Mountaingarten: October 29 - November 2

This past week was great. The kids were able to enjoy stacking and balancing rocks, feeding the animals, watering plants in the vegetable garden, having a nature walk, carpet weaving, painting activity with crafting tape, show and tell, and it ended with the Friday assembly where we were able to perform the Farmer Song. 

Monday through Wednesday the children were told a story about an old man and woman who were down on their luck and in order to make money they had to sell shoes. However, each morning when they awoke the shoes were made by little elves. On Thursday the children were able to become the characters and act out the story as the teacher narrated. 

We have introduced a new song last week which is called the "Tree Song." We will be introducing a new song this upcoming week as well as a poem.  

This week we are excited to start our nature table, where the children have already started to collect items from nature to put at the table. 

Reminders:

Please remember if you are signed up for snack please have the snack in the kitchen by 8:30 am, as it helps us with preparing for our day. 

Please have at least a light jacket for your child, as there have been multiple children coming down with a cold and having the sniffles. 

Please be sure your child brings his/her rest mat to school!

Thank you!

Warmly,

Mountain Garden

Meadowgarten: October 29 - November 2

Hello Meadow Families!

Going into this new week, please remember to adequately prepare your Meadowgartener for success outside! We generally spend more than half of our day outside, so please drop your child off in their rain gear if it is forecasted to be raining. Please note the photograph of Graham and Owen modeling perfect forest kindergarten gear! We will be calling if your child is not outfitted properly.

Last week was so fun, starting with some brisk mornings, campfires, and getting to explore some remnant of hay bales from KOH. In the forest, we chopped carrots, broke bread, and heard the story of the Little Red Hen. We've also seen a surge in kitchen/bakery type play in the forest and strong desires to build structures. Later in the week, the rainy days brought some fun water and mud play, ending our Friday with the assembly.

We have been working with the children during imaginative play on who decides which character each child can pretend to be. The language looks like this- "Sarah chooses who Sarah is, and Fred chooses who Fred is. Can Sarah be a kitty even if Fred wants to be a kitty too?" 

This week, we will be moving our nest space into our indoor location next to the kitchen and the Mountaingarten. We are excited to show the Meadowgarteners and for the rainy week ahead!

In good nature,

Ki Amy and Ki Amanda

Mountaingarten: October 22 - 26

Dear Mountain families,

We started out our week as we normally do, making delicious warm bread to enjoy with our homemade butter and olive oil zaatar dip. We cut vegetables for our soup, fed the animals, splashed in giant muddy puddles, and went for a splendid nature walk. We had fun with Meadow in the forest and inside we made colorful felt necklaces and we also had a pine cone craft. Also, we had another wonderful birthday celebration and enjoyed delicious cupcakes! Thank you Carol & Joaquin! 

Friday was our first day of show and tell and we are so happy with what the children brought in! We had musical instruments, a song, trophy, an insteresting stick, “heavens box”, and drawing of the class on a ship. 

The children heard a story about four dwarves who loved to make a lot of noise! Except one dwarf who sat so quietly in his corner and polished the stones they carved out of the cave until it turned shiny like crystals. 

By Thursday all the children acted out the play and it was a lot of fun to watch! 

Reminders: 

Please have each child bring in a maximum of two coats.

Please ensure each child has a wet bag.

Children are expected to be able to take off and put on their own shoes. Please refrain from bringing your child in with laces if he/she doesn’t yet know how to tie shoes. 

Toys found will be confiscated and later given to parents. Children are aware they should not be brought to school. 

Ensure your child is wearing their socks to school, as some have grown out of their inside shoes and others have lost them. 

If you are signed up to bring fruits & vegtables, please drop it off on the kitchen counter no later than 8:30 AM Monday morning. 

As it is the first Friday of the month this week, we will be having an assembly and half day this Friday. Also, although it is a half day, we are still having show and tell so please have your child prepare something to bring in! 

Kingdom of Halloween was a wonderful success. Thank you for all the parents have who helped and those who were able to show up! The costumes were delightful! 

Blessings,

Mountain 

Meadowgarten: October 22 - 26

Hello Meadowgarten families,

This week was full of new experiences for the Meadowgarten- we gathered materials, built a fire, and experienced our first day of pouring rain!

We learned about fire safety as we built our fire together. Meadowgarteners heaved over logs to build our barrier around the fire, as well as collected sticks, twigs, and kindling to feed the fire. No student is allowed to put anything into the fire, and there is always a bucket of water and a teacher while the fire is live. We gathered around and told stories and enjoyed each others company. 

We've also been collecting our compost at the end of the day to feed the animals, and learning about food waste. We talk about how are bodies are feeling before we decide how much food to ask for at snack time. 

This week, Meadowgarteners have started making their own journals (decorating the cover, hole-punching, adding pages) to keep in the classroom to draw and create in. After a sunny afternooon collecting pine cones, we created a nature garland with yarn to begin decorating the dome.

Some days, we will go straight to the forest from the playground. There is the compost toilet there, however, please ensure your Meadowgartener goes to the bathroom before drop-off- this would be very helpful. 

In good nature,

Ki Amy and Ki Amanda

Meadowgarten: October 15 - 19

Dear Meadow Parents,

This week was full of transitions! This was our first week co-teaching with the Meadowgarten and our flow of the day has been slightly altered with the cooler weather.

We were very busy this week making butter, shredding carrots, and celebrating Pipor with delicious homemade applesauce (Thank you, Candace!).

As the weather is cooling, please be sure children have enough clothes to keep them warm. Children who do not have proper attire for the cold will be sent home.

Also, please don't forget to check lost and found for any missing items, and a change of clothes and a wet bag is still required. 

Kindly,

Ki Amanda & Ki Amy

Mountaingarten: October 15-19

Dear Mountain Parents,

The past week went by smoothly and we are happy with the new changes to our daily rhythm. As mentioned before, we are parting ways with Meadow Garden after our morning circle. From now on, both classes will be returning to their home base after circle and will go back outside after second snack, returning to our nest for lunch. 

We had a very busy week! We made butter and used it as a spread on our zaatar bread rolls which we also made, cut veggies for our soup, made a salad with our cucumbers and tomatoes, and celebrated a birthday with delicious muffins (thank you Sarah!). We also went for a nature walk, fed the animals, painted with water color, sewed gnome hats, colored autumn trees with block crayons and glued leaves we found in the forest.

The children learned a story about a wise man who never told lies (we repeat the same story everyday for the week so the children have time to process and think about it) and by the end of the week our story developed into a play, where the children were able to act out the lines.

We have our good bye song that we are now singing at the end of the day with beautiful tune:

"Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye my friends

Until the day we meet again

We've had our laughs, we've had our fun

And the day is done

Goodbye my Friends."  

We also have a new song we sing to prepare us for the hall: 

"My hands are by my side,

I'm standing straight and tall,

my eyes are looking forward,

I'm ready for the hall!

Shh!" (Their favorite part)"

As the weather is cooling, please be sure children have enough clothes to keep them warm. Children who do not have proper attire for the cold will be sent home.

Also, please remember to pick up your child's rest mat at their end of the week. They will be outside next to the picnic table.

Several children are missing their inside shoes, if the shoes are still at home please remind your child to bring it with them to school. Also, if your child does not yet know how to tie shoes, please send them to school in velcro shoes or something else they can easily take on and off by themselves. 

Also, please don't forget to check lost and found for any missing items, and a change of clothes and a wet bag is still required. 

We are now going to have "show and tell" on Friday's, so please have your child find something from nature or something that he/she made to share with the class, it could even be song or a story!

Lastly, for parents signed up to bring the snack. In addition to the fruits, we will ask for a few vegetables to use in our soup. We will change up the soup every week so vegetables may vary. We plan to start this the first week of November. 

Thank you for reading this lengthy message! 

With Gratitude, 

Mountain Garden

Kindergarten: Oct 8 - 12

Hello Kindy families!

Although our days were cut short last week, it was still wonderful and full of good energy and activity. We didn't spend a lot of time in the creek as the water level raised over the weekend, but we did get to enjoy seeing how high the water could rise. 

We are very pleased with how the parent teacher conferences went, it's nice to touch base with parents and see the overall picture of the child and how he or she is doing! We hope to continue in this way. Thank you all for making time for this! 

As the weather is cooling and after observing at the Waldorf School of Atlanta last week, we've been inspired to make some changes to our schedule and daily rhythm. Meadow and Mountain will now part ways after our morning circle and spend more time as a class. We are very excited for these changes. We still plan to meet during forest time however! 

Warm Regards,

Kindy 

Kindergarten: October 1 - 5

Hello Mountain and Meadow families!

Last week was exciting as we introduced our new autumn song “The Farmer”. We also enjoyed making autumn decorations for our classrooms, we hole punched and strung squirrels, pumpkin, acorn, and fox cut outs and colored them as well. We also spent extra time in the creek since it was so warm outside and we were having fun. We made our bread, chopped veggies for our soup, and played a new game in Spanish called “pato, pato, ganzo”, or “duck, duck, goose.” We also loved seeing everyone’s performance at the Friday assembly. 

Thank you all who came to help during the Saturday workday. 

For parents who drop off fruits or vegetables, we would appreciate it if you could drop it off upstairs in the kitchen. Thank you :-) 

Mountain & Meadow 

Kindergarten: September 17 - 21

Well, the Kindergarten classes had a wonderful week last week! Everyone played a lot, got along swimmingly, and had a lot of fun. There was not a lot for us to do, it was almost like we weren’t even here! The week before was similar! (except we were actually here). 

Everyone seems to be settling into their rhythm and it has made the days move along with ease. We will be transitioning to some new songs in the coming two weeks as we move into fall (kinda), and the kindergartners show more and more enthusiasm and excitement for the circles. We are starting to do some fall-time crafts and we will be trying to get to the creek as much as we can before the days actually get cold (kinda).

The seasons are changing, and so is the early childhood program! We will be bidding a sad farewell to Ki Warren who will be officially stepping away after several months of health issues, and welcoming Ki Amy into the Meadowgarten full time. We'll also see Ki Amanda and Ki Ieva trade roles, so that Ki Ieva will be working with the toddlers and Ki Amanda will be joining the Meadowgarten. We know it's a lot of change, but these are all familiar faces and we'll be working with the children very consciously to make sure that their connections are honored during this transition. Please let us know if you have any questions!

We are excited to be back and hope everyone had a wonderful break!! 

- The Kindergarten Team

Kindergarten: Sept 10 - 14

This past week Mountain & Meadow celebrated dear McKenna's 5th birthday, we found tadpoles where the rainwater had collected inside a tarp in the forest, built a teepee house and broom of pine to go inside, enjoyed Spanish and Mandarin by the pond (where we will have foreign language from now on), and had a happy (and hot!) week over all. 

Thank you as always for bringing in the snacks and for those who came to the community work day this past weekend! 

Have a good week! 

Mountain & Meadow

Kindergarten: September 3-7

Dear Mountain & Meadow parents,

We had our first assembly of the year this past Friday and it was a true joy to see what the children have been working on thus far. We were very proud of Mountain and Meadow who did so well all throughout! 

We spotted a new frog last week, made a beeswax candle, gathered our favorite leaves in the forest, made necklaces out of yarn and leaves, and made our hands red and pink from squishing poke wood berries! 

We ran, jumped, splashed and played. It was a good week. We really missed Ki Warren and are happy he's back with us! 

Meadow parents who sign up for snack, please bring in snacking vegetables (any vegetable you can dip in hummus) instead of fruits from now on, this will provide for the children’s second snack, while mountain garden will provide the fruit snack. We’ve noticed there’s been a lot of left over fruit and we can use the vegetables for MWF second snack and our soup on Thursdays. As a reference, the children usually eat roughly 10 lbs of fresh veggies a week. Thank you. 

One last request, please put the children’s change of clothes in a labeled bag! 

Thank you all and may we have a wonderful week ahead of us! 

Mountain & Meadow

Kindergarten: Aug 27 - 31

Happy September! 

This past week was especially exciting because we got to splash and play in the creek every day! We spotted raccoon and deer tracks in the sand and little fish in the water. The children gathered stones in a wagon and piled them into the channel where water would flow, without any suggestion from us! This was followed by taking turns wheeling each other around in the wagon. We found wild strawberries in the garden, an ant colony living inside a tree, and seashells by the creek. We made sand angels, a forest salad, and placed our painted stones down the forest path.

Our days are feeling more attune to the "breathe in, breathe out" rhythm that we hope to achieve. We are still working around all the transitions, however. It often feels rushed, especially coming in for lunch, so we are trying to see how we can make things run smoother still. 

It's been really wonderful getting to know and understand each child and seeing how they view and respond to the world around them. We am learning a lot from them.

The children look out for each other and ask one another "are you okay?" or "why is he/she crying?" There is a natural tendency towards empathy and wanting to help the other.

If you tried to send an email to mountain@ or meadow@ in the past week and it didn't go through, please know it is because our emails was changed. The emails were supposed to be redirected to the new email address but since that wasn't working we are keeping the original email, so hopefully we will be able to receive your messages now.

Also, now that we've got the garden beds cleaned up, we would love to start gardening with the children! If you know where we may acquire free garden soil, please let us know! 

As always, your energy and commitment to the children, school, and our community is very much appreciated. I am learning everything starts at home, and I can see that each child is so loved and cared for and I sincerely hope we can extend that love and care when they come to school each day. 

With Gratitude,

The Kindergarten Teachers

Meadowgarten: Aug 20 - 24

Good Monday Families!! 

We had a wonderful week last week settling into our rhythm and exploring the wonders of our campus. We have started having our forest play with the other kindergarten class and will continue to combine our energies during this time and snack time as well. We saw lots of creatures this past week including; caterpillars, butterflies, skinks, tadpoles, turtles, fun bugs, skiddish chipmunks, and our wonderful garden animals. We are looking forward to this next week as we begin to make bread and crafts, explore the creek, and learn wonderful things along the way. 

Thank you to all of the parents who came out to the workday this past weekend! We accomplished a lot and it was wonderful to see the community working together to better our space. If you did not make it, no worries, there will be other days and many more ways to contribute! This coming week we will be in the creek so please remember to pack extra clothes and shoes that can get wet!

We have a new floor in our classroom! We are excited to see how that helps cool the space, as well as how that changes the nature of our play. 

Thanks for all of your wonderful energy! Enjoy your week! 

- Meadowgarten Class 

Mountaingarten: Aug 20 - 24

Hello Mountain families!

Another good week is behind us and we are looking forward to the next! 

We celebrated dear Maya's 4th birthday, picked elderberries in the garden, went for a walk down the art walk trail and gathered our favorite stones that we would later paint, chopped vegetables for our soup, crafted a God's Eye, made a wildflower bouquet for our classroom, touched strange caterpillars, and enjoyed the early morning breezes. We are excited Autumn is near. 

We're looking forward to start our seasonal garden now that the weeds have been pulled. Thank you to everyone who came to help during the community work day! And thank you for the fruit! And everyone who has helped in setting up and putting away our classroom. Your help is appreciated. 

Sincerely,

Ki Fatima & Ki Aja

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!