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