Friday Letter - 09.28.2012

9/28/12

Dear RiverRun Families,

This week the Middles have had lessons on the use of verbs and the Small Bead Frame. This work is color coded like the Stamp Game, but is moving the children into abstraction when doing addition and subtraction. It is similar to an abacus. The elders are working on multiplication using the hierarchical beads (color coded beads).

We have begun to sew our Peace Flags onto some rope so that we can hang them outside in the woods. My sewing machine was misbehaving, but Debbie was able to put it back on track so we will continue sewing today.

A group lesson was given on Aurangabad, India where both the Ellora and Ajanta caves are located. The earliest cave has been dated back to the second century B.C. The sculptures and paintings in these caves are incredible. Three important religions of India are represented in these caves; Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism. We talked about the tools that were available at that time, basically a hammer and chisel, to do all this amazing work. I brought in some modern versions of these tools for them to see and touch. I am working on setting up a safe place for the children to be able to use these tools on some limestone that I have. They can feel how difficult it is to do this work.

See you at our RiverRun fundraiser,

Amy Poole

Upcoming dates to remember:
Saturday, September 29 fundraiser
Monday & Tuesday, October 1 &2 Seneca Falls/Auburn
Tuesday, October 9 School will be held at Emmanuel Friedan Church