Mel's week

I love my time at the school, but it always goes by so fast. As a mom, it was really cool to see the changes the kids have made in just a few months since the last time I was the parent volunteer. I feel very fortunate to be able to spend this time with the kids and be a part of their day.

I started out with the Appoloosa kids learning how to make seed bombs.

Its started to rain so we went inside and started beading a garden sun catcher.


The Palomino group finished the sun catchers quickly so the kids wanted to make stuff out of construction paper. Alaira and Damon were into making shields and swords, which several of the kids joined in and we also made construction paper belts to hold the swords, I also improvised and we made helmets out of paper plates to go with the armor.





Damon and his big guns with his trusty side kick Eddie.

The Mod Squad

Sophias creation with construction paper.


It was still raining so we gathered together and started reading about the Arctic.

The kids then made snowflakes.




Still raining so we finished the day with games and puzzles.



Day 2
We finished the garden sun catchers and then a continuation of Clair's still life drawings. This week I had them use black paper with the oil crayons for a different effect.








Joint drawing by Liam and Eddie of a giant dinosaur.

A peek in the classroom.

More Arctic stories and learning a song from one of the books.

The pirate flags the kids made with Clair.


Yoga with Miss Ruxi




Day 3
We made masks to go with our Arctic play.


Lunchtime - with the masks on of course.

More seed bombs.


Nature hike.

Found a chicken coop, Sophia declared they had flown the coop.

Drawing Classes!

This week, some of the children began taking art classes with a wonderful art teacher, Megan, who works at the Art School of Austin. We are so very happy to have her working with the kiddos! Her focus this six week session is going to be on drawing. After introductions, she brought in some items for the children to look at and draw. There was a pumpkin, a pencil, a candle, a bowl of fruit, and I believe some type of coffee mug. She had the children start off by drawing what they saw so she could get an idea of where they each were and how they represented what they saw. Here are some examples:







And after helping the children really look at the items to see details and depth, here are examples of what they drew afterwards. Note the huge difference in the 3 dimensional work. These kids are only 4 and 5!















This was a mug drawn for mom because "it's her favorite coffee mug." And she drew it amazingly from memory!



I'm beyond excited about this series of classes being offered at our schoolhouse and look forward to next week!

Presenting Way Up in the Arctic

Before reading about Polar Bears, I asked the children, "Why do you think Polar Bears have no eyelashes?" This answer made my day, "I think because there is no dust in the Arctic!" -Eddie







Sophia, the Arctic Hare


Eddie, the Snowy Owl


Skye, the Furry Seal


Lucca the Lemming


Zeren the Beluga Whale


Damon, the Sly Wolf and the Arctic Fox


Alaira, the Polar Bear and the Walrus




Violet, the Caribou

Family Work day - January

We briefly encountered rain for a few weeks before the holiday and we learned we needed to do something to help with the mud. With only one day notice 5 of our families were able to meet at the schoolhouse and spread mulch in the problem areas. While we were there we built a garden area made of wood pallets and organized and cleaned inside the school. We got a lot done in a very short period of time. Thanks again for the last minute support!
-Melanie

A Post from Clair

While at the schoolhouse this past week I was overcome several times by how wonderful it all is.   I feel so very fortunate to be a part of something so amazing and beautiful.  The children are obviously thriving, happy, learning and growing so fast.  I loved being there, listening to their conversations, helping them, and creating art with them.  It is an ideal situation for children to experience the value of art.  One of my very  favorite things is watching children who are fully immersed in art.  When given a prepared environment and maybe some discussion, many children willingly dive in and get lost in the joy of making something.  I saw this happening each day.  To me, art is invaluable because it encourages decision making, self confidence, self-expression, and creative thinking.  There is no right or wrong.  I love reminding them that everyone does things differently in art, and all choices are valid.



Tuesday I brought in some sunflowers for a still life project.  I was inspired by Andrea's book "The Language of Art" by Ann Pelo.  I asked them to look very carefully and closely at the flowers and talked about what kind of details we saw.  We talked about how big or small the parts were.  They first sketched with black sharpies then painted over their drawings with liquid watercolors.   Not only are the finished paintings beautiful, they enjoyed the process and learned more about one of the main genres of art.







Wednesday I asked the children to help me paint the sails on the pirate ship in the yard.  Their part was to dip their hands in paint and make handprints on the sails.  (Later, I painted a skull and crossbones on one, and the Terra Luz logo on the other). Then they chose a large piece of colored paper to paint their own pirate flag.  I showed them the traditional skull and crossbones I was planning on using and many of them made their own version. 





Thursday I pulled out some materials in the atelier and talked about making constructions.  They could choose corks, toothpicks, pipe cleaners, and/or buttons.  I gave them complete freedom of what to make and how to use the materials.  I showed some pictures from books, and demonstrated how to connect pieces.  Lucca, Damon, Eddie and Liam enjoyed connecting the corks, and adding on pipe cleaners.  Alaira, Sophia, Skye, Violet and Zeren all enjoyed making things with pipe cleaners and buttons.  Also added were bells and beads. There were a bluebonnet and sunflowers, candycanes and candy sticks made for friends, an electric machine that might shock you if you touch it "but just for pretend", a headband, an abstract construction, and a robot that has leaves for feet.  It was so fun watching them use materials in their own ways.  Many of these fragile creations didn't last, but the process was what was important and they thoroughly enjoyed the freedom.



Many thanks to Andrea for giving so much to our school and our families, and for her unending patience, love and respect toward the children.  I'm continuously inspired by her!  Also I want to thank Ruxi for doing yoga with the children.  What a sweet time it was, moving, singing, and relaxing together.

Peace and Love

Peace Wreath

Introducing and discussing Martin Luther King, Jr. with the children was exciting and also eye opening.

When I taught in the public schools, by the time the children came to me, they already had an introduction to MLK and a general understanding of what segregation was, so we just dove deeper. In our case, this was the first time for all of the children to learn about this great leader in our country's history.

The main consideration was asking myself if it would be difficult for these young children to understand the struggles of MLK in an age when many of the worst aspects of segregation have been erased. This is a big concept for little ones to understand. We read many wonderful books. Initially, some of the children seemed  more obsessed with the fact that MLK had been shot, than what it was he stood for. It was a bit tricky at first, so we had to go back and have many discussions. We talked about equality and the power of love. In the end, they understood how MLK wanted to help make the world a better place, what his vision was, and how he did it in a peaceful way.

We also read What Does Peace Feel Like. Such a lovely book.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.

Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

-MLK, Jr.