Hello Magnolia Families,

Happy Fall! Our first few weeks together have flown by, and we continue to settle into our daily routines together here in Magnolia. Here’s what we’ve been up to since our last blog post- but first some important reminders:

There will be no school or extended day on Monday October 10th in observation and reflection of Indigenous People’s Day

School Picture Day is Tuesday, October 25th

ECC Conferences will be on Friday, October 28 and Friday, November 4; No School- Child Care is available with sign-up

ECC Fall Sing-a-long and Costume Parade will be on Monday, October 31 9:30a-10:30a- Parenting adults welcome. Don’t forget your costume! 

Welcome Fall

Don’t let the sunshine fool you- it’s Fall! Well, a Berkeley Fall at least 🙂 We have been bringing the outdoors inside these last few weeks. We’ve collected leaves, made nature portraits, and even learned about the autumn equinox. We’ve also been interested in all things apples and birds…find out more below!

Mehregan

Mehregan is an Iranian festival (observed on October 1st and 2nd) honoring Mithra, a deity that represents friendship, affection, love, and the sun. Does the name Mithra sound familiar? Our very own teacher Mitra’s name originated from the word Mithra. Mitra set up a beautiful display of items that represent this festival. Mitra wore a special colorful outfit of deep purple, brought a special mirror and candles, and explained how the sunflowers represent the sun, and the wheat represents harvest. We made a connection that this festival has some things in common with other harvest festivals in other cultures!

Hearts in a Jar and Sharing

Have you ever heard or seen a kindness happen? We’ve learned that every day in Magnolia, our friends are being helpers, demonstrating kindness and taking care of our environment. There are two new jars on the shelf in our classroom that will help us document kindnesses all around us. If you see or hear someone being a helper or doing something kind, put a heart in the big jar! At the end of the day, we count all of the hearts together.

Emily read some books about different ways to take turns then we learned a song about sharing. We replaced the names in the song with the names of each Magnolia friends and had lots of fun singing 🙂 We also talked about how it feels when friends don’t share, or when we don’t want to share. Sometimes friends do take our toys away. We came up with some ways to problem solve, together.

anny the ant and bud the bird

This year in Magnolia, our language curriculum is a blend of Sound of the Week (each week we learn a new letter of the alphabet and introduce thematic activities) and the “itl” program- short for Integrated Total Language. When they worked together in Eugenia classroom, teacher Kirstie introduced Emily to this fun program that introduces letters of the english alphabet through character stories, puppets, handwriting and full-body movement games. Our blend this year will include an alphabetical introduction of letters, as well as the itl approach to handwriting.

Through the itl program (Integrated Total Language) the children have met two new friends: anny the ant and bud the bird and have been introduced to their sounds “a” as in apple and “b” as in bird.  Some of the children may be able to retell and act out the stories we heard about anny and bud, make their sounds, and write/draw the sound.  You may have noticed some anny and bud stick puppets hitch a ride home in your children’s tote bags.

Our language program started with practicing the concepts of “go” and “stop.”  In handwriting, these terms remind us which direction our line is moving (left towards go, right towards stop.) They have also been introduced to vertical (standing) and horizontal (resting) lines. A fun way to demonstrate this is to stand up tall like a standing line, and lay down flat like a resting line! Standing and resting lines are used in handwriting and form many letters. Ask your child to demonstrate standing and resting lines!

Music with Chrissy (and Grandpa Clyde Too!) and Art with Julianne

We join Chrissy for music every Tuesday morning. We’ve been having fun with a new collaborative game- singing a song and passing a ball that makes its way all around the circle in our hands! Chrissy brought her guitar and invited friends to join in a freeze dance. Grandpa Clyde visited us on Thursday. We learned that it was his birthday so we sang happy birthday to him 🙂

Julianne brought ink pads for us to make art with our fingertips. It was an interesting, squishy feeling to press our fingertips into the ink. We noticed that one press onto the ink pad was enough to fill our paper with many fingerprints that started off darker and soon became light. Time for another finger in the ink!

Wants & Needs, and Upcoming Conversations about Indigenous People’s Day

Some people wear glasses to see. All people need food and water. Some people use a wheelchair to get around. All people need fresh air to breathe. Some people need to sit in a chair during circle time. All people deserve love, respect, and to be safe.

We have been noticing that what we may need for our own selves to be healthy and happy, others might need something different than us. We all have our own needs and teachers and grownups can help children to make sure they are set up to thrive and grow. When we understand our own needs, we can begin to make sense of what others need. We also can think about how some things in life are wants, which are different from needs!

This social emotional learning is an excellent segway into understanding some of the meaning of Indigenous People’s Day. Next  Monday is a “home day,” a day when children are not at school, in recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. To honor Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we will discuss what Indigenous Peoples means and, with the help of our Turtle and Bunny puppets, we will perform a skit and think about when we should share, when it is ok not to share, and what is fair and unfair.

In the puppet skit Bunny “discovers” Turtle’s home and says he wants to take it for his own. Turtle explains that it is her home and that she cannot live without it. Bunny insists that since he found it, he should have it even though he already has a home that is safe and warm. The following questions were posed: What should Bunny and Turtle do? Is it fair that Bunny takes Turtle’s home? In past years, young children have offered some answers such as, “It wasn’t nice of Bunny to steal it Turtle’s home,” “The Bunny can build another home! Out of books!” “That’s Turtle’s home” “Turtle is sad that Bunny wants to take her home,” Emily talked about how indigenous people- the first to live on this land- experienced what happened to Turtle. We thought about how it would feel to have a home taken away: sad, mad. Emily will explain that Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a day to remember how Indigenous Peoples’ lands were stolen and to also remember the wonderful things indigenous people have done in the past and continue to do in the present and future. One thing we can do to honor indigenous people is to listen to their stories, their wants, and their needs. Emily will share some special stories from Indigenous authors and illustrators. Here’s an excellent resource about this curriculum!

Around Magnolia

♥Emily.Mitra.Darius