Hello!
We are enjoying having our two new students, Mike and Cooper, join us in HomeSchool. This week we sang all the verses of She'll Be Coming 'Round The Mountain, all 16 of them! We received our Fishing Lines saltwater fish guides and each person drew a favorite fish from the books. Bear did an excellent job as our guide on the student-led hike. I continued to read to the students from the book Unlikely Friendships, about actual animal companions of different species. Ki Tess from The Amphibian Foundation brought amphibians and reptiles to share with us in the first Creature Feature of the year.
We each wrote words that started with the first letter of our names, things that we like or that are special to us. For example, I wrote for Ki Sonya: sunshine, summertime, shrimp and scallops, strawberries, Samoyeds, skiing, and Saturdays. Some students wrote words for their middle and last names also. You can try this activity at home with the names of parents, siblings, and pets. The students will show you how to draw the big first letter and then the smaller words out to the right of it.
This Tuesday we will try our hand at gyotaku, Japanese fish printing, on white t-shirts. Wear old clothes as we will be using fabric paints.
The Garden Girls Girl Scouts will meet upstairs on the basketball court at 3:30pm Tuesday for colorful candle dipping and learning about petitions for environmental causes. We will start our Skip A Straw, Save A Turtle campaign!
We may get a little snow Tuesday too. Be sure to bring rain/snow boots and rain/snow pants Tuesday and Thursday so we can play outside. Ollie will be guiding us on our student-led hike.
On Thursday, we will celebrate Helene's 8th birthday HomeSchool style! Ki Heather is bringing lemon creme tarts with fresh fruit. Please bring an alternate snack if you need to. I'll bring the hot chocolate. We will paint schools of fish in watercolor.
Mike will be taking the school turtle home for the weekend on January 31st. Let me know if your family would like to take him home for the weekend February 7th or for the long winter break February 14th thru 25th. I can give you all the details of turtle care if you are a first-timer
On Tuesday, February 5th, from 7:00 to 9:00pm, we will have a mandatory, all-school meeting for parents only, in the sanctuary. Each family must have a representative at the meeting. We will discuss highlights from each class and plans for next year.
During the week of February 11th, school will dismiss each day at 12:30pm. We will have parent/teacher conferences on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons. Please sign up for a 30-minute time slot to meet with me. Check the Signup Genius for times.
Quote from a child: "If you're going to bother wetting the soap and messing up the towel, you might as well just go ahead and wash your hands."
Quote from Anne Lamott: "I hope that on the day I die I will have had dessert."
Stay warm and dry!
Ki Sonya
