Today was overcast but warm, and the children were in good spirits. Evelyn, our Atlas intern, was with us, and we played “I spy with my little eye” while waiting for others to arrive. Sarah used a game regarding the cardinal directions again to assist the students in finding a seat in the circle, making it a little more complicated this time by seeing if the children could name the seat “between north and east”. We walked out to the new site near Parking Lot 9 using Sarah’s method of having the students stealthily track her into the forest. Students are rotating between playmates nicely these days. Mud kitchen with special decorated cupcakes to share with others, moss lab with elaborate tools, pipes and storage areas and various self-described superhero scenarios are favorite activities. Jarett regularly provides various specialized “tools” to the others. He explains in great detail how they work, to which the interested party will inquire if they are “for sale” to which Jarrett hands them over proudly. Some of the children are currently preoccupied with dismantling dead trees and conversations regarding how to do that safely are ongoing. When they do this they are “good guys destroying enemy bases” or “good guys in their training gyms”. Looking at the types of bark, the patterns underneath, and occasional discovery of tiny living things became a side activity as well. Several of the children requested the magnifying glasses to see things more closely, and to double as an adventure tool. Willa did so much intricate ripping and stacking of leaves today! It was inspiring to see her focus and she returned to this activity over and over throughout the day. At snack time we had some delicious lavender tea with honey along with our trail mix and read from an old book of Greek Myths about our city Athens’ namesake, the goddess Athena. We also read about Poseidon and Heracles (Hercules). As expected by the developmental stages of our oldest children, play centered on power and strength is beginning to become more nuanced! Sometimes teachers initiate these conversations about how not everything is black and white but we are intrigued and inspired to hear these conversations initiated by the children themselves at times! Speaking their minds, and negotiating peer reactions is a skill they are all working on, and that we actively support by giving the younger children suggested scripts to say to each other in times of disagreement or remaining close by to supervise similar conversations with older children. The children themselves often rotate roles regarding who is being adventurous, and who is checking to see if it’s safe, and who is discussing methods and guidelines. At lunch, we are returning to eating together in a circle for a while to avoid children getting dirt in their food or having food knocked over by peers. It’s nice to be together for these extra few minutes again!
