Kindergarten Feb 13th-17th

This week in kindergarten we had  new adventures with some new friends. We welcomed Olivia into our Kindergarten family last week, and we'll she loves her new school! The weather was kind to us, only to rain early in the week, but that did not stop us! We push on through the forest no matter what the conditions. Our class is becoming more and more anxious to be involved with upcoming nature take home projects! 

Semester 2, Week 5

We wrapped up our alphabet block sharing stories of Saints and Hero's this week.  The children increased their amount of writing in both cursive and print.  We also talked about sentence structure and practiced verbally creating lots of sentences (some quite sillyJ) with nouns and both action and helping verbs. 

We will begin our new block following winter break, meeting some friendly gnomes while we are learning/revisiting the four mathematical operations and place value. During this block children build larger numbers and use those numbers to add, subtract, multiply and divide as we follow a story of adventure with the gnomes. 

We said good-bye to Senora Lina this past week and are looking forward to meeting Ms. Indira for our next block featuring Hindi.  During Games class with Mr. Lee, the children loved play Octopus Tag (a game invented by Alys).  The students and Mr. Ben began construction of clocks and practiced pentatonic flute, we planted more seeds and destroyed more (and more and more) kudzu with Mr. Michael along with bringing water from the pond and adding to our compost pile.  During handwork, the children continued to work on knitting skills, with some children starting to follow specific knitting patterns.

I hope you all have a restful and fun-filled break this coming week!

Warmly,

Ms. Melissa

Week of 2/14/2017

Often during the week of 2/14/2017 all grades students were shared by Ms. Melissa and Ms. Angela. Together we learned through math fluency games, calculations on the chaulkboard or paper, and reading aloud The Wizard of Oz.

"Look out, look out Jack Frost is about..  such wonderful pictures he'll make... " Friday's a.m. frost led us to recite a class poem as well as explore physical change, temperature, and the water cycle.

2017 Summer Camps

For those who are already looking ahead to a summer full of fresh air and exploring nature's wonders, here's what we'll have going on at The Garden School! You can pick up a paper registration form in the office or register online at www.tinyurl.com/SummerGarden17 

Grades 3 & 4 Academic Update

Growing in Independence & Confidence. We recite. We sing. We explore. We write.
We measure: Time, Height, Length, Weight, Quantity. We infer: Average, Round.

12 inches=1 foot, 3 feet=1 yard, 8 ounces=1 cup, 2 cups= 1 pint, 2 pints= 1 quart, 16 ounces=1 pound

Communication
Grades 3 & 4 Teacher, Angela Sauve'  
Class day issues please text: 404-713-3367 & hello@thegardenmarietta.org
Ongoing communication please use, Faculty@thegardenmarietta.org>

Academic Growth & Mastery
Home practice always welcome! Keep track of home practice in one notebook and share with me!
1. Growing into Multiplication Masters:
5 Times Tables: "Happy Birthday"
6 Times Tables: "Pop Goes the Weasel"
7 Times Tables: "Head and Shoulders, Knees, Toes"
8 Times Tables: "Baby Beluga"
9 Times Tables: "Kitchen with Dinah"
12 Times Tables: "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"

2. Developing as authors: 
Please check out a copy of The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum Read aloud smoothly and loudly. Write a response 
using the question to begin your answer.

Chapter One
1. Describe the place where Dorothy lives (use three details).
2. What does Dorothy do when the house is being carried by the tornado?
Chapter Two
1. Who does Dorothy’s house kill?
2. What surrounds the land of Oz and prevents Dorothy from easily returning to Kansas?
3. Why does the Witch of the North kiss Dorothy?
Chapter Three
1. What does Dorothy do to get ready for her long journey to the Emerald City?
2. What is the favorite color of the people of Munchkinland?
3. What does the Scarecrow hope to get from the Wizard?
Chapter Four
1. Is the Scarecrow able to scare crows?
2. Who tells the Scarecrow that he will only be as good as a real man if he has a brain?
Chapter Five
1. What does the Tin Woodman hope to get from the Wizard?
2. Why is the Tin Woodman made of tin? Explain the whole story.

3. Practice calculating, if one digit is mastered, then increase to 2 digits...
64 + 7=       74x8=      
64+37=       74x89=
Make up new problems each practice.
Please pack for indoor/outdoor.
Bring your raincoat each day.
WATER BOTTLE filled and visit restroom upon arrival.

Semester 2, Week 4

Happy Valentine's, 

We had a fun and busy week at school.

We continued hearing stories of Saints and Hero's while we added summaries to each picture highlighting various aspects of the stories.  Our stories varied from "Francis and Clare" to "Hiawatha, Bringer of Peace".  Summaries vary from a single sentence in print to two or more in cursive depending on the student.  The children also modeled various characters from the stories in clay or beeswax and as well as painted scenes using the wet-on-wet painting technique.  We continued practicing our skip counting of threes using sticks, balls or beanbags to create the skip patterns and drew the threes multiplication fact flower.  We had a special bonus class with Ms. Roxanne working on multiplication tables and measurement too!

This week the children played basketball inside and capture the flag outside with Mr. Lee, finished assembling the new desks for the second forest classroom and practicing pentatonic flute with Mr. Ben as well as working on the many gardening projects we have happening, such as seed planting, with Mr. Michael.  We all enjoyed our week in Spanish with Senora Lina.  Senora Lina will continue teaching Spanish until break, after which we will start our next language block.

A Valentine’s Day postis on our Facebook group outlining our Valentine’s Day fun.  Please let me know if you need more information. 

The weather continues to keep us on our toes with donning and shedding our layers.  Please keep on sending them with your child! J Thank you!

Warmly,
Ms. Melissa

Connection and Attachment in Early Childhood Education

Ms. Lisa, Mr. Lee, Ms. Alexica, Ms. Jas, Ms. Naaz, and Ms. Melissa all had roles to play in the kindergarten this week! Those of us who don't usually spend time in there enjoyed getting to know these special little people better. 

Knowing and loving every child in our school is a fundamental part of the teaching experience at The Garden School. When we speak and act out of love, we are building the world we dream of. When children understand to their very core that they are cherished and accepted, they are able to engage vigorously with the task of learning, trusting that they will be safe in exploring their physical, emotional, social, intellectual, and artistic capacities. 

Research abounds on the long-term importance for young children of developing loving, attached relationships with adults. Learning how to build and maintain a positive and supportive relationship has a limited window in early childhood. There are many resources available on this topic, and we like to remember this summary from Tim Moore at the International Society for Early Intervention:

  1. Relationships matter. There is strong evidence that relationships of all types have a significant impact on the development and well-being of those involved.
  2. Relationships affect other relationships. Parallel processes operate at all levels of the chain of relationships and services, so that our capacity to relate to others is supported or undermined by the quality of our own support relationships.
  3. Relationships form a cascade of parallel processes. Relationships form a cascade of parallel processes from governments and societies through to parents and children.
  4. Effective relationships at all levels share common characteristics. There are nine key characteristics: attunement / engagement, responsiveness, clear communication, managing communication breakdowns, emotional openness, understanding one’s own feelings, empowerment and strengthbuilding, moderate stress / challenges, and building coherent narratives.

The Many Treasures of Mixed-Age Learning

With several students and teachers out last week with symptoms of the flu, our elementary students all crowded together for main lesson. While combining ages poses some pedagogical challenges, there is so much richness and connection that comes from having a chance to see how those older and younger than you learn. It was wonderful!

The practice of grouping students into grades based on their age during the school year is quite new in education. It developed after the Industrial Revolution as a way to ease the administrative burdens of educating large groups of students in rapidly expanding cities. 

Although there are pedagogically sound reasons for such a division, they don't tell the whole story of education, and much is lost when we make assumptions that all children are developmentally ready for the same materials and experiences at the same time.

At The Garden School, small classes and caring, highly-trained teachers allow us to understand and meet the needs of all our students regardless of their age, and to feel confident that each of them is developing according to their best potential.

The Garden School is Hiring!

The Garden School has a deep commitment to creating an inclusive community which values diversity and multi-culturalism, and we seek candidates who have this same commitment. We prefer applicants with a background in Waldorf education, but we acknowledge that there are times when the right candidate may be new to Waldorf. If you are interested in joining our exceptional faculty, please complete the online application, which will ask you to submit your resume, a brief biographical sketch, three references.

Read more