we celebrated the first week of spring learning about bugs & the many ways they help us..
we painted a bug map with little plastic bugs, went on a bug scavenger hunt, played pollination games, made little cocoons with butterflies inside, learned about beehives & made a beeswax candle. we even tasted some local honey....so yummy!
so bike athens asked us to collaborate with them for an upcoming event they were planning at terrapin brewery. it sounds super fun with activities for all ages & we will have a table set up FULL of cool & fun things to help decorate your bike for the bike parade, so join us on saturday, march 30th from 11 am to 3 pm for a ton of fun!!
here's a little sneak peek of some of the cool decorations we have been working on...
our Seedlings studied all about seeds recently & you can't learn about seeds without talking about Jack & the Beanstalk...so we read the story, then planted our own magic beans & made our own chia pets.
and then some little leprechauns came by for a visit during their search for gold coins...
we have been thinking alot lately about what makes arrow special. it is hard to put our finger on it, but lately we have received many inquiries from people who are very interested in what we do here; people from as far away as australia even. we will re-visit this topic in this blog in the future, but here are a few things that we think that make it special (in addition to all the sweet children & families who fill our space each day):
- offerings that cater to all members of the family, from prenatal support to continuing education workshops for parents
- low caregiver to child ratio in our childcare offerings. our ratio is typically 1:3.
- small class sizes mean more individual attention for your child. our class maximum is 6 children.
- an emphasis on different educational philosophies that encourage students to appreciate their natural & cultural world, while developing curiosity and imagination
- collaborative partnerships with other local organizations & businesses foster our dedication to our community
- our urban neighborhood setting presents unique opportunities: field trips to local restaurants, urban community gardens & nearby historic properties
once a month we get to spend some relaxing time with our friend, Rachel, from yogasprouts. it's one of our favorite times....
namaste.....
this past week, our Seedlings were learning all about bears & hibernation. they made a bear habitat, made mixed media collages, & came to school in their pajamas & hibernated in their own cave, while listening to "The Mitten".
then we made a large bear biscuit with blueberries & ate it all up!
we all had so much fun at the first come together event, so we decided to continue our collaborative educational series, this time focusing on diverse cultures. so join us as we once again team up with ATHICA, the Georgia Museum of Art, the Lyndon House Arts Center, & Treehouse Kid+Craft to host our second collaborative event with art activities planned for all ages.
here are the details....
Drop in any time on date (TBD) between time (TBD) at the location (TBD). we will have an interactive shadow puppet theatre inspired by the art of shadow play practiced throughout the ages in Asia, particularly in Indonesia. we can't wait to see what other surprises our partners have planned.
...and here's a sneak peek of our shadow puppets in the making....
we'll post some updates on our progress along with details on the new date....
so we are sorry to announce that the next Come Together event has been postponed to a later date (still to be determined) due to a scheduling conflict with the host venue. We will keep you posted when a new date & time are ready to be announced.
Thank you and we apologize for the inconvenience.
*Rachel & Rinne
our Seedlings are learning about weather this month. we adjust our weather wheel each morning...
it has stayed on rain a lot lately...
so we took the opportunity to make rain paintings...
even the stains made while drying looked beautiful.....
we discussed storms such as tornadoes & hurricanes and made some spin art to resemble weather radar...
we had a sweet week this past week & wanted to share a peek.....won't you be our valentine?
we even showed some love for one of our favorite presidents....honest abe....xoxo
last week was "silly week" for our Seedlings, which included playing in a cool cardboard fort, making flubber, & sharing lots of giggles.....take a peek....
& Lyra puts a bird on it.....
we had a great day making family tin types with our friend & local photographer, Emily. all of the families we had the pleasure of photographing today were troopers since it was a bit chilly outside, but it was definitely worth it for these amazing one-of-a-kind images....
here are some scenes from the day & emily's process....
as you can see, emily is an amazing talent, & you can check out more of her work by visiting her site....
our little ones in the seedling class are really sweet. we are proud of this group and their leader, keara, has done a wonderful job, as has rachel, with coming up with activities that are creative, engaging, and imaginative. before the holidays, the group made presents for their families (felted soap for papa and scented bath salts for mamas), and then they played...dancing, riding on a "train" and drawing.
our littles found some balloons left over from a weekend birthday party...what a nice surprise!
We saw stars!
join us this weekend to experience this unique photography process in action. These make really lovely family heirlooms...just in time for Valentines Day...
You must preregister for a 30 minute sitting appointment through Eventbrite here: http://tintypephotoboothatarrow.eventbrite.com and you will receive a confirmation email once registration is complete. We will post a follow up post with some examples from the shoot soon.
our little ones have been learning all about winter and cold things recently. we made sparkly snowflakes and painted a wintery scene. we even experimented with some ice painting....brrrrrrrrr......
arrow friend and local mama, karen gerow, led a workshop for arrow parents on saturday in the seedlings classroom. entitled, math + play, karen shared with us how to lay an early foundation for math through play. train sets, simple blocks, and old school games geared toward preschoolers (chutes and ladders) prime their brains for math learning through developing spatial skills, in addition to the obvious like getting them used to counting and learning numbers.
arrow is such a good place for this sort of workshop because, while the adults were in the workshop, the children played in the adjacent room with arrow caregivers.
then, it was time to invite the little ones in to play at the stations that karen had set up...a train table, with blocks, or with chutes & ladders!
thank you to karen, and to all the families that participated in the workshop!
our seedlings class celebrated the life of ben franklin this past week. we made wire-rimmed glasses, flew our handmade kites, visited a "library" with our new library cards, made lemon batteries, drafted our own constitution, & even had time to become volunteer firefighters & put out a few fires! Whew!
we had a lively meeting of our new moms' group recently...it felt like a party...
it started with a simple xylophone & shortly became a dance party...so fun!
we had a blast making cameras & pretending to be photographers recently....I just wish we could have developed the photos :)
