Geesh! That was a cold week! Lots of handwarmers, hats and gloves, and pink cheeks and noses! It was lovely to have the bright sunshine to warm our spirits as we enjoyed the crispy frosted woodchips and the ice blocks in the dump trucks in the sandbox. Thanks for sending the kiddos set up for warmth and success. 

At this time of year, we are assessing skills, strengths and transitions of all our students, and collaborating with parents to find the best place where each student will thrive. Our Parent Teacher Conferences are in March and we spend the month of February assessing, observing social emotional skills and discussing amongst staff our thoughts and ideas for each student. The Children’s Garden School is a play-based, social-emotional learning community rooted in the belief that children thrive when learning environments align with their developmental readiness, emotional security, and social capabilities. Because peer interaction is central to our program, enrollment and classroom placement decisions are made with thoughtful consideration of each child’s social-emotional development, not age alone. For some students, this might mean moving up to the next class, repeating a class, or starting again in the same class and transferring mid year, or staying right where they are. Each class focuses on specific social-emotional skills. We thoughtfully observe where each child is in developing that skill before moving forward, ensuring they feel confident and supported every step of the way.

We hope you can join us for the February coffee talks, where the staff will be discussing, “What to expect Next Year”, for all three classes.

Read on for class news.

Ladybugs

We had a fun week in the Ladybug class, dancing and singing our “Ladybug, Ladybug” song, and starting our new Spring Art Show Project, a beautiful handprint flower. We are excited for you to see all the wonderful art projects that these littles have done this school year.

Crickets

Our Crickets had a short week, with only two sessions. After completing our Gingerbread unit, we started a series on “Chicken Little”, or “Henny Penny”. We have met another sly and sneaky fox in this story and the children are loving it. 

Our friend, Della, tried out the Cricket class on Wednesday to see if it was a better fit for her. We were just as impressed with Della’s easy transition into the friendship building skills of the other 4 year olds, as we were with our Cricket class welcoming her and ‘showing her the ropes’ of the daily routines. 

We started doing a fun art project with penguins as the focus, and that was a fitting animal to work with during these cold days! We can’t wait for you to see all the wonderful art projects that these Crickets have done this school year. 

We shared our “Gingerbread” stamper books, in small groups, finished writing the alphabet from A-L and we are starting weekly name writing practice.

Honeybees

We had a short week, and were excited to squeeze in some more Family reports. The students received stars for their “Dream” poetry recitations and are now learning a poem called “Family” 

We had a sound basket from Coco, on the letter G, and started doing some graphing on our different Family makeups. We did a little worksheet on circling the objects that start with the letter “G”, and continued practice on writing our names in upper and lower case letters. 

Our sweet friend and this year’s Garden Grad from the Homecoming Party in the fall, Collin Tan, has started joining us on Wednesday afternoons to work with the Honeybees. We are so excited to have this friend and kind young man volunteer with us once a week. We can’t tell you how fun it is to watch the kiddos race around the playground and have fun with these big hearted big teenagers. Thanks so much Collin!