Hi Garden Families,
We had a lovely week as we finished up both our Native Peoples and Beowulf blocks. The children really enjoyed the stories that accompanied this Language block.
The Festival of Courage was great fun! The Grades students did a fabulous job sharing their poem. The grades 3-5 students did an excellent job with the bells too. Thank you to Ms. Kathee for preparing and leading the class for the poem and the bells!
Have a fun and safe fall break!
Warmly,
Ms. Melissa and Ms. Kathee
Kindergarten Sept 18 - 22
Kindergarten decided to celebrate the last full week of Summer by spending as much time outdoors as possible! Ms. Sonya was out for the week with her family. As a special treat Mr. Lee joined Ms. Lindsey and Mr. Warren with Kindergarten for the whole week! We stayed on the playground for our morning circle and activities such as leather stamping, polishing wood, washboard laundry, practicing our sewing stitches and crayon drawing. We enjoyed our morning snack at the picnic tables each day then headed into the forest for story and play. Kindergarten loved seeing the grades students perform for the Festival of Courage and the story of the princess and the dragon. The javelin throw and silk flag dyeing were especially popular with the kindergarten children. Friday Ms. Lisa joined us for our morning circle and tea. Our time in the garden was spent feeding kudzu to the donkey and the goats. Afterward we all gathered down at the creek to cool down on a hot first day of Autumn.
Grades Sept 11 - 15
Hi Garden Families,
It was a short week following our stormy weather, but we made the most of it! The children were happy to be together again and enjoyed their time in handwork, gardening, nature study, music and painting. The students have been really picking up on Spanish and have enjoyed touring the campus and garden while learning names of all these places in Spanish this past week. The students also worked more on math skills as well as language through either Native American stories or Beowulf.
This coming Thursday we will celebrate the Day of Courage. Please join us if you can outside on our field at 2:00!
Warmly,
Ms. Melissa and Ms. Kathee
Kindergarten Sept 11 - 15
This fifth week of kindergarten was a short one thanks to Tropical Storm Irma. The water was too high and swift to play in the creek but we made the most of our time in the forest and garden. We learned to chop and peel, and prepared carrots, sweet peppers, spinach leaves, and apples for our morning snacks. Miss Sonya told us the story of Tiny Turtle and the Great Migration. We sang new songs about fairies and goblins, going to sea on a pirate ship, and waltzing with bears.
Kindergarten Sept 5 - 8
As we finish up our 4th week of school, it has been a delight to watch the kindergarten students become more comfortable and self-confident. Week by week they realize they have a safe home away from home where they are encouraged and cherished.
This week we found lots of new mushrooms that had popped up after the heavy rains. Miss Lisa told us a beautiful story during storytime of two children, a caterpillar, and a butterfly. We walked on the tightrope, built bridges out of wooden blocks, built a fort for the chipmunks, played with rocks and shells, chopped carrots and apples, and could not get enough of the sandbox!
Grades Classes Sept 5 - 8
Hi Garden Families,
We had a busy, fun week at school, making the most of our short week.
Grades One and Two began their block of Native American stories. They enjoyed drawing, painting and writing about the stories as well as having lots of fun building word families together.
Grades Three, Four and Five began their block of Beowulf. They revisited the Vimala (cursive) alphabet and began recording summaries based on the stories as well as modeling with clay and drawing pictures.
The Garden is looking wonderful and the animals are happy to see the children when they come! Spanish class is lots of fun as the children are immersed in the language through games such as Pato, Pato, Ganso. They enjoyed singing and dancing in music with Ms. Kathee and wet-on-wet painting based on their class stories with Ms. Melissa.
The mornings are now much cooler (Yay!:). Please send your child with layers that they can easily shed as the days warm back up.
Warmly,
Ms. Melissa and Ms. Kathee
Kindergarten Aug 28 - Sept 1
Our third week of kindergarten was full of play! We played in the creek and we played in the sandbox and we played on the swings and we played in the rain! We built a fairy fort. We listened to Aesop's fable about The Wolf and the Dog. And we celebrated Rory's 6th birthday!
Grades Aug 28 - Sept 1
Dear Garden Families,
We had a lovely, and sometimes wet, week in the Grades class. Thank you for sending your children ready for our wet weather! While we tend to stay in during heavy rain, there are times when a rain walk is a great experience or we go outside while it is still very wet, so those boots and raincoats are needed.
We enjoyed our final week of our cooking block with Ms. Nina. The children made and ate pasta and enjoyed their kombucha drink as well. Starting next week, we will be in the kitchen with Ms. Nina in rotating groups on Mondays and Thursdays. Please be sure your child has a hairnet of some kind stored in their backpacks.
Students in grades Three and up chose biography books based on short blurbs describing an event in the famous person’s childhood. They didn’t know whom they were picking until they got their book, which made it fun and surprising for the children. We will be sending home master book paper next Thursday. Please let us know if your child needs a loaner box of block crayons. Grades One and Two will share in the book report experience starting next month!
Have a lovely long weekend!
Happy Labor Day,
Ms. Melissa and Ms. Kathee
Grades Aug 21 -25
Hi Garden Families,
We had a fun week spending time in the kitchen with Ms. Nina. We learned about various kitchen tools and food prep safety rules. We also have fun getting busy to help prep foods for lunch! If your child doesn’t have a hairnet yet, please make sure to provide one. The students will continue spending time in the kitchen all throughout the school year.
Kindergarten Aug 21 - 25
Our second week began with a very special Shadow Party, a celebration of astronomical proportions. Students and their families joined The Garden School staff in the playground for solar eclipse activities and delicious eclipse cookies. Using special solar viewing glasses, we went to the upper viewing field to watch the moon as it passed across the sun. We were delighted with the unique shadows of tree leaves that appeared on the ground during the eclipse.
Later in the week, we played in the creek and in the sandbox, chopped up vegetables to make our own vegetable soup, and got a closeup look at some cicadas. We listened to a great story of a boy and his parents who, with the help of the garden animals, pulled a ginormous turnip out of the ground.
Kindergarten Aug 14 - 18
Wow! Our first week of welcoming our preschoolers & Kindergarteners to the Garden School Family. During indoor time we sang finger play songs with our ten fingers, played teacher directed games as we adjusted to our first emotions & experiences of our time in school and without our primary caretakers. We ate snacks together as a class; you may have heard them mention sauteed peas and steamed rice (yum!) . We also familiarised ourselves with outdoor rhythm as we played in the creek, had storytime about an old woman & her daughters by the pond, and discovered an inchworm, a five-lined skink, and a mama wolf spider. The students, new and old, are quickly coming together as a class and a community!
Grades Classes Aug 14 - 18
Hi Garden Families,
The Grades Class had a terrific first week at The Garden School! We have a wonderful group of students and Ms. Kathee and I are excited for this school year!!
This week, we played name games and other fun games during morning circle as we got to see our old friends and get to know our new friends. We enjoyed working in the garden and playing games with Mr. Lee, Handwork with Ms. Lindsey, the upper grade students had math class with Ms. Roxanne and we spent time exploring and splashing in the creek.
During our first block we enjoyed our story and form drawing, music class with Ms. Kathee, and playing math games together!
We will continue with more of the same work and play next week. We will also begin Spanish class! :)
"Work while you work
And play while you play.
This is the way
To be happy each day. "
Warmly,
Ms. Melissa and Ms. Kathee
Grades Classes May 8 - 12
Dear Garden Families,
The children enjoyed practicing and then preforming at the Mother’s Day Tea this past week. They put in a lot of hours into practice, crafting and preparing snacks for all to enjoy and had a fun time doing it! We also had fun playing math games with Ms. Roxanne and in class, and all especially enjoyed boat making from natural materials with Mr. Lee.
As we wrap up our last week at school, we will enjoy our last visits to the creek, our times with our various expansion teachers, and being with each other! 😊
Warmly,
Ms. Melissa
Kindergarten May 8 - 12
It was a busy week for the Garden School. Kindergarten celebrated two summer birthdays, Carden and Nico. Plus, we were able to spend more time with our school goats! The grades put on an excellent play for Mother's Day on Friday, as well as a nice tea and snack party for all of the moms! Glad to see summer come but hate to see all the faces leave us. We wrap up school after next week.....summer is here!
Grades Classes May 1 - 5
Dear Garden Families,
We had a great week together! The children are enjoying practicing for the Mother's Day play. They are learning their parts and learning how to move their puppets. They also have been spending time crafting and cooking as they make gifts to give. We had a fun last week in Japanese, which wraps up our foreign language experiences for this school year. Games class was changed (due to the wet weather) to a fun fact-filled nature walk with Mr. Lee. The children created drawings and writings all about our discoveries.
Next week will bring us to more crafting and play practice. We hope to see you at the Mother's Day Tea on Friday morning!
Warmly,
Ms. Melissa
Cobb County Green School Silver Medal Awarded to The Garden School
May 2017: The Garden School was just awarded Cobb County Green School Silver Medal Award for its work in creating an innovative environmental program for its students.
Kindergarten May 1 - 5
With only 10 school days left we still manage to fulfill our adventures. We have two new goats added to our beautiful school, and with time they will help our school grow even more. From mudpies to homemade bandages...we continue to embrace the beautiful weather. Until next time!
Kindergarten April 24 - 28
School is getting busier as we start wrapping up our year. This past week we enjoyed celebrating Noah's 6th birthday. Wet play is still among us as we approach Summer in full swing!! Until next time!
Week of April 24 - 28
Miss Angela with Grades 4,3,2,1...
GARDENing Monday and Wednesday 9:10-10:00.
Creek/Nature Study 10:30-11:00
Japanese 11:15-12:00
Games Monday and Thursday 1:00-1:30
Watercolors Tuesday 2:00-2:45
Character-building Read-Aloud
Please continue motivating your 3rd/4th grade child to practice on weekdays, especially through the summer..... 30 minutes of reading with a written one sentence response to the reading selection. Break in between..... Also, 30 minutes of mental math practice and on paper one problem and solution of 2 digit +,-,x,/. Refer to distribution method examples below. 🍯Angela
Grades 1/2 April 24 - 28
Dear Garden Families,
We have had a busy week! We have been studying and drawing native plants as well as writing summaries and narratives based on Native American stories we have been reading. Gardening has been productive as we moved a lot of mulch to try and combat the ever-present kudzu. We ended the week, saying good-bye to Ms. Angela, with an adventurous creek walk!
This coming week the upper grades children will practice mathematics with Ms. Roxanne while the lower grades garden with Mr. Michael. All children will continue with our nature studies and practice for our Mother’s Day tea puppet play, make crafts and enjoy the rest of our days together for class.
Warmly,
Ms. Melissa
