Palo Alto Tender Tracks Feb. 25, 2014 Day 43

Waning Crescent Moon
Huddart Park: Meadow & Volley ball Sand court

All were here today and it was simply a very, very sweet day.  The Sun was shining warm on us and we watched the clouds and the weather throughout the day.  It is said that it will rain the day after this so we are learning to read the sky to see if we can really tell what clouds and wind patterns tell us when it is going to truly rain.
When we got there the children spread out with ease going to the places they truly enjoy.  Zac and Cole went straight to where they were building last time and found parts of their “Castle” torn apart. It turns out that their castle was part of plaster of paris someone must haved used for making tracks. They discovered that you can write with it and it was fun to break apart as well. Juliette and Serena spent most of the day playing in the sand and making a castle that many many people were invited into.  Jill spent a great deal of time with them and she became the queen.  “How old am I?” she asked.  And they said  “15.”  ” And how old are you two princesses ?” Jill asked. ” 13 and 14″ they said.
Zara and Eden played their house games and invited Finn and Ridham in often. They both played with them a lot but when they were being told who to be they often chose something different to do.
Julian roamed from group to group, first the boys a lot, then Juliette then with Jill and the other children running up and down the hill, or rather ROLLING down the hill.
I spent time making clay “candles” for Ridham and Zara and Eden from all the clay that ALL the boys had found and were having a lot of fun with.   Julian was selling the clay for” Real dollar bills!”  But alas, I only had play money, which he finally conceeded to.  I sold my candles for songs, stories and animal movements.  Eden had several animal movements and Ridham had a GRAND retelling of the Lion and the Mouse story. He is truly a great storyteller!
Serena was in rare from with talking, laughing and delight today and Juliette was her usual kind, gracious warm self.  Particularly when three times Serena destroyed her creations and she very politely said, “Serena, please don’t destroy this.”
Finn found mud he loved, wrapped it around a stick and then figured out how to stick it in the ground so the sun would bake it. It did just that and by the end of the day it was too hard for him to break so he abandoned the whole thing and left it there.
Cole had such a good time playing with the clay in the sand and I brought out the hammers which he, Zac and Julian loved hammering the clay with.
For circle we had a story about how Music Came to be and then we created rain songs with our rattles. We each passed on a word, phrase or movement that we immitated one to the other with the hopes of bringing on rain!!!
At the end of the day, after much rolling down the hill and great laughing it worked out where I was able to tell them a story that led into their new JOBS!!  Yes, there will be jobs that each one of them will get this Thursday: Weather Watcher, Guardians of Safety, Earth Keepers, Map Makers and Snack Helpers.
They were not given their jobs yet as it was the end of the day and we had to go but it was all introduced.
The ride home was sweet and filled with stories Jill read and thank you ‘s they shared.  On the way to the park in the morning Jill read but then brought them into a lovely hand movement, music making song for making different rain sounds.