Beautiful Brown & Summer Birthdays

Please accept this belated blog as I (Kirstie) was out sick at the end of last week.

Updates/Reminders

End of the Year Potluck Celebration, Thursday, June 6 2:30p-3:15p; Potluck sign-up here!
Warm, sunny days have arrived! If you would like your child to wear sunscreen, please put some on them in the morning. If they stay for extended day we will reapply with whatever sunscreen you have provided us. The sunscreens live in the little yellow hutch on the side of the Caterpillar classroom by the grassy area stage.
Please sign-up for Caterpillar class volunteer opportunities here

🌱🐛

Summer Birthdays

Many of our Caterpillar friends turn 3 over the summer so we’re celebrating early! Over the past two weeks we celebrated Summer, Rami, and June’s birthdays with strawberry moon pops, stories from their grown-ups, and dance parties. We made birthday paintings for them and looked at how much they changed and have stayed the same.

Beautiful Brown

There are new books and activities throughout the classroom that celebrate the many Beautiful Brown skin tones of humans, and the diversity of eye color and shape, hair color and texture, and the special uniqueness of every person. This ongoing practice of identity work lays the foundation for more conversations around race, gender, ability, socioeconomic class etc. and how the meanings created around these identities are part of how our society operates. As the name Beautiful Brown suggests, this approach purposely challenges mainstream societal ideas of beauty and value that privilege light(er) unmarked (no freckles) skin, straight hair, and double lidded eyes as good and/or safe and associates dark(er) skin, kinky/curly hair, and single lidded eyes as being bad and/or dangerous. This developmentally appropriate approach encourages curiosity, compassion, and care as Caterpillar friends discover who they are and encounter other people both similar and different from them.

Music with Iwalani

Former ECC Music/ExDay/Classroom teacher Iwalani Venerable came to perform, sing, and dance with us. She engaged Caterpillar friends with her guitar, fingerplay songs, silliness, and got us up and moving with her music. You can find about her and her music here.