School Days

This week Knut and I both got a chance to visit Silje at school. On Monday, Knut got to bring her to “Dining with Dads” and they ate lunch together. I had some leftover princess napkins and paper plates from one of her previous parties, so they were able to dine in style! Knut was surprised how many Dads in her class he knew.

He got to see the table she sits at. She’s in the yellow group.

Then on Wednesday, I got to come alone on a fieldtrip with her class to the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center. It’s a beautiful plot of untouched prairie, that students from our district come to study several subjects. When Silje is in the 4-5th grades, there’s a good chance she will spend half her day here.

It just looked like a field of grass to me, but under the guidance of our teacher, Mr. Ellis, there were countless things to explore, by using their 5 tools in their “toolbox.” Their hands, nose, ears, eyes, and mouth. Although he said they couldn’t use their mouth for this day. Mr. Ellis’ granddaughter is in Silje’s class and was in our group. She was very excited to see her Grandpa!

The kids sat in the long, soft grass, and learned about different textures of plants.

We laid down and listened to the prairie. Just then, a flock of birds flew overhead. Silje said it was so soft to lay on the grass, and I reminded her about the book she finished reading not that long ago by Laura Ingalls Wilder. They used to stuff their mattresses with prairie grass, and Silje thought that was silly of them, until she laid on the grass here. Now she thinks they had the softest bed ever.

But on the homefront, the boys are still playing with cars for most of the day.

or anything else they can find!