Osiyo (hello), River Otter Families.
Welcome to the 2021-22 school year! I am so excited to begin our new school year with all of your wonderful children in our new forest classroom. I have been looking forward to this week all summer! I will be your child’s lead teacher this year, and they will also be supported by our amazing kindergarten assistant, Ki Kim.
We will begin our day at 8:50am with a walk to our outdoor classroom, and will gather for our morning circle by 9:00am. Please ensure your child arrives by 8:50am to help us maintain our smooth and peaceful daily rhythm, which is so important for the physical and emotional wellbeing of our students. After our circle we will have free play and an indoor bathroom break, followed by snack time and the daily story. After story and snack time students will have their largest period of free play. During this time there will be creative and practical work activities available for the students to participate in as they feel compelled. At 12:30 half day students will be dismissed to their grownups at the picnic tables, and other students will begin lunch. An indoor bathroom break and rest time will follow lunch. After a 30-45 minute rest period, students have the option of free play or a quiet activity at base camp, and the day will end with students ready for pickup at the picnic tables from 3:00-3:15pm.
On Tuesdays our class will have creek play during the warmer weeks at the beginning and end of the school year, provided it has not rained in the preceding 48 hours. Please send an extra change of clothing and water shoes or other hard soled shoes that can be worn in the creek on Tuesdays for now. No bathing suits, please. We will have Spanish class with Ki Maria on Thursdays following our morning circle. On Wednesdays our class will have watercolor painting.
As we look ahead to this school year, I would like to share some reminders. Please label all of your student’s items with some sort of permanent or semi-permanent label (sharpie washes off surprisingly quickly on certain items such as water bottles!). It is very important your child comes to school with 2 full water bottles during these hotter days. It will be helpful for your child to have their snack kept separate from their lunch so it is easy to access and they do not become confused about which items are their snack and which are for lunch. If your kindergarten student will be bringing masks to school, they will be responsible for their own masks for health and safety reasons. Doing so allows for less handling by as many hands and also allows the students to store them safely as determined by their grownups. Please send two labeled masks in your child’s backpack daily and help them know in what circumstances you would like them to be wearing a mask. Please also let me know in what circumstances you would like your child to wear their mask and I will do my best to help them remember. Please teach your child at home how to put their mask on, take it off, and how and where to store it when they are not using it.
If you ever have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me at holly@thegardenmarietta.org. You may also call or text me at 269-788-4473 and I will respond at my earliest convenience. I am also happy to set up in person or virtual meetings upon request. Thank you so much for sharing your children with us, and for being part of our community.
Gvyalieliga (with gratitude),
Ki Holly (she/hers)