June 2017 Newsletter

Klahanie School

June 2017 Newsletter

Whether we're a preschooler or a young teen, a graduating college senior or a retired person, we human beings all want to know that we're accepted, that our being alive somehow makes a difference in the lives of others.

There are three ways to ultimate success:

The first way is to be kind.

The second way is to be kind.

The third way is to be kind.

― Fred Rogers, The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember

2016-2017 Reflection

What a delightful school year full of so much laughter and connection, this has been a significant year and so much fun!   Thank you to all of your families for being a huge part of that.   Thank you Teacher Jordan Beck-Vroom for your amazing patience, knowledge, intuition and deep love and kindness to all the children you work with and offering such support and teamwork to the school community!

And thank you to our talented Specialists Jordan Beck-Vroom (Spanish and textile arts) and Elizabeth Shaw-Mendana for the movement wonders.  We were a lucky group of people for sure!

Wishing you all a joyful summer and hopeful to run into many of you during summer family adventures around our gorgeous island! 

Borrowed words I love to share each year with children venturing to other schools from Klahanie are the following:

Forever Young

Song and Lyrics by: Bob Dylan

May God bless and keep you always,

May your wishes all come true,

May you always do for others

And let others do for you.

May you build a ladder to the stars

And climb on every rung,

May you stay forever young,

Forever young, forever young,

May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous,

May you grow up to be true,

May you always know the truth

And see the lights surrounding you.

May you always be courageous,

Stand upright and be strong,

May you stay forever young,

Forever young, forever young,

May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy,

May your feet always be swift,

May you have a strong foundation

When the winds of changes shift.

May your heart always be joyful,

May your song always be sung,

May you stay forever young,

Forever young, forever young,

May you stay forever young.

Mahalo, Muchas Gracias, Merci beaucoup to such a loving, lovely, dynamic and deeply kind group of children I will miss dearly and look forward to the honored opportunity of witnessing their continued growth in self and community.  

June Curriculum Topics

·      Please bring a NAME LABELED white new or old tee shirt(s) for your child for Tie Dying, we will Tie Dye Wednesday 7^th and Thursday the 8^th

·      Marine life: Puget Sound beaches and grace and courtesy behavior with beaches and marine animals

·      Papas:  Father’s Day love!

·      Summer and Solstice fun

This is going to be a busy next couple of weeks of wrapping up the school year so hold onto your hats!  

Reminders/Thank You

·      The last day of school is Thursday June 15^th: 9:30-11am

o   Last class: 9:30-11am hopefully wearing their Klahanie tie-dye! 

o   Parents thank you for being on time and arriving at back at school promptly at 11am, our class will be walking a song parade to the stage where we will sing a couple of songs and end of the year giving thanks, everyone leaving by 11:45am.  If heavy rains, we will smoosh together in the classroom.  

o   PARKING: Important, please park in driveways and give yourself ample time to park and walk in and park as directed:

•                2 cars in upper lot

•                4 cars in driveway in-front of garage

•                4 cars in the shared Starbreak driveway

•                3-maybe 4 cars in the south/Conext container driveway

•                Volunteers for four cars to park near the mailboxes and walk in through the south garden gate.

o   Family Potluck: Thursday June 15^th, 5pm-7pm Dockton Park

·      Thank you Colleen Miller and Jen Keller for the substitute teaching help you provided our class this school year!

·      Thank you Elizabeth Shaw-Mendana and Jen Keller for providing our class with play dough all year!

·      Thank you Liz Carlson for helping three weeks in a row on creating the amazing class Self Portraits!

·      Thank you Colleen Miller and Jen Keller for organizing the massively helpful yearly Pie Auction fundraiser, Liz Carlson for the ticket design, Katelyn Costly for the flyers and all those who helped in donations and making the evening happen!  Here’s to the upcoming year and an even more fruitful event.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Klahanie School families for such a wonderful school year and to leave you with one of my favorite poets:

Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends. 

Maya Angelou

May 2017 Newsletter

Klahanie School

May 2017 Newsletter

Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force.  The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward.  When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.

- Karl Menninger

April 2017 Reflection

Thank you for such wonderful conferences!  As always, the joy of sharing how your child is moving, feeling, exploring in class is a fantastically fun experience!   As parenting process continues, please send me an email or phone call if you seek referrals or specific inquiries about developments.  Spring is busy and wonderful and what you see around you in the “spring green” is exactly the growths mirrored in your child.  We adults keep up with the changes and support our own processes as we steer in directions that inspire and support safety within our self and family. 

What an amazing group you parents are!

We had a month full of amazing growths and connection as a group.  Being inspired by the Compassionate Listening work in our circle times have been sprinkled with compassionate listening exercises tailored for our young multi-age group.  We began playing a “listening game” each day (the children have begun requesting) where a child holds the talking rock to share a story or thought.  We listeners then have the fun job of listening to the facts and take turns repeating them back.   We also ask the person what they felt, or will some times guess if enough leading words are given during the story and ask if that was the feeling, the emotion?  The last step, if enough is shared in the facts and feelings, I help frame it with “it sounds like you really enjoy or value having quiet, independent time” or “…. time spent with family,” etc. to help highlight the idea of an internal value which are always positive, imbedded truths in all humans and what connects us to one another.  This story/listening exchange along with greeting each and every person around our circle silently, only with present and loving eye contact, are pillar foundations to the work of Compassionate Listening peace development work.  And the Klahanie School children are soaking it up!

Elders have begun completing their large projects and we had the first of some anticipated future ceremonies honoring their dedication, excitement and knowledge.  These projects include exercise in math, language, science and sensorial.  Some upcoming excitements will be the elders practicing counting together, separate and teaching a younger friend up to 1000 on the Montessori 1000 chain.   Our class has also had great fun diving into the solar system unit.

Our Painted Lady larva will be arriving this week and spread us to the spring focus of butterfly life cycle observation and release in the garden.

Ten little eggs all in a mound.

Out they will crawl, crawling around.

And then they will sleep and we know why, out they emerge as butterflies.

Butterfly, butterfly what lovely wings.

Flutter by, flutter by how my heart sings.

Butterfly, butterfly I’d like to know, when it rains, when it rains where do you go?

March Curriculum Topics

Niche In Nature

I’ve got a Niche in nature, no matter what you say.

I’ve got a niche in nature and it’s going to stay that way.

We’ve each got a niche in nature, whether we’re big or small.

If niches are protected then there’s room enough for us all!

….

Butterfly Song

Ten little eggs all in a mound, out come the caterpillars crawling around.

Then they will sleep and we know why, out they immerge as butterflies.

Butterfly, butterfly what lovely wings.

Flutter by, flutter by how my heart sings.

Butterfly, butterfly I’d like to know, when it rains, when it rains where do you go?

….

Bend and Stretch, reach for the sky.

There goes Jupiter, there goes Mars.

Bend and stretch, reach for the sky

Stand on tippy toes oh so high.

·      Spanish Continued Intro and Practice: Jordan will begin leading ending circle time with daily Spanish!  A large portion of our community is from Mexico and what fun to begin exploring and sharing connections.  Thank you Teacher Jordan!

·      Teamwork: All groups that create teamwork

·      Bees:  bee hives and teamwork, bee life cycle and why they are so important

·      Cinco De Mayo:  More Spanish language introduction, music/dance and foods (please feel free to share what you like from Mexican culture and knowledge!)

·      Mamas and Papas:  Mother’s and Father’s Day love!

Reminders/Thank You

o   Dates for Summer Session:

•   July 4-6^th (Tues, Wed, Thurs) 9:30-1:30pm

§  July 11-13^th (Tues, Wed, Thurs) 9:30-1:30pm

§  Please note: paperwork will be emailed out asap.  Thank you! 

·      Please remember to put sunscreen on your child as well as supply them with a water bottle.  We will continue to do our walks to Klahanie beach and having water available is very helpful.  Thank you!

·      Thank you Liz Carlson for your weekly help children create his/her Self Portraits!

·      Thank you Jen Keller for coming in and helping Jordan in class!

·      Tie Dying:  Please send one or two pre-washed white tee shirts to school.  We’d love to get our tie-dye started the last week of May!