Upcoming Calendar Reminders
Friday, March 5th & Monday, March 8th: SCHOOL CLOSED for West Coast Collaborative Reggio Conference with Teachers
Saturday, March 6th, 8-10pm: Wine Tasting — California vs Oregon Pinot Noirs
Hosted by Alex (wine connoisseur and dad to Santiago, EW) and with a cameo by Roleen. Join us to meet, mingle, and sip with other New School West families for our first virtual wine tasting fundraiser featuring pinots noirs from California and Oregon. This will be a fun — and not too serious — way to connect as you drink delicious wine and to raise a little money for the school too. Cost is $100 per family. CLICK HERE for more details and to sign up.
Saturday, March 13th, 10-11am: Family Bloom Zoom
Floral Arranging with Jelena (Ana, WW) of Viola Floral. Grab your little one(s) and let’s get together for some flowers, fun, and special bonding time! Participants will receive a bucket of fresh flowers delivered directly to NSW on Friday, March 12th. Cost is $80 per family. CLICK HERE to sign up.
Wednesday, March 17th, 3:30-4:45pm (Dandelion) and Thursday, March 18th, 3:15-4:30pm (Cilantro): Spring Open House
Come see what we’re doing at school. Roleen and the teachers will greet three families at a time (no children please) to walk the spaces and explore the children’s current work and interests. Each appointment is 15 minutes. To honor protocols, we are limiting the amount of adults in each time slot so you can view the indoor and outdoor spaces while distancing. We will take temperatures, wash hands upon entry, and wear masks. Sign up here to reserve your spots (one slot per family): https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0449afa629a02-spring7
Monday, March 29th through Friday, April 2nd: SCHOOL CLOSED for Spring Break
Flowers
Thank you so much to Aminata’s and Ana’s family for the beautiful flowers this week! After making several flower arrangements, the Dandelions were able to share their abundance with all the pods in the school! Flowers 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
Cilantro
We were all so happy to begin the week welcoming back Cindy and Copper. With such warm friendships it took no time for them to get right back into the swing of things.
In the classroom the children continue to explore the multiple facets of paper. Paper can often be seen as simply a surface but as you bend, curl, fold or twist you discover new transformations in the palm of your hands. Now that the group has had time to unravel the possibilities they are working on an interactive canvas that uses their altered paper pieces as the provocation.
In addition to forming paper into new shapes, the children have also recognized its ability to be transformed by using scissors when adding intentional cuts. Kirigami is the art of combining folding paper (Origami) and paper cutting. Having had the experience of folding paper to cut out hearts for Valentine’s Day the children are now testing new formulas.
Ami: Fold the paper and draw a candy cane. Cut it out to make a heart.
Wesley: You can fold and draw bunny ears for a heart too.
By taking on this new challenge we have seen their cutting skills flourish and their designs expanding. The possibilities are snipping away as two hearts become a butterfly, cut petals can become a flower, and an oops can become an amazing leaf. It’s just the beginning.
In the Middle Courtyard, the children have revisited an old painting. Turning the paper at different angles the group recognized a new image living in it. Making a connection to their common joy with the beach they agreed that an ocean, sun, and sky were within the canvas waiting to be completed. We started by creating shades of blue for the shore, and with a new brush technique we swirled the colors to represent the waves splashing. While painting the children’s rich experiences with the ocean, it sparked a dialogue.
Wesley: We need sea life in the water. Like sea creatures and sea weed.
Ami: What about a palm tree.
Cindy: Where will the palm tree stand?
Ami: In the sand.
Cindy: Our painting begins at the shore line. What do you see when you look beyond the shore line?
Leo: There are mountains.
Dot: Yes. I saw the mountains.
Ami: I’ll have to think about it. Oh, yes there are mountains. I forgot.
Dot: If you stay a long time at the beach you see pink in the sky.
Cindy: Are you remembering being at the beach until was late.
Wesley: Dot, that is the sunset.
Ideas including sea life, palm trees, sand, mountains and sunsets filled the conversation. With all these new additions we agreed to slow down and review our perspectives on this collective piece. What is the vision that we want the painting to portray?
In the woodworking area, the group has been using our wood planks and scraps pieces to engineer a variety of structures. Most popular is the build out of inclines to explore how objects move. Discovering physics the group uses our tables, chairs, shelving, and trees to stabilize the wood. Hypothesizing on the outcomes, the children gathered trains, a variety of balls, and other found objects to test force, speed, and trajectory. This is a new discovery that has gained momentum and we are excited to see how it evolves.
WELCOME SATURN!
This week began with welcoming back both Cindy and Copper and we are ending the week with much excitement as on Tuesday, we will be welcoming Saturn and her family, Xosha and LaKeith, to the Cilantro group. The children can’t wait to get to know Saturn and are wondering what she might enjoy playing with them.
Ami: I think she will like dancing, riding bikes, and jumping.
Copper: She’ll like smelling flowers.
Jack: Puzzles
Colette: Playing with blocks and using clear glue.
Emme: I think she will like to play with building supplies and maybe try our cameras.
Leo: Painting and drawing pictures.
Oona: She will like painting a picture of Stormfly.
Wesley: Playing in the house area and cooking. I think she will like painting too. I wonder if she likes blue?
Jack: And does she like to play tag?
This past Wednesday afternoon, Saturn and Xosha had a playdate after all the children were picked up to get reacquainted with the school. On Thursday, Roleen, the parents and teachers of the Cilantros, warmly welcomed and reconnected with Saturn’s family through a Zoom evening.
It was a lovely gathering. For those who couldn’t join us, here’s the recording and for those who did. . . here you go:
Passcode: r4s$Z6Hq
Dandelion
Card making continues in the paper house. This week some of the Dandelions worked on some reply notes for the Mints and thank yous for Eddie and Dana and his Nai-Nai & Yei-Yei for sharing a video about Lunar Year.
The messages read:
Thank You.
We love your Dragon dance.
Elmo was our favorite and Cookie monster because he likes to eat lots and lots of cookies. And Grover too.
Cary, Emma, and Evyn requested to add these questions for Eddie’s Nai-Nai & Yei-Yei:
- Do you like diamonds?
- Do you like vehicles?
- Do you like sparkly hearts?
- Do you like construction trucks?
- Do you like to brush your teeth everyday?
Message #2
Thank you Dana and Eddie for bringing the mandarins.
Thank you for the foam stickers.
We love you.
With all this note making, we are slowly changing the Paper House into a Message center area. If you happen to have any type of stationary you don’t use anymore we would be happy to add it to this space for the use of the children. Thank you.
This week, we also continued to work with beads and wire at the Mini Studio table. On Wednesday (before the power went out!), we had another opportunity to Zoom with the Mints to see how they were using these materials in their own play and exploration! We also got to learn a little more about the Mints. After Marley showed us the necklace he made for his stuffed monkey, the children started to share about their lovies and special cuddle animals.
Emma: I have a blankie.
Leon: Coco, it’s my kitty.
Cary: I have a lovey. It’s a duck.
Emma: I have a stuffed animal. A zebra.
Arya: A bunny.
Jen: Would you like to know about The Mints? Who would you like to ask first?
Dandelions: Mabel, do you have a cuddle animal?
Mabel: I do have a cuddle animal.
Leon: What kind do you have?
Mabel: A hippo. It’s pink.
Cary: Kevin, do you have a cuddle animal?
Leon: Do you?
Kevin: He is a brown dog.
Bei-Hai: I’m too busy working (focusing on beading).
Arya: Elliot.
Cary: Elliot, do you have a cuddle animal?
Elliot: It’s a dragon! Mommy gave it to me for a present.
As the children shared more information about what toys bring them comfort, the Dandelions and the Mints became more comfortable (and talkative!) with one another. We look forward to seeing how these relationships continue to grow through these meetings — especially knowing that the children from the Mints and from the Dandelions will become classmates next year in the East Wing! In two weeks, we will be playing with watercolor paints together.
In other news, some of the Dandelions have been getting used to new schedules in the last couple of weeks. A couple of children have extended their days to include the afternoons at school, which means learning new routines and transitions. We see in the Dandelion children’s words and actions how all of them have been supporting each other through the different feelings that come with change! One other change that we want to highlight is Dana’s new schedule. Now that the children are becoming more comfortable and more independent at school, Dana is going to shift to a Monday through Thursday schedule. This shift allows Dana to return to part-time hours, giving her the time to support her family’s needs at home and the opportunity to create for Eddie some space of his own in the classroom, while still being part of all of the West Wing curriculum, planning, and documentation work. Please let us know if you have any questions!
Also, another change: this week, the Dandelions had the chance to use the Sand Area on Tuesday morning, thanks to the Aloe Veras! Like in the Woodchip Area, the Sand Area offers a structure for the children to climb up and slide down. This new space also offers new physical challenges and big body play: the children are able to use the monkey bars, to push tractors through the sand, and to navigate the use of a wheelbarrow. The children are also enjoying the sensory feedback that comes with the sand: digging, sifting, pouring, scooping, lifting, etc. Some of the sand is used to feed the animals (and each other) in the sand kitchen; some of the sand is used to bury their feet; some of the sand is used to fill the shovels, buckets, and pails. We hope to continue using this area on Tuesday mornings before we transition back to the Woodchip Area for our extended morning of big body play. (Fridays will also continue to be a longer, two-hour period of time in the Woodchip Area).