course we did on our last teacher development day:

http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/index.html


Look for the Reggio elements in our latest explorations this month... how many ways can we express a flower?

We have been learning about Dandelions with the Herb Fairies!

Flowers are all around us this Spring!  We have been collecting and exploring flowers all over the garden...

Flower arranging

Monet flower puzzles

Still life

Flower collages

"It's an ocean of roses!"

Tissue paper flowers

Watercolor contrast flowers

Dissecting flowers

Flower science experiment

We have been exploring the color wheel to learn how different colors mix together and then mixed colors to dye a variety of flowers.

The kids loved counting out 30 drops for each color!

Red and blue make purple!

Blue and yellow make green!

The kids created questions and made hypotheses:

"Which colors will work the fastest?  Which flowers will have more color?  Why do the flowers change color?"

Flower cells with the microscope:

​"I can see the pink bubbles!"

Flowers on the light table

The light table gave the kids the idea to create a frame out of natural materials and design found elements for a picture which turned into a fun storytelling experience!  Great project for Earth Day!

Another great Earth Day project created out of recycled materials!

The kids wanted to use the color wheel so we learned about complementary colors and designed our background frame to complement our painted cardboard.

April is National Poetry Month! "All the World" is a beautiful book that celebrates both poetry and the earth.

We read some inspiring poems and wrote acrostic poems for our names.

Sweet Friends!