May 2018 Newsletter

Klahanie School

May 2018 Newsletter

I’m not saying we need to save the trees. I’m saying that we need to not overlook their 

capacity to save us. Put it in your yard and watch it for a while. And pick it carefully because it’s hard to get a tree going. You know if every seed turned into a plant, we’d be living in a very different world. So choose well and open your eyes to give it everything.

Hope Jahren, NPR interview April 29th, 2016 “Lab Girl”

April 2018 Reflection

Our class has leaped into the spring with enthusiasm and creativity in imaginative play and classroom material exploration as well as amazing recycle and earth conscious exploration through our own choices. The garden has taken new shape and inspired creativity in exploring play in the space as well as respect for the garden; hosting habitat to many insects (we have created Insect Hotels), arachnids, Earth worms, beetles, garden snakes and birds. We began planting seeds and discussion of plant life cycle and plant care. With the increase of imaginative role-playing during garden time we will be introducing more performance encouragement on the garden stage and puppet shows. 

Ending our month of Earth focus, we encourage you to listen to Hope Jahren’s NPR interview from April 29, 2016 as well as look into her memoir “Lab Girl” focused on her geo-biologist quest described in a deeply poetic and inspiring way. 

We all have different gifts, so we all have different ways of saying to the world who we are.

~Fred Rogers

May Curriculum Topics

Butterfly Song

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?

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! 

Bend and Stretch

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.

• Butterfly life cycle and habitat: egg, larva (caterpillar), chrysalis (pupa), butterfly. Our painted lady butterfly larva will be observed through the cycle in class until ready for release.
• Class chosen focus: Garden Snakes, Beetles, Ants and exploration/naming of shells 
• Amphibians: the amazing world of amphibians and habitats.
• Large and Whole Body Art (please dress kids in clothes you do not care about getting dirty or stained the month of May)
• Friends, Our Neighbors: creating empathy development extended fun and introduction to Teamwork through carving opportunities in the garden and some clapping-drumming, story add-on games.
• Serving Tea to Friends: harvesting herbs from the garden to dry and later invite and serve tea to a friend. 
• A bit of baking: brown buns, we use a sweet little song to illustrate subtraction and thought a fun move to make our own for class to share.  We use the vocabulary "subtraction", "addition" and "remaining."

5 Brown Buns in a bakery shop

5 Brown Buns with the sugar on top

Along came (child name) with a quarter in her hand and she grabbed that bun and ran as fast as she can.

...repeated

• Continuing the gift of Listening awareness and practice

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

Reminders, Thank-Yous, Dates to Save & Changes

• Tie Dying: Please send one or two pre-washed white tee shirts or other garments to school by the second week of May. We want to have help silk screening our school logo on shirts before getting our tie dye on the last week of May.
• SAVE THE DATE: Saturday September 29^th Pie Auction at Nashi Orchards! This is our annual scholarship fundraiser and all adults welcome and encouraged to help create some memorable fun! Thank you Pacific Crest Farms, Jen and Bob Keller for being liaison for this magical opportunity at beautiful Nashi Orchards.
• Please look for upcoming emails from me or Jordan to purchase photo Year Books for this amazing 2017-18 school year.
• Thank you for spreading the word for next year enrollment, only a few spots remaining! Would be great to enroll two three year old girls to balance out our multi-age class ratios.
• Two spots remaining for our summer sessions, thanks for spreading the word.
• Thank you for the play dough donations and a massive thank you to parents who volunteered time to help in class during teacher sick days. 
• Thank you Ara Lee for coming in and teaching singing!

April 2018 Newsletter

Klahanie School
April 2018 Newsletter

It’s the little things citizens do. That’s what will make the difference. My little thing is planting trees.
Dr. Wangari Maathai

March 2018 Reflection
Happy Spring! This month has brought us many wonderful opportunities in and outside the classroom. We were able to expand our outside play space to the south end of the property where we have the slides and much dirt moving, digging and creation opportunities. The children’s self-initiate outside imaginative is rich and many are using the dress-up and Garden Stage. The fun addition is puppet corner in our class space where four children exchange acting as actors and audience with a lot of mutual direction and patience creation with the joy. This has allowed wonderful practice of listening opportunities. The group is offering fantastic improv opportunities! 

Our class will begin exploring the plants in and outside of the garden and using much more scientific vocabulary as well as labeling the plants with name and if edible or non-edible. Please let me know if you would like to come help facilitate this fun spring experience! With our deeper work with communication, our circles will focus on listening games to practice exploring what listening is, how to listen to self and groups. Thank you endlessly to Jordan for helping the children create their self portraits. These will be hung above our front door, inside the classroom the week before spring break. Please, you are always welcome at pickup to come have a look! 

April we will gathered dandelion and kale greens for class salads the children will make. Like all spring life surrounding us, our class is popping with activity, interest and movement. At the end of the day we might do group stretching and we also might create group story telling. Our classmate Arthur and family will welcome a new baby brother, Theo the second week in April! In tradition with our honor of sibling transition, we invite the children to find a special something from their natural world, a book or something they appreciate to offer Arthur during a brother-shower Tuesday April 3 at 11am. Thank you for this tender offering! 

April Topics
• Peace Maker, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Dr.Wangari Maathai. April we will honor this wonderful woman’s work for African women, children and environment. We tell Dr.Maathai’s life story in an age appropriate storytelling and now a new children’s book about her life. We then offer figures representing her story on the storytelling table so the children can re-tell throughout class. Words you possibly will hear at home: trees, woman, babies, money, planting, poor/no food for the babies or families, soil, water, helping one another. A wonderful educational reference giving tribute to Dr.Maathai’s work is from Project Learning Tree at http://www.plt.org/words-to-live-by---a-tribute-to-wangari-…

• Please, Thank you, Pardon Me: Books, songs, role-play of manners and facial expression/body language practice. Sprinkled in, we are focused on some global practices. A fun and practical request for good old, Grace and Courtesy! 

• Parts of a Flower: roots, stem, leaf, corolla (pedal), stamen, pistol

• What is soil and compost: planting seeds for starters that will head home around Mama’s day

• Relationship of pollinators and flowers: Butterfly life cycle introduction and observation of Painted Lady larva to butterfly process

• Earth Day: varying earth month projects honoring discussion of how we all are Earth Peacekeepers and focus on renewable and reusable resources and water conservation activities and art

• Peace Pole: Please donate colorful, long ribbon for the front peace pole 

Where we need material donation support, reminders:

• No School: Spring Break 9-13
▪ Ribbon
▪ Little offering to Arthur for his brother shower April 3 and helping his parents with a meal-train
▪ Large flowers periodically: we will use them to scientifically take a part and see the parts under our class microscope
▪ Old tee-shirts: we will sew little hankies to wash-reuse in class and stop using paper
▪ Parent volunteer to help Wednesdays or Thursdays walk to KVI for 1:30pm pickup. Thank you Jen Keller for volunteering for Tuesdays! I will offer you three day notice when planning
▪ Parent coming to the garden to help label plants (this will begin the third week of April)

PLT.ORG

Words to Live By – A Tribute to Wangari Maathai - Project Learning Tree

Kenyan environmental and political activist Wangari Maathai was the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Incorporate her story into this PLT activity.

March 2018 Newsletter

Klahanie School

March 2018 Newsletter

Transitions are almost always signs of growth, but they can bring feelings of loss.  To get somewhere new, we may have to leave somewhere else behind.

~Fred Rogers, Life’s Journeys According to Mister Rogers

February 2018 Reflection

What a wonderfully swift and rich month with your families and children and what transitions to new growths we are honored to witness.  Thank you for all the time and care devoted to making the Valentines and sharing them with children and Teachers.  Our class experienced wonderful opportunities to continue our Inclusion practice.  When a friend approaches saying “Can I play with you?” our Klahanie practice response, “Sure, we’ll figure something out.  We are playing…..” and the children let the friend joining know what the play or lesson is or say “No thank you, I am having alone time.  Maybe later and thanks.”  Our Teacher opportunity is to facilitate gentle reminders about the words used and walk around helping mediate when needed inside and outside the classroom.  Our garden outside time and classroom exploration has developed amazing partnership games, group games and those seeking a bit of quiet time.  The flow and balance has been amazing to witness.  Our class has entered into a normalized classroom, Montessori name for the time when the class flow is effortless, smooth, kind and quiet.  Lessons are between teacher and child (two most) and only speaking with intermittent repeats from children while we teachers offer new vocabulary and communication practice.  We are now ready for some big fun.  This is a meaningful time in class when we all really feel the impression of connection and empowerment.  These words become sensory meaning and the children are so kind to one another as a result.  

Fantastic quote of March between a five year old girl and five year old boy snuggled on our library pillow looking over the child biography of Sally Reed, the first American female astronaut at age 32.

M: Can you believe people thought women were not smart?!  

C: I know.  Look at Me.  So silly.

M: Ya look at You!  

C: Ya.

Thank you parents for continuing to communicate inquiries about your child’s school time and support with home experiences.  We are so thankful for the opportunity to explore beside your child!  Jordan highlighted the wonders of this job as, “you really see the changes in people, quickly.”  We are honored to honor such delightful humans.  As we giggle and place respect, this becomes our own imprint on this earth.  We all are organisms, mammals.  We share and hear story.  And with that, our morning circles have become Circles with candle, talking rock or stick and exploration of listening and empathy creation following morning greeting of songs and movement/dance.  All your children seek to participate either with listen-and-speak or listen-and-listen.  We share space and honor our elements each circle, close physically as we share space (blow candle out) and have a bit of group lesson introduction.  Ending circle Jordan leads us in Spanish songs, lessons and stories.  We all LOVE this time!

I re-found this quote I enjoy and believe we replicate at Klahanie School,

In the middle of the Pacific, Hawaii is just a dot.  And we live close together in this small spot.  With all our diversity, how do we live together peacefully?  

Hawaiian culture & tradition play a big part.  Living with aloha means giving from the heart.  It is a gesture of aloha to give a flower lei.  Showing kindness is the aloha way.

On these islands that are so small, the Hawaiian people made room for them all.

Hawaiian culture tells us: Honor our elders, our kupuna.  Our kupuna give us guidance and affection.

Dr. Carolan & Joanna Carolan, A President from Hawaii

• Spring:  Review of seasons and loads of observation and sensory exploration 

• The Structure and importance of Mycelium and Fungi: 

• “Fungi are specialized eukaryotes that can break down very complex structures in nature. They have cell walls rich in chitin (the hard material found in the exoskeleton of insects) and utilize asexual reproduction through spore release. These spores have the ability to turn into mycelium.”  Mycelium can then create fruiting bodies, known as mushrooms. Mycelium come in many sizes, from very tiny to as large as a forest and are made up of rigid cell walls, allowing them to move through soil or other environments that require extra protection. Under a microscope, mycelium can look like little deciduous trees in the winter.

• Puppet Show: the group requested to create a puppet show making puppets, the set and writing the play.  We will keep you posted on material needs and when the show will take place!  

• Starting to talk about our Peace Pole.  We will put this pole up in April and have a May-Spring honoring.  Please start collecting colorful long ribbons to donate.  

• Wood-working, this will go on until the end of the school year

Reminders/Thank You

• March Spring conferences: Monday March 19-Wednesday March 21 (please refer to our google doc form to sign up)

• April 1 is enrollment submission for Summer Session

• Enrollment open, thank you for spreading the word as we fill a couple of spots

• Thank you for the Play-dough donations!

• Please let Emmy know about help establish calendar for remainder of school year for KVI field-trips

Island Community Developments: 

Klahanie School has been host space for Vashon Maury Teen Talking Circle honoring the Feminine, our Circles will begin to include a bi-weekly 3rd-5th grade Circle after school on along with the Teen Circle on the 1^st and 3^rd Tuesday and Thursdays of each month.  If you know of any individuals who identify as female who might be interested for 2018-19 school year please give them our school’s contact information.  

If you seek to be involved in the ever growing work of youth empowerment and peace and empathy education extensions as a Mentor and community outreach person, please contact the school.  Thank you!

Be the change you wish to see in the world.

~Mahatma Gandhi

February 2018 Newsletter

Klahanie School

February 2018 Newsletter

January 2017 Reflection

Hawaiian Poem: Peacemaker (To make Peace)

Ua kuikahi ke aupuni e haawi e paa I ka lima ke kuike e mamua o ka olelo – alohaloha ua kuikahi ke aupuni  ~ To unite as one and make peace you must give your hands up in agreement that you will ‘try’ to understand one another, speak kindly, entreat gently and go with love, yes, in order to unite as one and make peace

~Bonnie Flach, English Translation

 

“Can you read about, her, this lady?  I love her so much.”  ~ Calyx at circle asking to read about First Lady Michelle Obama.

January brought us amazing levels of connection, reflection and presence.  With the solid base of this unified group making peace everyday within themselves and in friendships, we were able to welcome new friend Arthur to our class.  Welcome Arthur Perley-Williams and family!  Coming back together celebrating togetherness and re-establishing connection and friend dynamics through dramatic play and garden adventures have been the core of our work this month while also sprinkling in our normal class lessons and fun.  We sang in celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday full of joy and excitement.  We also dived in the world of islands, archipelagos  and created many amazing art projects.  Thank you parents for your wonderful check-ins and inquiries this month. All your children have shown tremendous levels of kindness and focus of helping self, friends and environment. This is a very sugar coated, sweet group of children!  We fully experience the following as a wonderment of being together and forming meaning of connection as a group.  

In the practice of compassionate listening, you listen with only one purpose: to give the other person a chance to speak out and suffer less.  Practice breathing in and out deeply and concentrate on what you are hearing.  While the other person speaks, they may express bitterness, wrong perceptions, or make accusations.  If you allow these things to touch off the anger in you, then you lose your capacity to listen deeply.  Listening with mindfulness helps you keep your compassion alive.  It protects you, and your anger will not be triggered.  Even fifteen minutes of listening like this can be very healing and can bring a lot of relief to another.  You may be the first person who has ever listened to him or her like that.  

~How To Love, Thich Nhat Hanh

February 2018 Curriculum Topics

I wonder what memories of yours will persist as you go on in life.  My hunch is that the most important will have to do with feelings of loving and being loved—family, friends, teachers, shopkeepers—whoever’s been close to you.  As you continue to grow, you’ll find many ways of expressing your love and you’ll discover more and more ways in which others express their love for you.

~Fred Rogers, Life’s Journeys According to Mister Rogers: Things to Remember Along the Way

This is a busy, full and wonderful month we will share together in class.  We sincerely witness the following on levels of profound authenticity and honoring.  Your children are magnificent and we humbly offer love and joy while they exercise self in this big and amazing world.  We feel honored to fill up their HOPE and Dreams.

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

We will begin study exploration of

• Love: exploring this powerful emotion and how we show love to self and others.  This will incorporate arts, movement, spoken word, songs and poetry.
• Chinese New Year (February 16-March 2nd)-- year of the Dog.   We will make our dragon again and have a Chinese New Year: Year of the Dog parade
• Valentines: Wednesday the 14th we will exchange Valentines (Teachers will help parents distribute Valentines in name labeled bags in tent).  We plan to cook a pancake meal (fruit compote, chop almonds and whole butter) and sing, recite Valentine songs and poems.
• Hawaii islands and Inner Hebrides, Scotland beginning exploration of similarities and differences and the native languages of these remote islands.
• Winter Birds
• Poetry

“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.”

― Robert Frost

Reminders/Thank You

• Winter Break No School: Feb 19-23

• Thank you Jen Keller and Jordan Beck for the playdough and all the parents who volunteered to help when teacher Jordan was out sick!

• Valentines: help your child make a valentine for each classmate

Names of Classmates (please note: this our total school enrollment.  Not all children are present every school day)

• Valentines Date Night Parents!  Harbor School is hosting an 8th Grade babysitting night ($30 for night, $10 an hour) to help raise money for their Costa Rica trip!  Contact Harbor School to reserve your spot!  

• March 1 Re-Enrollment Due--please email or call questions asap as both teachers will be using February for family time and planning away time.  Thank you and cannot wait to begin another chapter to unfold as our school continues collaboration with so many to find sustainable peace spaces for our youth.  

Happy Love to you All!

January 2018 Newsletter

Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Klahanie School

January 2018 Newsletter

December 2017 Reflection

Happy New Year!  We hope you and your family experienced a joyful holiday season.  We are excited to venture into the New Year with intention and care to reacquaint your child back to the classroom community and experiences and welcome a new friend Arthur Perley-Williams and family to our school community!

January 2018 Curriculum Topics

Only in the darkness can you see the stars.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Along with revisiting our daily routine we will begin to focus our attention and circle-time lessons on Martin Luther King Jr.  MLK is the first of many Peacemakers we will study from around the world.  We begin the discussion of civil rights using age appropriate and relatable-fictionalized stories along with open-ended questions the children can identify with.  I also like to continue incorporating examples and role-playing of classroom community issues to assist the children in finding greater practice and understanding of human rights, empathy and compassion development through listening and sharing.

If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do keep moving forward.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

To celebrate MLK day we will make personalized “I have a dream” clouds for all children who want to participate.  The clouds state what the child’s dreams are for the future of selves, family, community, world and imagination.  These clouds will be hung in the classroom.  We will also make MLK posters and have a Peace March on Thursday Jan 16^th we chant:

“Martin Luther King was a mighty, mighty man and a mighty, mighty man was he.  He worked for peace, he worked for love, and he worked for harmony!”

While celebrating diversity we will begin making self-portraits.  Each child will have the opportunity to observe his/her features in a mirror then with the assistance of an adult, create a self-portrait that will be displayed in the class until the end of the school year.  When you come to visit our classroom have fun finding your child!  Thank you Katrina Lindgren for offering to help in class on this wonderful project. 

January and February we will be introducing different musicians, authors/poets and artists that have had important roles in using his/her art as a tool for looking for answers to world injustices.

“A simple and exhilarating truth: music and open, honest, human-to-human communication can shift ideologies and create meaningful change” (Lee Hirsch).

Two artists we will celebrate during January will be Pete Seeger and the Staples.  These musicians actively took the messages of MLK to the next level for bringing awareness of civil peace and equality in their own communities and beyond.

This unit study is close to my heart for it stimulates the children to look deeply and proudly at ways they themselves are peacemakers.  I look forward to hearing your home observations of family conversations and questions asked by your child while we study Martin Luther King Jr. and extended Peacemakers.  Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns, I am happy to listen and make time.

We will also begin study of

·      Atlantic and Pacific archipelagos

·      Pacific Northwest beavers and their vital importance in our ecosystem

·      Winter birds

·      Snowflakes, clouds, differing forms of water

·      Human bodies: our senses

February you will receive your re-enrollment packet for 2018-19 school year and March 1, 2018 deadline.  February you will also receive your last week of March spring conference signup options.  Our school does offer a Kindergarten year and some added options will become available for the 2018-19 school year, all listed in your re-enrollment packet.  Please feel free to contact Emmy to answer any questions you may have, happy to take time.

Reminders/Thank You

·      No School Monday January 15, MLK remembrance

·      Thursday January 16, classroom Peace March (wear rainbow colors!)

·      Thank you for the sweet Holiday Gifts from families to Teachers, such kindness!

·      Cold & Wet Days!  Please & thank you for remembering to layer your child in warm clothes as well sweatshirts and pants (sweatpant-ish pants work great!).  Our outside schedule remains the same.  Please also pack extra socks (can be mismatched): socks are great mitten substitutes when needed as well as extra cozy pants and rain pants if have them. 

·      Thank you Jordan and Jen Keller for the Play-dough!