Of Land and Local in the Rain

Today was a dreary, rainy day- yet Anna was determined to get out of the house and out into the natural world.  So, off we went on this cloudy and thoroughly wet afternoon, in our raincoats and rain boots, and holding onto a couple of umbrellas.  Anna, her mom and the boys set off  through the woods to see a fabulous outdoor art installation and I drove the car to meet them.  The sculpture was totally worth the drippy, soggy walk.    

  

Brilliant Idea

I signed the boys up for a "Do it Yourself" Halloween costume making class today and WOW was that ever a brilliant idea.   They had a blast, came home with costumes they were wicked proud of, and I got to spend the day with my mom on her birthday!   Zombie and zombie cow certainly do look spectacular!

FUN RUN 2014

The boys school held a fun run today....all 280  kids running around the building in laps to equal a mile.  There was a rock band, a percussive band, and an African drumming band to cheer on the runners, as well as a ton of families there to cheer on the kids.  The PE teacher, school nurse and a school social worker began a program a year ago called Move it!  Move it!  It happens 3 times a week and kids run to gather up miles.  They get little prizes along the way for their running accomplishments and to keep motivation high.  Both of my boys are running regularly and each are just about to hit a new milestone...Kuba, 25 miles, and he'll get a special t-shirt, and Anders 75 miles and he'll get to go for ice cream to the local ice cream shop with 2 teachers of his choice.  All of this supports being active in a very healthy way.   It's so exciting for sure and I love the enthusiasm that has built up at the school about running!

The Best Part of Me

The best part of me is my mouth becos it lets me eta hot dogs and breth and speck. 

 So the best port of me is my mouth.  

It is cindov red and medium and mushy and round.  

That is wiy I love my mouth.  

Scientific Illustrations

Kuba was learning about the life cycle of the butterfly in first grade this fall.  Their classroom had a butterfly home and about 15 monarch caterpillars munching away on milkweed.  Out of 15 caterpillars only 3 made it to the chrysalis stage and then metamorphosed into butterflies.

The kids created scientific illustrations of the stages of the caterpillar, looking carefully at images of monarch eggs, caterpillars, chrysalis, and butterflies and observed the live ones in their room.   They then made an accordion fold caterpillar book that is pretty cute.  Kuba was painstakingly careful with his illustrations and his coloring.  His engagement with this was just exquisite, as was his final book.
 

Out With a Bang!

Anders joined a soccer league this fall and played soccer for the first time as a member of a soccer team, team England.  The big plus for him was that his friend Ben was also on the team.  They had practice once a week and played 6 games in the season, losing week after week.  Despite the losses, Anders liked playing and felt proud that the team was loosing by less each week; 6-1, 3-1, 2-1, 1-0, etc.  Their final game on Sunday was thrilling to watch, because they WON!!!  Score:  England 2, France 1.  If there were awards to be given, Anders surely would have won the most improved player award.  His skill level grew steadily each week until he was looking like a true soccer player that last game.

Stone Arches

Anders fourth grade class went on a field trip to a local college and were lucky enough to meet and work with the local sculptor, Thea Alvin.  Thea is an artist that creates fabulous stone arches, and other stone sculptures that resemble the work of artist Andy Golsdworthy.  Here is Anders creating a small stone arch using the mold provided.  His class created three successful small arches while behind them towered a giant arch that Thea was creating for the college.