The sweet holding of an orderly world is paramount to a child's development. Simplicity. Beauty. Dependability. Cleanliness. With these thoughts yesterday, I looked around Ruby Morning Playgarden. I felt delight in the simple things I noticed...
April 05, 2008
March 28, 2008
Ahoy There!
Ruby Morning was overtaken by pirates this week. How did it all begin? Some bark happened to be peeled off of the climbing stumps...one child saw a piece of bark as a sword...together we made said sword...I bet you can guess what happened then! Everyone wanted to make swords. To keep the play safe, each child was also drawn a treasure map and donned with a matey scarf. The activity soon began as pirates roamed about digging for buried treasures. The swords were only taken in hand aboard "ship"(a small area I named the Pirate Ship.)to protect their vessel. With the littlest guidance the wonderful imaginations of children expand beyond expectation.
March 15, 2008
Pat-A-Cake, Pat-A-Cake...Baker's Man...
BAKE ME A CAKE.....
March 14, 2008
Music Circle
We had a fun-filled music circle with Wyatt's grandma, Eleanor. The children were gleeful as she took them down a musical path of nature and animals.
Beginning next week, we look forward to music circle becoming a regular part of our Wednesdays!
March 10, 2008
Beaver Dam
This past weekend I had a ton of mulberry prunings were delivered to the school so we can build a fence to protect the vegetable garden from the chickens. Well, this pile of wood is as tall as me and takes up about a 15 foot by 8 foot area in the yard. But what it looked like to the children was a beaver dam. Thus, a game of "beaver" began...
March 03, 2008
March 01, 2008
Leap Year
It's something, how having this rare, extra day in the month makes it all the more apparent. To think, we will not have another February 29 until these children are six to nine years old. Our leap year day was a wonderful one in Ruby Morning Playgarden. It was the end of our first week with both groups combined in a multi-age classroom and this couldn't have gone better. With both Sarah and Christie as support, I was able to spend such quiet time with small groups and individual children. We have found great balance and a fruitful feeling of exhale. My deepest gratitude to Sarah and Christie for their devotion, humor and ability to meld together as a team.
As well, Ryan from the local newspaper, The Sun, came to photograph the school yesterday. I hesitated to have him come when the children were present, thinking that he may cause distraction and concern in the little ones; but really, the sight of them in action is what shows the personality of the school. So I prefaced the visit with all of these thoughts to Ryan and he assured me he would be mindful, and I liked his vibe very much. So he was there for close to an hour. I introduced him to the children, he took many photographs as they played, and asked me a lot of questions about Waldorf. Well, all my worry was for naught because as he was leaving I asked the children to say goodbye to Ryan, and they responded, "Who's Ryan?" !?!?
A few photos taken yesterday (by me, not Ryan!) You can click on them to make them larger:
February 28, 2008
Woodworking
Today we began some "wood working". Some hammered:
Some chatted: 
And some watched: 
What I absolutely love is the hammering just for the sakeof...hammering. Joyful pounding with no anticipated product. That is the glory of childhood.
February 27, 2008
Spring is Just Around the Corner
And we are LOVING our outside time. A lot of outside time. Yesterday we did gardening with Miss Sarah. We were expecting to get our worm box going, but I got a call from the worm farm late Monday saying, due to the cold snap, they weren't "harvesting" for a couple more weeks. So the children prepared the box anyway (we thought if the worms got word of the new cozy home awaiting them, they would grow faster!) and then we turned the soil in the garden bed.
February 15, 2008
Our Week
I have had the pleasure of spending time in both houses these past two weeks. It is amazing how the socialization and play changes developmentally with age. There are the very young, and then those in transition, and others so close to kindergarten. It has been an enriching experience for me to be able to witness these stages of growth simultaneously. The Little House loved their bread baking. Children from the Big House love to come over and be helpers. 
They built trains that went absolutely everywhere, while not needing to go anywhere. And there was NEVER a shortage of conductors. ..or mechanics.
On Valentine's Day, the children arrived so full of festival joy. Our day was sweet and simple, and the children really took time to notice the beauty. The day ended with a special circle, where we delivered our valentine cards to our friend's special delivery envelopes. All of the cards were so beautifully made. They were an absolute delight to see. And the children did so well delivering! Many "thank-you's" and smiles of feeling truly acknowledged.
