Klahanie School
March 2017 Newsletter
When I say it's you I
like, I'm talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than
anything you can ever see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows
you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that
conquers hate, peace that rises triumphant over war, and justice that proves
more powerful than greed.
February Reflection
Thank you Klahanie School families for your amazing support,
kindness and joy this past month.
Your children have blossomed the classroom into a place of quiet
contemplation, swift joyful choice, engaged cleanup and help to others and
sincere independence that makes them all giggle. We teachers receive the rare and honored gift to observe the
wonder in which they create.
Inspiration is an appropriate word to describe the process. And process is the point of focus for
us the beginning of the school year and on. Each child in class offers a unique and expansive process to
his/her learning. We teachers are
in the environment to help open the windows further and maintain space where
the children can learn life skills joyfully.
February was a very connected and sweet month for our
class. The children welcome one
another daily with a kindness that could vibrate the earth in goodness. We all need that and it is fun to play
with them creating it. Imaginative
play outside has transitioned to another amazing level of dynamic
exercise. Yearly this is the time
of year we go through process when children are sharing ideas more and seeking
to be heard from peers-friends.
This is the main area we pay closest support to: listening. During beginning circle we are playing
many listening games to exercise this vital skill. We share that listening and being present is just as
important as sharing verbal ideas.
The main words we focus on are: Listening and Patience.
I lead the
children in eye contact games and storytelling listening games. The eye contact game is covering my
mouth and using my eyes to communicate an emotion and the children guess. This one is very fun and engaging. I then lead them in a discussion about
our bodies, how we carry them, how we interact with other bodies around
us. How we show our
intentions. The storytelling
listening game is used with the Talking Rock (held by the speaker) and we
listen for Facts, Feelings and Values.
This shared experience has offered deep levels of empathy and sympathy
development for all your children and I am telling you, when children use this
skill they could blow MANY adults out of the water! From the mouths of babes comes brilliance.
I extend inclusion of our darling
boys to this awesome quote:
“A girl (boy) knows her limits, but a wise girl (boy) knows
she has none.”
-Norma Jeane Mortenson
Thank you also for your support and joy surrounding our
first annual Pie Auction! For
those who we know wanted to be there and could not attend, we missed you dearly
and look forward to more to come.
Jeff Miller created an amazingly magical experience as our master chief
and auctioneer! Colleen Miller and
Jen Keller-Parker were the brains, joy and power behind our successful first
year endeavor; the room was twinkling with love and light for sure! And our amazing Jordan Beck-Vroom was
the master behind our beautiful fish prints (next year we want a whole salmon!)
and many thanks to Camp Sealth offering such a beautiful and historic
space. And thank you Bob Keller
and Jen for creating a beautiful school slide show I hope we can play at the
end of our school year. Please
look for a fundraiser report in the next week that details where our proceeds
are going! We had a successful
first year with $3400 raised!
March Curriculum Topics
·
Home: what does home mean to each of the
children. We will make some house
posters for the children to express in words and art how they feel about their
own Home.
·
South America continues
·
Introduction to Human Body study (http://www.innerbody.com is a great site
for the human body systems). In
class we will take a basic look at the skeletal, muscular and digestive systems.
·
Beginning Self Portraits
·
Water: why our earth and bodies need water and
fun exercises to learn about water conservation in our own backyards.
Reminders, Thank-Yous,
Dates to Save & Changes
·
Parent Conference sign-up sheet for end of March
is on top of cubbies
·
Self Portrait volunteer?
·
Thank you for keeping up on head checks on your
children. The lice preventative
research Jordan offered us this autumn is on our school blog under Parent
Resources http://klahanienurseryschool.blogspot.com/. Thank you also for keeping children
home when sick or in discomfort when healing from an illness.
