Now take a big jump!

What a lovely Spring we had at ALG. While we are all now drenched in humidity and general summer malaise and/or craze, let's look back on what lovely work our children put in this Spring as we engaged deeply in the science and art of Metamorphisis.

Outside nearly all the time, we prepared, tended and reaped many of the fruits and veggies of our labor. We cleared a new space in the garden in response to much clamor for homegrown corn on the cob and with a little help from our friend the saw, we were able to repurpose a recently lopped off branch as a border for the corn patch.

As we work we play, and as we play we work and from time to time, you might just want to do a little horsing around.

  Children were responsible for watering and weeding as they learned to care for a garden over time.

 Children learned about where good food comes from as we made garden to table manifest through delicious food like herb vegetable soups and fresh guacamole. We engaged with literacy and math as we read recipes and measured ingredients.

We did a lot of work around that most classic metamorphisis tale, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We made a magnetic story board so that children could time and time again tell and retell the story. With each telling both those faithful to the story line and fanciful variations, children learned more about constructing a cohesive and compelling narrative. Like many beloved books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar uses a pattern to generate rhythm and expectation. This gives children yet another chance to practice that essential skill of recognizing patterns and variation.

We read stories and songs about butterflies; we watched our classroom caterpillars hide away in their chrysalis, and we used butterflies as a theme for many art projects. Butterflies as art give children a chance to engage with the notion of symmetry--an important artistic and mathematical concept.

When some of our plants started to really shoot up. Children made signs with the names and a picture of the plant.  People often wonder about what reading and writing should look like for preschool and kindergarten children. And here is a lovely, ideal example. In a low pressure environment children develop a blossoming awareness of letters and sounds through things like songs and poems and learning to write their name and other important words like Mom and Dad. They develop hand and finger strength through playing with clay, using scissors and buttoning and zipping dress-ups. Then when body and brain are ready they happily craft small meaningful messages.  

We learned how to try new foods as we plucked whatever was ready, gave it a little rinse with water or sometimes just a rub from a shirt and bit down on the freshest veggie you have ever tasted.

Like all the creatures and seeds we nurtured from one place to another, we too did much growing and changing this year.

...And like the butterfly, we emerged beautiful and ready to spread our wings. Thank you all for such an amazing year and we look forward to seeing you when and how we can. With love, ALG