April 03rd, 2020

Friends from a Distance

Firstly, we want to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone for participating in the Zoom calls and creating a Seesaw account.  We're so grateful that you've shown your support each day.  This first week, our objective was to get back in touch with the children and find out what they're up to and what they're thinking about, but also connecting the larger group back together the best we can.  Through our small group and full group meetings, we learned some  very sweet tidbits of information that we'd like to document here.

• Grace has moved to her new house!  She is penpals with Sally and Marley who live in her neighborhood.  She's been practicing a little bit of math and reading a "grown up" book called Rebel Girls.  Grace just recently made a tie-dye shirt.
• Fletcher has been riding lots of different vehicles in his house, including  a Thomas the tank engine scooter.  He counted his scooters and said, "We have nine cars."  In his house, he's been playing in a bouncy house to stay active and enjoying the movie Wall-E.
• Wolf M has been staying close to Zaza's house out in Virginia where he can visit some animals, like a "naughty rooster" who sometimes tries to "hurt the chicken's feelings."  He also mentioned a bridge over a river, where the water "got huge until it splashed onto the bridge!"  He showed us pictures of the lovely horses, like Peggy Sue.  "They have pretty long hair", said Wolf.
• Palmer has a new big boy bed! At his house, he's been playing with lots of construction and emergency vehicles, including a "fire pumper".  His family goes on a lot of walks, where they like to feed the ducks.  "We heard them go quack, quack, quack," he said.  He showed us special baseball cards in a treasure box in his room; his favorite team is the Whalers.  
• Maren is in Florida, where she is swimming a lot in the pool every day.  She's enjoying practicing her tap dancing, going on walks, doing some crafts, and writing her name.  On the beach, she likes to collect shells that have holes (she says it's not hard to find those) and bring them home to paint them and string them onto necklaces.
• Ellie has been playing at the dollhouse quite a bit these days.  She just recently had her 4th birthday, and she still has her special Elsa & Anna balloon, plus a Frozen crown.  Soon, she's getting a bike with training wheels.  She showed us some sand dollars and explained that when you break them, "little angels" come out, and they're "very teeny."
• Olivia showed us all the games she likes to play at her house, including Candyland.  She has some mermaid stickers she really likes using, and explained that her brother Daniel prefers buses and cars.  When we chatted with Olivia, she recounted some happy memories of going to the movies with Aunt Deena to see Frozen 2.
• Emilia has been reading Harry Potter with her family, and they're now on book number 4.  She said she doesn't like Snape, and Hermione is her favorite character.  For April Fools day she played some hilarious tricks on her dad by giving him yucky food for breakfast, like mayonnaise instead of yogurt!  Soon they'll be getting a swing in their front yard.
• Lane made a picture for her daddy's birthday which is visible in the slideshow above.  Lately she's been able to join her brother Will for his P.E. classes on Zoom, where she said they do "stretching".  She told us that her bunny Ba-ba is doing well, and he can "make his own breakfast."  Lane said, "When the coronavirus stops, I'm gonna hug you."
• Cannon has a bouncy house just like Fletcher that he's really been enjoying.  He told us, "I have a computer in my room. My gorilla's working on it."  He showed us a sloth friend and explained that real sloths can do "dog paddles."  For a while, we discussed sea animals with him.
• Oliver showed us his Calico kitty cat friend, who he had adorned with some "wings".  He showed us how Baby Ena can wear a special dress, and how some of his stuffed animals are superheroes who can bonk monsters on the head.
• Gigi told us about some delicious s'mores she was eating.  She recently found a slug in her garden that interested her quite a bit, so she's been "pretending to be a slug" sometimes!  Even though slugs are slow, she reassured us that she can still run "secret super speed".    She said to us, "Good thing we get to talk together."
• Wolf B is at the farm with his family, where he is raising some tiny adorable guinea fowl chicks.  He also showed us the many stuffed animals he has, including teddy bears, horses, and a hippo.
• Evelyn is in Montana, and has been having fun in the snow with her brother Clark.  Her family rescued a baby goat named Pearl from a terrible storm.  She was found on the back porch, and ever since they have been working to find her a forever home on a farm!

At one of our group meetings, we shared items from nature.  ​
Palmer brought 2 rocks.  "This one is sparkly, and this one isn't."
Gigi brought onion grass.  "It does taste like onion if you chew on it."
Evelyn brought moss and pinecones "from under the tree."
Fletcher showed us a bee that he found outside.  He put it into a little habitat inside a plastic container with sticks, leaves and flowers.  He said, "He doesn't want to see you because he's a little shy."
​
>>>>Weekend Challenge: Bug Hunt!
Drawing inspiration from Gigi and Fletcher, we're wondering if any families would like to try finding a bug outside and creating a habitat where it can live inside with you for a while as a temporary pet.  What kind of home will you give this pet?  A comfy bed?  Maybe a little television?  Post on Seesaw if you find any crawly critters you want to share.