lcg soren

Dear Parents and Friends,

What an exhilarating and full afternoon we had this week! The whole lesson was infused with rhythm and rhyme as we sang songs, such as " Beneath the Towering Pine" and "A Big Ship a Sailing" and recited poems:" When the Leaves are on the Ground" and " I Tap my head" . We marched and danced to rhythms we'd learned last year and did counting games and a clapping song with two circles of children moving around each other.

Sue told a fable about some very bold mice and some very hungry weasels and we worked on form drawings, trying to imagine the path a bee might follow from flower to flower. We were very ready to eat our snack and as we ate we shared jokes and listened to another chapter of Farmer Boy with great interest. Handwork time found the children tucked under one table or another in groups for stitches and conversation.

Mark's parents, Leslie and Jeff, arrived to help us celebrate Mark's birthday with stories of him and a collection of shoes that played a big part in Mark's life when he was a little. They brought yummy cinnamon bread, apple butter and rice crackers. Thanks to Leslie and Jeff too for dedicated help at clean-up time and thanks to others who helped the day to start and end graciously. We're grateful once again for Cathleen Brauen's help.

There will be no class next week, November 22.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Anne and Sue

How can it almost be Thanksgiving? This year is flying by.

Soren decided to learn Spanish today and we spent some time discussing how some words look similar in english and spanish, and how to pronounce words in spanish. She dragged a spanish/english dictionary around with her all day and kept telling me new words.

she and emma are studying architecture right now by building Lincoln Log log cabins. they are having their dolls camp out in them tonight.

LCG Emma:
Hi all,

Save the dates-- we have scheduled our class play for Tuesday, March 7 in the afternoon, and Friday, March 10 in the evening. We will be performing again with Julia Koberlein's class.


We had a long but fruitful day today, beginning at 10:30 AM with Paul Swiatek's bluegrass workshop. It was informative and fun, and gave us some food for thought-- how bluegrass bands work together, and how the bridge on stringed instruments lets the sound travel. Paul asked us how we could be "bridges" for each other.... I talked about that a bit in class, and brought it up a couple of times when there were opportunities for the children to be bridges for each other-- how to listen and let others be heard...


While I was meeting with the teachers for a quiet moment before we began, most of the class arrived and got busy on cursive. They were quietly working when I got back to the classroom (thanks to Chip Milligan for watching over them).

We started our day with opening verse, singing, bean bag passing to times tables and marching games. Then we settled in for form drawing-- Sleeping Beauty's circular tower, on which 2 different spiders spun webs-- one by counting the windows in the tower by 4's (that made a 5 pointed star), and the other spider made a web by counting off the windows by 3's-- that made a 10 pointed star. It was a challenge, and the results were beautiful. We'll probably try that one again.

We played a bit of recorder-- worked on part of the scale, reviewed "Pierrot" and worked more on "Oats Peas Beans."

Melissa came in to help with handwork. Several children finished their crocheted scarfs! We will continue to work until all of them can finish a scarf. I also read the Thanksgiving story of Squanto, the Indian who helped the Pilgrims, and therefore helped prepare the way for the very first Thanksgiving.

We celebrated Michaela's 9th birthday at snack, with singing and wishes, and talk of things for which we are thankful.

We spent extra time re-telling "The Stone Giant" and drawing and writing in our main lesson books. We had a bit of time for some big circle games at the end-- a nice way to end our day.

NO CLASS NEXT WEEK!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

Warmly,
Lynn

lcg soren

Dear Maple Class families and friends,
We had another busy week in the Maple class, and were delighted to have Cathleen Brauen join us for most of the class. We began with some raking, throwing and jumping motions as we recalled the "Autumn Leaves" poem Anne taught us last week. At our opening circle we learned another song/poem - appropriately titled "November" - then on recorder we learned the first part of the tune that goes with it. We remembered details from last week's Iroquois tale of how Coyote tricked Bear out of his tail, and drew and wrote about it in our main lesson books. A break in the clouds beckoned us out for a walk in the sunshine, where we looked at the variety of leaves that were to be found, counting how many points or lobes each leaf had. We formed a "leaf number line" that ranged from the smallest number of points on a leaf (none) to the largest (nearly 100 tiny serrations).
Back inside, we did some hand-clapping songs until the Hickory - Sequoia class arrived to perform for us their new song "Senex MacDonald" - "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" in Latin. We were impressed! During snack time, Sue read a chapter from Farmer Boy about Almanzo helping to fill the ice house. A busy, focused handwork time followed, then we ran off some energy imitating squirrels chasing each other around buried acorns. The looping path of the squirrels' chase became the basis of our form drawing for the week. We had only time for a quick goodbye with "Shalom Chaverim" and "Merry we have met" before the day was done. Have a wonderful week!
Sue and Anne

stuff

Soren did her play "Spiderella" today, and she was the main character. She did great remembering her lines and was so clear and articulate. i could hear and understand everything she said. David will post pictures soon I hope!

They made all the sets and put together their costumes and it was sooo very cute!

Tuesday LCG for Emma:

Hello parents,

The day flew by again.

The children started with cursive as usual-- I think it's nice practice for them, and they are very helpful with each other too.

We did a quick opening and some singing, and then got into painting-- working again on stars-- using the three primary colors-- two colors to make the star, and the third for the background.

We then got out our recorders, learned two new notes and began working on "Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley."

Melissa came in for handwork, and we crocheted happily for half an hour. We usually do handwork from 2-2:30-- please come join us if you'd like.

After snack (my mistake-- I had no one down for snack, but Liza Artman graciously saved us and went and got us a delicious, gluten-free snack-- thanks Liza!) Cathleen Brauen (former LCG teacher helping in the Maple Class today) came in to do some games with the class while I went down to be with Michael in the Willow Class. I never get to be a parent helper, so it's great when I can spend just a bit of time there.

I came back as they were finishing up a monster guessing game? Then we used up our energy playing "Oats, Peas Beans" before settling down to hear a Seneca monster story-- "The Stone Giant" and do beeswax modelling. Then we did our closing and headed out into the November afternoon.


BLUEGRASS MORNING NOV. 15 10:30-12
We are set for our session with Paul Swiatek next Tuesday. Please let me know whether or not your child can come. If you need help with driving, please let me know, and we'll try to do some car pooling. I'm happy to help with driving, esp. from the east side.

I hope most of the children can make it--it should be fun. We will meet at Paul's by 10:30-- have your child bring a lunch, which we'll eat back at 12 Corners between 12 and 1:00.

DIRECTIONS-- Paul Swiatek lives at 94 Branford Road, Rochester, 14618, not far from 12 Corners. Coming down Elmwood from Penfield/East Ave-- turn RIGHT on Commonwealth, LEFT on Chelmsford and RIGHT on Branford Road.


SNACK/CLEAN-UP THROUGH DECEMBER
Nov. 15 Houk
Nov. 29 Brennan Burke
Dec. 6 Carlson
Dec. 13 Hammond
Dec. 20 Kilmer

Have a good week!
Lynn

Soren is crocheting like mad now. She can even make rows! Amazing. Melissa is just so impressed with her.

a work day

Yesterday, the weather was beautiful and the whole day followed suit. We got up on time, got our chores and breakfast done on time and took our work outside on the porch to enjoy the sun and balmy weather.

Emma worked on prime numbers a bunch more. She had to break down bigger numbers into their smallest prime numbers (49=7x7; 68=2x2x17, etc.). She got a bit frustrated at the end, but she did pretty well overall. She really needs to learn to work more independently so that I don't have to hang over her with each problem once I've explained it.

She did some geography - learned about latitude and longitude and degrees. She worked on finding stuff on maps based on their degrees.

She also did several pages of cursive, which is getting smaller and nicer.

Soren also did cursive - her handwriting is much better than her printing at this point - she is getting very sloppy and not using punctuation or capital letters in her printing anymore.

She did several geography exercises - mostly finding things on maps by using grids, and answering questions about cities and why they would build them in certain places. Sadly, one of the examples and exercises was on New Orleans.

She also did some math - simple odd and even exercises, but made more challenging by having her make patterns by using multiplication. She is very good at remembering multiplication tables at least up to 4.

We took a walk after all that and met the family a few houses down that homeschools. They apparently do "school" and are very Christian. We might be able to get together with them some afternoon. Their kids are the same ages as mine - 1, 5, 7, and 9. Hopefully it will work out. The mom seems very nice.
Then they went off to an overnight with their friends. I miss them!

camp

Emma came home with the coolest knight costume yesterday! Cardboard and duct tape created a wonderful helmet, sword, and breastplate. They also threw wet sponges at each other with a homemade catapult.

Last night we looked up family crests, which was really cool. She was excited to see that my maiden name has a gryphon on it!

They made ice cream and pizza in cooking class yesterday. Not the healthiest menu items they pick in that class, but easy and fun for the kids ;).

Soren's class play is next week. I can't wait!

Emma got to climb yesterday and she belayed Jordan. She's really too light to belay anyone IMO though ;).

They worked on cursive yesterday.

lcg 11/1

Dear Parents and Friends,

We started our Maples class with our circle time:an opening verse, songs, riddles, counting in Italian. We worked on a project of preserving dried leaves in colorful patterns on warm waxed paper. Then a story drew us all together, an Iroquois fable titled "How Bear Lost His Tail," about the bear and that old trickster, coyote.

After bean-bag tossing, counting, passing, calling on our rhythm and counting skills, we did a form- drawing exercise. We drew mountains beside a lake ( the Bear's lake) and the reflections. At snack time we shared pumpkin stories and more jokes as well as Sue's "brain teaser." Comfortable quiet bloomed in the room as we took out our knitting and settled into groups or solo to work. Several children like to gather together under a long table. Needles and fingers keep busy while a cozy conversation is knitted too. Recorders came out and we played our "Wash Hands" song as well as "Mary had a Little Lamb" and several children were able to lead us while we played that song. Just before we left, we played a game called," The Big Wind Blows", sitting in a circle of chairs. Good listening is required as well as and quick moves to find a new chair. It's.fast and fun. Soon it was time to say good-bye.

With our warm wishes ,
Sue and Anne

Hello parents,

I can't believe it's November, but as we drove home in the dark I knew it must be true.

We had a good day, maybe slightly subdued on the day after Halloween... We welcomed back Willi, and missed Allysa.

As the children came in they worked in their cursive notebooks. It's a nice way for them to settle and focus before we begin.

We did our opening verse and singing, then some beanbag tossing and marching games.

After those "out-breathing" activities we could focus on a more inward activity, drawing stars for our form drawing. We walked the shape of the 5 pointed star and then worked again on drawing them. The forms were much improved from last week.

We then sat down for a short recorder time, followed by crocheting with Melissa. Some of the children are already prolific with their crocheting. We will all be working on making and completing a scarf as our first project. Please let me know if you'd like to join us for handwork sometime.

We had a tasty snack and then did some more outward activity with some rousing games of "Glory to the Mountain" and "Oats, Peas, Beans," and ended with some clapping games to calm us down.

I re-told our stories from last week-- Ga-oh, Keeper of the Winds, and He-no, god of thunder. We then worked on drawing pictures and writing summaries in our main lesson books.


BLUEGRASS MORNING TUESDAY NOVEMBER 15
Danielle Milligan has arranged with her friend Paul Swiatek to lead a workshop for our class (and siblings, if interested) on bluegrass music. We would like to do this on Tuesday, Nov. 15 from 10:30-12:00 at Paul's house in Brighton, not far from 12 Corners. The children can bring a lunch and if we can have an extra parent or two join us, we can walk back to the church and have a picnic lunch downstairs.

Paul will share his love of bluegrass music, and it will also be a chance for some work for our group as a whole, for us to learn and experience what it means to be in a group, as experienced in a bluegrass band-- for example-- each instrument has its part-- it can't play too loudly or too softly. Each part is also important-- if it wasn't there, the music wouldn't be the same.

Best of all, Paul is offering to do this workshop free of charge!

I'll include more info on Paul in another e-mail. Please let me know if your family would like to participate. I think it would be a great experience for all of us. Thanks for your help in making it happen.

Hope you have a good week. We're off on a crazy road trip to meet my dad, brother, and a niece and nephew in South Bend, IN for a Notre Dame football game.

Take care,
Lynn