This past week’s contributions

This past week, the parent teams were hard at work on the site. The gardening team has filled the custom planter box with soil and hung planter pots on the trellis work they installed. The Beautification Team tried several different researched methods to remove the graffiti on our alley fence and with some hard scrubbing and a power washer, they’ve made significant improvements to our wall of silhouettes in the alley (actual body outlines of children who are now in their 20s!). Thanks crew! You are mighty!!

Flowers were brought in by Tamar (Arnon, WW), Naomi (Tallulah, WW) and Tamra (Isaac, EW).

Snack was shared by Eli, Gia, Mehana (WW) and Fiona, Isaac, Coco & Leo, Jacob (EW).

Naomi had a birthday book with parents Angie and James (EW) at morning circle.

Mica’s parents, Anna and Marc (EW), made smoothies with the kids with the option of tahini!

Laura (Ava, EW) joined us for input on the front yard sound wall experience and how to see it from multiple lenses and offered her reflection:

Adriana presented about the current evolution of the Sound Wall in the front courtyard. She carefully walked us through how Rea (one of our current interns) was tasked to observe the school’s current environment and see where it might be improved. Through various observations, Rea noticed the Sound Wall was underutilized. With that, they began asking the children how it could be improved and developed. Empowering the children to develop and design their space gave it relevance and a connectedness that went beyond a typical “teacher taught” curriculum. The language of music inherently brings people together and you really saw that in the imagery showed depicting the children sharing their ideas and utilizing the improved space with their peers. I enjoyed hearing the teachers’ reflections and strategies on how they were going to support one another in furthering the children’s’ interests regarding the sound wall. This was not without some disagreements in which they navigated in such a respectful way.

I was also struck by the process of the mentor/mentee relationship at New School West. Adriana truly acts as a guide for Rea’s learning all whilst she has become a valued part of our community contributing important changes to the environment. The presentation was an embodiment of learning together. Adriana briefly spoke of the documentation Rea created for her class. I think it would be valuable for our community to be able to view her work in the spirit of coming full circle in this process of learning.

Such fun to be a part of the staff meeting! Thanks for opening this up to the parent community!!

xLaura

Genna (Gia, WW) went with Roxanne to the Farmer’s Market in Venice. Apparently, every time Roxanne goes to the Market, she is invited by the Venice Neighborhood Council to join in on their meetings because of their interest in bringing the children into the community. Roxanne lives in Reseda so If you live in Venice and want to get involved, reach out to her and she’ll connect you.

Jaclyn (Eli WW) was our parent volunteer for Tuesday’s Prospective Parent Tour and we had “Teacher Magic” on Thursday night where we explored the pragmatics and semantics of interpreting and supporting children’s words.

Another amazing week filled with support and a whole lot of love. Thank you, everyone! xoKristin

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