(this week’s featured image brought to you by the delicious muffins that zohra baked and brought for us to share. thank you, z!)

We started our week here:

Some people shared about watching the inauguration, others shared things that they’d heard, others asked questions. Some people had big feelings – the words ‘mean,’ ‘unfair,’ ‘racist,’ ‘cruel,’ ‘My mom says….’ My dad said…..’ all came up.

During the conversation, I referenced the books, Most People and Good People Everywhere, that we’d read earlier in the year. Both books share the message that there are good people out there – that we are part of those good people, and that one of the great delights of the human experience is reinforcing that through everyday interactions out in the world. We talked about the ripple effect and that we can be ‘the positive pebble’ that sends out ripples of kindness and care for ourselves and those around us. 

When adults feel overwhelmed and depleted by media, messages, information/disinformation, children are live divining rods and can pick up on our fatigue or upset, even when we think we are hiding it. They often do not have the context to understand or the perspective to look down the path and see the end, so they craft the story or fill in the blanks in their minds. This works in some instances, when they are making something scary into something manageable, but can also leave room for misunderstandings. A ‘What questions do you have for me about….?’ works well to see what is on their minds or to check for understanding or confusion. 

I am putting together a resource list for families, if you have any resources that you’ve found to be helpful (book lists, wise council, etc) please send it my way to be included. 

A little of this, a little of that:

In Science, we’ve started learning about 5 of our Senses and how they help us to get information about the world. We’ve learned that our brain works together with our nervous system and when the signals get to our brains, it makes sense out of what we are seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, or smelling! We’re learning that different senses can give us different information, and some senses are better suited for different types of information. Try it at home, ‘Using just your sense of sight, look around and figure out what we’ll be doing next” or  “Using your sense of touch, make your way to your bedroom to get ready for bed.’ We’ve also got a piece of 5 Senses work, about our personal preferences, on our trays. We work on our ‘tray work’ when we’ve finished our other work or if it’s work choice time.

Coming this week: Louis Braille and Braille writing, sense of hearing walk, how our mood can be affected by our senses 

A peek into Friday’s Beat the Robot – We realized that n and m are like the humps of the dromedary and bactrian camels. A fun surprise! 

Our after lunch Sketchbook Siesta is more like Sketchbook Fiesta! Lots of conversations, laughs, and idea sharing. On Fridays, we trot out the markers for a little end of the week delight.

Did you know that if you start with 10, no matter how you break it up, it will always add up to 10? We played Toss and Record and discovered that no matter how you toss them and no matter how the red and white sides fall…you’ll always have 10!

Coming this week: The Sleepover. Aunt Kate is babysitting Kate and her friends. They love to play tricks on her, and each time Aunt Kate leaves the room, the children move up and down from top to bottom. Poor Aunt Kate thinks she’s losing…and gaining…children. It’s a playful way to continue exploring the part – whole relationship.

We don’t always get our birthday cards out that day, but we always get to them! One of my favorite traditions is making our collaborative birthday card. The perfect way to capture the ‘likes, loves, and interests’ of a very specific time and place. Here are 2 from the newest 6 year olds…Maya’s card coming soon!

We’ve finished the painting portion of  our robot project. Next up? The labeling and writing about an extraordinary feature!

Our first trip over to the park was a real treat. Temescal and Cerrito Creeks joined us there for a bit, but mainly we just ran wild and free, and climbed to our hearts content (or until our bodies gave us the signal to stop – or their dear ol’ teacher called down from the bottom, ‘Ok! That’s high enough for now, mountain goat!’ I had plans of getting all sorts of action shots, but really I just had my eyes on high alert (and we still managed to have two tumbles, all part of figuring it out); here are the only shots I managed to snap!

The Middle School Cardboard Arcade gave us all sorts of ideas for our end of year cardboard game challenge. Our last Science unit is high interest – simple machines, and culminates with a Simple Machines Fair!

We practiced listening for beginning, middle, and ending sounds and practiced our lowercase letters (and shined our tables to a fare thee well) with shaving cream. This was a big hit and we’ll add it into our routine.

You’ve seen the ParentSquare invitation to Friday’s coffee put on by the Family Association, and to the assembly at 8:45. During the assembly, kindergartners will share the story of Abiyoyo with the community. I snuck into their Music class and got a little sneak peek; it’s pretty great. They are nervous, but giving it their all! If you are not able to attend, we’ll have plenty of photographers there. 

Here’s to ending January on high note. Here’s to looking out for one another.

Here’s to the growing light, and to the increasingly sunny days – be well,

Danette