The Winners of SPRING...

I just got home from SUCH a long day. One of my daughters was part of an Odyssey of the Mind team and today was the final competition. We have been working SO hard for months and while we didn't win this year, our town won BIG time and we are so very proud of all of our teammates.

It's been a lot of work. I volunteer a lot but this was honestly one of the biggest challenges/commitments I've ever had to face working with a young group toward a goal. It wasn't always easy but we really did great and I am so proud of our team.

The snow has finally stopped falling in Connecticut (on the first day of Spring) so I guess I can announce our giveaway winners now.  f your comment is listed below, please email us at info (at) littleacornlearning.com with your name and the fact that you won a FREE Spring Festivals E-Book and we will send it your way!

Oh... I should admit, I had a non-processed SLIP!  I've been so so good and I even brought all clean snacks for myself today along with a salad.  But, after hour 4 or 5 I caved and grabbed a handful of my daughter's Doritos as we were waiting at the competition.

AND.THEY.WERE.DELICIOUS!!!!

But, I'm back on track tomorrow. Progress, not perfection.  xoxo

Thank you all for participating and... HAPPY SPRING - wherever you are - (even if it's still snowing!)

 ashadele said...

I am a homeschooling mama of two adventurous little boys! We live in the Pacific Northwest in beautiful Coeur D'alene Idaho. We noticed today the first little blooms of flowers in our backyard. The boys have been busy building our gnomes little homes out of bark and pinecones. We are all ready for our little woodsy friends to come out and play!

 Anna Rose said...

I teach a Nature and Art Based Kindergarten in Saskatchewan, Canada. We've had unusually warm weather for the last few months, and were enjoying lots of puddles and mud right up until today - the first day of Spring - we got a bunch more snow. My class and I have been celebrating diversity - learning about Rainbows, and we decided to paint the snow. I diluted some tempra paint in squirt bottles, and we painted the snow all around our school yard, then some boulders, as well. When we came inside, I had set up a story called "The Rainbow and the Antelope" to share a creation myth introducing seeds (and how to plant them) - we planted popcorn to start in our indoor garden. 

 Diana Gozenput said...

It's my son's 3rd birthday, and I remember walking to the hospital in a tank top and shorts to deliver! Same day, 3 years later, it is snowing and beautifully cold!

 Sasha Sandenskog said...

Here in Sweden it is unusually warm and we have a distinct lack of snow - even the snowdrops are out! :)

 Finamoon said...

Did 1-3. 4. We live in Oregon. Our first day of Spring was rainy, but I still went and planted some Blueberry bushes :) We had a bit of sun now and then peaking through the clouds. I love that the buds are starting to bloom and the daffodils are out. My friend has this gorgeous flowering quince in his front yard and all the humming birds were out buzzing around it. It was lovely. My email is websurfergirl19 AT hotmail DOT com if I win. Thanks!

Day Three of Clean Eating and a Snowy Spring Giveaway!

Ok I'm on Day 3 of "clean eating" and I feel like I've eaten too much. Nothing I ate was processed which is great and no sugar at all but I did have potatoes tonight (my favorite - red potatoes with olive oil). They are clean but not low-carb. I actually think I've gained about 2 lbs since starting this. In either case, at least my food is pure and healthy.

At dinner the girls were asking me about a woman we know who was a child that survived the holocaust. She still has the numbers on her arm. I do not know her entire story but I do know that the story should never be forgotten. The girls are very curious and all three of them are at different ages so I have to be careful how I share things. We decided to read Anne Frank's Diary together a little every night and talk about it. As we read tonight, it amazed me to realize that this all happened when my own grandmother was nearly 30 years old and living her life here in America with no worries. Anne mentioned how her two uncles fled to North America because they were Jewish and the rules were getting so intense. My grandmother met my grandfather in New York and he also came here from Germany. We do not know the exact reasons why but I believe it was because he wanted to get away from the ugliness of what was happening over there.

Today is the first day of Spring and it did not feel like it one bit. My girls got dismissed early from school because of a snowstorm on its way. In order to try to bring Spring indoors, we made some new wool barrettes for the Little Acorn Learning Etsy Shop. I haven't added any to the shop yet as I hope to make a bunch first. They are 100% wool plant dyed felt and very sweet.

Then we enjoyed our first Spring day by putting on two layers of clothing, our snowpants, hats, gloves and boots and jumping around in the snowstorm!  Funny isn't it?

I promised something fun and free today so here it goes:

To celebrate the very first day of Spring, I will be giving away 5 FREE Spring Festival E-Books randomly!  

Here's how to enter to win:

1.  Like our Facebook Page

2. Join our Discussion Group

3. Sign up for Our Mailing List

4. Leave a comment letting us know a little bit about you and your family and where you live. What is the first day of Spring like where you live?

Good luck to you - check back here tomorrow night after 8 p.m. EST to see who won!

Happy Spring!

xoxo

Spring is Coming!

Spring is Coming! 

The Little Acorn Learning 'March 2015 Newsletter' has just been released filled with FREE recipes, crafts, stories, fingerplays, book recommendations and much more! 

Also, take advantage of our SPRING SALE which runs through the end of March - take 25% off some of our beautiful Spring EBooks!

*New* Spring Festivals E-Book Giveaway!

We are SO excited to be able to announce the release of our newest publication in our festivals series, the Spring Festivals E-Book by Sara Wilson of Love in the Suburbs and myself.

We worked so very hard on this book in between managing our families, work and busy life schedules and it feels so wonderful to have the final product in hand.  We hope you enjoy it!

A Colorful Spring Festivals E-Book 

(over 160 pages big) packed full of 

Waldorf songs, stories, verses, 

crafting tutorials and much more to 

help you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, 

Spring Equinox, Ostara, and Easter 

with your children!

ONLY $24.99 !

Authors:

Eileen Straiton, Little Acorn Learning

Sara Wilson, Love in the Suburbs

To celebrate, we are giving a FREE copy to the winners of the Little Acorn Learning March Photo Contest which ends this Friday, March 8th - be sure to go vote for your favorites.

But Sara and I would like to also offer our blog readers a chance to win the e-book for free!

So here's how to enter:

Be sure you are a fan of both Love in the Suburbs and Little Acorn Learning on Facebook.

• Share our Spring Festivals E-Book link on your Facebook, Instagram or Twitter account:   http://www.littleacornlearning.com/springfestivalsbook.html

• Come back here and let us know you did so in the comments section of this post- and also tell us which craft in our new e-book you look forward to trying out the most (for a complete index of activities see here).  

A random winner will be chosen Monday, March 11th here on the Little Acorn Learning blog so be sure to check back with us.  

Best of luck to you and Happy SPRING!  

A Story for Springtime

Eostre, the Goddess of Springtime, was bringing Spring to the land when she happened upon a young girl who was weeping in the forest. The girl had found a bird who had frozen to death in the snow. Taking pity on her, Eostre went to the girl to bring the bird back to life but Eostre could not save the bird's wings so she turned the bird into a rabbit instead.

Having once been a bird, the rabbit retained its ability to lay eggs and every Spring thereon the rabbit would lay eggs in all the bright colors of Spring as a thank you to the goddess Eostre for saving its life.

And that is the story of the Easter Bunny and the tradition of why we decorate eggs in bright colors. Eostre was the Goddess of Springtime and fertility hence the further symbolism of rabbits (procreation), eggs (fertility) and chocolate (aphrodisiac).

Day and Night Divided

Today is the Spring Solstice, otherwise known as the Vernal Equinox. The day is said to bring us equal portions of both day and night. So on this day, earth is considered to be truly in balance. Are we?

A very simple and beautiful way to celebrate the return of the Sun is to create transparencies out of card stock and colored tissue paper. The light shining through the cut outs is a beautiful symbol of the return of the Sun and reminds us of our own light within that can shine through to the outer world through our being.

Simply draw and then carefully cut out your design, attach tissue paper to the backing with tape and place your creation in front of a strong light. You may even like to attach it to a window so the sunlight can shine through it during the day. This is a wonderful activity to do with children and they come out quite beautiful. They can be kept very simple with just stars, moons or suns or you can get a bit more involved with your project.

Here is an old Native American Legend you can share with the children on how Day and Night were divided:

After the world was made, some of the animals wanted the day to last all of the time. Others preferred that it be night all of the time. They quarreled about this and cold not come to an agreement. After awhile they decided to hold a meeting and they asked the great Bear to preside as the judge.

The Bear proposed that they vote to have night all the time but the Ground Squirrel said out loud "Wait! I see that the Raccoon has rings on his tail divided equally, first a dark color and then a light color. I think day and night should also be divided equally like the rings on the Raccoon's tail."

The other animals were very impressed with the wisdom of the Ground Squirrel and they quickly voted for his plan and divided day and night just like the dark and light rings on the Racoon's tail, succeeding each other in regular order.

The Great Bear was furious! He was so upset with the Ground Squirrel for taking over his position that he thrust out his paw and scratched the Ground Squirrel's back with his sharp claws. This is why all of the descendants of that Ground Squirrel now forever have thirteen stripes on their backs.

The End.