May 11th Newsletter

Ana and Mary’s Newsletter May 11, 2018

“If you find yourself worrying, go outside, take three breaths, address a tree and quietly say, ‘Thank you.’ If you can’t find a tree, a dandelion will do… Nature is magic.” – Robert Bateman

From the classroom

Synthesis:  “the combining of often diverse conceptions into a coherent whole.” 

This week seemed in many ways like a beautiful synthesis of our year-long learning journey:  

• We continued planting our native garden habitat right outside of our classroom, replacing ornamental landscaping plants with native ones: penstemon, columbine, rabbitbrush, milkweed, and flaxseed. We did this in response to learning about insects, how important they are in the web of life, how they depend on the existence of local plants to which they are adapted, and how both loss of habitat and pesticides have impacted winged insects. Reaching back to our learning from the beginning of the year about Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez’ work, we remember how the use of pesticides is not only harmful to insects but also to the farmworkers in the fields. 
• We went on a stunningly beautiful field trip to Lair o’ the Bear, reconnecting with nature and our theme of seasons – loving the dandelions, pasqueflowers, and willows in bloom.
• We wrote poetry and letters to our mothers and to our visiting new friends from kindergarten – continuing to express ourselves as writers and poets.
• And we celebrated the wonder and magic of childhood, as we tucked bright pink elephants, striped little tigers, and furry friends of all kinds in for an overnight in our classroom – only to find that they had been up to lots of fun activities rather than sleeping! 

Bookbags and Library Books: all books from school, whether from our classroom (in bookbags) or library need to be returned next week.

Suns!  All of our third graders need to get ready for their overnight trip next week. Please have your child carefully read the packing list (together with you!) and start putting everything together s/he will need to bring. We will have two more advising times with our young travelers before we take off on Wednesday.  

Upcoming Dates:

• Monday, May 14 – Suns Portfolio Sharing
• Wednesday, May 16 – Thursday, May 17 – 3^rd Grade Overnight YMCA Estes Park
• Wednesday, May 23 – All School Picnic (see back of newsletter)
• Thursday, May 24 – Last day of school; Early release 1 pm

Peace,      Ana and Mary 

End of the Year Picnic

On Wednesday, May 23rd we are going to have our all school end of the year picnic to celebrate the year and all that we have accomplished together.  The picnic will begin at 11:00 with an open mic outside in the courtyard by Melody’s and Jana’s rooms.  If you are interested in performing, please head out to the courtyard around 10:55 and sign up for a time slot.  At 11:30 we will start serving lunch, which includes hot dogs, hamburgers, veggie burgers, watermelon, chips and a drink for everyone to enjoy.  Parents, grandparents and siblings are welcome to join us in this end of the year celebration, but please leave your dogs at home!  The following activities will be set up for people to enjoy once their bellies are full: volleyball, soccer, badminton, 4 square, Frisbee, paddleball, bubbles, jump roping, unicycles, stilts, jump ropes and more.

At around 12:30 p.m., people will have a chance to play with the parachutes, participate in giant ball soccer and/or partake in the other activities that have been set up for the picnic. Then People will have a chance to cool off on the slip and slides and in the water fight from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m.  Be sure to bring your swimsuit, a towel and/or a change of clothes.  Sunscreen is another important item to bring and/or wear to the picnic.  If people don’t want to get wet, they can play soccer, volleyball, badminton, 4 square, Frisbee, paddleball or hangout in the grass.  There will be a big clean up of the field at around 2:30 p.m. and the day will wrap up with popsicles for everyone.

If you have any questions, please call and leave a message at #303-982-7056.  We look forward to a fun day of eating and playing together.  Cross your fingers for good weather!

Rosie, Melody, Jacob and Benjamin