Thank you for the time spent together in conferences over these past 2 weeks. Thank you for the asides, the support, the pushback, the questions, the answers, the laughs, the offers to ‘pick up something from the coffee shop’, the concerns, the compliments (and the kitchen overflowing with sweet and savory treats). We really do have a good thing going over her, and talking about and delighting in this set of 5 and 6 year olds is a treat. They are such an interesting crew, so fun to teach, and I am grateful for and looking forward to all of the big stuff that happens in these next few months.

Spring is such a time of big growth for kindergartners. Their brains are working overtime as they grapple new concepts and solidify others; they are feeling confident and are dipping their toes into all sorts of new ideas and understandings; our community is humming right along with kindness, thoughtfulness, lots of laughs and good cheer; I love it. Julianne just taught a lesson on California poppies, and I think that’s a perfect standin for kindergartners. They are like the first flowers of spring – those wildflowers that pop up early. They give you a little boost, are unique and hardy, and really give a sign of hope for the future. Here’s to spring! Here’s to the glory and tribulations of being 5 and 6 and to finding the beauty and humor and hope in it all. 

I think that I have taken care of any action items that we talked about during our time together, but if not, please let me know. I may have missed it or not communicated the follow through.

*If I forgot to have you ask your child about the amount in their snack/lunch (seems like many are in growth spurts now and are still hungry after snack) or if they need a new sketchbook, please do.

*If I didn’t give you your class photo during conferences, let me know and I’ll get it to you. This picture makes me laugh out loud every time I look at it! There is something hilarious everywhere you look, and I can practically see the speech bubbles over their heads! 

Here’s an action item for everyone: Books are coming home this weekend! These are the books that the children have in their book bags and have been reading this week. They want to share with you their excitement, and for many, their newly honed skills. Books should come back on Monday, please.  Here’s a link to the ParentSquare Post about the books and reading together – the main idea: keep it light and celebrate this bit of sharing. For some it’s sharing new skills, for others, it’s talking about what they are reading. And it’s all great. 

Humphrey’s Return

Humphrey had gone missing. Disaster. For weeks we looked and fretted and then were making reward posters to help in our recovery efforts. Before we could even get the posters finished – he was found! Rafa found him in with the dollhouse people (what a party they must have been having in that basket!) and the reward was his – $2, one gem, 5 stickers, an acorn, and a flower. They all came up with this! Honestly, I have the best job in the school. 

Shortly after his return, his twin sister, Pickles, showed up to visit from Florida. We first learned about her at Humphrey’s birthday. We welcomed her in with tiny cups of lemonade made from the tiny lemons that Maya brought in to share (thanks, Maya!). Humphrey has been showing Pickles around the Bay and they’ve been leaving us different notes about their sight seeing. She left back to Florida last night. Maybe she’ll send us a postcard?

Here’s a bit of their visit (if you zoom in on the one of them in the crosswalk, they are holding hands – awww)

 

HERITAGE OR CULTURAL MONTHS

Over these past few months we’ve been learning, reading, watching, celebrating, and talking about the achievements and contributions of different mathematicians, artists, athletes, peacemakers, rabble rousers, and ripple spreaders (our last self portraits poised ourselves as ‘positive pebbles’ spreading ripples of justice and kindness – and many other attributes and actions shared with each other while working). I explain that heritage months are like celebrating a birthday. It’s a time to shine a special light on a particular community, but just like how we don’t forget about you on the days of the year that are not your birthday, we continue to highlight and learn about folx of that community all year round. I think it’s a helpful way to think about these special months; and as we read, we wonder about the ripples that the person is spreading. It’s an interesting way to think about how what we do affects others and our environment. 

 

A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT

• Lucas’ abuela, Holda, shared her talents with us in Art. The gorgeous chalk pastel lemons that came home were from this experience. We thought it would be fun to send the lemons used to create these works home, too!
• Lucas’ mom, Holda’s Science experiments had us moving like atoms as we learned about kinetic energy (constant energy? sounds like many kinders I know). She shared experiments about hot and cold diffusion, and surface tension using water, pepper and soap.
  

  

  

  
• We loved Zohra’s family’s presentation on Ramadan and sharing in her pride and growing excitement for Eid.
  

  

  

  

• Different sized sticky notes and some new pens for note taking bring new life the the Science area and have led to some great math discoveries. 

• We did a deep dive into our senses of sight and hearing. Next week? Taste and touch. We’ve learned how our eyes and ears work. We’ve made optical illusion tops and looked at other illusions, we’ve learned about sound vibration and made old timey ‘phones’ to try it out, we’ve gone on a sight walk, walked inside a giant pinhole camera,  ‘bathed’ in the sound of songbirds in the playscape,  listened to different types of music to see how it affected us as we drew along to the rhythm, beat, and ‘vibe’, among other things. 

• We used the paint that we made from all of our dried out markers. We are trying to find ways to get at least one more use out of something before it goes to the landfill. With this crafty crew, they can always come up with a way to reuse something!

• Our latest chapter book is The Meanest Doll in the World, the second book in The Doll People Series. It’s a real crowd pleaser! I’ve read it for so many years and it never disappoints. And the illustrations are the best I’ve seen. There is a set of characters called ‘The Cutouts.’ I had the opportunity to share one of my favorite childhood crafts with them in honor of The Cutouts. There is so much planning and spacial awareness and trial and error that goes into something so ‘simple.’ I love to watch how they problem solve, and help each other work through frustration.
  

  

  

Recent Snips and Snaps

Here’s Spirit Week list (also in the PS post,) in case the hard copy didn’t make it to you (as always, dressing up for Spirit Week is optional):

Monday: Favorite Color Day (or a color you really like today day)

Tuesday: Decades Day 

Wednesday: Out of this World Day 

Thursday: Inside out and Backwards Day (We laughed at the thought of underwear on the outside of our clothes, but then I asked them to think about what the ripple effect of actually doing that would be…so, no underwear on the outside of clothes no matter how hilarious it would be)

Friday: Pajama Day…and then off to Spring Break!

Thanks for making it this far. I could go on and on…

See you next week for the last of March (seems like it’s going out like a lion. Did you all learn that saying in school, ‘March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb’? Maybe it was just a 1974 thing?), and the beginning of April. Spring has sprung!

Be well – 

Danette

Action items/Nuts and Bolts:

• We’re still looking for a small trampoline with the safety handle, something like this. Please keep your eyes open and let me know if you find something!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• We’ll take any mismatched forks or spoons that you have knocking around. I have just discovered that utensils were being tossed into the trash or going home in lunches. We’re back on track now, but need to replenish.

 

• Many of the children are very interested in stuffed animals right now, and so they can bring one stuffie to school to use during backyard recess – with the understanding that it might get dirty or wet. So, I’ll leave that up to you all.