Have a happy (and healthy!) Winter Break! We will see you and your children again at school on Wednesday, January 6, 2021.
Flowers and Gifts
Thank you to Emme’s family for the flowers this week. The children made beautiful winter floral centerpieces that brightened our environment and decorated our table for our Pizza Party.
Special thanks this week go out to Olivia’s family for the gift of the beautifully carved wooden reindeer figurines. Olivia’s Papa made these by hand, and he sent over photographs detailing each step of their creation. Olivia helped share these photos with the Dandelions at Monday’s reflection meeting, and we sent a reindeer home with each child on Wednesday. We invite you to email Flora or Dana photos of your reindeer at home so we can forward them on to Olivia’s Papa as part of our class thank you.
Flowers freshen up our small tables and then offer exploratory investigation along with representation possibilities as they dry out. We would love to begin the cycle again in January. Here’s the link to our SignUpGenius for classroom flowers: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0449afa629a02-flower
Parent Zoom Meetings
Thanks to everyone who was able to join us for our Parent Zooms on Wednesday. If you missed our parent zoom, or would like to revisit the conversation, here are the relevant links:
Cilantro: https://vimeo.com/492241613/866fe42b44
Dandelion: https://vimeo.com/491888454/c527e388b0
Dandelion references: The Yes Brain by Dr. Dan Siegel; Fostering Resilience by Kenneth Ginsberg
Our next Parent Zoom will be Wednesday, January 20. Please note the change of schedule: our zooms will be on the Third Wednesday of the month at 2:45pm (Cilantros) or 3:15pm (Dandelions). Thank you!
Winter Break Info
Just a reminder that New School-West closes for Winter Break at the end of the day on Thursday, December 17th. We will reopen on Wednesday, January 6th .
Roleen sent out an email on Sunday, December 6th, with some updated information about our policies and best practices that are mandated by Gov. Newsom. Please be assured that the teachers are with you in truly committing to honor the agreements with importance in support of keeping our school community healthy and safe now and especially during the next few weeks:
- All public and private gatherings and events with people from more than one household are not permitted. This means we have to think absolutely about the possibilities of added exposure when we are with people outside our own household (not just 3 or more households, anymore). That means, redefining your “bubble” for now, refraining from celebrating birthday parties and holidays in traditional ways, and putting a pause on play dates and extracurricular activities, etc.
- If you choose to travel out of state, you are required to quarantine for 14 days (test or no test) starting from the day after your return before coming back to school
- If you travel within the state, you are required to get a PCR test on the 7th day (counting from the day after your arrival home). You can return to school after a negative test.
Please make sure to let your classroom teachers know of any planned absences for the days leading up to break and let us know what day you are returning in January. Thank you so much in advance for all that you do to keep the West Wing and the entire New School-West community healthy.
Group Updates
Cilantro
This week the children had opportunities to get familiar with our new teacher Julia. Her enthusiasm has sparked the curiosity of the children and she is eager to learn all the children’s capabilities. Welcoming Julia as a new teacher in our group has us reflecting and seeing every child as a unique individual with fresh new eyes. Each child is different and special and children have the right to feel that they are respected and valued by the adults in their lives. Our relationships are built on a foundation of trust and we gain trust from the children by first understanding them. Our daily practices include taking the time to listen and talk with them, observe them, and learn from them. Find out what makes each child exceptional. What are their interests, temperaments, and learning styles? What motivates them? How do they learn best? What skills and talents do they have? What are their challenges? What special circumstances are there that affect them? With this knowledge, we can guide children in a way that builds on their strengths and boosts their confidence and competence. Teaching is a two-way relationship in which the teacher’s understanding of the child is just as important as the child’s understanding of the teacher. We look forward to learning more about Julia.
When it comes to transportation, the options for imaginative play are endless. We’ve observed this play in the classroom, the middle courtyard, and the sand area. Chairs are lined up and transformed into vehicles with packed trunks to take trips to the beach and dinosaur forest. Safe havens are created with soft and cozy blankets that invite intimate moments.
While visiting the garden, the children witnessed all the healthy worms from vermicomposting. They were curious to know which foods the worms were hungry for. Some children observed on the sidelines and a couple were brave enough to touch the worms.
With the dismantling of the Haunted House, the children had bright ideas to celebrate the end of the year festivities. They wish to transform the new corner into a “Party Place” that includes lights. To inspire decor for the new transformation, we went on a decoration hunt in our neighborhood. With a touch of imagination, decorations can make a celebration feel even more amazing and symbolize the spirit of the day.
Our parent zoom meeting was really special this week. It was a platform to learn something new about all of us. We invited families to share their holiday traditions and celebrations of different cultures. This gives children a chance to develop an understanding of why people have different beliefs and practices. Learning about holiday celebrations, especially ones celebrated by other peers in their classroom, helps children to develop an appreciation and understanding of what is important to their friends and other people they meet in the community. Enjoy your new traditions! Wishing all of you a new year of growth, joy, and meaning.
Dandelion
This week the Dandelions finalized their holiday gifts they have been working on in the past few weeks. The vial mobile hanging from our tree is something the Dandelions truly show ownership of and appreciate looking at daily. They like to jump and touch them or they express how beautiful the vials look to them especially in the sunlight. That’s why we proposed the idea of making some to bring home and they excitedly accepted. Also, the making of the holiday card was a perfect opportunity to work with tape in combination with scissors and the droppers which they had used earlier in the year with the color mixing. The intention besides creating something special from them for their families is to offer meaningful work where the children feel their efforts and energy is being validated and in the end, it has a purpose. This is why they were very much apart from creating them from the start to choosing the color bag and ribbon in the end and being sent home. In addition to it, their gifts got enhanced with the wonderful wooden deers from Olivia’s grandpa, Mr. Matt, who handmade them and shipped all the way from Nashville TN! On our return from winter break, we will be encouraging the the children to write some thank you notes and possibly take a walk to the post office which ties perfectly with the interest they have shown by making the purple mailbox to connect with the Cilantros and are in the process of thinking how we can exchange notes with the Aloe Veras and Basils too. Oh, so much to learn!
In other appointments, the Dandelions used our clay letters to work together to spell each other’s name. The children used magnifying glasses to take a close look at the shapes of each letter on our rosters before comparing them to the shapes of each piece of clay. Once we found all of the correct letters and put them together in the correct order, the children took turns photographing the names. We will be putting up these photos in our classroom as another type of Identity Panel to highlight their presence and their contributions in the community. The Dandelions also played in the Woodchip Area, explored the blocks around our school on Neighborhood Walks, built tall towers in the Exploration Space, wrote notes to Hudson and August from the Aloe Veras to wish them well on their move, and painted with watercolors in the Mini Studio.
We also started to get into the spirit of the holidays by talking about how the Dandelions spend time together with their families on special occasions like Christmas or Hanukkah. All of the children talked about how much they love to have meals together. Knowing their interest in celebrating with food, Flora brought in a couple of special treats (along with gloves, tongs, and disposable plates): on Wednesday, the children ate air-popped popcorn for a snack on Thursday, the children ate homemade tortillas and quesadillas. We hope that all of our families have a joyous holiday season and a wonderful winter break. See you in January!