Joyful Beginnings Hummingbirds: April 14 - 18, 2025

Apr 18

Dear Joyful Beginnings Hummingbird Families,

Last week was a warm, joy-filled time as we reunited with friends and teachers in the forest. In recent months, the students have grown by leaps and bounds in stature, confidence, independence, and relationships. At the beginning of the year, the students were far more interested in their relationships with their teachers, and interactions with one another were fairly one-dimensional. Now, many of them have formed meaningful friendships and take great interest in one another's lives. This week, we overheard sweet conversations like “How was your trip?”, “What is your new dog’s name?”, and “Do you want some help with that?”

We are also observing interesting shifts in play, as many of the children returned to activities or “projects” they enjoyed in the early fall. In the colder winter months, we see less climbing as mittened hands are less useful for such activities. In the warmth of spring, the children have resumed their search for suitable tree limbs and forest structures to scale. Similarly, there was a hole the children routinely dug for many weeks at the start of the school year. Once the cool weather settled in and the soil grew hard and cold, this project was abandoned. Now that the soil has softened and their fingers have warmed, they are back at work, finishing what they started. They added a few inches of depth last week! There is real significance and beauty in experiencing our Hummingbird Nest through each season.

Seasonal shifts play out in our classroom through art as well. Last week, we worked with soft yellow and blue watercolors to bring about a lovely spring green. Next week, we will use dandelion flowers to create our own watercolor paint! If you would like to pick dandelions with your child and bring them in on Wednesday and Thursday, that would be wonderful. We will crush the petals in a mortar bowl to create our paste, add water, and paint!

We look forward to seeing you all at the Hope Blooms gala on Friday evening. Our class auction project turned out so lovely, and we can’t wait to see it on display.

Announcements and Reminders for Hummingbirds:

Please start packing insect repellent and sun hats in their backpacks.