We continued to experience big changes and growth in our community early this fall as the weather, somehow, did not cool down too terribly much! New children and families joined us and built their first bonds of friendship and trust while a few more or less established community members have unfortunately said their goodbyes.
Please find highlights of our life at CMC over these past seven very busy weeks below and in part two of this post. This time, things are organized in roughly chronological order to highlight the big events and small steps of progress we're experiencing at CMC right now. Please note I have needed to split the seven weeks of content here across two new posts (due to unexpected storage and accessibility issues). Please see the link at the bottom of this post to continue to the week of October 3rd!
The Week of September 19th
Mia practiced her big sister skills with Jada!
Sagine, Dane, and Rizwan played "birthday party" (a favorite).
KK took her own turn with the new full-sized basket ball that landed on our playground late this summer.
James, Dane, Rizwan, and Sagine watched excitedly for the YMCA dumpsters to be emptied; Roshan relished a few minutes of creative experimentation.
Meanwhile, inside: Sage watched Elias get a handle on binding spindles with rubber bands before placing them in the Spindle Box; KK watched Elias practice his tong skills; Wally worked on a booklet of flags; Roshan set up a Stamp Game addition problem; Sage took a first crack at our Large Movable Alphabet, writing "monster snake" (something he'd drawn); and Mary engaged Rita and Mia in some writing practice.
Jiraiya carefully used a yellow piece of fabric to funnel beans back into a narrow-necked pitcher!
Yung led Children's House West in a language game:
And last but not least, we celebrated Sir's birthday:
The Week of September 26th
Kyri and Dane showed some real grit while searching for the correct answer during a Sound Game:
During the morning and afternoon work cycles (left to right, top to bottom): Jada took a break from her cylinder blocks with the aid of her name tag; Elias repeated his work with the Spindle Box; Sagine helped clean up after lunch one day; Jiraiya worked to arrange Color Tablets into a rainbow formation; Rita and Roshan practiced writing numbers on the couch together; Yazan and Roshan practiced pouring water in different ways; Yung introduced Zane to the Geometry Cabinet; Sir refreshed his memory of teen numbers and quantities with Teen Beads and Boards.
Rita folded her blanket and prepared to rejoin the Afternoon Work Cycle after a rare rest in the Multipurpose Room:
Sage offered and served some freshly cracked nuts to Dane and Mary while Sir watched:
Zane spent some time with "his" sticks:
Carver visited one day after school in her beautiful new uniform to say goodbye and share some Citrusade with the CMC After Care Crew (pictured are Wally, Kiki, Jada, Isla, and Mia). Carver spent just over a year with us in Children's House East and we miss her sunny, patient contributions to our community. Below, Carver in her first days with us last summer celebrating the completion of a Fall Countdown with SJ, Israel, and Rita.
The Weeks of October 3rd to October 31st
Please see the additional blog post: