F is for...

F is for Fish –
This week’s theme at school,
Except the poor teacher
Was sick with the Flu!
So no theme was Followed
But still, in the end,
It didn’t matter…
We played with our Friends.

F is for Farm animals.
There are all sorts...
Chickens and geese,
Cows and, of course,
Horses and llamas,
And roosters and ducks.
Turns out Mateo
Still prefers trucks.

F is for Flour –
Sensory play
To keep our hands busy
For one rainy day.

Finally, F is for

Fabulous Jan.

Happy Birthday to you,
You’re quite a wo-man!

E is for...

E is for Exhale. After two crazy weeks of overextending ourselves, we cleared the calendar so we could take a little time to learn about…

Elephants! We didn’t see any real ones, but paid close attention to the Heffalumps and Woozels in Winnie-the-Pooh’s Blustery Day, read a fair amount of educational material, and pretended to be elephants every once in a while. Hey, did you know that an African elephant’s ear can be as tall as 6 feet and can weigh as much as 110 pounds? And did you know that the wrinkles in an elephant’s skin allow it to hold moisture? And can you name the book containing this repeated phrase: “I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant’s faithful one hundred percent”?

And finally, E is for Earth Arts Fall Salon - this year's theme was "Kaleidoscope". My entry was "Collaborative Tempera" - one of two canvas paintings I've done in my entire life. This one was made using washable tempera paints reclaimed from a class I taught a couple of days earlier with a group of preschoolers - hey, it's all about the process :-) And, of course, Mateo was along lending his full support!

D is for...

D is for Darn it! We were so busy this week we couldn’t study Dinosaurs! And Darn it! Snow? Really? In mid-October?! And Darn it! You mean I drove all this way to pick up supplies and you aren’t open?!

D is for Dad, too. He turned 60 on Columbus Day. Yay!

C is for...

C is for Car trouble, Canceled Classes and Carpet installation. Oh, and Cats. The first three items had an effect of one sort or another on our preschool-type activities this week so we didn't do a whole lot of planned learning. Mateo did, however, do a pretty good amount of imaginative play pretending to be the "Car guy" and the "Carpet guy" and imaginative play is, after all, very important. I managed to sit him down one day to color some cat pictures and talk about cats and, of course, we have three cats that we learn from on a daily basis. So...that's that.

The photos are from a playgroup outing at a local orchard - hayrides, farm animals, caramel apples, cornbox (as opposed to sandbox) to play in and a straw bale mountain to climb. Mateo and Mia are missing from the group photo - I think they're off taunting the chickens.

It Feels Like Fall...

The leaves are changing, the air is cooling, and the wind is whipping our lawn chairs across the yard! Kevin and Mateo checked out an Autumn Festival in a neighboring town last Saturday and on Sunday the three of us went to an art festival at a local orchard.

The changing of the seasons is a fun thing to see through the eyes of a 3-year-old. We've been spending a lot of time outdoors noticing what is different and discussing how plants and animals are getting ready for winter. We even held a woolly bear on one of the orchard trails! My favorite book this week: Frederick by Leo Lionni. Mateo's fave: Fox Makes Friends by Adam Relf.

Fun with Papa & Gabby!

Here are some pics from Mateo's weekend with Papa and Gabby - this lake is definitely the bigger of the two they spent time near during his visit!

B is for...

B is for Bakery!
But it was closed, so we opted for Bass Guitar, Banjo and Bells at a local music shop. We spent a day on Birds and another day on Bears and sprinkled some Bubbles in there, too.

B is for Break!
My good fortune allowed me to join two other artists on a women's retreat in northern Minnesota last weekend. We didn't make a lot of art, but we had a Blast! (Thank you, Mary and Kevin, for helping to make that happen.)