Mountaingarten: August 13 - 17

Hello Mountain Garden families!

This past week we enjoyed making sourdough bread for the first time, one of our children officially eats crusts now! We also started making our classroom folders so the children have a place to put their crafts and arts works. We made water color paintings using a single primary color.  We will build up using a different primary color each week and later we will begin to layer them and watch the magic happen.

We all begin the morning in song and circle and the children have already learned most of the songs and movements. We also almost perfected our walking circle. We have an appointed line leader for each day so each child may experience being a leader. We played in mud puddles, fed the animals, built fairy houses, and enjoyed each others good company. 

At lunch on Friday, the children were saying among each other "my mom is the best pizza maker in the world!" Until one of the children stood up and said "all our moms make the best pizza!" And they all came to this agreement. That little exchange describes our class very well. We're constantly taken back by the kindness and consideration these children possess and when there's something we need to talk about or work on, they respond so quickly. 

Overall I feel constantly inspired by our children. We're hoping to bring more activities and looking forward to learning more together. 

Peace and Light,

Ki Fatima & Ki Aja

Meadowgarten: August 13 - 17

It really was a wonderful week, and I am sorry to have missed most of it! 

Thank you for all of the well wishes and get well gifts! It only furthered my love of this place and appreciation for all those present. 

This week our meadow family got to explore the woods, making a fairy house village, forts, and lots of pies (from sand, dirt, mud, and everything in-between). We also got to explore the campus some more and become more familiar with all of our spaces, including the dome. We will still plan to be outside most of the time, but it is nice to have that space for when it rains and when a respite from the sun is needed. 

This week we will be in the creek so please, as always, remember to pack a change of clothes and a bathing suit if that feels like an appropriate option. Even when we don't splash in the creek, there is a chance of getting muddy and wet in puddles and more, so the clothes are important. 

There are a lot of mosquitoes around. We carry an all natural bug spray with us but if you have a preferred brand please spray them before school and send it with them. Please pack a "wet bag" or plastic bag with your child for dirty or wet clothes they change out of. Please also remember a change of shoes or rain boots as part of their spare clothing. 

We are excited to have the first full week behind us and to continue on with a wonderful rhythm and lots of adventure to come!! 

Ki Warren

Kindergarten: First Week of School

Hello Kindergarten Families! 

We are off to a great start of the year! We are so excited to have two kindergarten classrooms this year and the classes are already learning the rhythm to their days. 

We are also noticing where we can make some changes so our day can run smoother. We'd like for parents to please drop off your child's belongings under the sign outside where you will see the classroom teachers' names. Please let your child carry his/her water bottle down to the playground.. Also, if your child comes to school wearing his/her water shoes, please pack an extra pair of shoes that they may wear at the end of the day when they're heading to the playground, as their other shoes are likely to still be wet. Or if your child comes with different shoes make sure they also have another pair of shoes that can get wet. We will have a basket outside on the playground where they can stick their water shoes in (we can keep them at the school if you'd like).  

Sign-ups for snack for the kindergarten can be found in the Monday Messenger or in the Current Families section of the website.  Thank you, in advance, for your help!

~Ki Fatima and Ki Warren

Kindergarten May 7 - 11

Here are some pictures from our fun week!

Kindergarten April 30 - May 4

It's finally warm and we love playing in the creek! 

Kindergarten April 23 - 27

Here are some pictures from our rainy week!

Kindergarten April 16 - 20

This week was all about our three ducklings! We are enjoying them so much. 

Ki Azar read us some great stories this week in storytime.

In our Nature Moment, we went with Ki Sonya on a walk to explore the edge of the wetlands.

On Tuesday we celebrated Aura's fourth trip around the sun with her family and some funfetti cupcakes. We knew by this time in the school year that she would receive gifts of a stone, a button, a shell, and a feather to commemorate her four years.

On Friday, we walked along the new art ribbon trail to see art by our students and students at three art studios displayed throughout the pine forest. We climbed on top of the newly painted (well, it was fully dry) storm drain. If you have never seen a raccoon ride a bicycle, walk down the steep hill behind the retention pond to see this one! We ate our lunch at the picnic tables in the sunshine.

Kindergarten April 9 - 14

The kindergarten students participated in an archaeology dig in the sandbox and sandboat. They discovered and uncovered bones, shells, crystals, fossils, antlers, Native American artifacts, and more.

In storytime this week, we learned how the honey bee got its stinger.

Students' wildlife art posters were displayed in the Nature at Night art exhibit on the basketball court.

Kindergarten March 26 - 30

This week we celebrated the 5th birthday of our twins, Ezra and Lounes, with their extended family. Their Mom, Christine, made delicious coconut cupcakes for everyone.

We learned more about night animals and practiced drawing them. Finally we drew our chosen nocturnal animals onto the beautiful watercolor backgrounds we had created a week before. These will be submitted to the Nature at Night wildlife poster contest.

We visited the fairy hostel each day to see the changes that fairies had made to it and the new items they had added. We created our own fairy houses out in the forest.

We finished making and decorating the big folders that will hold all of our artwork.

Ki Sonya shared with us the story of How Coyote Helped to Create the Stars.

Kindergarten March 19 - 23

We celebrated two spring birthdays this week: Gabriela turned five and Lochlan turned four. In storytime, Ki Warren told us a Native American story about how the people came to have fire.

Ki Lindsey helped us create wet on wet watercolors in combinations of red and blue. We will be using these as backgrounds for our nocturnal animal drawings. Ki Sonya will be helping us next week with drawings of night animals to enter in the state wildlife poster contest.

For Creature Feature, we met a beautiful and very soft rabbit.

Kindergarten March 12 - 16

We started off the week by celebrating Oliver's 6th birthday. During Creature Feature, we met Ki Sonya's two snow dogs: a Samoyed named Story and a Great Pyrenees named Prancer. In the Nature Moment, we looked at different kinds of sea sponges. 

A trailer-load of logs was delivered and they made the perfect place to crawl about and look for hidden popsicle sticks. We also balanced books on our heads, discovered a new pine tree that had fallen to the ground, and sat on the wall in the sunshine. We are looking forward to warmer weather!

Kindergarten March 5 - 9

This week in kindergarten, Ki Warren told us a Seneca Indian story about Old Man Winter, the North Wind, and Young Man Spring.

We fed the miniature donkey and goats, made sourdough bread, and played in deep mud puddles.

In our Nature Moment, we learned how to line up objects in order of their size. Then we practiced by lining up pine cones, seashells, wooden frogs, and even ourselves!

We sat down by the pond with Ki Sonya and created a frog pond chorus using the wooden chorus frogs. 

Ki Tess from The Amphibian Foundation shared many special amphibians and reptiles with us during Creature Feature. These included a tree frog, a toad, geckos, a snake, and a bearded dragon. 

Kindergarten February 26 - March 2

This week the kindergarten students played in and on and around a tire, floated sticks and logs on the creek, slid down the banana slide, and picked up trash from the woods. 

We searched for hidden birds in the pine forest. We learned about birds with a visit from Perdido, the Great Blue Heron puppet. For our weekly Creature Feature, Ki Eve from the Chattahoochee Nature Center shared two beautiful birds of prey with us: a red-shouldered hawk and a barred owl. Students got to hold hawk and owl feathers during the presentation.

Kindergarten February 5 - 9

The first full week of February brought us some pretty sunshine and so much rain! We celebrated Violet's 4th trip around the sun with a birthday circle. We painted rocks that we will use to line the garden path. We played in deep puddles and mud holes. We felt different animal coats and learned about how animals with fur stay warm in the winter. In our Creature Feature program, we had a visit from Ki Kim and Ki Tim. They brought their two rescue greyhounds, Riley and Max, who received lots of pats and hugs.

Kindergarten January 29 - Feb 2

This week we celebrated 4-year-old Valkyra with a birthday gathering. In the Nature Moment we looked for Hidden Birds and then hid them in the forest for our friends to find. During Creature Feature Ki Mike brought a corn snake named Kernal, as well as a snake skin and snake skeleton, for us to see. We made bread dough, played in the cold mud, and raced our shadows. Ki Sonya helped us create a story about two children who go on a journey with lots of crazy animals!

Kindergarten January 22-26

Our first full week of spring semester was packed full of adventures! We celebrated Lucan's 6th birthday with chocolate chip banana muffins and a laurel made of pinecones and pine needles. 

We visited with Ki Vicky from A-Z Animals who had us try on bat masks, told us how bats come in all sizes, and showed us a live Egyptian fruit bat.

Ki Warren told us a Seneca Indian story about how the very first story came to be. We chopped veggies for soup, baked bread, and made wooden toys.

We created pinecone bird feeders and hung them from trees for the winter birds. We played in the puddles. We explored the creek where the highlights were the river cane and a dead frog. In our Nature Moment, we learned about seashells and held them to our ears to hear the call of the ocean.

Kindergarten Dec 11 - 15

Monday was a SNOW day so we started back to school Tuesday. We began the week by celebrating Abby's 6th birthday with her Mom, grandmother, and brothers. They brought us popcorn, hot chocolate, and hot apple cider! We finished sewing a few more water bottle holders. We enjoyed our Spanish class. We created some crayon drawings. Miss Sonya told us a story about an old man who punched holes in the night sky to create the stars and the moon. Mr. Warren read us a lovely story about four princes. 

The snowstorm brought down a lot of pine boughs so we used them to build a fort. We were thrilled with the new fairy garden created by Miss Tammy's daughter, Grace. We shared a milestone when one of our students lost her very first tooth while in class! 

We practiced lighting a candle and walking with it carefully and respectfully to help us prepare for the Advent Spiral. We practiced our songs that we sang for Advent. Finally, the BIG event arrived and we participated in the beautiful Advent Spiral and performed our Advent songs.

Kindergarten Dec 4 - Dec 8

There was lots of activity in kindergarten this week. We celebrated 4 trips around the sun with Mason and his parents. They brought us banana bread as a birthday snack. 

We took a sunny walk in the creek looking for clams and quartz and raccoon tracks. We created stained glass from sycamore leaves on the playground fence. Miss Sonya told us a story about the monkeys that live along Silver River in central Florida. We helped Mr. Lee empty the compost bin and add all that good stuff to the soil in the garden. 

Alice brought her tiny turtles Holly and Tinsel to the kindergarten and taught us all about them. Roman and Andi did crayon drawings to enter in a poster contest. 

We sang a fun song about Jack Frost and one about the leaves and the wind. We also practiced the songs we'll be performing at the Advent Spiral. 

We completed our snow globes and packaged them to take home to our parents. On Friday we got the real thing as we played and built snow families in several inches of fluffy snow.