We weren't quite as slow as this tortoise, but we did have a more low-key time this week compared to last! We were still busy with engaging, educational, and fun things to do, just not as many of them and only ONE party instead of a double one! Here's how our week went...
Tuesday
Did you know that February 15 is National Gumdrop Day?! We didn't either, but we celebrated it anyway! Devin was a little surprised that Xavier got silly when sampling gumdrop candy!
It seemed a good day to play board games, including Candy Land, which features gumdrops on the game board. Sam, Drew, and Patrick enjoyed this "throwback" game!
Alexis, Michelle, and Erik played the Bean Balance game, which is a game of logic. They had to use critical thinking (and some trial and error guesses) to make the bean game pieces balance on either side of the scale.
We discussed the fact that February is Black History Month to help prepare us for our visit with Christina later today. She was planning to show us works by Black artists. We learned that a historian named Carter G. Woodson worked diligently in the early part of the 20th century to ensure that the contributions of Black Americans were recognized, and helped to create Black History Week, which later became Black History Month.
We ran out of time for our yoga session last Friday, so we made it up this morning. It felt good to stretch before lunch!
After lunch we caught up with Christina at the Art Museums of CW, and learned some pretty interesting things about Black artists, since February is Black History Month. Here, she showed us a portrait of the great opera singer, Marian Anderson, that had been carved by a Black artist named Elijah Pierce. She also gave us "homework" to do back at AFCC: Research Marian Anderson and learn about that time she sang in front of the Lincoln Memorial! We will, Christina!!
This is a portrait painted on canvas by a Black artist named Joshua Johnson. He was an enslaved person who was given his freedom. After that, he placed advertisements in the newspapers of Baltimore, seeking work as a portrait painter. This was seen as a "powerful statement of his professional aspirations."
The chair shown here was built by an enslaved person named Mr. Hemmings, who was at Monticello and was owned by Thomas Jefferson. Christina helped us realize that some enslaved people did "hard" work, maybe in fields, while others may have done "less hard" work as household servants or, as in Mr. Hemmings' case, in a shop, building furniture. Regardless of whether or not the work was "hard" or not as "hard," all enslaved people had no choice but to do the work because their freedom to choose what they may have liked to do was taken away from them.
Another Black artist we learned about today was David Drake, an enslaved potter from South Carolina. He made these beautiful jugs that were used in the 1800s to store many things, from flour and molasses, to beer!
The final Black artist we saw art by today was Susanna Allen Hunter, who was the wife of a sharecropper in Alabama. She made over 100 quilts in her lifetime. Christina gave us more homework: to look up Susanna's quilts and see for ourselves how she was able to improvise such pretty works of art from whatever she could find, such as old clothing, sacks, and fabric scraps.
In the Education Room, our project today was to relax and "just be creative." We were given scraps of paper and a background sheet, and a chance to see what kind of paper quilt we could create.
Christina went from table to table, helping us and chatting, as she enjoys doing when we visit.
Pretty, don't you think? Thank you, Christina, for a fantastic lesson today and a wonderful follow up with the relaxing artwork!
Wednesday
Today began with earlybirds Liz and Alexis baking cookies for Heike's birthday. We decided on oatmeal chocolate chip, and the girls did a great job!
Today was about "brain work" and we learned a lot! Here, we were doing some running and jumping in place for a short cardio workout while the video also showed us parts of the heart. We were getting ready for a cool lesson from Mystery Doug about how the heart pumps blood.
After learning from Mystery Doug's video that our heart is a very important muscle, that is about the size of our fist, we did an activity that helped us understand just how "very important" a muscle it is. Liz and Xavier were using their fists to estimate which of 4 pictures of hearts most closely represented the size of theirs.
During this lesson, we also tried to find our pulse. We were learning that when active, our hearts pump, or work, hard. When we are less active, our hearts pump, or work, less. We also learned that our hearts may pump more when we are frightened, excited, or anxious.
With the scrap paper left after we cut something out, we made a ball and squeezed it for 1 minute to simulate our heart beating. Mystery Doug told us not to stop with the "thump-thump-thumping" until 1 minute was up, and we got tired! We then discussed how our hearts beat constantly, never stopping, all day, every day, for our entire lives! Could Sam and Annmarie, or any of us, squeeze our fists all day and all night long...forever?! We don't think so! Wow...our hearts are pretty amazing!
After our heart lesson, we did another short cardio workout, and talked about how making our hearts beat faster when exercising is good for us!
Next, we did our "homework" that Christina assigned! We learned more about Marian Anderson, the singer who was banned from performing at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC in 1939 because she was black. We watched a clip from a PBS documentary that explained how Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the president, helped arrange for Anderson to perform in front of the Lincoln Memorial and in front of a diverse crown of 75,000 instead! While her style of music isn't what our guys are "into," we talked about being able to appreciate her talent, and recognize the unfair treatment of her due to the color of her skin. Click on the picture if you'd like to see the clip!
,Yesterday we prepped a couple of breakfast casseroles which we only had to pop into the oven to bake for lunch today. (The flavors supposedly combine well when prepared a day in advance!) Celebrating National Pancake Day, we used pancakes in the caseroles instead of the usual biscuits. For Xavier, we prepared GF waffles and an omelet made with dairy-free EggBeaters. Everyone was happy including...
Heike, the birthday girl!! She, Diane, and Sevarina had to work in the school cafeteria until around 1:00, so we kept a small casserole warm for them, and then set everything up on a cart so Heike could roll it down to their office where they enjoyed a quiet lunch for her birthday! We gave her some sweet cards we made this morning, too! Happy Birthday, Heike! We appreciate everything you do for us, and thank you for being our friend! We hope your actual birthday tomorrow is special and relaxing, and we hope you enjoy a couple of well-deserved days off!
The last thing we learned today was that it's fun to work with partners and crack secret codes! We learned to use a cipher wheel to decode facts about birds. Alexis did the writing, but Laura matched numbers to letters and told Alexis what to write.
Erik was also a recorder while Drew matched the number clues with letters. Drew was even able to decode upside down letters on the wheel!
After all clues were decoded, each team shared the facts. We learned from Annmarie, Kate, Devin, and Michelle that birds have lungs, like we do, for breathing air.
Patrick and Kevin taught us that birds are warm-blooded, also like us. We learned a few other fun bird facts, such as "beaks" and "bills" are basically synonyms for describing a part of birds' faces. That fact led us to end the day with a joke: A duck went to the store to buy some chapstick and when the cashier asked how he wished to pay, he replied, "Just put it on my bill." 😂🦆😂🦆😂
Thursday
One of today's highlights was the beautiful weather! We set up corn hole for Boys vs. Girls Winter Challenge #3 and had a great time. Just before "taking the field," Devin used a nearby tree to aid him with warm-ups!
With her friends looking on, Annmarie was about to earn a point for the girls! She has a good arm!
Everyone knows when Patrick takes a turn, there will likely be points earned! Sure enough, this turn ended with 3 more points for the guys!
The game was exciting today as almost everyone scored on at least one of their turns. Kevin got 3 points for the boys, leading Devin to give him a nice fist bump! (Side note: Devin wore his headband today because he takes corn hole challenge games very seriously, he said! 👏👏)
Michelle wiped her hands after a smooth 4 point turn! That brought the score up to girls 16, boys 18.
After Michelle's turn, it was back to the boys and Devin was up, knowing 3 points were needed for his team to win. He focused his energy and got 1 point on his first toss, and 2 on his second! The boys won and we got this victory shot! Great game for both teams today!
Back inside, we had a lesson about the Olympics, past and present. Here, Sam was locating Greece on this map to show us where the games began almost 3,000 years ago!
We learned many interesting facts in our slide show, such as a "pentathlon" is an Olympic event in which the athlete performs in 5 different events. The pentathlon events have changed from ancient to modern times, but it's still an incredible Olympic event.
After our lesson, we completed Olympic themed math worksheets because working out our brains is as important as working out our hearts and lungs!
There was more fun after lunch as we began a new read-aloud called Saving Winslow. Winslow is a miniature donkey who arrives at Louie's house in bad shape, but Louie is determined to save him! We wonder what kinds of adventures they may have?!
After starting our new book, we hooked up the karaoke machine! With the pandemic, we haven't used it very often, but we felt good about singing into the mics today, and our guys didn't hold back. Drew, Kate, Annmarie, and Michelle sounded great on Frozen's "Let It Go."
Kevin contributed from the sidelines! 🎶🎶🎶
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There was a rousing rendition of "I Just Can't Wait To Be King," from The Lion King. By rousing, we mean this!
Erik and Kate wrapped things up with Queen's "We Are the Champions."
That sent Devin over to our Super Bowl prediction wall where the helmets were still hung from last week. He grabbed a Rams helmet and joined in the singing! Shout out to the Super Bowl LVI champs!
Devin and friends also helped Erik and Kate out on the chorus! We hope our "joyful noise" didn't disturb the students in their classes!
Things were quieter, even though we used our buzzers, when we ended the day with a game that involved listening to a series of clues, one at a time, and trying to guess the animal the clues were about. Sometimes a good guess could be made with just 1 clue, but it was usually best to wait for 2-3 clues...in case the first clue was too general. It meant listening and using critical thinking skills! Today's winning team consisted of Alexis, Drew, and Kate!
Friday
Checking the National Day Calendar to see what we can "celebrate" on most days is something we enjoy and it gives us things to look forward to. One of our all time favorite "days" is Love Your Pet Day, which takes place on February 20 each year. Our friends truly enjoy hearing about each other's pets, so we cover it extensively!
Michelle got a new puppy last year, Max. She loved showing Kevin a picture of "silly Max" in the snow!
Laura brought several pictures of past family pets. There were dogs, Claire and Beethoven, and at least one cat named Mittens. There was even a little Laura in one of the pictures!
Kate likes to bring her stuffed Havanese, which looks a lot like her real one, Lucy. Today, Kate shared with us that Lucy likes to look out the window at home and watch the people going by outside.
Alexis recently lost her pet fish, Penny, but was happy today to share that she is now caring for another one she named Luna.
Erik's family currently has three cats, but he wanted to share fond memories of Jewel, a beloved black cocker spaniel his family had. Erik was around 7 when Jewel joined the family, and she was a loyal pet until she passed away in 2016.
This year Devin chose to tell us about Shadow, the Husky pup he "hung out with" when he was a baby. It was Devin's dad's dog, and from the picture, we could tell Shadow was very protective once baby Devin came along.
Carol surprised us all by announcing her family had recently added Kayla to their family. They lost their beloved chocolate lab, Callie, last year, but longed to rescue another dog. Kayla is 6 years old and is probably part Lab, part Greyhound, and maybe part Pit Bull. Carol says she's a sweetie!
Nan always enjoys sharing pictures of her granddog, Kaida, who is a Morkie. Here she shows Annmarie a picture of her great-granddaughter Haley looking out the window with Kaida by her side.
Liz always has fun things to tell us about her Labs, yellow Rose and black Nelly. This year she told us that they really love following her brother Stephen around ALL the time!
Drew doesn't have any pets currently, but Alexis found an old picture she had taken of his dog Winston a few years ago. Drew recalled that Winston was a good boy!
Even though Sam wasn't with us today, he had his mom send us a current picture of his dogs, Rusty and Bella. They were enjoying a long weekend in the Outer Banks with Sam. Happy "Love Your Pet Day" on Sunday to everyone with beloved pets!
Rain had been predicted for the morning, but it seemed to be done early, so we went to Colonial Williamsburg for a brisk walk before lunch.
As we walked across the footbridge that leads to the historic area, Liz and Alexis noticed a marker that mentioned Rosa Parks...and then they checked all the rest of the markers to see who else they had heard of!
Erik and Liz paused to look at a "sign of spring." It was a clump of blooming daffodils! But guys...it's only February!
We walked as far as the horse pasture beside the Governor's Palace where we observed a couple of pretty horses having a bite to eat.
Back at the center we had taco casserole for lunch. We had prepared it before we left and it was just so-so...so no pictures! Next we had Choice Time and then Lisa read from our new read-aloud about the donkey named Winslow. He's a miniature donkey so we Googled pictures and they are very cute animals!
Sam joined us via Zoom for yoga at the end of the day. We're thankful for the technology that enables us to include him in his favorite activity! And, as we always say, yoga is a great way to end a great week!
Here's a look at what we'll be doing next week:
Tuesday: We're heading to The Mariners' Museum for our first visit of 2022 with Wisteria and friends. They are going to follow up our December visit, where we learned a bit about frankincense and myrhh, with a lesson about the origins of other spices. Wisteria emailed Lisa to say she also has a surprise planned for us!! We will have lunch in the cafe and, weather permitting, will take a walk on the Noland Trail, too. Please wear Arc shirts and bring $10 for lunch.
Wednesday: We will combine a number of national days into today's activities: Cook a Sweet Potato Day (22nd), Grain-Free Day (21st), and Banana Bread Day (today) will aid us in preparing a lunch of baked sweet potatoes with a side of quinoa/spinach salad and Carol's "Famous Banana Bread," too! It's also National Tile Day, so for us that will involve Scrabble-like word games and a mosaic art project!
Thursday: Happy Birthday to Pam, our amazing and hard-working executive director! 🥳🎈🎂 We'll create special birthday letters for her using the computer lab, and then do some digital brain work. Tomorrow is National Skip the Straw Day, which brings recognition to the issue of trash in the oceans. We are going to learn about this situation today! Lunch on your own. JRES Cafeteria is offering...you guessed it: Domino's Pizza or Sub of the Day!
Friday: It's PSP Day so we will send a group to work at the store. Everyone, please wear your PSP shirts because we aren't sure which of you (or how many) may be going...we're still looking at options! Some of us will, however, remain at AFCC to prepare Sally's Turkey Chili for lunch! Sally is our friend Nancy's sister-in-law and her Turkey Chili recipe is delicious! (Nancy lives in Kentucky now, and we miss her!) We'll also make heart-shaped bird feeders and make up a lesson for Presidents' Day that we didn't get to last week. We'll end the day with yoga, so wear stretchy pants with your PSP shirts!
Thank you for letting Lisa know your wishes for new t-shirt orders. The order will be submitted on MONDAY morning, February 21, so if you have any changes to your orders, let Lisa know ASAP! The Arc of GW will pay the vendor for the shirts and you will pay us once they are delivered. Lisa will let you know your total once the vendor presents final calculations. We should receive a nice discount for ordering in bulk!
Happy Presidents' Day Weekend to All!
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
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