Well, it's embarrassing to admit how much time has lapsed since our last update. The classroom has been busy, vibrant, and fun (as always!) And boy, these kindergartners sure are growing up! Looking back on photos from the beginning of the year, it's easy to see how much older they look than they did only months ago.

Collectively, we have a serious case of spring fever! There have been tears shed over the effort it takes to put on all those darn snow clothes, and a couple of brave souls have even shed their boots while swinging safely above the snow in the warmth of the sunshine. We're all anticipating warmer weather and more time to romp outside.

Classroom work is progressing beautifully - some of the work these children are choosing blows us away! They are truly experiencing the delight and satisfaction that comes from learning. It is so fun to watch excitement shine on their faces and in their eyes! We have a few students who have spontaneously taken an interest in Egypt and are creating elaborate displays with illustrations depicting Egyptian symbols, life, and treasures. A couple of our resident Egyptian scholars became so familiar with Egyptian hieroglyphics that they can translate simple words into English! 

We have some mathematicians who have been doing algebra problems! Not only are they using the golden bead materials to perform math functions into the thousands, but they are doing so with the unknown number in the middle of the problem. Not only do we have skilled mathematicians, but our reading skills are truly impressive! Everyone, whether they are sounding out individual letters or reading full books, is making exciting progress with their language skills.

We've been studying the animal kingdom lately. We were lucky enough to welcome Britney Shull into our classroom last week so she could share with us her amazing collection of animal pelts and skulls. We got to see and touch the pelts of a bear, wolf, deer, beaver, antelope, coyote, cougar, skunk, raccoon, and many others. The children loved exploring the feel of each animal's fur, and we learned how to identify traits of an animal based on their teeth, the placement of their eyes, and other important traits.

The Community School middle crew of students visited our classroom last week as guests for our most recent stone soup lunch. Our Little Star students were wonderful hosts, welcoming the older children into their classroom for a group game, a delicious lunch, and some free time to play and get to know one another.

We celebrated the children's kindness with a "marble party" recently. The children put a marble in a jar each time they feel that they've performed a random act of kindness or helpfulness, and once the jar was filled they chose to have a movie and pizza party. Not wanting to miss the learning opportunity, we introduced the concept of fractions using the pizzas they made, slicing each pizza into the appropriate number of pieces and calculating how many slices each person was allowed.

Ayla, Gabby, and Adele are now fully settled into the kindergarten classroom. They have been such a wonderful addition to our group! The class has been humming along, continuing to explore social dynamics, conflict resolution, appropriate behavior, and making good decisions as a community. This is a wonderful group of children, and a wonderful time of the school year. They fully own the classroom now, and feel comfortable to push the boundaries of their comfort zones, explore new territory, and enjoy the delights of responsibility and autonomy.

We hope everyone is staying healthy as the flu has been making the rounds.

Best wishes to you all as the snow melts, weather warms, and the sun invites us outside!

love,

~Baylie and Michelle

The kindergarten group returned from the holiday break with bright eyes, lots of enthusiasm, and a few new faces in the group. We are excited to welcome Adele Hilton into our group for the remainder of the year, as well as Gabby Studen and Ayla Belsby who will be splitting their time between preschool and kindergarten.

For the last few weeks our attention has been turned towards volcanoes, the earth's layers, and the variety of landforms found on our planet. Each child built a mini-volcano to erupt and take home, and Michelle helped a handful of children create beautiful collage-style volcano artwork. We learned about the different parts of a volcano, and generally what happens during a volcanic eruption. Our study of landforms and the earth's layers coincided with the one-year anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti, so we briefly discussed plate tectonics and what can cause changes in the Earth's surface.

The kindergarteners had a chance to explore some new artistic media during an activity combining music and art. Spread throughout the classroom were various stations offering charcoal, paint, sponges, ink, pencil, pen, pastels, and watercolors to apply to many different kinds of papers. The children were instructed to make any kind of marks on the paper, based on the music they heard and the way they felt. The idea was to get these little artists to loosen up and let go of ideas of "right and wrong." It was an inspiring activity to watch unfold. Michelle captured some great footage of the activity on a video which can be found on our facebook page (Littlestar Kindergarten).

We had a couple of musical guests in the classroom. Burke Jam and Adam Nordell, folk-singer friends from Montana stopped by to share a couple of songs and stories. Burke played the harmonica and Adam taught us how to stomp our feet to create percussion while someone plays the fiddle or guitar!

We've celebrated three birthdays over the last few weeks - Sawyer, Conner, and Lucian are each a year older than they were before the holiday break! We also took some time to celebrate the new year with Rayma and the toddlers and preschoolers. We made a sparkling cider toast to 2011, and broke apart the most amazing gingerbread castle we've ever seen! Cabby Tenis and his family gave us their gingerbread creation, and we disassembled and snacked on the intricate structure that was over 2 feet tall!

This week we spent time discussing the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement. We heard the story of Rosa Parks and talked about equal and fair treatment of all people, regardless of skin color. We did one exercise to illustrate the idea of discrimination in which children with brown eyes were asked to sit apart from the rest of the group while everyone else was allowed to sit at circle and participate. The brown eyed children were spoken to differently and were treated with far less care, for no reason other than the color of their eyes. After the excercise we talked about how it felt to have brown eyes, and what it might have felt like to have dark skin and be discriminated against. We learned about Martin Luther King, his life, and his death. His story touches the children deeply and emotionally.

Later that week Rayma told us a story about two leaves, one of which has a good attitude about the world while the other is perpetually disgusted, disappointed and negative. Kylee came up to me quietly during Rayma's story and said "That mean leaf is kinda like when you were mean to the brown people."

Sometimes these children understand things on a deep and poetic level. And yes, peace begins with "P," but it also begins with "you." It may not begin with "U," but it certainly begins with all of US.

We look forward to celebrating Chinese New Year during the next couple of weeks. Please join us for our next Stone Soup lunch and Chinese New Year parade on Thurs. Feb. 3rd!

Be well. With love,

~Baylie and Michelle

We can't wait to see everyone back in the classroom on Tuesday!

Look at those smiles!

We celebrate and admire Taylor Woodruff!

What a great hero and role model for our current Little Stars.

Thanks, Taylor!!

Industrious, joyful, creative, and often just silly...

Here is the last batch of photos from our classroom in 2010!

What a beautiful beginning to the month of October!!

The kindergarten classroom has been alive and buzzing - literally and figuratively! We have welcomed some new pets into our classroom - two precious guinea pigs (named MayMay and Cookie) and a wonderful honey bee demonstration hive. These creatures join our lovebird Chirpie Green to make the kinder room full of life and animal kingdom diversity!

Hard work has been happening at the fingertips of these creative children! From beautiful world maps to personal paintings, writing numbers and letters, and fall leaf projects, our classroom is filling up (and warming up) with the fruits of our labor.

To list a few highlights, the kindergarteners have seen a "real-dead" (as opposed to real live) raccoon, and talked about death after Madison and his family sadly put down their long time friend and dog Bula. Ideas of reincarnation, heaven, and the cycle of life were all discussed. The children each had their own idea of what happens after life, and we support them all!

We had a wonderful bike day, and have begun reading a new chapter book, after our first choice proved to be a little scary for some. Our new chapter book is Ralph S. Mouse by Beverly Cleary, and the children seem to enjoy the story of the brave little mouse who rides a motorcycle and goes to school.

We studied Christopher Columbus in honor of Columbus Day, and learned how he was brave and visionary when he was determined to sail to new territory even though everyone thought he would fall of the edge of the flat Earth. We discussed how he "discovered" the New World, but that in fact there were already people living in those places. The story of Columbus is a captivating and inspiring one for the children. 

Anticipating the arrival of our bee hive, we spent a day drawing and studying bees. We learned about the anatomy of bees and insects, and read a little about how bees make honey. Some wonderful drawings from the children now decorate our classroom!

Speaking of wonderful drawings, Rayma gave us a lesson about the life and artwork of Pablo Picasso. The children learned that art doesn't need to look a certain way to be "good." They each drew their own version of Picasso's art, and learned about his goal to draw "like a child" - with no restraint or inhibition. We hope these children begin a lifelong pursuit of self-expression and celebration of their artwork - and recognize the individual value of their particular voice!

We continue to talk about compassion, responsibility, and social awareness. Each day we grow as individuals and a community, and we see this group really finding its rhythm and harmony.

Thanks for sharing your bright and shining children! Please come visit any time you can!

Enjoy the glowing leaves and blue sky!

love,

Baylie and Michelle