Tender Tracks Friday: Day 32

May 24, 2019
Waning Moon
Lake Lagunitas

The day started out cloudy and we headed to the usually sunny meadow to begin our play. Siena, Charlie, Violet and Margot found a newt and made sure to get their hands extra dirty to hold it, so it would feel most comfortable. They shared their find with Blake, Miles and Rohan, too. Soon they were building a little home out of sticks and leaves for the newt.

At snack we remembered all our favorite songs and sang them together. We remembered all the way back to some of our favorite fall and Halloween pumpkin songs, some more recent bug songs, our favorite chickadee-dee-dee song and, of course, Dirt Made My Lunch. Ruby told us the story of How Snake Came To Be and we got a special surprise during our circle as Ms. Krempetz came to visit! She brought her sweet dog, Zephyr, and we learned that his name means ‘gentle breeze’ and he really was a kind and gentle dog.

The children were very excited to show Ms. Krempetz and Zephyr all of their favorite spots in the forest and creek. They showed her how they crawl across the logs to get to the far side of the creek, and shimmied up the tilted trees on the other side. Charlie made rock paint and painter her own face, as well as Ms. Krempetz’s face! They even got a chance to walk Zephyr with his leash a bit and give their teacher a tour of Juniper Rose! It was such a fun treat to have her with us and share our ‘classroom’ as the whole RVNS crew were so welcoming when Ruby and I recently visited.

Our big puddle has returned with the recent rains and Miles went to put his rain boots on so he could splash with Blake and Charlie in the muddy water. Many sticks were thrown in for big splashes and delight. The sun was out by mid-morning and any muddy dampness was quickly dry.

Margot had left her fleece on the other side of the creek, so I went with her to retrieve it before lunch and we got to see Cormorant come to the pool near the waterfall. It flew upstream and paddled on the surface of the water before ducking and diving and swimming underwater to catch the fish hiding there! We watched the fish swim away and try to camouflage with the rocks, like a tag game we like to play. Cormorant caught a fish and soon swam and flew away, just as our friends were running over to invite us for lunch. Margot and I came to the lunch circle with stories of Cormorant and the Fish.

At lunch we played ‘I Spy’ and after lunch all the children were engaged with Royal Family play. Blake and I found a sneaky Banana Slug, which turned out to be his gratitude later when we shared.

Blake, Miles, Rohan and Charlie all worked on whittling their Weather Sticks with me and Ruby. When they completed their sticks, they then chose a special feather to tie on that will catch the wind and help them to see the changes in the weather.

As our day ended on Juniper Rose, we were grateful for Fish, Banana Slug, story box, Roly Poly, sunshine and blue sky and fun stick play with friends.