Formal attire for Thanksgiving feast

We're going formal for our annual school lunchroom feast. Besides the table runners depicting turkeys running races, and the decorated brown bags, the preschoolers have made turkey neckties for everybody to wear.



The turkey feathers are made from that dreadful craft material known as "twisted paper cord". Even places that sell it admit the stuff is an arthritic pain to untwist, so it is often donated to art teachers! The preschoolers liked having purple turkeys on their neckties.

I'm always thankful for the folks who donate neckties for art projects. Have a happy holiday, everyone.

© 2009 Nancy L. Ruder

Fabric designer of the future

Here's one last sample from the woolly bear art project. This student often surprises me with designs that would make fabulous fabrics. She is eight years old.




© 2009 Nancy L. Ruder

I need an org chart for woolly bears

Thank heaven one of my students has provided a silvery snail trail that looks like an organizational chart. This art project had so many branches it needed a chart, but the results show why it's my absolute favorite type of class project.

(age six)

"Woolly bears" aren't sheep or bears. They are caterpillars credited in folklore for their weather predictions. A true woolly bear is a black-brown-black caterpillar with dense, hairy spikes. When you see one, you want to dig out your knitting needles and go to the nearest specialty yarn store with your Visa or Mastercard.

Sighting a woolly bear with a wide brown center section is supposed to predict an easy winter. A woolly bear with a thin center "sweater" of brown spikes predicts a harsh weather in folklore. This splendid caterpillar is the larva of the Isabella tiger moth, which is mostly golden yellow and not a fashion show-stopper.

Familiar since Colonial times as the "Woolly Bear," the caterpillar is often seen crossing roads and paths on warm days in late fall. According to superstition, the amount of black in the caterpillar's bristle coating forecasts the severity of the coming winter. Actually, the coloration indicates how near the caterpillar is to full growth before autumn weather stimulates it to seek a winter shelter.



Serendipity brought a hairy black caterpillar to the school playground the day before our art class about fall leaves and acorns. When it curled up we could see red bands between the black "hairy" segments. The immediacy of the children's experience with the caterpillar added magic to our already purdy darn good project called, "What's Under the Leaves?"



The caterpillar wandered across the playground during our picnic lunch. It was determined to go east no matter how we gently redirected it to keep it from going under the fence and into the car lane to be smashed by an oncoming garbage truck.

Kids started cheering, "GO, caterpillar, GO!" We finally got it safely into the grass, and the children went back to their PB&J sandwiches and juice boxes.

(age three)
(age four)
I found black chenille stems, also known as pipe cleaners, in the cupboard. They made nice caterpillars, but won't turn into giant leopard moths.

(age five)

Techniques include cutting, rubbings, painting, drawing, folding, and rolling.

Materials include liquid watercolors and salt, glitter temperas, metallic Sharpie, crayons, various papers, glue sticks.

(age seven)

I think this is a giant leopard moth. I took the photo in Highland Park, Texas, a year or so ago.



This is my favorite type of art project. Lots of skills, lots of materials, lots of brainstorming, and creating symbolic representations in both two and three dimension. Add a connection to nature that makes kids better observers, and I'm thrilled.

© 2009 Nancy L. Ruder

Funny food craving

This weekend I wanted dill and caraway, but not necessarily rye. My experiment is in the oven while I write this.

My mom used to make dilly bread after Thanksgiving because it made such good sandwiches with the leftover turkey. Dilly bread is a good way to use cottage cheese when you have too much.

When I was first married I clipped some vegetarian recipes out of the newspaper that came from Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska. My spouse had vegetarian tendencies like the Seventh Day Adventists at the college. The asparagus and cheese casserole became a favorite food for me, but not for my kids. It was also a way to use cottage cheese.

Dilly Bread
1 package yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup cottage cheese heated to luke warm
2 T sugar
1 T minced onion
1 T butter
2 tsp. dill seed
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 unbeaten egg
2 1/2 cups flour

Soften yeast in water. Combine in mixing bowl cottage cheese, sugar, onion, butter, dill, salt, soda, egg, and softened yeast. Add flour to form a stiff dough, beating well after each addition. Cover & let rise in a warm place (85-90 degrees F) until light & doubled in size (about one hour). Stir down dough. Turn into well-greased 2-qt. casserole. Let rise in a warm place until light, another 30-40 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes until golden brown. Brush with soft butter and sprinkle with salt. Makes one round loaf.

Union College Asparagus & Cheese Casserole
1 cup cooked asparagus (canned or frozen)
4 eggs, well-beaten
2 cups evaporated milk
6 oz. grated cheddar cheese
1 cup cottage cheese
2 slices bread, cubed & toasted (this is never enough, so double the amount)
1 t salt
Cut asparagus into 1" pieces. Combine all ingredients. Bake in a greased casserole at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

Tonight my casserole was

2 cups chopped celery and 1/4 of a red bell pepper chopped
1.5 cups cottage cheese
1 cup grated cheddar
1/4 T butter
1 tsp. dill weed
1 tsp. caraway seed
1/2 cup milk
4 slices wheat bread toasted and cubed

Cook celery, pepper, and butter in a covered Pyrex bowl in the microwave for 5 minutes. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Pour into greased 9x9 casserole and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. It was darn tasty.

© 2009 Nancy L. Ruder

Leaf no child inside

My library friend prepared a story time for children about autumn and leaves. She had picture books about changing colors, raking, the sights, smells, and sounds of playing in the leaves. Halfway through her presentation she realized most of the children had never seen a rake, or had a pile of leaves for crunchy play. Landscape companies use leaf blowers to remove every trace of this fun play material before the kids even experience it!

We've got to add natural wonder back into the mix for children. Thank heaven when I went walking at Plano's Arbor Hills Nature Preserve this afternoon I found lots of families tromping through the leaves.

© 2009 Nancy L. Ruder

Adding the sound effects

Seven a.m. yesterday, I was already sitting on the floor building Super Octons with a four year old. It was school conference day, and I was the distraction while his mom and dad met with the director.


I was building a flux capacitor transmogrifier. He was building an x wing fighter from the Clone Wars, but it wasn't quite done. He hadn't put on the "pews". What are the "pews?" I should have known! The pews are the part of the airship that shoot out "pew-pew, pew-pews" when it gets near another airship.

I love the translucent plastic Super Octons from the late Eighties, but they are getting brittle. Galt Toys has newer versions, probably safer from product liability lawsuits, but not quite as gorgeous. You have to add your own pews.

© 2009 Nancy L. Ruder

Gee whiz gi moment

Each Wednesday I help the preschoolers get ready for their karate class. We pop their uniforms over regular clothes, then I help them with ties, belts, and keeping their pants from blobbing up inside their uniforms. Nobody likes blobby pants!

I started telling the kids about winters in Nebraska in the olden days of my childhood, and how we wore snow pants over our school clothes for the four-block walk to school (yes, uphill both ways). We stuffed our dresses and scratchy petticoats into our snow pants, put on coats, boots, mittens, scarves, and then stocking caps to walk to school through snowdrifts up to our tummy-buttons. Life was hard on the frozen prairie, as velcro and cell phones hadn't even been invented.

The third week I told this story while they were donning their uniforms I realized six kids were staring at me wide-eyed.

"What!?," I asked.

"Oh, Ms. Nancy, where was your car?," they said with compassion.

"Cars couldn't drive safely through all that snow," I answered, "and besides, the kids all walked to school together every day."

"But, Ms. Nancy, what was wrong with all the cars?," the kids, now incredulous, wanted to know.

What was normal is now an aberration. Children walking to school--what a concept!

© 2009 Nancy L. Ruder