Week 4 Update - Ms. Drea’s Explorers

Hello Explorer Families!

The weather is a changing! Sometimes it can be hard to find thankfulness for the winds and thunders that bring along the rain, but with all the green landscape and blue skies, no doubt that our plants and trees were full of gratitude.

The morning was a fine time for Blind Samurai and everyone is always happy to join in-- even those who decline at the beginning will find themselves jumping into the ring by round 2.

Afterwards we headed over to our future sunflower house to check on the sprouts we planted last time. Thank you rain and farmers for keeping them watered all week! Saturdays' Explorers got to feed the chickens too and this time everybody gave them plenty of space... when they found out I'd need to hold a stick to keep the rooster away :)

The winds brought more change as our younger and older Friday Explorer classes came together to say hello to the cows and take a peek at the pumpkin patch. Did you know we'll be hosting our Annual Fall Festival on Saturday, October 30th? Here are the details for both events in case you want another reason to stick around and spend time with us!

This week's lesson was all about seed saving. Do you save seeds from your garden? It's a practice we can all be thankful for whenever we eat an heirloom tomato or potato, and it's a small way to practice sustainability and independence. It's amazing how long a child will sit and collect seeds from a flower-- our Friday AND Saturday classes were so enthusiastic we ended up collecting seeds from Okra pods and Bell Peppers! I'd lie if I said some of those bells didn't get tasted too.

Our book this week was “A Seed is Sleepy” by Diana Hutts Aston. Friday's Explorers were all eyes and ears. Saturday's Explorers were ready to play. Funny how the weather can dictate our moods and preferences in ways we take for granted when we live our lives indoors.

Lunch is always welcome and our Saturday Explorers had a hotter day than Friday's so they were definitely happy to sit down for a while. On Saturday, some of us needed a change of pace so we headed to the creek. Everybody tried their Fox Feet-- and I encourage you to ask your child to demonstrate-- as they passed by our bee hive boxes. Explorers helped each other up the "cliff" and rocks were broken to reveal geodes. We even found rocks sharp enough to cut some smilax in our way!

Next week we'll be planting more in our classroom pots! Please let your little ones know, as I had many requests for shovels and watering cans today. I'd also like to offer a special thanks to my Saturday Explorers for welcoming back Killian and for being patient with my 3 year old son Oisin who joined the class bravely as the only little one in a class full of big boys.

A quick reminder that reading the Story of the Day with your children and sharing photos is a great way to build community and get them excited about class. Parents, if we could leave toys at home, that would help us keep our classroom on task and facilitate all the social emotional learning that happens throughout the day.

Next week is our halfpoint and I'll be sending our class agreements as a reminder to go over with all our Explorers. It's helpful to hear them again from their closest adults :)

Looking forward to some more exploring next week and thank you for being with us as always!

Until then,
Ms. Drea M.