Family Day 2010

Last week we celebrated our seventeenth Family Day at COLM. This year, we decided to try a new plan for the day. Our day began as normal, and the primary children arrived at school and prepared for their parent's arrival. Once the parents arrived, the children eagerly greeted their parents and then eagerly gave their parents "lessons" on their favorite materials.

Map of South America

Trinomial Cube

Button Frame

Trinomial Cube

Map of North America

Buckle Frame Stereognostically (blindfolded)

Map of South America

Number Cards and Counters

Wood Polishing

 The toddlers showed off some of their favorite activities, too - 'rowing' the boat and flower arranging.

 After the children had the opportunity to share some of their much loved work with their parents, they each packed a box for Operation Christmas Child. Our small school packed 25 boxes, together with the church Sunday School and Youth Group we were able to donate just over 100 boxes!

Once the boxes were packed, the parents headed upstairs to watch our slide show of the first half of our school year (I can't believe that much has passed already!). The slideshow was followed by a little "performance" of two songs about giving thanks--one song is from Ghana and it's sung at the end of the harvest in Ghana and the second song was about what each child was thankful for.

Pr. Terri also told the story of the fishes and loaves to the children. I found this to be very touching because each child had only brought in a small item, yet together we made 3 huge crockpots of soup and we had plenty of homemade bread from Erika and Ms. Stefanie. Susan made special nut and egg free chocolate chip cookies and Sally's Catering donated a large tray of deserts. Plus, lots of families brought in the little extras like coffee, juice, cups, flatware, etc....

And then, the moment arrived to be able to taste the soup that the children had made...

...and they enjoyed it! We are so grateful for each and every family at our school and feel so blessed to have you as part of our COL family. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Stone Soup

This year, we started a new Thanksgiving tradition at COLCM--we decided to get together and make a soup, very similar to the one in the story "Stone Soup", retold by Heather Forest. Of course we read the story leading up to making the soup, and the children wanted to make sure we included the vegetables that were listed in the story. We spent the end of the morning getting ready to make the soup. We...

peeled carrots,

  

potatoes,

and sliced carrots,

zucchini,

and squash.

Here is our lovely combination of potatoes, zucchini, carrots, squash and garlic

After adding the diced tomatoes, it was time to stir it all together.

Then we added vegetable broth to our vegetables.

Every child in our casa was delighted to help with the peeling, slicing and mixing. Even though the final product was a little heavy on the Balsamic Vinegar (maybe we'll measure it next time), the children were thrilled to eat something that they had made all by themselves. One child in particular would ask me daily if we were going to have carrots in the soup, because he was both thankful for carrots and just simply loves them! If you really want your children to eat vegetables and foods that are healthy for them, involve them as much as you can in creating the meal or snack. :)

The recipe which we loosely followed, is from a wonderful blog called the "Gluten Free Goddess". 

From Wheat to Flour to Bread

We had the excitement of being able to make wheat flour with the help of one of our wonderful parents! The children were delighted!

We learned about three different kinds of wheat.

And then we turned on the grinder!

 Once we finished grinding the bread flour, we discovered that the grinder barrel was quite warm and had to tap on the sides to make sure the flour settled before opening the lid.

We all looked with excitement at the freshly ground wheat flour!

And of course, we had to experience the warm, freshly ground flour.

We put some in a ziploc bag for the children to pass around.

The it was time to make wheat pastry flour.

It was so exciting to see the grain turn into flour!

Once the flour was done, we were able to try some home-made wheat bread.

Most of the children loved the bread so much, they ate more than one slice.

After our day of making flour and eating fresh bread, we decided to read a wonderful story about a six year old girl who decided to make her breakfast all by herself: When Batistine Made Bread, written by Treska Lindsey.

Garden Day 2

Our first garden day was such a success, we decided to have another one! Thanks to the generosity of the Erika and Travis, and the hard work of Tracy, Alan, Michelle, Kris, Neal, Lise, Claire, Tracy, Hendrik, and our 'little helpers' we were able to complete a wonderful landscaping project for the school!!


Before

 After

Can you believe this is the same Japanese Maple?!

 This little corner is my favorite part of the project - flagstones leading to an adorable squirrel bench and a weeping pussy willow tree, surrounded by lambs ear, butterfly shrubs, pansies and creeping thyme.

 I am filled with gratitude for everyone who helped make this beautiful project a reality. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!