BIRTHDAYS!!!
At New School-West, we have established a Birthday Book Tradition where children and their families bring a favorite book to read to the group. The Birthday Books are donated and kept in the classroom to revisit. They become a permanent part of our whole school library with a special bookplate inside the cover celebrating the occasion. This makes a very personable and intimate library collection full of the memories of children sharing their families and a book with school friends and that’s the best community gift. It’s beautiful to see this tradition take hold once again with parents back in the school!
Party, party, party! On Friday, June 4th, we celebrated Copper’s 4th birthday. The school was buzzing once they found out that Copper likes rainbows. Birthday cards from all the other pods came flooding in leading up to Copper’s birthday, (May 29th) and after! The Cilantros also designed and made birthday cards. Some children took the task upon themselves to write out names and happy birthday, instead of gluing with our small ID pictures and word phrases. For lunch, Copper’s family treated us all with delicious pizza! Thank you, Amelia and Dex!
Last Friday, June 11th, we welcomed Xosha, Saturn’s mom, for our very first birthday book read in the Cilantro classroom! Knowing that Saturn loves music and movement, we invited Xosha to join us in our morning movement song, Hello Hello! Can You Clap Your Hands? We then followed with singing Happy Birthday to Saturn. For Saturn’s birthday book, Xosha read one of the Cilantros’ favorite books, There’s A Monster At The End Of This Book with the bonus story, There’s Another Monster At The End Of This Book! Elmo makes a special appearance with the lovable, furry Grover. Thank you, Xosha, for the fun monster voices and goody bags for all the children!
Monday, June 14th, was Wiley’s 4th birthday. Petroula, Wiley’s mom, came in to read Wiley’s birthday book, The Book With No Pictures. Wiley chimed in at the funniest moments and we laughed through almost the entire book! On a count of four, we sang Happy Birthday to Wiley. The celebration kept going. Wiley’s family filled our tummies with some yummy cheese pizza for lunch and in the afternoon we cooled off with fruity freeze pops. The children joyfully left with goody bags. Thank you, Petroula and Shelby!
Birthdays are special times to many of us. A time for us to stop and receive loving and caring attention. They are a chance to fill us up. We invited all of the Cilantros to share a favorite memory that they have of Copper, Saturn, and Wiley.
Happy birthday Copper!
Aminata: I love playing costumes with you, Copper.
Colette: I like playing with you in the House Area and I’m the mama and you’re the mom.
Emme: I like playing horses with you in the Beach Area.
Jack: I like paddle boarding with you in the Beach Area. I love your pretty hair.
Leo: I like playing with you in the Sand Area.
Oona: I like playing with you in the House Area.
Wesley: I like swinging with you on the monkey bars in the Sand Area.
Wiley: I like how you climb on the ladder in the Woodchips. How do you do that?
Cindy: Copper, it’s been so much fun watching you push yourself to try new things, especially all your new climbing challenges. I also love reading and listening to music together.
Julia: I love seeing how great you have gotten at climbing the monkey bars in the Sand Area and the rope ladder in the Woodchip Area.
Silvana: I love watching you welcome and share fun ideas with your friends. And I love how you feel music.
Happy birthday Saturn!
Aminata: I liked it when you came to my house and we scooted all over.
Colette: I like jumping on the trampoline hopper with you!
Copper: Happy birthday, Saturn.
Emme: I like playing dinosaurs with you in the Sand Area.
Jack: I like it when you chase me. It’s so fun.
Leo: I like playing with the fairies with you in the Sand Area.
Oona: I like playing Kiki and Pax with you.
Wesley: Happy birthday, Saturn. I remember jumping with you.
Wiley: I like playing chase with you and playing in the Building Space. And I love her.
Cindy: I love all the snuggles that you give me each morning and playing dress up with you.
Julia: I love dancing and twirling with you and I love seeing how much fun you have while dressing up in the costumes.
Silvana: I love playing ring-around-the-rosies with you, fast! And how you offer hugs for friends to feel better and feel welcomed.
Happy birthday Wiley!
Aminata: I love going to your house and playing with the little cars game. You’re a favorite friend!
Colette: I love running around the table with you in the Middle Courtyard.
Copper: Happy birthday, Wiley. I love you.
Emme: I love you!
Jack: I liked it when you came to my house. I threw a basketball and you just catched it! You’re a good catcher, Wiley!
Leo: I like playing in the boxes in the Woodchips with you, Wiley. You are one of my best friends.
Marley: I like your gem collection.
Oona: I love you, Wiley!
Saturn: Wiley, you are my best friend.
Wesley: I like building spinning trees with you in the Building Space.
Cindy: I love all of the cool ideas that you come up with when using our materials and I just love, love, love seeing your big bright smile at the times we can take off our masks.
Julia: I love that you love to learn and how creative you are when you are building something in the Building Space.
Silvana: I love rhyming, silly words with you, watching you build in the Building Space with your friends, and see your cool dance moves!
Thank you, Wiley’s family for the beautiful flowers this week! They truly brighten our West Wing spaces and provide children with multiple opportunities for exploration and investigation. Here’s the link to our SignUpGenius for classroom flowers:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0449afa629a02-flower
Enjoy the Peek At The Week’s photos!
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