Welcome back, River Otter families!
We had a wonderful virtual week and first week back from semester break. Thank you caregivers for all of your help in making this week fun and successful. It was great to see how well the students remembered our morning circle. We will continue these songs and verses for a few more weeks.
The students had a lot of fun with our quiet candle sharing themes this week. On Monday, students shared their favorite activities from semester break. How wonderful to hear that many students continued to play outdoors while at home! Tuesday was our show and tell day and students had many new and favorite toys to show their friends. On Wednesday, we shared nature treasures and saw many different items such as shells, feathers, and gems. Thursday was pet and/or stuffed animal day, and we met many sweet animal friends. On Friday, we all wore pajamas and many of us enjoyed a warm drink during class. Students often ask for a pajama day at school, which can be difficult when we are outdoors, so we appreciated the opportunity to have a virtual pajama day!
We hope you and your students enjoyed the addition of a lightly structured activity as much as we did! Monday and Thursday we colored while we had free conversation time, and everyone created something different and wonderful. On Tuesday, many students worked with yarn, while others engaged in other play or craft activities. Wednesday was fairy house building day, and seemed to be a favorite activity for the students. We made fairy houses out of craft supplies, nature treasures, legos, magna tiles, paper and markers, and more! Most students were still working on their creations when the live class finished. Friday was another popular activity with the students where we made paper snowflakes. If you would like to recreate this activity later and would like instructions, Ki Amy from the Beaver class posted a great video in the Google classroom you can view. All activities posted in the Google classroom will remain available for you to access for the remainder of the school year.
Our story this week was an African folktale, Akimba and the Magic Cow. Akimba was the poorest man in his village. One day he ran out of food and money, and left the village to see what he could do. Akimba entered a deep forest, where he found an old man cutting firewood. Akimba helped the old man stack firewood, and the man offered to help Akimba in return. The old man told Akimba to take a cow from behind a nearby bush home with him and say “ku ku ku” to it and see what happens. Akimba took the cow home, said “ku ku ku”, and a gold coin fell out of its mouth. Every time Akimba said “ku ku ku” to the cow, a gold coin fell out of its mouth, and in no time Akimba was rich. One day Akimba had to go on a long journey, so he left his cow with his neighbor, Bumba. He told Bumba not to say “ku ku ku” to the cow, but as soon as Akimba was out of sight Bumba ran up to the cow and said “ku ku ku” and was surprised when a gold coin fell out of its mouth. When Akimba returned, Bumba secretly kept the magic cow and gave him a different cow instead. When Akimba realized that the cow was no longer giving gold coins, he returned to the old man in the woods to ask for help. The old man told Akimba to take a sheep from behind the bush home with him and say “bu ru ru” to it and see what happens. Akimba took the sheep home and said “bu ru ru”, and a silver coin fell out of its mouth. In no time, Akimba was rich. After a time, Akimba had to go on another journey and left his sheep with Bumba, asking him not to say “bu ru ru” to the sheep. As soon as Akimba was out of sight, Bumba ran up to the sheep and said “bu ru ru”. Bumba was surprised when a silver coin fell out of the sheep’s mouth. When Akimba returned, Bumba secretly kept the magic sheep and gave him a different sheep instead. When Akimba realized the sheep was no longer giving silver coins, he again visited the old man in the forest to ask for help. The old man told Akimba to take a chicken from behind the bush home with him and say “kla kla kla” to it and see what happens. Akimba took the chicken home and said “kla kla kla”, and the chicken laid an egg. Akimba was disappointed the chicken only laid eggs, but he had food to eat. Akimba again had to take a journey and left his chicken with Bumba, telling him not to say “kla kla kla” to the chicken. As soon as Akimba was out of sight, Bumba ran up to the chicken and said “kla kla kla”. Bumba was disappointed when the chicken only laid an egg, but ate the eggs, and when Akimba returned Bumba gave him a different chicken instead. When Akimba realized that the chicken was no longer laying eggs, he returned to the old man in the forest yet again. The old man told Akimba to take a stick from behind the bush home with him and tell it to dance. When Akimba wanted the stick to stop dancing, he should say “Mulu”. Ask your child to finish the humorous end of this story for you.
We are looking forward to seeing you all in person again! Please remember to dress your student in layers every day and send all of their winter weather gear with them in case they need it. Especially important, in addition to layers of both shirts and pants, are winter coats, insulated waterproof boots, gloves, and hats that cover the ears. Please also take a moment to read the COVID procedures and when to stay home; the link is provided in the main body of the Monday Messenger. As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions.
Thank you for sharing your children with us, and for being part of our community.
Warm regards,
Ki Holly and Ki Fatima