Huckleberry Cheesecake Newsletter, 8/17/07

We're officially in "Countdown to VACATION" mode. Having only taken 4 vacation days this year, I'm literally dying for some down time, some R&R, some uninterrupted time with Noah and Lily. And thanks to an intinerary that is taking us to coastal Maine, I'll be disconnected from the office (which makes me nervous but isn't necessarily a bad thing).

We'll have lots of tales and as many photos to post upon our return. In the meantime, here's the latest Huck newsletter; enjoy!

Dear Parents,

Camp Strawberry sure provided an exciting and fun week for our little scouts. Our campers got a taste of the great outdoors right here in the great indoors in the big city with some super reads. Some of the favorite books included The Teddy Bear's Picnnic; Maisy Goes Camping; PJ Funnybunny Camps Out; The Picnic and Who Has Been Here? Animals in the Woods.

Getting ready for their camping trip, the Strawberries began by packing their backpacks. Each Strawberry got to choose what things they would like to bring on the trip - they did a great job priortizing which were the more important items (like a flashlight and a can of soup) and which items they could do without (like crayons and stuffed animals) on the trip. After counting their items and stuffing them into a backpack, the Strawbs played magnetic fishing and identified the fish colors after each catch. They glued shapes on paper to create a tent for art and even practiced turning the flashlight on and off and identifying leaves that they should stay away from, like poison ivy.

The Strawberries worked together to assemble a tent in their classroom for some more fun. They all huddled inside and pretended to listen for animals in the woods. They put together a giant puzzle of a campsite, looked through real binoculars and made a compass of their own by floating a magnet in a bowl of water. Next, the campers walked North, South, East and West, right back to their tent again!

A picnic lunch was also needed for the camping trip. The Strawberries packed the picnic basket with all sorts of healthy and tasty foods, making sure to get something from each section of the food pyramid. Everyone was on the lookout for picnic crashers as they paraded around the center singing "The Ants Go Marching." They also read a story called Two Bad Ants and then tried to not have manners like those ants! They created a food collage and practiced making a pattern with red and white squares to make a picnic blanket. Later, the Strawberries loved laying out another blanket and eating their own lunches on the floor in the classroom.

S'more fun was had on campfire day in the Strawberry room. The class built a fire with wooden blocks and red and orange construction paper. They discussed campfire safety rules and sang songs as they cuddled around the fire. They class identified their colors as they checked out a picture of bears around a fire and then pretended to be the bears after they made their own bear masks for art.

Next week the campers become world travelers with the new theme of POSTCARDS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE. If you have any interesting items form your families' travels, please be sure to share. Thanks. Speaking of sharing, the Strawberries thank Ila for bringing her camping gear to share with the class and Nina for letting us check out her great camping pictures.

Happy Weekend!
All the Best,
The Strawberry Teachers

Huckleberry Cheesecake Newsletter, 8/10/07

The real reason for this blog -- to have an easy way of posting these Huck newsletters -- and I'm tragically behind in getting them live. Apologies. Rest assured that Lily is learning up a storm in school, each week something new and totally adorable.

Last week was for the birds. This week camping. Yea gads. I hope she's not actually inspired enough to, gasp, want to GO camping; this city slicker doesn't "do" camping!

Dear Strawberry Parents,

The weather this week was for the birds, but our ornithologists kept busy indoors learning about our fine feathered friends. We were keen on doing literature based activites with five fabulous books, Five Little Ducks, Little Red Hen, Lift the Flap Chick, The Little Duck and What is a Bird? For fun, the gaggle of Strawberries pretended to be ducks as they waddled and quacked during dramatic play and splashed in the water table with rubber ducks and penguins. Ask your Strawberry about the the bird that took flight in our classroom!

All the Strawberries flocked around the art table to make crafty creations. It wouldn't be arts and crafts without making the classic birdfeeder. Our craft sticks were smothered with honey and sprinkled with seeds for your backyard birds to enjoy. Feather painting was a unique and fun art medium that we experienced. Some other fun art created were decorating ducks with yellow feathers and yellow chicks hatched from toilet paper rolls.

Our brain development activities were nothing to squawk at this week. The Strawberries were showing off their feathers as they practiced color/number duck match, learning the concept of half and whole by matching one half of an egg with it's mate, and learning the words male and female and distinguishing the differences between them. The class also played a memory game by matching different colored feathers and even worked on sequencing with the ever popular question- which came first, the chicken or the egg? The Strawberries were very helpful in making a list of bird characteristics and were very interested in the stages of an egg hatching.

Next week's theme will have us learning all about CAMPING! We'd love to hear what your family does when you go camping, and we'd love to see any camping photos you might have from previous vacations. Thanks!

Have a great weekend-
All the best,
The Strawberry Teachers

Virgin Mary

Late last week, Lily was excitedly rattling off the names of friends who would be joining her at a pool party play date we hosted at my mother's.

"Hank, Andrew, Charlotte, Katie, Ila, Lucy, Sophia and LEO. It will be so much fun, mommy!"

"Lily, who is Leo?" (A name I'd never heard before)

"Leo is my baby sister."

"Silly, Lily....you don't have a baby sister."

"YES I DO!"

"Oh, OK. Well, where is Leo?"

"Leo is in my belly. I'm pregnant, mommy!"

(I kid you not -- I couldn't make this stuff up.)

Well, I'll be darned! Now, this is a conversation I knew I would (a) dread if it happened in LIKE 16 MORE YEARS! or (b) applaud if it happened well in to her adult life. But at age two?? Or, excuse me, two and three-quarters? Once again, my precocious child has beaten me to the punch.

Now, Lily may have questionable taste when it comes to naming her imaginary sister, but she's taking parenthood very seriously. She and her little friend Katie have apparently planted a vegetable garden so that Leo will have plenty to eat.

So, for all of you who need to every put something in the mail to our house, please address things to Noah, Courtney, Lily, Truman and Leo. Apparently our clan has grown by one.

PS -- Of course, let the record state, Lily isn't even allowed to talk to boys until she hits 40!!