Garden Gazette January 19, 2024

Bulletin Board

Events, opportunities and resources for our Garden community.

It’s Sign Up Season!

Auction Kick Off RSVP

Changing the world starts with our children and your support of our community makes it possible.

Who: You! Parent participation in fundraising is and integral and essential part of the success of The Children’s Garden.

What: Auction Kick Off

When: Saturday, February 3, 2024 from 12-2 pm

Where: Mirrormont Country Club

Why: Putting on an auction takes many hands. From procuring items and event committees to decorations and set-up no task is too small. We ask that at least one parent from each family join us for this important event to begin the community building and important work of fundraising for our school. Plus it’s FUN!

Priority Enrollment Checklist chalkboard

Thank you to everyone who has registered!

Our classes for next year are really taking shape and we are so excited for all the wonderful things next year’s class holds for our students.

If you have not registered and plan on your student attending The Garden for the 2024-2025 school year, please register this month to let us know and secure their spot in class.

Please Register By January 31

World Culture Report image

Honeybee World Culture Reports

In the next few weeks we will be embarking on World Culture Studies in class. Each student will have the opportunity to choose a country, research information and give an oral presentation to the class.

Late February/Early March
Children will choose their country and prepare for travel (Passports, Visa, and Packing Bags), and sign up for a date to present on the sheet inside the door

March 11 – Oral Presentations begin

April 1 – World Culture Fair. Families arrive for pick up 15 minutes early to view World Culture Report boards and ask students questions.

See World Culture Report Details and Samples on our Curriculum page.

Parent Teacher Conferences

Please sign up by January 31.

Ladybug
Parent Teacher Conferences

Tuesday, March 12
During Class
via Zoom

(No school for Ladybugs this day)

Cricket
Parent Teacher Conferences

Wednesday, March 20
During Class via Zoom
(No school for Crickets this day)

Honeybee
Parent Teacher Conferences

Tuesday, April 2
During Class via Zoom
(No school for Honeybees this day)

The Mousehole

What a crazy week we had here at The Garden! We had a snow day last Friday, no school on Monday to honor Martin Luther King Jr., and then on Wednesday, we had another crazy day of weather. We woke up to reading about the late starts of all of the school districts surrounding us, and after the staff checked the roads surrounding our own homes and the school walkways and parking lot, we decided to delay our Cricket class start by one hour. Soon after, the school districts started closing all together, and our neighborhoods and cul de sac roads were still icy, so we made the call to cancel Cricket class and reassess before Honeybee class. We had our Board President, Ali, looped in on one of our early morning texting conversations, and we appreciated her input and understanding of all of the thought and decisions that go into making these calls. From 5:30am to 7:30am, we are assessing the situation.

We had our first board meeting of 2024 Tuesday night on zoom. We are entering into a busy and exciting couple of months here at The Garden, and our board, staff and committees are making sure that all goes smoothly. This month, we are focusing on registration for the 2024-2025 school year, and gearing up for the Auction Kickoff on February 3rd, at 12PM. We need at least one adult from each family present at this important and fun afternoon to ensure that our main fundraiser of the year is a success. We want this school to continue to be the most amazing preschool in Issaquah for another 45 years!

This afternoon, we are having an Open House for families that are interested in enrolling in September. Brin has been busy on the phone and online fielding calls of interests and organizing a day when prospective students can tour the campus, meet the staff and hear about our program. Thank you for all of your referrals. They are our main source of ‘advertising’ and we appreciate all the nice things that you are saying about us!

Our Cricket Moms had a Moms’ night out planned this past Thursday, but darn the weather! Hoping to have a fun evening in the next week or so with the moms and staff. Thanks Kristin for organizing this. Ladybugs and Honeybees, please let the staff know if you are having any fun in the off hours! The staff is always game to hang out with our class moms and dads!

Our Ladybugs started learning “One, Two, Buckle my Shoe”, we played with gingerbread scented play dough and stayed inside on Tuesday and played with parachutes, ribbons and scarves in the movement room, to avoid the icy cold temperatures outside. Oh! How our Bugs love the new scarves and ribbons. So much fun! Thank you again for that wonderful class gift. We continued working on an adorable penguin art show piece and are working on making a classroom book illustrating with photos, our One, Two, Buckle my Shoe rhyme. We had a fun birthday circle for Arianna on Thursday as she celebrated 3 ½ trips around the sun!

The Crickets continue to look at opposites and are working on making a classroom book illustrating with photos, lots of opposites that we can act out.

The Honeybees have completed their Special Person reports and are now preparing their “World Changer” reports. We made “It” books and continued illustrating our “Quick as a Cricket” book. We started our civics unit, reading “The Sneetches” by Dr. Seuss, where one group was thought of as better because they had stars on their bellies. We talked about Martin Luther King, who worked to have all people treated equally, and tied it into the Sneetches. Brook read a book called “Speak Up” encouraging the students to say something if they see something that is mean, not right, or unfair.

More crazy weather is predicted for the next several days! Not even sure if it’s freezing, flooding, or snowing! In any case, stay warm and stay safe.

Have a great weekend!

Ladybugs

Crickets

Honeybees

Gratitude Corner

Heart Icolated

Garden Families, we cannot thank you enough for your patience and understanding as you are all so supportive of the staff while making decisions regarding late school starts or cancellations on inclement weather days. Thank you so much. Safety is always our main concern.

~ Office Notes~

Directory

In-house priori

Stop by the office to get your 2023-2024 Garden Directory!

Calendar

Please mark your calendar with these important dates.

January
January 19: Open House for prospective families interested in enrolling for the 2024-2025 school year
January 15: no school for Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance
January 16: Board Meeting
January 19: 12:30pm Open House for new families interested in enrollment

February
February 3: Auction Kick-Off 
February 13: Valentine’s Day for Ladybugs
February 14: Valentine’s Day for Crickets and Honeybees

Save the Date
March 23: Spring Egg Hunt
April 26: Art Show
May 4: Auction

Gazebo

Daily Class Schedule

Ladybugs
Tuesday and Thursday  8:15 – 10:45 am

Crickets
Monday, Wednesday and Friday 8:15 – 11:15 am

Honeybees
Monday-Thursday 12:15 – 3:15 pm

~ Poems~

Sunshine

School Poems

Part of our daily routine at The Garden is singing or saying a few of our traditional poems.

Find a printable version to our Closing Circle Song, and the poem “We Light This Candle” at the following links.