Kindergarten River Otter: March 28 - April 1

Osiyo, River Otter families.

The newest addition to our outdoor play area is a sensory swing, which was installed Monday afternoon. The students love the swing and the ability to move in it in different ways as they feel safe and their vestibular and proprioceptive senses guide them. The students found and picked wildflowers growing in our classroom and in the area outside the garden this week. They also ran in the grassy area and rolled down the hill, singing about climbing mountains and giggling with joy. Spring is such a magical season at The Garden School!

Thank you so much for joining us for the Grand Friends Tea. It was wonderful to meet the grandparents and family members that our students have been talking about all year. We all really enjoyed sharing a couple of songs, showing you our outdoor classroom, and talking and playing together. Your support of your children’s education and our school is so important, and greatly appreciated.  We hope you all have a wonderful spring break.

Announcements and Reminders:

  • April 4th-8th is spring break, there is NO SCHOOL. We will see you on Monday, April 11th.

  • Friday, April 22nd is a half-day and our Annual Fundraiser.

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

Gvyalieliga,

Ki Holly

Kindergarten Turtles: March 21 - 25

Greetings Turtle Families! 

This week we updated our forest classroom with two fun additions! Thanks to our wonderful parent community and Ki Derek we now have a slide! Lots of fun was had climbing up and sliding down over and over again throughout the week. :) Additionally, one of the Turtles had an inspiring idea to create a “Quiet Corner” in the forest.  We rolled a tire to a nook between some trees and tied a piece of fabric overtop as a canopy.  An outdoor mat completed the space (see pictures below!). We decided that it would be a place to quietly play or look at books.  Students spent time building a fairy village there, playing with peg dolls, and listening to story books. 

Rock painting kits were sent home on Friday to those who were in school and the remaining kits will go home on Monday.  If you could complete the rocks and return them to school by Friday, that would be wonderful! Feel free to work with your child to create your own artistic style for detailing the bumble bee or ladybug.  Thank you so much for your participation in our class auction project.  It is such an amazing and fun event for our community! 

Reminders: 

  • Please ensure that your child has a complete change of clothes, including socks and shoes, as our forest area is very muddy.  Also, as the weather warms, we will engage in more water play so extra clothes or rain gear is advisable! 

  • We are so excited to host Grandfriends Tea this Friday - see you there :) 

Kindly,

Ki Amy  

Kindergarten River Otters: March 21 - 25

Osiyo River Otter families,

It was a fun and exciting week at school!  Last weekend, Ki Derek and other volunteers moved new slides into each of the kindergarten classrooms. The students are all really enjoying climbing the steps, sliding down the slide, and playing in the little fort under the slide platform. Thank you Ki Derek and Kristine, Silas’s mom, for building the slide platforms for us! We also planted flower, spinach, and carrot seeds in three of our planters and are checking them each day to discover when we will start to see sprouts.

Many students were interested in sewing during the second half of the week. Some children made tooth fairy pillows, some made small pillows, and others beaded or sewed their own creations. We have added more fabrics and thread to our craft basket, which many students are using creatively. We have also started a new, fun game we will play occasionally called “silly snake” which has quickly become a favorite activity. On Friday, students worked in a group to dig until they reached magma! They had buckets of water on hand so it wouldn't melt the school. Although they have not seen the magma yet, the dirt and their feet felt hot, so they knew it must be close!

Announcements and Reminders

  • Please continue to send coats, gloves, and rain gear every day. While it may not be convenient to wash these items and send them back each day, please understand it is still cold and muddy in the forest even when it is warmer elsewhere. 

  • Please send a full change of clothes and a wet bag or plastic bag for soiled clothes every day. We get wet or muddy and need to change clothes at times.

  • Please send TWO full water bottles. As it gets warmer, students are starting to drink much more water.

  • This Friday, 4/1, is our Grandfriends Tea (11:00-12:00) and is a half day for all students. Students will not need to bring a lunch or nap blanket, and will all be released at 12:30pm. If you or their grandfriend wish to take them home at 12:00 following the tea, that is fine as well.

  • Next week, 4/4-4/8, is spring break and there will be NO SCHOOL. Have fun!

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

Gyvalieliga,

Ki Holly

Kindergarten Beavers: March 21 - 25

Greetings Dear Beaver Families,

We had an eventful week in our forest! One of the highlights was our new slide. Ki Derek visited our class to stake it into place and the children enjoyed watching and helping him hammer the stakes into the ground to secure their slide. Another exciting gift we discovered in the forest last week is a new little pocket that opened up to us, extending our boundary. After all the rain, a babbling brook appeared in this area!  This has become a hotspot to play in and our new story time space. Additionally, we planted flowers and peppermint, with the hope that we can share our own forest grown peppermint tea together. 

Our story was about a bear who was woken from her deep winter slumber by a breeze that smelled like a bouquet of flowers. After her morning swim, she rolled around on the grass to dry up. When Bear looked at herself she noticed her beautiful, brown fur had turned yellow! Soon she heard the sound of chirping at her feet and four little yellow chicks appeared below. They followed her everywhere she went! She found peace at the top of a tree, however, her stomach grumbled for she hadn’t anything to eat all winter long. Luckily, she was near a beehive and the bees happily shared their honey and she was satisfied. Down below, the chicks were waiting and Bear decided to help them find food. When night fell, they snuggled up close to her warm fur. The next day, when the breeze passed, it made Bear sneeze and all the yellow had fallen off of her and her beautiful brown fur revealed itself. The chicks chirped with fear when they realized they were with a bear! They ran away as fast as they could but soon remembered how kind she was and how she kept them safe. When they realized their mistake, Bear was already enjoying her swim in the lake and so they joined her and they swam together everyday thereafter. 

Thank you for the beautiful flowers you helped create for our class project! 

Reminders: 

  • Please continue to send coats and rain gear. Although our afternoons warm up, our mornings are still cold and the forest gets very muddy! 

  • Please send a full change of clothes including socks and a wet bag or plastic bag for  clothes that may get wet or muddy. 

  • This Friday is our Grandfriends Tea (11:00-12:00). Students will all be released at 12:30pm. If you wish, you/your child’s grandfriend may take them home following the tea.

  • No school next week, 4/4-4/8, enjoy the Spring break! 

Warmly,

Ki Fatima 

Kindergarten Beavers: March 14 - 18

Greetings Dear Beaver Families, 

This is our first Spring in this part of our forest and it’s been so wonderful to see what flowers and plants come to bloom during this time alongside what we have planted. There is a flowering tree from the River Otters part of the forest and the wind has blown some of its blossoms over to our area. We are also seeing more visitors in the animal world such as a rather large woodpecker who visits a few of our nearby trees and the turtles who are out sunbathing again too. We also saw our first carpenter bee which drank from our hyacinth plant. All but two of our hyacinth plants had bloomed the previous week (strange since we planted them all together) with all of the flowers pink, except these two plants which finally bloomed this past week. We were surprised to see that these two newly bloomed hyacinths are a beautiful blue-purple color. Some of the zinnia’s we planted in our little garden bed have sprouted and we also planted radishes. There was a lot of good, muddy play and jump rope games happening in the forest as well. The children all finished making their wet felted balls for our class project and we can’t wait to see the finished product! 

The children heard a story about a grumpy leprechaun who couldn’t find his gold. The leprechaun walked and mumbled to himself, “Where is my gold, oh, where could it be?” When the rooster heard, he told the leprechaun to look out, for his gold was just about to come up. Soon enough, the beautiful, golden sun rose over the fields. The hen offered to let the leprechaun hold her gold, and seven little chicklets gathered around. The calf offered to share his gold- the beautiful golden hay. The duckling floating in the pond offered to share her gold that came in the form of bread crumbs tossed by a little girl who caught the leprechaun as soon as she heard him (for it is said leprechauns bring humans good luck). When the girl saw the grumpy face of the leprechaun, she asked him what he was so upset about. He complained that nobody could help him find his gold. At last, it started to rain! The girl danced and laughed and told the leprechaun, “Don’t you know that after it rains, the sun will shine, a rainbow will appear, and at the end of every rainbow there is a pot of gold?” They raced together to the end of the rainbow and the leprechaun wrapped his arms around the pot of gold, but since the girl had already caught him, he gave all his gold away to the girl and the rest of her life was golden thereafter. 

Thank you for sending your child to school in their rain gear, and for all that you do :-) 

Reminders: 

  • We will meet this Friday after school to work on our class auction project. All the materials will be prepared for you. If you are unable to attend, we will send materials with your child to work on at home. Thank you! 

Warmly,

Ki Fatima

Kindergarten Turtles: March 14 - 18

Greetings Turtle Families! 

Thank you for sending your children in rain gear this week as it was much needed! Many soups were made with muddy water, pine straw and other ingredients foraged from the forest.  The fourth graders rolled even more stumps into our classroom and the students worked to place them in a row to jump from stump to stump.  At basecamp, we learned how to roll yarn into balls by creating a little butterfly and wrapping her in a cocoon.  One of the students asked if they could have a little yarn butterfly to play with and so we made several and butterflies were flying all through the forest, landing on our noses and heads.  Also flying through the forest were many birds! We observed our resident woodpecker pecking away at a tree throughout snack time on Wednesday.  We have been refilling our bird feeder every day and many birds are feasting on the seeds and flying close by as we play. 

Our story this week was about a little bulb who waited patiently throughout winter for the spring to come. One day her friend the ant scampered by happily stating, “Spring is coming!” After the ant, her friend earthworm confirmed what ant said, noticing that the soil is warmer and telling the bulb to start her journey upward.  Before pushing up, she anchored herself with roots and began her journey.  A few helpful gnomes pushed a rock out of her way and she bloomed into a beautiful spring daffodil :) 

After our story, we practiced a new spring song: 

Spring is coming, spring is coming, birdies build your nests

Weave together straw and feather, doing each your best.

Spring is coming, spring is coming, flowers are coming too

Crocus, lilies, daffodilies…all are coming through.

Next week we will learn the last part! 

Reminders:

  • Grandfriend’s Tea is April 1st from 11:00-12:00 in the forest. We are excited to host families and special guests in our forest classroom with tea and cookies :) 

Kindly,

Ki Amy  

Kindergarten River Otters: March 14 - 18

Osiyo River Otter families,

Our class enjoyed a muddy week in the forest creating in the mud kitchen, playing large group games such as superheroes and wolf family, petting the donkeys, pretending to fish in the garden, and building forts inside and out. On Friday, the students were excited for the opportunity to spend some time indoors. They also drew pictures of what they saw in their imaginations while I told our story. This week’s story was an original therapeutic story to help children begin to understand the unique beauty of each individual and learn to respect their own and other people’s boundaries. Ask them if they can retell the story of The City of Gardens.

This season’s morning circle is about birds! The circle incorporates therapeutic movement and teamwork intended to help the students learn to appreciate each other and work together, and to feel secure in their bodies, the classroom, and the world. To the students, however, it is just a lot of fun!  They are really enjoying the variety of movements, songs, and verses in this circle, which includes a game we learned before midwinter break, the bluebird game. The students’ favorite song is our Spanish song, El Periquito Azul. Many thanks to Stella’s mom, Paulyna, for finding this song for us!

Announcements and Reminders

  • Please send rain gear every day! The forest really does stay very wet and muddy for days after a rain and rain gear is a necessity. 

  • If your child has borrowed gloves, rain gear, or other clothing items from school, please send those in this week. We like to keep them available for students in all classes as needed.

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

Gyvalieliga,

Ki Holly

Kindergarten Beavers: March 7 - 11

Greetings Dear Beaver Families,

We have been starting our mornings with a few new songs that welcome and celebrate the coming of Spring. Below is a verse we recite together each day: 

My friend gave me a bag of seeds

I asked, “what do I do with these?” 

She told me to plant them deep inside the earth 

And let them sleep

And in the Spring, you’ll be surprised

By all the flowers before your eyes

But first must come some wind and rain

And a little sun, day after day

I saw the plants and watched them grow

Some bloomed high and some bloomed low

Some bloomed fast and some bloomed slow

But in the end they all did grow

Some were yellow and some were pink

Some were red and some were green

Who would have thought that there would be

The colors of the rainbow inside those seeds

Our story last week was about a village called, “Happiness”, however the people in that village were more heartbroken than happy. They worked for a greedy merchant who did not share his garden fruits with the poor villagers. One day, an old beggar walked through the town and inquired about its people, he wondered why they looked so sad. Meanwhile, he found a pear bud on the ground, opened it up and found a little seed inside. He invited the children and families to join him as he planted the seed into the ground. As soon as he planted it, the seed sprouted, and before the sun went down, a tree had grown full of ripe fruit. The families harvested the fruit and the old beggar insisted that they keep the seeds and return the following day. The next day, the families planted their seeds and soon enough, they had a beautiful orchard of various fruiting trees. They no longer had to work for the greedy merchant. Soon the merchant's tree withered up and he moved away while the people of the village had such a surplus of fruit, they shared it with the neighboring villages. And of course the old beggar man stayed in the village and they took care of him as though he was the whole town’s beloved grandfather. 

Reminders: 

  • Auction Project 

  • As our farm animals are on a strict diet, we will no longer feed them extra snacks for the time being. 

  • Saturday, March 19th is a Community Workday

  • Friday, April 1 is Grandfriend’s Day.

Thank you for making sure your child is appropriately dressed for rainy and wet days!  

Warmly,

Ki Fatima 

Kindergarten Turtles: March 7 - 11

Greetings Turtle Families!

This week the forest greeted us with puddles! Thankfully, due to the warmer temperatures, the students were able to splash and play in the water, creating ubiquitous opportunities for new adventures.  We noticed onion grasses sprouting from the ground and watched many birds visit our bird feeder. A flowering tree in the River Otter classroom has graced our forest floor with pretty white blooms that were happily collected and admired. Those who needed a break from the water and mud played together on basecamp.  A few students used all of the blocks to make a huge pathway that wound from one side of basecamp to the other.  They also played with our crocheted baby dolls and new baby blankets for swaddling (thank you, Ki Kim!).

Thank you in advance for your participation in our class auction project – a garden tic-tac-toe table! Next week your child will come home with a rock painting kit. In school, half the children will paint a rock yellow and the other half will paint a red rock. The rocks will then be sent home to be turned into lady bugs or bumble bees.  A bonus rock will be included to paint and keep at home while the lady bug or bumble bee should return to school 

Please mark your calendars for Grandfriends Tea on April 1st from 11:00-12:00.  The event will be held in our forest classroom and parents and grandparents or special friends are welcomed to join us for tea, cookies, and conversation! 

Reminders:

  • On wet and muddy days, please send a few extra pairs of socks and a change of shoes

  • Some students are still hungry after they have eaten their snack. Feel free to get in touch with me if you are wondering how much your child might need.  They have been engaging in some heavy work that is making them very hungry! 

  • Saturday, March 19th, is a Community Workday

Kindly, 

Ki Amy 

Kindergarten River Otters: March 7 - 11

Osiyo, River Otter families,

It was a lovely week filled with friends, play, and work in the forest. The students have loved our morning tea time so much, we have made it a part of our daily rhythm. We have tried many types of herbal tea and most students have found a favorite (peppermint, hibiscus, and lemon have been most popular). Each student has their own reusable tea cup made from wheatgrass and serves themself tea during snack time. After snack, two students wash the tea cups in an outdoor sink we have created, while two students dry them. This new practical work task has quickly become a beloved activity. We will continue to follow this routine each day, changing to iced tea and sun tea when the weather turns hot.

We have added several large stumps to our outdoor classroom, and the students have enjoyed helping roll them to places they have chosen. The stumps have been used for climbing, jumping, sitting, stepping from one to another, reaching tree branches, and used as tables. We have also added several new hand shovels, and beautiful wooden beads for crafts. There have been new wildlife visitors to our forest, as well. This week we saw a great blue heron, a pair of wood ducks, and a crawfish that was enjoying the mud and puddles in our play area late this week.

Announcements and Reminders

  • Please send rain gear with your student every day. The forest stays quite wet and muddy for several days after a rain, and the children get cold and uncomfortable easily when their clothes get wet. Please send a rain jacket and rain pants or a rain suit, rain boots, and at least one full, seasonally appropriate change of clothes every day.

  • Our annual auction is coming up next month!  Please refer to the email sent by our parent representative, Brittany Ott, for details on how you can help with our class’s project. 

  • This Thursday is our first community discussion on The 1619 Project: New Origin Story. We will meet at 2:00pm to discuss the book through chapter 5. If you are interested in joining us and have not RSVPd, please send me an email to get added to the email list for notifications.

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

Gyvalieliga,

Ki Holly

Kindergarten Turtles: February 28 - March 2

Greetings Turtle Families!

Fun and sun are the best ways to describe this week in the forest! The fourth graders worked hard to roll two ENORMOUS stumps into our forest area, which have invited new and exciting play opportunities. Some students built a fort between the two stumps and others climbed up and jumped off.  There is an area of thicket with a small clearing in the middle toward the back of the forest that the children have discovered as a new play nook. Next week, we will work on clearing some of the extra brush to make the play area even roomier.

We colored A LOT this week.  One of the students had an idea to make a kite so we made simple kites cut into diamond and heart shapes with a piece of yarn and a stick handle.  It was fun to see their brightly colored kites soaring through the forest. On our farm day, we took some celery and fed the goats and donkeys some treats.  The donkeys have become so friendly and love to be petted on the head when we visit. 

Our new circle is full of spring songs! One of them is an original song, written by the Beaver Kindergarten teacher, Ki Fatima.  It goes like this:

My friend gave me a bag of seeds, I asked “What do I do with these?”

She told me to plant them deep inside the earth and let them sleep

And in the spring you’ll be surprised by all the flowers before your eyes

But first must come some wind and rain and a little sun day after day

I saw the plants and watched them grow, some bloomed fast and some bloomed slow

Some bloomed high and some bloomed low but in the end they all did grow

Some were yellow and some were pink, some were red and some were green

Who would have thought that there would be the colors of the rainbow inside these seeds? 

Announcements/Reminders:

·      Please remember to pack two water bottles each day. Warm days = thirstier kids! 

·      Friday, March 11th is a teacher in service day and there is NO SCHOOL

Thank you!

Ki Amy 

Kindergarten Beavers: February 28 - March 4

Greetings Dear Beaver Families,

It was wonderful to return to school after our midwinter break to be greeted by such beautiful sunny weather. It was visible how much the children enjoyed themselves and played together harmoniously on these warm afternoons. The fourth grade students rolled some giant logs into our forest classroom and the students were very happy to add new (very tall) stumps to their stump collection. They made an obstacle course and tested their jumping abilities. On Tuesday, we visited the animals on the farm and fed them carrots. On our way back we sat on the floating deck and had a quiet observation time. The children spotted ducks floating nearby and delighted in the reflections they saw on the water. The hyacinths we planted are growing up so fast! It appears forest creatures visited and took a bit of a nibble from them so we are taking extra measures to protect our little growing plants.

On Friday, the children watched with bated breath a puppet play of the folktale they heard over the course of the week called, “The Magic Lake at the Edge of the World”. This was a longer story and while it was challenging for some of them to sit through it initially, by the end of the week they were fully engaged. This story is about an Emperor who earnestly sought help to heal his sickly son. A message was spread across the kingdom that whoever could find water from the magic lake at the edge of the world shall receive a great reward, for this water would heal his son. Sumac, the youngest child of a farming family living in the kingdom, begs her parents to go in search of the lake. Her courage, bravery, and kindness eventually lead her to find the magic lake. Sumac was able to heal the prince, release her brothers from prison, and gain the gift of a larger farm for her beloved parents for her noble efforts. 

  • No school Friday, March 11 for teacher work day 

  • Please ensure to pack two water bottles, as the days are getting warmer the children are taking more “water breaks”! 

Thank you for all that you do :-)

Warmly,

Ki Fatima

Kindergarten River Otters: February 28 - March 4

Osiyo, River Otter families.

What a beautiful, springlike week at The Garden School!  I am sure your children came home dusty, tired, and smelling like fresh air and sunshine each day. On Thursday, we started our little garden in the forest. We collected good planting soil and sand from another location in the forest and brought it back to our classroom.  We mixed and used this (along with a little potting soil) to fill five planters in a sunny area of our classroom. Next week, we will plant some early growing veggies and flowers, and later this spring we will plant vegetables. The students loved working on the planters and are excited to start planting.

This week we heard a longer fairy tale for the first time this school year. The Magic Lake is an Andean fairy tale about a young girl named Sumac who sets out to find the magic lake at the end of the world to heal the emperor’s son and free her brothers, who were imprisoned by the emperor after trying to trick him to obtain riches. These longer fairy tales take longer to work within the children, as there are so many themes and details, so we will hear this story again through next week. This will also help the children build their stamina for listening for longer periods of time and remembering details of a story. 

Announcements and Reminders:

  • There will be NO SCHOOL this Friday, 3/11

  • It is getting warmer and students will likely no longer need heavy blankets for rest time. Many of them have enjoyed having the blankets, however, so please feel free to send a light blanket if your child would like one.

  • Please be sure to send TWO FULL water bottles each day (for full day students, one full water bottle for half day students). As it is getting warmer, students are drinking much more water, and one water bottle does not provide them with enough hydration for the day. One large water bottle may work in place of two regular sized water bottles.

  • Please remember to check your child’s backpack each day for wet/dirty clothes and other things that should be removed or replaced.

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

Gyvalieliga,

Ki Holly

Kindergarten Beavers: February 14 - 18

Greetings Dear Beaver Families,

Last week our popular Winter Olympic snow hill turned into an excavation site as a few children discovered giant logs hiding beneath all the dirt. They pulled out the logs and carried them around like trophies, so proud of their accomplishment. Our “cozy corners'' are being further developed by the students as well. Behind our newly constructed wooden house, we cleared the ground to prepare for a garden bed. The children raked away leaves, loosened the soil with shovels, pulled out weeds, and made a border out of sticks. We planted zinnia seeds and, later in the afternoon, went to the creek.  We gathered sandy soil in our wheelbarrow to sprinkle over the garden bed and filled our watering cans to water the newly planted seedlings. The children loved this task. We also broke open our pumpkin and squash and took out their seeds to save for planting. 

The new favorite activity in our class is taking turns on our sensory swing- thank you to Rémy’s family for helping to set it up! After our morning circle, most of the children line up for their turn on the swing. It is a great way to start our morning and really seems to create a relaxing mood after they’ve had a good swing. 

Enjoy the Mid-Winter break! Thank you for all that you do. 

Reminders:

  • No school Friday, March 11 for teacher in-service day

Warmly,

Ki Fatima

Kindergarten River Otters: February 14 - 18

Osiyo, River Otter families.

We started our week with Valentine's Day, making bird feeders with recycled cardboard hearts, twine, peanut butter, and bird seed. The students hung their gifts to the birds around the forest and by the end of the week they had all been thoroughly enjoyed by our winged forest friends. We also shared a snack of rice pudding with nutmeg and raisins, and a few students discovered that they enjoyed this new snack. 

We were busy this week!  We visited the garden for more work/play with the wheelbarrow and wagon and to pet the donkeys. Students learned a new game; ask them to tell you how to play the bluebird game. They built houses and worked on their own handwork projects such as beading, sewing, and finger chaining. They also continued making dogs and cats on leashes with sticks and yarn. We worked hard to move the rest of the rocks in our pile to help keep our outdoor classroom dry and took care of our compost each day.

THANK YOU all so much for signing up for and attending conferences last week. Your involvement in your children's education and partnership with and support of us at school is extremely valuable and appreciated. We are looking forward to returning after break with a new morning circle, more involved stories, and starting our forest garden. We hope everyone enjoys the week of break and feels refreshed and energized as we head into spring at The Garden School.

Announcements and Reminders

  • It is still winter! Please continue to dress your children in layers, send them with all of their warm gear and include a blanket for rest time for full day students.

  • If you are interested in joining our school for our Community Reads for the semester, please send me an email to RSVP so we can make sure you get all of the communications. We will be reading The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, created by Nikole Hannah-Jones. We will meet to discuss the book through chapter 5 on Thursday, March 17th at 2:00pm.

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

Gyvalieliga,

Ki Holly

Kindergarten Turtles: February 14 - 18

Greetings Turtle Families!

King Winter and Lady Spring danced gracefully together this week as we bundled up and layered down! Cold breezes, warm sunshine and plentiful puddles created a myriad of play opportunities. We completed our heart necklaces on Valentine’s Day, which the children were so proud of and so excited to take home and gift to loved ones (or keep for themselves!). We built forts with sticks and went searching for more large sticks along the campus paths.  Another fort was constructed of pine straw and vines, tires were moved, the wheelbarrow was pushed and rocks were shoveled over the muddy puddles.  The edge of basecamp has become a new popular play nook as mud kitchen tools were brought there, lined up and filled with pine straw and leaves.  The climbing dome was a popular spot for students to practice climbing to the tippy top and dropping down to the bottom.  There were many smiling faces as new physical feats were practiced and conquered! 

Our story this week was about Lady Spring.  She awakes from her warm bed as sunshine tickles her nose and sings to her: “Wake up Lady Spring, Wake up Lady Spring.” She goes outside, leaving tiny flowers in footsteps but Brother Wind quickly chases her back to her warm dwelling. The days go on like this until one day the sun is brighter and sings much louder to her. Upon venturing outside, she finds the cold winds have receded and she fills the earth with colorful blooms.  We had fun singing to Lady Spring throughout this sweet story. 

It was so fulfilling to speak with each and every one of you about your delightful children.  I am so grateful to know them and to participate in their magical journey of childhood.  

Have a relaxing, peaceful, adventurous and FUN mid-winter break! 

  • Friday, March 11 is a teacher in-service day; there is no school

Kindly,

Ki Amy

Joyful Beginnings: February 14 - 18

Dear Joyful Families,

We had a beautiful Valentine’s Day celebration with the children on Monday and Tuesday. Thank you to the families who contributed to our tea party by bringing fresh baked treats; they were delicious! The children loved having a formal tea party, and were so gentle in their handling of the fancy china. In addition, the children made bookmarks with their thumbprints fashioned into the shapes of little hearts to give to their loved ones. Ki Gabby was generous in facilitating this craft, and even laminated the bookmarks so they can be enjoyed for years to come. 

We’ve now wrapped up our Grandmother February story, and will be looking forward to new stories and circle songs when we return from the break. As the seasons change, we always make sure to reflect that in the curriculum.

Enjoy your time off, families & have a beautiful week!

  • Friday, March 11 is a teacher-inservice day; there is no school

  • Friday, April 1 is a half-day and Grandfriends’ Tea Day (more info to follow)

  • Parents, please take time to listen to this podcast over break : How to Compete with the Stimulation of Screens | Nicholas Kardaras, Ph.D. | The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast - S3 E3 https://pod.fo/e/10625a

In gratitude,

Ki Jessica, Ki Gabby, Ki Ieva

Kindergarten Beavers: February 7 - 11

Greetings Dear Beaver Families,

There was a lot of activity in the forest last week. The students were busy with practical work and creating cozy corners in our forest. Students helped gather large sticks to build a house. They rolled a tire inside the house to use as a couch and poured leaves inside to make a soft cushion. We placed two wooden boards next to each other to make a little table. They also added a mailbox and by Friday the mailbox was overflowing with letters! Some friends raked away leaves and created beautiful pathways that circle around the platform and also lead to the house. We hammered nails into a large stump and students wrapped yarn around the nail heads and made colorful constellation designs. Our popular dirt mound turned into a Winter Olympics snowy mountain, complete with games of snowboarding and skiing. 

As a Valentine's gift for the birds, we gently tied small yarn pieces to the branches of the trees with the hope that they will  use them to build their nests. We are also in the process of creating heart necklaces to take home just in time for Valentine’s day. Students pulled little pieces out of large tufts of wool and placed them inside heart shaped cookie cutters, we added a little soap and water and the children used their fingers to wet felt the hearts. 

Announcements and Reminders:

  • This Wednesday-Friday is early dismissal, pickup will be at 12:15-12:30.  

  • Mid-winter break will be next week. 

  • Please continue to dress your child in warm layers and send blankets for rest time. 

Warmly, Ki Fatima

Kindergarten River Otters: February 7 - 11

Osiyo, River Otter families.

This week we got a little preview of spring!  We added a new song to our morning circle to acknowledge the approaching season. We also added some new materials to our classroom; wooden mallets to play with in the forest and new blocks on our platform (thank you to Silas B’s family for the blocks). We worked hard this week shoveling rocks from a pile into our muddy area and new drainage trench, tearing cardboard for compost, and sorting and organizing our craft basket. On Tuesday, we visited the garden and pushed and pulled wheelbarrows and wagons.  We used our sorted piles of sticks and learned how to make a fire on Thursday and Friday. Throughout the week, we made mud balls and stick puppies and kitties on leashes. We also made necklaces, and beaded and sewed gifts for friends and family members.

We honored Lunar New Year this week with a story about Nian, a monster who visits a town in China every year until a stranger visits and defeats him with the three things he is frightened of; the color red, bright lights, and loud noises. We also talked about how the New Year is still celebrated in a similar way in China today. The students all loved this story and puppet show, and enjoyed acting it out and playing with the puppets and the set.

Announcements and Reminders:

  • This Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are early dismissal for all students, with conferences occurring in the afternoons. Your child will not need a lunch or rest blanket on these days, and pickup will be via carpool for all students at 12:15-12:30.

  • Next week is mid-winter break; there will be no school next week. 

  • Please continue to dress your child in layers and winter weather gear, and send blankets for rest time.

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

Gyvalieliga,

Ki Holly

Kindergarten Turtles: February 7 - 11

Greetings Turtle Families!

The Turtles were hard at work this week, delving into many practical tasks.  One ton of gravel was delivered to our forest play area by Ki Derek on Monday, which provided a plethora of hard work and fun play activities.  The gravel will help provide better drainage after heavy rainfall.  Immediately after it arrived, the students ran over to the large mound to explore.  Shortly after, we got to work spreading the gravel over the water and mud. Some students moved the rocks with shovels, others collected them in pots to move and spread, and others worked together to pile the rocks into the wheelbarrow to push and dump.  After breaking a good sweat, the rocks were incorporated into play, mostly at the mud kitchen - for cupcakes, stews, and sandwiches! 

We began working on a wet felted Valentine’s Day craft this week, which we will complete on Monday, just in time for the big day! The students enjoyed choosing different colors of dyed felt, pulling it into small pieces and felting the fibers together with soap and water.  Our story was a Valentine’s tale as well.  Papa Georgio was tired of the dark colors of winter and wished to see bright gold like the sun.  As he sat in his favorite chair looking out the window on Valentine’s Day, he had an idea! He searched his home for mesh bags and thistle seeds, filled the seeds into the bags and hung them outside his picture window.  No sooner than the last bag was hung, golden finches came to feast. He was happy to give the beautiful golden birds a gift.  He fell asleep watching them and when he woke up he went outside to see that the birds had left him a gift as well.  See if your Turtle can tell you what it was! 

Reminders/Announcements:

  • Thank you for sending your children well prepared for play in the forest! Proper gear makes a huge difference and the Turtle class played comfortably in the mud, the frost, and the warm sun this week!

  • Conferences are this week! I am looking forward to speaking to everyone :) 

  • Mid Winter Break is February 21st - 25th 

Kindly,

Ki Amy