October kindergarten

I didn't feel kindergarten flowed quite as well this month.  I guess the newness has worn off, because Preston wasn't always as keen to leave his play and come for circle or story.  And honestly, at aged almost-five, I'm not sure if forcing the issue is really appropriate.  He's still such a little guy, and playing is just what he should be doing.  We did some verses about gnomes, and he really loved those, especially one involving counting.  He even made up his own verse to it.

We baked cookies in the shape of leaves and used thinned icing to paint on the colors.

We hung the best ones on our autumn tree on the nature table.

Following Waldorf Essentials kindergarten plans, we read/told the story of Woody, Hazel, and Little Pip by Elsa Beskow and used it as a jumping off point for our stories the rest of the month.  I made Woody and Little Pip Acorn, and unbeknownst to me, Preston came along and drew on the faces with a pen, which was pretty cute.

Sariah loved being story-teller helper.

Preston liked getting involved too.

I actually had to curb some of the "helping" with telling the story as they were both getting a bit out of hand (having the characters be too rough, jump off things, crash constantly, etc.)   I want them to be involved, but I also story time to be special and kind of reverent, and not a complete free-for-all.

My project early in the month was to needlefelt a mushroom house for Super Sam (then we had to shorten him so he would fit in it) and then make Lola the Turtle, which Sariah helped with.  

In the last week's story, all the forest creatures gather for a harvest festival.  Sariah had the idea to turn our candle into a bonfire and have all the characters gather round it.  Sometimes 9-year-olds have the best ideas.