❤️ Friendship Day ❤️

Hello Magnolia Familes! We hope you enjoy our blog 🙂 Next week is February Break and there is no school, but childcare (registration required). We can’t wait to welcome you back on the 24th!

Happy Friendship Day, Magnolia Friends!

No matter what you call it, Friendship Day is one of the happiest days at the ECC. This morning, the children were delighted to see their decorated bags all lined up and ready to receive cards. Big thanks to our parenting volunteers this morning who helped setup delicious snacks and help the children pass out their cards! We had a fun time enjoying treats and reflecting on what it means to be a friend.

The Lunar New Year Parade

Enjoy the photos and video below of all of the fun from our Lunar New Year Parade! Thank you again to families who visited Magnolia to share their Lunar New Year traditions, crafts and treats with us.

RAIN

It sure has been rainy here in February. We don’t often have our cameras outside during playtime but we brought it out to showcase all of the fun we have on rainy days! There are so many benefits to outside rainy and muddy play- read all about it in this article from NAEYC! It’s been wonderful to see the children come to school ready to go on rainy days with rain boots and gear. When it’s light rain, we love to be outside when possible.

Gee’s Bend Quilts

Our recent sounds of the week: “u” and “q” have led us to some very interesting subjects such as trying ube waffles, drawing upside down, cooking quesadillas and learning about the quilting tradition. We learned about the Gee’s Bend Quilters- a women’s multi-generational collective of African American quilters from Gee’s Bend Alabama. The quilters are skilled artisans that make intricate quilts out of all different types of materials. The quilters of today are descendants of quilters who originated in the region of Alabama where people did not have very much money. A group of women came together and used pieces from old fabric and just about any cloth they could find to create beautiful one of a kind quilts for their families and loved ones. We learned that the people living in Gee’s Bend were quite isolated from the opportunities that other regions had- such as jobs for adults, schools for children, and many did not have the opportunity to vote. Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. travelled to Gee’s bend and used his strong voice to support the voters registration drive- making voting accessible to many folks. If you get the opportunity to see the quilts in person, don’t miss it! Every once in a while, they are on view in exhibitions around the Bay Area. They are a powerful example of the importance of honoring ancestors through art.

The U.N. Rights of the Child

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child was introduced to create global agreements that advocate for children to have specific rights. You can find out more about the general history and timeline of child rights here. In Magnolia, to follow our conversations about wants vs needs, we’ve been reading books about the rights of the child and are having conversations about what children (and humans in general) need to be safe, healthy, happy, and thriving. Some examples: All children have the right to clean water, clean air, shelter, safety, nutritious food, their own identity, etc. These principles are easy to understand for young children.