🌏 Thank You, Precious Earth 🌎

Hello Magnolia Families,

Welcome to our bi-weekly blog. A few reminders:

Next week is Fall break! There will be no school or childcare.
Remember to send your child to school with a stuffed animal from home for rest time.

Magnolia Happenings

Here in Magnolia, we’ve been busy learning about the letter “e” and it’s sound “eh-eh-eh.” You may have met ed the elephant and seen his long trunk that curves around to form the tail of the letter e. Last week we said farewell to our classroom ofrenda, and created a new space we are calling “a peaceful place.” At this special spot in our classroom, friends can wear headphones to listen to relaxing music, enjoy a sensory bottle filled with seashells and glitter, and enjoy a variety of activities that help us feel calm and peaceful.
On Election day, Magnolia children had the opportunity to vote for the names of our two small groups! The children were presented with four name choices: green frogs, orange tigers, pink puppies and purple cats. We all took turns placing our votes for two of our favorite names. At the end of the day, we counted how many votes each name had and decided on…drumroll please: Orange Tigers and Purple Cats! We have been enjoying all of the sights, sounds and smells of Fall. There have been many opportunities to create Fall inspired art in the art area. From leaf hole-punching, watercolor paintings and mixed media tree art- we’ve brought the beauty of Fall inside! On Friday we were so pleased to welcome V.I.P.s to Magnolia- very important people. They joined us during choice time, and our Magnolia friends got to include them in our learning and play!

Science Experiments with Mimi

Hayes invited his Mimi (grandma), Papa and Mom to bring science experiments to Magnolia classroom! Mimi told us all about what it means to be a scientist and even brought each child a lab coat and goggles to wear and keep. Our group of scientists performed three experiments. One was about color mixing, another about how different ingredients mix with water, and an opportunity to find out if various objects sink or float. Check out the video below to see the fun we had!

Gratitude

Many friends in Magnolia are anticipating Thanksgiving and teachers asked them what they know about the holiday. Here are some things they shared:

“I like to eat sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top”
“A family might stay at your house- you might give them a bed to sleep in”
“I eat turkey”
“You might give a card”
“You can say what you are thankful for”

Teachers shared a word: Gratitude. Some families and friends gather this time of year to share food and tell eachother what they are thankful for. We read a book called “We are Grateful-Otsaliheliga” (pronounced oh-jah-LEE-hay-lee-gah)by Traci Sorell, illustrated by Frané Lessac. This book tells the journey of a Cherokee family and their tribal nation as they express thanks for things big and small. We know from our unit about the three sisters (squash, corn and beans) that Fall is a time of harvest and abundance. When we tend to our gardens, food grows. If there is plenty to go around, we share it with people we care about.

What are Magnolia children thankful for? How can we show others kindness and gratitude? We made a paper chain to find out. We will see how long it grows this week! Here are some messages on our paper chain:

“You can share a shirt”
“You can help people”
“I’m thankful for sharing food”
“Thank you firefighters for helping”
“You can give a gift or a card to say thank you”
“I’m grateful when i’m sad and someone holds my hand”