First Grade: December 1-5, 2025
Dear First Grade Families,
Your children are fully embracing their current block concentrating on vowels! The qualities of these letters touch young learners on a soul level while going some way to quench their never-ending curiosity about how to read and spell words. Last week, it was enormously satisfying for students to sandwich “a” and “i” between two consonants to read CVC words. The class has also been practicing forming the letters correctly, beginning with A. One student wrote them all in a row before looking down and playfully remarking that they looked like a scream! Students have become acquainted with the vowel sounds by saying them out loud while touching their faces and chins to observe how they move and change in shape. Building phonemic awareness will pave the way for fluent reading in due course.
In addition to their Main Lesson books, students have drawing books in which they may depict scenes from stories they have heard in class. Last week, some students chose to draw Baba Yaga’s hut on chicken legs while others returned to the rocking land from The Enchanted Wood. These drawings provide each child with an opportunity to recall the stories, respond creatively, and practice their drawing skills independently.
Each day, the sun spends a little less time in the sky above us as we approach the winter solstice, which leads us to seek warmth and light from other sources. The children have enjoyed candles in the classroom along with a form drawing and a painting suggestive of a brightly burning candle in the darkness or an early morning December sun approaching the horizon. They are already looking forward to the Winter Spiral later this week, where they will spread light in the darkness together.
Announcements & Reminders:
Our Admissions Team will be holding tours designed to address community questions regarding the phases of child development and our Waldorf-inspired curriculum. A combined Kindergarten tour and a Grades tour will be offered on:
Wednesday, December 10th, at 9:30 am
Saturday, December 13th, at 10:00 am
Wednesday, January 7th, at 9:30 am
These tours are for our current families to learn more about the respective programs. Please RSVP by emailing Crystal: admissions@thegardenmarietta.org.
December 11: First Grade Winter Spiral at 9:15 am
December 19: Last Day of Fall Semester-Grades Assembly at 11:00 am, all families welcomed (Half Day)
December 22-January 2: Winter Break (No School)
January 5: Teacher-In-Service (No School)
January 6: First Day of Spring Semester
Warmly,
Ki Michelle
