Welcome back to school! We hope you all had a wonderful spring break! The kids were full of news and excitement, and we loved to watch so many hugs between classmates when they reunited! It warmed our hearts! 

Each of the staff had a lovely spring break as well. 

Emily was awestruck as she toured Spain and Northern Ireland to visit her sisters where they are attending school. 

Cari spent some wonderful time with her high school senior, enjoying soccer weekends in Portland and Boise, and then touring Portland where Cate will start university in the fall. 

Brin revelled in the fact that she did not get out of bed until after 9 am every day, after having her coffee delivered to bedside each morning. She also had some fun craft time, making some amazing props and decor for the auction next week! 

Brook had some lovely family time celebrating her baby, Coco, turning 5, working on the water wall on the playground and having fun family time at the Skagit Wood Expo and Marketplace, where Mick and the whole family performed at the Circus Show! 

Donna had a list of 20 house and garden projects that she wanted to get to, but was happy that she got to three and completed two! 

Cara went to California to spend time with her kiddos and then a couple of weeks with her husband at their family cabin. 

Cara’s dad has been ailing for some time, and after arriving home from California late Saturday night, Cara spent a sweet and meaningful day with her dad on Sunday. Monday morning, Cara woke up to the news that he passed Sunday night. It’s as if he was waiting for her, and it is such a sweet blessing that she got to spend time with him before he passed. Cara told us that she spent Monday with family and was looking forward to and then returned to school on Tuesday. Our hearts and hugs are all holding Cara and her family at this time.

We had amazing Butterfly Teas this week. The Tea Parties are such sweet and memorable events that are stoked in tradition. The silver service is from founder Bonnie’s mother, and Bonnie polishes it each year for us. The cookie recipe is from the original ‘Brin’ office manager’s mother, and a lot of the tea cups are from Donna’s mum, and also a few from several alum students and families who wanted to contribute to our tea cup collection. 

Where the World Culture Reports are an important milestone for our Honeybees to stand and present what they learned to their peers, the tea parties are stepping stones to this goal. The children practice standing at their class circles, stating their name and reciting their poem, nursery rhyme or song. We can’t guarantee that they will stand in front of an audience mixed with adults and children, but we celebrate every little moment moving toward this goal. Each student is different and we meet them where they are, never forcing, but always encouraging. We are so proud of our Bugs, Crickets and Bees. Can you imagine being 3, 4 or 5 years old and doing the same? Bravo brave Gardeners! 

We also celebrated Earth Day on Wednesday and Thursday! We read some wonderful books about ways that we can take care of the earth, because it is our home, and made some beautiful earth art to decorate our campus. 

The staff spent the week assessing and organizing all of the art work that will be displayed at the Spring Art Show on Wednesday, May 13th, and we are wondering if there is anyone who would be interested in helping us mat the different art pieces? We will provide you with a cutting board, construction paper, and a guide or sample. We also have a mat cutter and need some poster board frames cut for 18 pieces, as well as a poster board cut for each of our 54 kids. Please let us know if you have an interest in an hour or two of cut and paste work at home over the next few weeks. It’s a fun way to get a ‘sneak peak’ at the masterpieces that will be displayed at the Art Show! 

Speaking of the Art Show, we are holding it at a new facility for us and we are not really sure what it will take to set everything up this year! Please let us know if you have an hour or two, kid free, to help us display the art work of 54 students. It is our understanding that the venue has wood boxes and pillars that we will use museum putty to adhere the art to, but, as you know, the first time is always the most time consuming to figure out how to do it. We would love to tackle this without kids running around. Please let us know if you can assist us, kid free, at 5 pm, on Wednesday, May 13 at  Eastside Community School, and we are excited to start a new tradition of using their space for our amazing Art Show! 

Well, next week we hope to see many of you at the end of the Yellow Brick Road! Auction night is one week from today! This is a time of year when the staff and board and fundraising committee are giddy, exhausted, excited and emotional! There’s a lot going on and there’s a lot of work being put in for each and every event. Thank you to each and every one of you who help to make it all happen. 

Have a wonderful weekend, Garden Community! We sure love you!

Ladybugs

What growth we saw in our Bugs on Tuesday morning! Not just physical, but friendship skills took a huge leap as well! We enjoyed hearing their news about break week, practicing our songs for Butterfly Tea, and painting some beautiful earth sun catchers to celebrate Earth Day. 

Our Peekaboo booklet this week was “I’m a Little Teapot” and we read some fun story books about welcoming spring and celebrating our earth. 

Our Tea Party was so wonderful! What a great starting Butterfly Tea Party for this group of brave littles. Each of them got up to the microphone and sang a song of their choosing. They performed the “Tall Tall Tree” song and “I’m a Little Teapot” song like pros! We are so proud of our ladybugs! Our sweet tea party on the deck and on the playground was a definite moment in time that we will remember for many years. 

Crickets

We had such beautiful weather for starting the Cricket class outside on the playground. It was lovely to see so many hugs when these friends reunited! The energy was calm, happy and the kids so enjoyed the work that Brook had done on the water wall. We just need more rain to provide more clean water to work its way through the tubes and funnels! We are excited to return to starting out on the playground and look forward to the weather warming up so that we can open up the gate and have some play time in our rain boots in the creek. 

We painted some beautiful earths to celebrate our home planet for Earth Day, and talked about ways that we can help keep the earth healthy. Use both sides of the paper, turn the water off while we brush our teeth, plant a garden and put our trash and recycling in the correct bins. 

Cari was with us on Monday, and the children always enjoy seeing their Ladybug teacher. The students are taking turns to go into Brin’s office, one at a time, to be ‘interviewed’ for their “about the author” biography that will be posted next to their art work at the Spring Art Show. 

The Cricket Tea Party was so fun! We loved to watch the smiles and side eyes of the parents as they watched their Crickets shine. You guys have such a wonderful community in this class. We loved to hear the moms calling out to each other “Go ahead, I’ll film for you!”, “You go on up, I got you!” Very sweet indeed. For such a rainy tea party, the memories are warm and sunny.

Honeybees

Happy Vaisakhi! This week, we learned about the Sikh celebration of the Harvest, on the 14th of April. Ema and Harv and Harv’s father brought in a delicious lunch for the staff and some wonderful treats for Sana’s classmates. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful tradition with the Honeybees! 

Along with Vaisakhi, we celebrated Earth Day, and Butterfly Tea this week as well. We started our self-portraits for the Art Show, and began looking at our dances that we will learn and perform for the Art Show. 

Almost everyone came up to the microphone for the Butterfly Tea and we are so impressed with the students’ growth and memory of their poems! Bravo Honeybees! Another memory is in the books!

The students took turns going to Brin’s office where she ‘interviewed’ them for their Art Show biographies. 

All in all, a very fun and eventful week!