All I want for Christmas is...

My two front teeth. Bryce lost three teeth in quick succession. As you can see the two top front teeth and a bottom one as well.

On snoopy's home ice

Calen, bryce, mina and Laszlo taking a break and watching the zambony while going ice skating this holiday week.

Bryce driving a skid steer

By himself is the only way he wanted to do it.

Calen dressed for Advent night

Calen and Bryce's magic show with bloopers

If you remember some of the home movies we used to make, this will be even funnier.

Ragel park Sebastopol

Ragel Park is this awesome giant park near our house. It used to be our standard playground. But now the kids skip the playground and go straight to the climbing trees in the back wooded area. Today Laszlo and Bryce went straight to the Fallen redwood tree. It was their ship to sail against the Pirates

Shelter project

Below is the class three newsletter about Calen's shelter project. Gives a great glimpse into the wholeness off the summerfield Waldorf education he and bryce are getting.

A hill is a house for an ant, an ant.

A hive is a house for a bee.

A hole is a house for a hamster or mouse,

And a house is a house for me.

A web is a house for a spider.

A bird builds its nest in a tree.

There is nothing so snug as a bug in a rug,

And a house is a house for me!

Dear Families,

Our shelter block has gotten off to a great start.  Beginning with the shelter of the body, clothing and caves, we have moved into an exploration of the roles of climate and local resources in how people have built shelters for themselves.  We made caves out of clay, and journeyed imaginatively to a cold and wet climate, to learn about Igloos through the story of an Inuit boy.   This week, we will journey to other climates, and hear stories of children living in very different shelters.  The children are drawing and composing their own writing about the shelters they learn about, and are all fired up to begin making their own models soon.  We have also begun working with spelling more systematically, with lists of spelling words and dictation work throughout the week.

Last week ended with a beautiful celebration of Dia De Los Muertos.  In an atmosphere of reverence and joyful remembrance, we shared stories of beloved grandparents and pets, and heard a  light-hearted story from Mr. Lloyd.   Your child's pictures will come home tomorrow.

Calen's project. Build a boat

For Calen's first substantial project this year he has to choose some kind of human enclosure or shelter and build it. He is choosing to build a house boat like we have seen in Florida and on so many lakes we have visited. This is him drawing what it will look like on the white board.

Haloween 2013

 It was a great evening trick or treating with friends.

The group of boys we went trick or treat with.  Bryce, Calen, Neils, Adam, and Miguel

Peace, love, motorcycle riding and musketeers...

Steph did a great job with Calen's makeup

Handsome boys!

Sprites night at summerfield

Sprites night is one of my favorites events at summerfield. Every class has its own skit so we get to see Calen perform. It is a great night that brings a community of parents together to celebrate the season. It all ends with a bonfire. This year, Calen got a lead role in the skit as the little chicken that is mischievous and hides from the farmer. Enjoy the pictures.

This is a rehearsal of the play.  Each group of Calen's class did the play 6 times throughout the night as groups of parents toured the skits across all the grades.

Surfing Dillon beach

The weather report said clear and sunny all day. So when we woke up this morning and saw overcast skies I was very disappointed. It was supposed to clear up though so I kept my fingers crossed. As I went to pick the kids up at school blue skies started showing and it got way warmer.

As we drove out to Dillon beach the weather only got better but the coast was still overcast. We arrived and the surf was perfect for learning and the sky cleared and it was almost instantly tee-shirt weather.

I love it when a plan comes together :-)

While the big boys Calen and Ollie surfed with me, Emmett and Bryce played by jumping down sand dunes. By the end all the boys were jumping dunes, leaving me in the water for 15 minutes of surf alone. My sprained ankle made it a little painful but still very fun. A great day was had by all!

bryce swimming at the pool

Three of the four of them won cakes at the cakewalk

Knight Bryce going across the slackline at the Fair

Here at the Marin County Wardorf fair

At the race track

Both calen and bryce are really into remote control cars. Near our house in Sebastopol is a hobby shop with a little track where you can rent high powered cars and drive them around for half an hour. Crazy by Cee they loved it. Shooting the cars over jumps and around corners at breakneck speed.

Water Skiing Lake Sonoma

This is a catch up post from October.  Calen, Levi and Ollie went skiing with us dads for the first time.  We rented a boat on lake Sonoma and had a blast.  Even the fathers got out on the knee board and skis.

Surfing USA!

Here is a short movie of Calen and Ale at the beach last weekend . Calen is on the red board. Wait till the end to see him ride. He got lots of rides but I didn't know how to use this new camera and missed them all. :-(

Heading back to Sebastopol

While I am going to see Calen in just a couple days, I hate to see him leave. It was so much fun for us to have one on one time. The weather was amazing. The surf was great. We were lucky to have our friend Tizi do some of her healing magic and her son Ali to surf with. A great trip and I know in sebastopol that bryce is happy from so much mama time and super excited to see Calen again.

Calen has dinner with his cousin Charlie

These are classic photos of Charlie with Cale. It was the end of the meal and he was starting to get a little cranky. The photos look more like he is scared out of his wits.

The dinner was at Ranchos Foods in OB. Calen's favorite place to eat and a favorite of Bernice's as well for the extensive vegetarian options.

Charlie sat in my lap happily for the whole meal. I got my baby fix!

Surfing in San Diego over the weekend with Ali.

Calen's words "I want to get into surfing".  He did just that over the weekend.  the weather was incredible and I could not get Calen out of the water both times we went to the beach.  He is now judging waves, paddling through surf, and catching waves before they break.  Awesome to watch.  

This is a foam board that we got for him to practice on.  Great investment.  It is the right size, soft, and durable.

Calen spent saturday afternoon and evening with Ale his best friend in San Diego.  The loved being in the water and Ale tried surfing as well and boogie boarding after seeing Calen have so much fun.

I had to drag them out of the water for a break and to eat.  It was an amazing day at La Jolla shores.

Fwd: Class Three Newsletter 10/6/13

Round and Round the Earth is turning,
Turning always round till morning,
And from morning round till night.

Dear Families,

After beginning this year with the beginning of Creation, we have moved on to the beginnings of time.  Time as humans have measured it, that is.  We have learned how ancient people looked to the heavens to measure time, watching the sun, moon and stars, and have been fascinated by the ways we divide time into ever smaller and quicker units.  The children talked about the different ways they know what time it is - seeing the sun coming up, hearing birds singing in the morning, their bellies telling them it's lunchtime.  This not only brought us closer to the experience of people long ago, but kept our conversation rooted in what we can observe with our very own eyes, ears, or bellies, as the case may be!

This week we will get to experience other ways that people have measured time, and we will make our own sundial.  We will find our way to the modern (analog) clock, and begin telling time by it.  We will also continue working with multiplication tables and addition and subtraction facts.

Set your own alarm clocks for an early morning this Thursday, when the third grade will meet on the farm to milk the cow.  Drop-off will be at 6:55am on the farm.  The milking begins at 7am, and will be followed by a simple breakfast together on the farm.  Then we will have recess and begin our usual day in the classroom.  If you have eggs you can donate to our breakfast, please let me know!

We will also have a visit from the fire department on Wednesday, complete with a tour of a fire engine and a talk about fire safety.  The following Monday there will be no school for Columbus Day/Native American People's Day, and the day after that will be our fieldtrip to the Bale Grist Mill.  Please note that the week after that, on Tuesday, Oct. 22nd, will be our picture day.

Warmly,
~Annemarie

Little and large acorns Bryce and I picked yesterday.

Calen's trip to San Diego

Calen has come to San Diego to go to his best friend's birthday party and do some surfing with me (jeff) . This post Documents the entire journey from Friday to Monday.

The first photo is calen reading the menu at his favorite restaurant in San Diego. Ranchos!

Michaelmas

Below is the class three newsletter that we just got.  I think that the message is applicable to everyone at this time of year.  Attached is a photo of Calen's class at the apple picking day that they just did.

The play was great as always.  This year was special because it is Calen's second year acting in it and third year seeing it.  I asked him what the play meant (because I was still not too sure myself) and he told the story of St. Michael being called upon to bring to submission the dragon.  This year, Calen's part was as a group of shooting stars that bring to earth a metal strong enough to make a sword for St Michael to use against the dragon.  This annual play that all students act in is one of the many parts of the Waldorf curriculum that make it unique.

Here is the news letter.

Bright gliding meteors
Curve through the night.
Michael's messengers,
Silent our flight.
Scatter we stars,
far down below,
that a sword may be forged
and the dragon laid low!

Dear Families,

What a rich and full week we have had!  Looking back on it with the children, we were surprised to realize that we had done so much in just one week - from our wonderful trip apple-picking, to building our sukkah, to sharing music and food together at our potluck.  Our field trip was magical - the children had a wonderful time climbing trees, picking and shaking down apples and shining them up to sparkle in the sun.  We drank fresh-pressed apple cider and played in the orchard.  And Farmer Dan led us on a beautiful walk through the woods, sunlight glinting through the tall, silent trees and gnomes seemingly around every corner.  I have attached a photo of us there in the woods, and one of the children playing in the orchard.  A very big thank you goes out to the parents who came along and helped us on this trip.

The next day, we got right to work, building our class sukkah.  Mr. Lloyd helped the children learn to use a post-hole digger, which insured that the four corners would be strong, and then the children worked together to figure out how to build the walls.  Then Todd McCoy (Tucker's dad) helped us with the roof, and they set to work decorating, proudly hanging the fruits of their harvest from the roof, weaving willow branches into the walls and standing cornstalks and sunflowers up against them.  We were surprised and delighted to find that we could fit the whole class inside at lunchtime!  And more than one child has spoken about how good it feels to sit inside their sukkah.  As the children find their way to an awareness of their own "inside" as separate from the rest of the world outside, building and inhabiting a structure they have made gives them a tangible experience of the soul-work they are doing throughout this time of the 9-year-change.

It was also very sweet to share our sukkah, songs and verses with you at the potluck on Thursday.  I so appreciated this chance for families to reconnect, and I thank you all for bringing your help, your wonderful dishes and your spirit of community to our gathering!

This weekend's rain has made it clear that we all need our BOOTS at school.  If you haven't already, please have your child bring in rain boots by Tuesday, so we have them for farm class.  Please make sure that your children wear other shoes to school, so they can leave their boots outside the classroom.

This week, we gather up our courage and our strong wills, and take up the work of Michaelmas.   On Friday's workday we will work with and alongside the other classes to take responsibility for the care and beauty of our campus.   (Stay tuned for another note about any tools or help we may need for our workday.)  Then we will enjoy a snack together, and prepare to present our Michaelmas pageant at 4:00, with our class of "bright, gliding meteors" ready to glide through their eurythmy form for you.   Please arrive early, with picnic blankets, dishes and utensils in hand.  After the pageant, the children will return to our classroom to change out of their costumes, and you can pick them up there.  Once they are dismissed, I turn them over to your hands.  I ask that you supervise them during the potluck, whether it is in our playground or another, as there will be many families and children sharing the space, without the teacher supervision the children are used to during recess.

Finally, I want to draw your attention to a series of classes on Waldorf Education and a workshop on the temperaments, all being held by my colleague Don Basmajian in the upcoming months.  Don brings years of experience and a deep, gentle wisdom to his understanding of the children and the Waldorf classroom, and his classes are sure to be inspiring to all.  See below for more information.

Warmly,
~Annemarie

Thanks for introducing me to baby eels Papie!

Jeff and Bryce in the backyard at sunset

First padres game...

We are going on a bit of an adventure. We are taking the trolley to petco park to watch a professional baseball game. Here we are at the train station. Bryce is so excited :-)

Next photo is on the train. Bryce is super excited now. Asking if each stop is ours or not. Soon we will be at the ball park.

Of course Bryce wants to go to the very top :-D

And the padres win it with a home run in the 9th inning. Glad we arrived at the end of the 4th. Calen says it was really fun and he liked how the padres won. Bryce love it :-)