Tea Preparation, Nowruz, Spring

Spring has brought with it many musical visitors! Check out photos from the performances below.

Updates/Reminders

The weather is warming up! A reminder to sunscreen your children in the morning and pack a hat if so inclined. We will sunscreen children in the afternoon who stay for ExDay.
Spontaneous walking trips are may be on the horizon on days group size is smaller. Check out the Parent Square message from this week for more info. Email us or comment on the post if you would like to opt your child out of spontaneous walking trips.
Save the Date: Thursday, April 3rd 9:30a-10a- Spring Sing, more info to come in the ECC Bulletin
Spring Break- April 7-11: No School, Camp available with sign-up for ExDay eligible children

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The Tea Party Continues!

Caterpillar friends are still deeply engaged with the dramatic play tea party set up. Our play is constantly evolving as they use the materials and interact with each other in novel ways. Caterpillar friends have had the opportunity to prepare and try various teas: sweetened warm tulsi, cold hibiscus tea with lime, and butterfly tea lemonade (the lemon turns the tea from blue to purple!). We were able to observe tulsi in many forms: a fresh sprig, dried whole branch/leaves, and crushed leaves. We also watched closely as the butterfly pea tea leaves colored the water blue as we used a cold brew method. Each friend got to add a little bit of lemon and witness the bluish purple tea become more purple! Some friends preferred it without lemonade and some liked it with and without lemonade. One friend commented that it tasted like blue water.

Music with Aaron & Special Performance with Salani “Wamkanganise” Matshoba

We had visiting artist, Salani “Wamkanganise” Matshoba, come to the ECC this week. He is a celebrated mbira musician, instrument maker, and multi-instrumentalist from Harare, Zimbabwe. Accompanied by our own music teacher, Aaron, Matshoba performed for the ECC. Salani led us in call and response songs and played the mbira and maracas with us.

Nowruz & Spring

Kaveh, a middle schooler from the ECC, came to perform in celebration of Nowruz, the Persian New Year. Nowruz aligns with the beginning of spring and many of its traditional elements reflect this. We also prepared kuku seebzamini, a Persian spinach potato omelet, the green from the spinach representing the green of spring. We brought out the lavender play dough, adding pretend flowers, pollinators (butterflies and bees), and mini wood stumps for a spring invitation to play. We practiced our scissor skills on some daffodils that were at the end of their life and gave them to the compost so they could return to the earth.