On Monday, the Kindergarten children spent time at Flanders Nature Center in Woodbury. We began by taking a hike through the woods to the Botany Pond. The children then had the opportunity to catch and identify amphibians, reptiles, and insects. We found tadpoles, beetles, newts, giant water bugs, leeches and salamanders. We observed turtles resting on a rock, fish swimming, and one person even caught a frog.  When we were done, we released any living thing we had collected and climbed aboard for a tractor ride. We were able to get up close to a beaver lodge and get a peek at a hawk flying back and forth to it’s nest.  It was informative and impressive to speak with a Flanders volunteer, who explained how and why the beavers dam up a culvert each night. Walking back, several children shared what a great day it was! Flanders is open to the public, and we encourage you to take advantage of this amazingly beautiful nature center.

Wishing you all a week filled with much peace and love.

Amanda & Hema

It’s always a little startling to realize that the end of the school year is quickly approaching. May is an amazing month because we look back to see all we have accomplished and take stock of what we have left to do. Each child’s learning at this point is very much cumulative and continues to build upon all of the skills that have been mastered since August. A perfect example of this is the kindergarten animal research project the children have been working on for several weeks. We start this project in late spring because we need a foundation of reading, writing, geography, science, and even math to be successful. I was ‘interviewing’ the kindergartners for the About The Author section of their books, and, as typically happens, several other children quickly wanted to be interviewed and share their future career aspirations. Their answers are sure to brighten everyone’s day.

When I am older, I want to be…….

• Amelia– an everything princess who tells the other unicorns what to do.
• Arhan–  a dentist and clean people’s teeth.
• Arian–  an astronaut and I will go to space to see planets.
• Ben–  a policeman and trap people in jail.
• Brisa– an animal doctor and take care of snakes and guinea pigs.
• Brooke– Elsa and I’ll pick up toys and give them to my baby sister.
• Casey– a finger knitter and make a yarn mouse and yarn hot dogs for my stuffies.  I also want to be a person who studies space and black holes.
• Declan– a farmer.  I want to have all the animals and grow corn and pumpkins.
• Elanour–  a gardener and I would plant broccoli and potatoes.
• Enzo– an inventor because I have a lot of great ideas for new things to help people.
• Evie– a farmer and I want to have many chickens, cows, horses, and goats.
• Fiona– a police woman and catch the bad guys so everyone is safe.
• Helena– a grown up and eat candy all the time.
• Kaiah–  a dinosaur and stomp around.
• Kimberlin–  a dentist because I want to check people’s teeth.
• Love–  an astronaut and go into outerspace on a rocketship.
• Nicolas– a builder and build big rock buildings
• Olivia– an animal doctor because I want to take care of real animals.  I also want to be a swimmer by myself and a real super kitty.
• Ryder–  a digger because I’m going to dig deep underground to find the mummies in the tunnels in Egypt.  I’m also going to be a superhero and defeat the bad guys.
• Sadie– a mom and have 60 kids.
• Scotlyn– a princess and go to fancy parties.
• Zion–  a dinosaur and roar really loud.

“Thank you” seems so little to say for the outpouring of love and kindness during Teacher Appreciation Week. We felt the love all week long and count ourselves truly blessed to have the relationships we do with each of you.

Wishing you all a week filled with peace and love!

Amanda & Hema

Spring is the perfect time to go for a nature walk and bug hunt, and that’s exactly what we did this week. Going on a nature walk is a simple, fun, and meaningful way to spend time outdoors. A bug hunt is a really fun way to help incorporate what we are learning about insects inside the classroom and what we observe outside in nature. The best thing about a bug hunt? Once the children get in the habit of learning, observing, and studying insects, their reaction is less likely to be, “Aarrghhhh, a bug!”

We were so excited to welcome three baby chicks to our classroom last week.  They spent a week in our classroom and then went home with the Neugolds to live on their family farm.  It was a wonderful experience for everyone, and we all learned so much about the life cycle of a chick.

Wishing you a week filled with peace and love,

Amanda and Hema