Stone Soup

"Bring what you've got! Put it in the pot! We're making Stone Soup!"

 

 Inspired by the story "Stone Soup" and the holiday spirit, the Sourdough kids all shared their vegetables to make delicious soup.  After all the veggies were collected we cut, chopped, and cooked our soup to share at lunch together.  

Sharing sure is tasty!

Egypt Day

The Downstairs children spent Wednesday morning learning about Egypt as well as creating a diorama complete with pyramids and camels.  Christy's parents recently returned from a trip to Egypt and brought back some souviners for the classroom.  The children were able to see a Galabeya (traditional clothing for men) postcards and pictures of Christy's parents riding camels.  They were also able to practice writing their names in hieroglyphics with the help of stencils.  The morning was complete with dancing to "Walk like an Egyptian."

Let it snow!

It is finally starting to feel like winter!

After we got all bundled up in our hats, mittens, snowpants, jackets, boots and scarves we ventured out to our transformed playground.  

The new blanket of snow made our playground look so peaceful, even the deer wanted to play there...but not for long!

 

Perry gives our snowman a little taste...

 

Isn't he handsome?  

Sledding!

 

 Morgan and her mini snowman :)

 

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a pterodactyl . . . It's a Sandhill Crane!

Montana Animal Spotting! 

Quick everyone look!

A flock of sandhill cranes flew above our school today.

We could here them calling to us, so we called back to them with our best sandhill crane voices.

And guess what, they came back and circled our school so we could watch them longer!

making art for a good cause

Reach Out and Care

 
Over the past month the children have been working with ROC (Reach Out and Care) Wheels.  ROC Wheels is a non-profit organization whose mission is to build, deliver and fit children in need with state of the art wheelchairs.  ROC Wheels works on a global level and they have recently donated wheel chairs to Haiti, Mexico, Jamaica, Honduras, Uganda and Russia to name a few.

I (Megan :)) first worked with ROC Wheels in 2009 at Belgrade Middle School.  I was amazed at the level of compassion that this program instilled in the students there.  I knew our loving Sourdough kids would be perfect for this project.

When Lee Hanson first visited our school she brought with her a lot of interesting artifacts from ROC Wheel's trip to Africa.  While the children were interested in learning about the continent and people, the most important lesson from Lee was that they could help people in need. The children watched a video of children their own age being fitted with wheel chairs for the first time.  These images really inspired the children to help!

How we are helping?

The Sourdough Kids are making clay necklaces, start to finish.  They first created beads with Lee and myself out of Terra Cotta clay, which were fired by Lee.  A few weeks later, Lee returned and helped the children glaze their beads.  The final step is stringing the glazed and fired beads to create beautiful necklaces!

How can you help?

Collectively, the children will be selling their necklaces for a donation at school.  Each necklace was a group effort and any number of children could have helped create the necklace you might purchase.  Along with the beautiful momento, 100% of your donation will go directly to the ROC Wheels Foundation, and in turn will provide wheel chairs to children in need.

Trick or Treat!

Halloween is so close we can barely stand it! 

The past few days of school have been filled with Halloween activities with special visitors.

 

Hilary and Shelby visited to make these skeletal masterpieces.  The kids had to work very carefully to create a perfect skeleton. 

 

Kell and Carson showing off their fine motor skills!

Thanks to all the parents who helped out this week!  

Happy Halloween!

BOO!

Today we had the spookiest treats ever! 

Hannah and her mom Anne were so kind to bring these tasty (and...shhh...HEALTHY) Halloween treats.  

They were such a hit we had to ask for the recipe.  Anne says they are surprisingly easy to make even though Hannah thought the process was just a bit too sticky.

Anne and Hannah's 

Banana Coconut Ghost Pops

Ingredients:

Bananas: Cut in half

Vanilla Yogurt

Shredded Coconut

Dried Blue Berries

Popsicle Sticks

How to do it:

1. Put your halved banana on a Popsicle stick (with the rounded side up for the ghosties head)

2. Dip the Banana in yogurt

3. Place your Banana on a plate or cookie sheet

4. Sprinkle with Coconut and make a Ghost face with Blueberries

5. Place ghosts in the freezer to harden

6.  Enjoy!

ommm...

After playing outside on Wednesday afternoons, the children have been enjoying a yoga lesson led by Eli's mom, Rebekah.  This half hour of games, poses, and relaxation rejuvenates us all - physically and mentally!

 

Cole balances a ball between his feet and introduces himself,

"I'm Cole, and I like cheetahs!"

 Carson carefully blows on a feather...

too much air will make the tiny piece of fluff blow away.

 Are those kids really licking their toes?!!!

No, they're just bears eating honey!

Rebekah tells a story, 

and the children act it out through fun yoga poses.

The class winds down with a wiggle test 

{The children let their arms and legs go limp and we wiggle them.}

and a massage.

I bet you wish someone would give YOU a massage during the middle of your day!  ;)

Signs of Halloween

Can you spot the signs of Halloween?  We have been busy as bees getting ready for one of our favorite holidays.  Our school has transformed to a spooky place of learning; with spiders, pumpkins, witches, ghosts and much more. Take a look!

Pirate Meow Meow Spooky Face

Hi Morgan!

Black Light Party!

Lizzie and Tommy's Mom teaches the kids how to make a Jack o Lantern Mask

We found a sign of Halloween!

Spooky Rings!

Making Mosaics

Sawyer's Spider

Quinnell and her mom work on an art project

One of our favorite Halloween songs goes like this:

5 little pumpkins sitting on a fence,

A witch came flying by!

eee-hee-hee-hee-heeeee!

I'll take you and make some pumpkin pie!

(Then there were 4, 3, 2, 1, etc...)

0 pumpkins sitting on a fence,

a witch came flying by!

eee-hee-hee-hee-heeeee!

Eating pumpkin pie!

Batty Finger Puppets

Upstairs Spookiness

Halloween Crafting

Rocky Creek Farm

  

Alex taking in the view from the tractor ride

 It sure is starting to feel like fall (good bye 70 degree weather) and there is no better way to get ready for the season than visiting a pumpkin patch.  Rocky Creek Farm, located just east of Bozeman, is a beautiful working farm where you can pick and press apples, hunt for pumpkins, and find the best real apple cider in town.  Many of us have fond memories of visiting pumpkin patches and apple orchards in our youth.  The beautiful fruits, vegetables, pumpkins and gourds, the smells, and of course the delicious apple cider and other harvest treats.  We had a great field trip to the farm, and I hope that all of the kids hold on to the memories of our visit.  

Alicia and Amelia!

Making our own cider

How many preschoolers does it take to fill a tractor?

Piggy watching

Can we keep them? Please?

Pumpkin Patch!

Suzanne and Talia came too!  Check out Talia's beautiful hat...

 Just have to include a close up of the tractor