Osiyo, River Otter families.

Fall is here! It was a great week in the River Otter class, filled with many exciting activities. Our outdoor classroom has had three small pumpkins to explore over the past few weeks. This Thursday while we were indoors, we cut the tops off of two of the pumpkins and explored what was inside. Students scooped the insides into a bowl and sorted the seeds into a second bowl, and played with taking the tops off and fitting them back on. On Friday we used a hammer and roofing nails to make holes in one of the pumpkins. Each student took several turns making holes by hammering the nails, and then pulling the nails out with the hammer. This was definitely a favorite activity this week, and we will continue to make holes in the pumpkins for at least a few days next week. When we are finished, we will put electric tea lights in the pumpkins and enjoy the glowing light.

Though it is often under-appreciated, the sense of warmth is an extremely important sense young children are developing. This sense is not yet fully developed until around third grade, and is one area we focus on in early childhood. In addition to feeling physically warm and comfortable, having warmth also helps develop the overall sense of wellbeing that allows children to feel safe and secure and able to learn both academic and social-emotional skills. The sense of warmth is also one of the foundational senses for all people. The development of other senses, from the physical senses we typically think of to the sense of self and appreciation for others, rely on healthy, developed foundational senses to develop properly. Before around third grade, children are not able to discern whether they are warm enough. Though we want our children to learn to trust their bodies and to honor their decisions about their bodies, we can not yet rely on them to tell us whether they are warm enough at this age. They are just not developmentally able to know when their body is too cold. One reliable way to know if a child is physically warm enough is to feel their hands. If their hands are cold to the touch, the child needs to add another layer. Children often resist wearing coats, hats, mittens, and other outerwear for many reasons, however their safety and development rely on us to keep them warm. In the kindergarten program at The Garden School, we use this method of feeling their hands to decide whether a child needs another layer/can remove a layer of clothing. This is a much more reliable method than whether we personally feel warm, or whether the child says they feel warm. If you are interested in learning more about the sense of warmth and its impact in early childhood and beyond, please let us know and we would be happy to share some articles with you!

Announcements and Reminders:

Now that cooler weather is here it is important to make sure students have all of their warm gear each day. These necessary items include a heavy coat (or medium coat and a sweater), gloves/mittens, hat, and warm boots or second pair of socks. If your child is wearing leggings please layer with a second pair of leggings or other pants.
Thank you for sending blankets for rest time on Friday! Please keep sending them.
Please pack your child’s snack separately from their lunch, or label to make sure your child knows which items are for snack and which are for lunch. Some students are confused about what they should eat for snack, which can lead to them eating a large portion of their lunch at snack time, leaving them hungry and/or disappointed in the afternoon.

Thank you so much for sharing your children with us, and for being part of our community.

Gvyalieliga,

Ki Holly