Hi Everyone,

Another two months have raced by. Before we all know it, this kindergarten year will be over! For now, we are still in the thick of it. Your children are growing, developing, and learning. They are bonding as a class and it’s lovely to watch.

We welcomed Vivienne and she fit in quickly and seamlessly. After she shadowed but before she had her first day, we had a class meeting to brainstorm ways to make her feel welcome and also ways to make sure the attentions of a new friend are shared. The children had so many great ideas. I wrote them down in our class meeting journal and when issues came up, I was able to refer back to their words and best intentions.

We’ve been working a lot on the social/emotional side of kindergarten lately — how to remain calm even when upset, how to communicate effectively without shame and blame, how to share, and also, during class time, how to give constructive feedback to one another (to the kids I call it “gentle advice”), as well as practicing compliments and appreciations. When a child is done with something that has taken effort, we look at it together and the kids take turns showering each other with praise. I see progress!

And what better time to be learning the ups and downs of friendship than Valentine’s Day. We take this holiday seriously at Orchard. The kids spent lots of time painting and decorating their boxes, they went up to the gym to sing to the rest of the school and to listen to school mates recite poems on V-Day, and they put effort into writing cards to their big buddies. The idea with the boxes is they bring their kindergarten box in each year for the tradition of exchanging valentines. Of course, they can make a new one each year at home if they prefer. Here are some photos of cookie and box decorating:

There is never a shortage of celebrations and special events at Orchard. For the Lunar New Year, the kinders learned the dragon dance in Rock’s class and then did a demonstration for the school before kids paraded around campus, some under two giant dragons and some making noise with percussion instruments to usher in the new year, the year of the dragon.

We also went on two field trips — to the Seymour Center with the first graders to participate in a science lab about underwater creatures and they adaptations and another to the new Aptos Library. Taking the city bus there is always a highlight as many have never taken a ride on the local bus system and they got to practice waiting at a bus stop, walking together along busy Soquel Drive, and then finding seats on a bus with strangers. Maybe eye-opening for some, seeing how the other half lives, as my mother used to put it. Avalyn had a “nap” both directions on the bus, using the time (10 minutes!) to rest quietly with her eyes closed. Nica introduced herself to the gentleman sitting next to her. I love these kids. They make me laugh and it’s so interesting to think who they will grow into.

The Seymour Center

Aria’s Van to the Bus to the Aptos Library trip

In other News:

In math, the kids have reviewed all of the golden numbers (1-9 and 0), how to write them, and something that each signifies to gives the number deeper meaning (3 sides to a triangle, 4 seasons, 5 and 6 pointed starts, 7 colors in the rainbow, 8 planets in the solar system and so forth). Now that they know how to represent these golden numbers, they can write any number in the world with them, big or small. It’s an intriguing concept.

We’ve moved into a unit about shapes, 2D and 3D. You may have heard about Snuffles, the hedgehog. This is a story about a little hedgehog whose house burns down and he has the opportunity to build a house of a different shape. Through this story, and the attendant curriculum, the kids have explored the different between a flat shape (a square) and a fat shape that you can go into (a cube). They’ve used rulers to measure six perfect sides to cardboard cubes they then painted. They’ve shopped for decorations using money, practicing reading price labels, planning how to best spend their ten pennies. Next they’ll be turning paper triangles into pyramids, making cylinders and cones, and creating a building compound and garden for the clay hedgehog families they’ve made. Photos below.

More shapes. Working on fine motor control with Montessori inset stencils.

Science:

The topic has been the water cycle. The kids made posters of the evaporation, condensation, precipitation cycle while witness this process all around — the rain pouring everywhere, the steam rising off our roof when the sun shines, the drips on our deck a short time later as the moisture hits the cold metal roof and collects. Rainbows in the sky and on paper. They completed their watercolor folders with all of the primary and secondary colors and painting rainbows starting only with red, blue and yellow. Look at their stunning art below! Pretty cool. They also watched it “rain in a jar”, a covered jar with hot water and ice on top. And felted rainbows with Kathleen.

Language Arts:

We have gone through 9 phonetic sounds together, practicing both the sounds and how to correctly right the lower case representation of these letters. They can all theoretically read at least a dozen words using these sounds. Some need reminders. Others can read far more words than this. The chalkboard photo below shows a class agenda which we read together with the kids making the sounds for the letters in blue, i.e. the ones they all know. It also shows all of their “p”s which we used as a springboard for sharing feedback and compliments. Below this is a list of words they can read. On the right, you can see some of the problems they were having that are up there for a future class meeting.

From Kathleen’s Desk:

“Kinders are becoming quite adept at needle felting. They’ve contributed to their water cycle curriculum with Rosy by felting rainbows, and complimenting Valentines with felted heart pictures. As spring approaches they have prepared felted “garden beds” where creatures to come will hop about , and flowers will bloom. They are hearing stories and watching puppet shows that reflect winter’s ending and spring’s arrival with accompanying songs…and taking time to create their own stories and puppet shows.

Lily and Fiona busy noticing beautiful things as they play on the play structure. The butterfly chose Lily and landed on her hip and didn’t leave for a long time.

A visit with the first grade buddies who read to the kindergarteners.

Cambria and kids. I love how spontaneously they sing and dance, each personality shining through. We are so lucky to have so many wonderful people working with the kids. Below this, see Tovia with her wildly popular new kinder photography class. We still need more cameras!