This week, we took a look at Native American culture.  We beaded, played with clay, painted,worked with feathers and stones, told stories and danced.  I think we learned a bit too!
    In art, we made some cool projects.  We made totem poles like those from tribes from the Pacific Northwest.  Palmer was really excited because any project involving a tube is a good project in his book.  We made wigwams out of bowls and paper bag pieces to represent those made by the Wampanoag tribe in Northeastern United States.  The Wampanoag tribe was the tribe that befriended the Pilgrims so long ago.  We made tipis like the ones Indigenous people from the plains lived in.  We also drew designs on them using crayons and then painted over them with tea to have a lovely wax resist effect and learn about using natural materials for dyes and paints.  We also made some very cool Native American masks. 
     We listened to stories this week that did not have pictures.  We had to make the pictures with our minds using our imaginations.  We heard about The Moon and the Great Snake.  The kids did a great job listening.  Neil is a great story teller also.  Most of his stories are about dinosaurs or sharks. 
     We did a lot of counting in math this week.  We counted both feathers and stones in small group and individual projects.  As a group, we counted to 100!  We did a lot of dramatic big breaths between number sets.  It was all very exciting and we clapped appropriately when we reached 100!  Mason really enjoyed this (both the counting and the big breaths).  We are so proud of everyone for their stamina.  It takes a long time to count to 100!
     Our letter of the week was J.  J is for Jackson who wasn't even able to be at school this week.  (We miss you Jackson.  Hope your leg gets feeling better so that you can come play with us.)  We played a super fun game called "jump for J."  We drew card and if it was a J, we would jump, jump, jump, jump, jump and sit.  If it was not a J, we would say "noooooooooo'  It was super fun.  Ellie B. was very happy every time we drew and E and would exclaim "E is for Ellie".  We also did jumping jacks this week because anytime you can get a whole bunch of kids to do jumping jacks at the same time is going to be a good time.
     Thank you to all of you who have taken things out of the "parent volunteer" box that appears every once in a while.  Your extra help is greatly appreciated and is super fantastically nice.  Thanks!
    
     ***super cute alert***  Palmer was so awesome helping Brodie with his shoes this week.  So quietly helpful, without being asked.  Palmer saw someone needing help and helped.  It's the kind of thing that brings a happy little tear to the eye and a little hop skip song in your heart.  This is why we work with children!  Thank you all for letting yours spend the day with us!