Photo backlog revealed!

As promised, here is the first set in a string of backlogged photographs, taken since January 2102, at Joyful Garden. Captions below each one.

 

India reading to the children.

 Alina and Hudson working together.

 Deep in work.

 To each his own.

 Nursing a sick chicken.

 Sandpaper letters.

 Demonstration.

 Writing.

 All together now.

 Enjoyment.

 Attainment.

 No waste here.

Cozy seating.

 Motion.

 Socializing.

 Exploration.

 Sprouting.

 Water colors.

 Meaningful work.

 Sprouts.

Watcha readin'?

The sandpaper letters--a beginning!

Last week, there was a day with just Calvin and Hudson and me! It can be hard to stay occupied with such a small group. I used what felt like extra time to introduce working with sandpaper letters (ours look like this http://www.etsy.com/listing/62740002/lowercase-sandpaper-letters?ref=sr_gallery_1&sref=&ga_search_submit=&ga_search_query=sandpaper+letters&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade). Because the letters A and T can go together with manymany other letters to make lots of English words, I introduced them first.
We sing:
Apple, apple
ah, ah, ah (soft, short A sound; almost an "eh," like the sound at the beginning of "apple")
Apple, apple
ah, ah, ah
Apple, apple
ah, ah, ah
Ah is the sound of A (say letter name)
While looking at cutout and laminated pictures of an apple

For T, we sing:
Tiger, tiger
T, t, t (shortshort "T" sound)
While looking at pictues of tigers

This game is fun for Hudson in the moment, and exposing him to the phonemes, which is awesome! For Calvin, this work is really giving him something to work on for which he is entering the sensitive period.

They wanted more, so we did R
Rat, rat
R, r, r (short "ruh")
While looking at pictures of rats

As soon as I put the tray on the shelf, Calvin had it down to look and sing by himself. I put the three letters together and we sounded out R-A-T, together!

We will all learn the phonemes with this song and with one that is sung to the tune of the ABC song, but which substitutes the letter's SOUND for its NAME. Using the phoneme, or the sound of the letter, rather than the name of the letter, when you point out letters to your child, is a powerful way to encourage pre-literacy, and support this work that we are starting at Community.

For example, when I child says to me, pointing to a letter B, "What's that?," I always answer, "That's Buh," pronouncing it very short--almost clipped. I'll post some recordings of the songs and their tunes. I use the same example no matter which song we are singing; so A is always paired with Apple, for example.

I do NOT encourage purchasing sandpaper letters for home use. The best way to support pre-literacy in young children is to always pronounce the sound, and never the lettername. Easy!

Pizza

India's friend, Abby, comes over some Mondays to play with India. Abby LOVES pizza, so I often make crust ahead of time for the two older girls to top, bake, and then serve to the little ones and themselves.

Today, everyone joined in.

Everyone with their own bit of dough:

 

One crust, ready for sauce:

 

Advanced work with dough:

 

Really working it:

Tasty pizza!

The Right Work at the Right Time

I thought many times about posting to the blog last week... Usually as I was falling asleep or waking up! Planting, watering, planning and setting out new work, sharing time with the children (and trying to catch up on the dishes) ate up all my time...

I was so happy with the materials that I picked up at Mission Restaurant Supply last Monday: pitchers, small dishes, funnels, interesting dishes and spoons and scoops... And the children were so happy with the transfer work that was created with them. Here are some pictures and videos.

As always, I am struck by the child's discernment in working with the materials that suit them. A child may choose new work that is unsuited for them, due to its newness, but when it does not meet their needs, they quickly put it away. And when it does meet their needs, nothing can tear them away. 

Notice Dylan and Noah's focus in these two videos. There are plenty of distractions going on around them, but they are completely focused on their work. (Also notice the important interpersonal work that Oliver and Sam are performing in the background of the second video--awesome!)

Here are other images from last week...

Ninth Street Schoolhouse Visitors:

More work videos:

And, finally, our muddy adventure on Friday!

Don't forget: Community Night is this Friday! 5-7 pm at The Joyful Garden. Pizza slices and juice boxes for $1 each. The Back Forty will be open!

Work Day Wonder

Another work day has come and gone, leaving me in awe of what a group of dedicated and determined adults and kids can accomplish together when they set their minds to it. 

When I predicted beforehand that we would be able to get all the mulch spread in the playground quickly, I never dreamed that we would be completely finished with that task by 10:00 sharp. 

There was a lot of underutilized potential energy in the group at that point, so a group of dads took on removing the landscape timbers that Eric Billig put in a few years ago.

And, the children kept on working with the mulch, and everything else.

And Ari's dad, Joey, fixed the side yard gate!

Thank you, everyone who came and worked and socialized. The pickup truck drivers, who showed up at 7:30 a.m., at Whittlesey Landscape Supply (989rock.com), loaded up, and hauled  back the mulch, deserve a special shout-out! And Whittlesey itself will get all of my mulch and dirt and rock business in the future, for asking, "Is it for a playground?" and then automatically giving $4 off per cubic yard. And, thanks to Cruz's mom, Laura, for taking most of the pictures shown above.


A lot of folks are commenting on how nice the Back Forty looks... I really have to give all the credit to the amazingly energetic Dave Campbell, who has routed the invasive coastal grass, not resting even in the heat of high summer, and never relenting in his quest to see that grass and its root structure gone. He has also mowed, hauled, built, and generally supported the dream of creating a farm--not to mention a log cabin--back there. James Abbott built our gorgeous and predator-proof chicken coop and pen that the grown chickens currently inhabit. And all of you make the emerging farm possible through your support of the Joyful Garden and my work with your children. My most heartfelt thanks go out to all of you!

A Day in the Life

Here's how a typical day unfolds at Joyful Garden, utilizing images from Wednesday and Thursday this week...

Playing outside after parents drop us off. Alina was looking at the bug, lower right, before she got interested in what Oliver was doing.

After we go inside and wash, a snack!

Our inside work includes reading...

Cutting with Scissors:

 Preparing food for brunch:

 

Cleaning up is an important part of completing work!

After brunch, we go back outside to work.

When all our friends have left at 12:30, some of us stay for rest time.

Putting on shoes, post-nap, gets us ready to go home!

What a lot we accomplish in a day at Joyful Garden.

Great Tuesday!

It was so wonderful to see the kids today and to pick up the daily routine with them.

We had a small group, with Dylan out sick. Get well soon, Dylan!

We watered the gutter garden.

We walked back into the Back Forty together to look at the pullets in their new pen, and feed them weeds and grass through their hardware cloth fence. We talked a lot about the fence not being strong enough to support a person's weight.

The children did not notice, and I did not mention for now, the beehive.

We said hello to the grown chickens, and Arsenic the Rooster said hello back!

The three children jumped into the red wagon and I pulled them to the brick pile to pick up some bricks that we used to plug potential holes in the pullet pen fence.

We went back into the playground and sang our going inside songs, then followed our inside routines.

Noah peeled the oranges, to go with pinto beans and corn tortillas, for our brunch.

When we went back outside, there were some exciting and beautiful moments of friends re-connecting. When Noah lost a shoe, Hugh came directly to his aid. They were both so intent, right up to the moment that I snapped this picture. I felt sorry that I intruded... Hugh quickly and competently applied the shoe to the foot, and off the two boys went!

See you all soon!