If you have not followed this blog before these monthly planning pages lay out a general structure for each month in our home; including a theme and seasonal table, a way to wake, a table candle blessing, a couple of projects and a verse for going to sleep. These are our goals, the follow up varies from great to imperfect but having the plan helps it to happen and helps bring rhythm to our days! We just keep on trying :-)
May Festival / Theme: Mayfair, Mary, Mothers, Spring!
May is the festival of Mary, celebration of mothering, the May pole, hopefully some warming of the weather! May was my Grandmother's name and is playful and joyous!
Seasonal Table - Spring
Treasures from the children, vases of flowers, colourful rocks, shells, whatever is joyous to you and brings the spring indoors! May is mayfair, maypole; we have a maypole dancer mobile to hang. May is Mary, flowers, blue. May is spring, it can be simple flowers, seeds, rocks..
Breakfast Verse
Let us keep our minds sharp and our bodies strong and give us the wisdom to know right from wrong, blessings on our meal today.
from Breakfast Blessing by D.L Sundheim
Waking Song
Snowdrops, snowdrops, little drops of snow,
what do you do when the cold wind blows?
Hide our little heads and say,
cold winds, cold winds, go away.
Snowdrops, snowdrops, dressed in green and white,
what do you do when the sun shines bright?
Shake our little bells and sing,
ting-a-ling, ting-a-ling, here's the spring.
Bedtime Song or Verse
This month a favorite from my son. Puff the Magic Dragon! Its been ages since I sang this, we sang it a lot when my son was wee, love it!
May Project 1 Year End Teacher Cards
The children choose a drawing they made this year - both of mine want to use their St Michael and the Dragon drawings from the fall. I take them down to Staples and use the colour photocopy to make several copies in a card type size (shrink or enlarge as needed). Children and I cut out the pictures and glue them to a background decorative paper or use on their own, then to card stock; we use Strathmore Ivory Deckle prefolded art cards. Some years each child also writes a verse, poem or prayer and types it up to be printed several times and glued inside the cards. The children use their own picture and verse for their homeroom teachers and sign those just from themselves, then use one or the others drawing and poem for other teachers and staff in the school - we may use C's picture for Art and PE and T's cards for Theater and Music for example, they both sign them - don't forget the janitors! Now we are set for June and Year End!
March Project 2 Year End Teacher Gifts
Children and I are still working out what? The children have considered paperweights (rocks) with their drawings transferred onto them, more involved, a book of their poetry illustrated with their pictures from the year (here we'd use blurb or other self publisher - but do we have time for this - is this perhaps more suitable to the final year of elementary school - Grade seven? I like the rocks :-) Will add this once we know what we are doing - children coming up with the idea is part of the project.
Great joy and happy Spring!
