Arts, Environment and the Child: Walking the Wheel of the Seasons

I had a great time working with the Flower Children yesterday. When I first got there, I was feeling shy, and starting to doubt that that was where I was meant to be at the time. But as soon I began to feel those feelings, they started going away and I began to loosen up. Then I was told I was in charge of the egg balancing game. This is where one kid walks across a line with an egg on a spoon and passes it to another kid with a spoon at the other end. At first I wasn't being too much of a leader, but then something changed, and I started to gain control and help the kids have fun instead of just staring at them. I think my biggest problem with working with kids is my fear and my shyness. I don't even know what I'm really afraid of...they are kids...who accept anyone. I think I just think of them as being so fragile that it is imperitive to give them nothing but the best until they are old enough to handle it. And I'm scared opf srewing that up, so sometimes I just don't know how to act around them. But I also guess they are old enough to handle it. I

I painted Cole's face like a lion and it looked so cute! I'm gonna have to post it on my page!

Today I taught my first lesson. I took the time to lessonplan, and some of my ideas came to me during Marja's root and stem lecture. I decided afew weeks ago that I wanted to teach very basic botany to the kids, who are 3-5 yrs. old. It turned out that my good friend Heidi had already done a similar lesson ith the kids she teaches, so I as able to call her up to get some pointers.

I started by asking the kids what flowers were used for...then showing them a drawing I made of a flower which clearly showed its parts: the roots, stem, petals, and leaves. I named each one, and its function (the roots gather the water, the leaves gather the sunlight for food, the stem is the support, the petals are showy for pollinators). I then showed them pictures of different types of flowers, including some in the desert, and some growing out of water in a pond. This showed how flowers, thus plants, could live almost anywhere.

For my art project I had them draw anatomically correct flowers. We used tissue paper for the petals. They seemed to have fun. Hilary said she was impressed.

It was difficult to teach my lesson because right as I was starting, one of the kids' grandma's came in. She watched the whole thing. I was very nervous and I kept having to tell myself, "Don't lose concentration...don't lose concentration..." And for the most part I didn't, but I think my uneasiness still came out in voice, and I did stutter a little bit. That's why it was good to hear Hilary tell me it went well.

I also wish all the kids were present; there were only about seven or eight.

This was a fun trip. I got lots of great pictures!! The only thing that was a little upsetting was the car situation. Rhonda had an understanding that I was supposed to drive, and I wasn't able to...so I felt that weighing on me all day. So i rode with Teresa, Luca's mom. I was a little nervous at first, but it turned out we had a lot in common, from the same home state to present family distresses.

The girls that worked at the museum were very nice and so good with the kids. I really enjoyed the activity we did in the first gallery: the kids were split up into groups. Each group was given a descriptive word (bumpy, smooth, fluffy). Then they were told to go around the room, looking at the enlarged photographs, and place the word on the floor in front of the photograph that fit their word. They all did well, and they all had fun. Luca never seemed to be satisfied with his word, 'fluffy', and Sasha was playing leader and had a group following her all around the room. They have such personalities! I think I enjoy just watching them as much as I like teaching.

Today I did the follow-up lesson for last week's. I again went over the parts of a flower and its functions, asking the kids to raise their hand if they thought they might know the answer. They did great! My first question was, "What do we start with when we want to grow a plant?" Someone guessed right, a seed. Then I described a few more parts of the flower than I had previously: fruit, bud, taproot vs. fbrous roots, cotyledons. I announced that I had a game to play: guess that plant part!

I had brought in many different vege's for them to guess...carrot and radish for the roots; spinach and parsley for the leaves; celery for the stem; broccoli and cauliflower were the flowers; an artichoke was the bud; a coconut was the seed (and somebody got it right!!); cucumber was the fruit; and I brought in a mushroom to stump them (it's not actually in the plant knigdom at all).

I started to lose them a few times so I would pick up a new vegetable and raise my voice. At one point I realized I had discluded the ones in back, so I made sure to start calling on them, as well as to include the shy ones who would not participate on their own. It needs getting used to, to remember to do all these things all the time, but I think I'm beginning to pick it up. I think they had fun, I did. It's hard to gauge how well I did when I cannot see myself right there.

Either way, I am learning, and I feel more confidence in myself than I did when I first began working with the kids at Flower Child Day School.

*I just got finished marching through the forest, dressed like a ginkgo tree. I made my costume with Marisha and Shari Trnka and Rhonda. I chose to make a ginkgo because I am studying it for my plant monograph. I am really pleased with my costume so far, though I would like to add on to it, and later march in the Procession of the Species. Flowers have been my whole theme lately. With Flower Child and springtime and now this. I have always loved them.

There were many of us marching through the forest, each dressed like a different flower, some playing instruments...We marched to the organic farm and when we got there, we sang to the flowers.

*I also watched the movie "Downtowners" this afternoon. I wasn't sure what it was going to be about, but I quickly learned it was about the homeless people in downtown Olympia. This film really opened my eyes, there was so much I did not know...Most of the kids in the movie were forced to live on the streets because of abusive or drug-addicted parents. I did not realize how hard it can be, sometimes it's too cold or dangerous to find a place to sleep at night...It can be very hard to find and work a job that way. I now feel motivated to help. If nothing else, I will always have change or food to spare.

What a day! Today Shane and I went to Seattle. The largest vegetarian food festival is being held this weekend at Seattle Center, so we decided to go. There were over 500 vendors, all with free samples!!! Bastyr College also had a table there, and that's where I want to go in two years. The rep was really excited to get my information. We stayed for two hours, we left very, very, full (for only $5 admission).

Then we went to the Seattle Asian Art Museum. It was only $3 admission (what a cheap day!). We checked out the poetry scrolls. Some of them had beautiful pictures. All of the tranlations weren't there so it was difficult to appreciate some of the ones without paintings. Some of the paintings were done on strange backgrounds, like the material from inside men's shirt collars. The ink stones are collectible. Each brush has different bristles from different animals, such as sable, each which makes a unique stroke on a background. I was impressed by the intricacy of the stamps used to sign the artwork. They are very tiny, sketched pictures on a very small stone, some were about 1 cm. by 1 cm.

After we saw the Chinese poetry exhibit, we caught the last half hour of a tour. We learned about the Chinese Buddha and the Tibetan Buddha. Some of the statues we saw were from the Ming Dynasty. I remember one Goddess whose purpose was to stomp on ignorance. She wore human skulls around her neck, which would clonk against each other, as she stomped on a person who displayed ignorance, which would cause a squishing sound, the sound of all bodily fluids coming out of all orifices. On top of this she had a pig's head coming out the side of her face that would constantly be squealing.

I learned that Buddha's cousin that stood by him his whole life was not enlightened until after Buddha died, and that the one who did not becaome enlightened was the one who cried at Buddha's death.

Buddha forbid anyone to speak of him as a God or hold him holy after his death, yet he is the most popular deity on the planet, with Jesus Christ not too far behind. People took his wishes so seriously after his death that it took 600 years for the first artists to depict him.

We also watched a short movie filmed in Mexico. The artist likes to express women in Iran as well. This gave me an idea: if art and culture of Iraq and Iran were made more public, maybe there would be more of an effort not to bomb them. When I think of those places, I think of drab colors, and I do not know much about their culture, but if I knew of their culture and art, then I feel I would be able to realate more, and therefore take more time to help not bomb them. I think everyone would see the same...

Then, on the way home, we crashed the car. It's totled and it's not our fault. I'm getting a check and a new car though, so it's okay. And no one was hurt.