November 2022
Peek Inside Lower Elementary
BLACK BEAR
Dear families,
We had an eventful month, starting out by learning about the Day of the Dead, making traditional bread and building an altar, and ending with our Thanksgiving celebration by preparing Stone Soup and bread, and gathering together to partake of a delicious meal.
In addition to community building and celebrating, the children worked hard practicing and receiving lessons, giving presentations and planning going outs.
The children are growing as a community, and we are very thankful for the opportunity to grow and learn with them. Thank you for your trust and your support!
Best,
Ms. Rebeca and Ms. Carmen
COYOTE
Happy November Coyote Parents and Family!
This month continues to be a month of strengthening skills.
As the children have been truly engaged in finishing large projects and meeting deadlines, I have taken this month to work with the children and the various groups to work with care. We have had discussions about organizing their time and work as well as taking the time to beautify their projects. We have as groups worked on creating borders, titles, and taking their time to work on smaller meticulous details. This month I have also worked with the children to take their work and lessons and think a little outside of our classroom and start working towards going outs that are related to our research. Our goal is to be able to have the children out in the environment that they are most curious about and to ask questions to the people and work they are most curious about. We had a going out to the Zoo to truly observe 2-3 animals and to learning the art of scientific observation. We have invited an Architect to come in and show some of the children how to model their building designs and create elevations. We are even currently working on going outs to the Aquarium, The Herpetological Society and finding places to look at Rock Art.
We hope the next month will be a great completion or step forward towards finishing up practice with foundational lessons and skills, finishing up large projects and bringing on new ideas and questions.
Warmly,
Coyote Teachers
Peek Inside Upper Elementary
FALCON
Dear Falcon Parents,
This month started with a few children presenting about Dia de los Muertos to several classes that were invited into the Falcon classroom to see the ofrenda that was set up by the children and Ms. Carla. Along with sharing interesting information, the children presenting also made pan de muerto from scratch. It was delicious!
Throughout the following weeks, the children enjoyed working in geometry, finding the area of different shapes; biology, discovering about the body functions of vertebrates; and history, focusing on Native American Heritage Month. As usual there were several ongoing research projects in the classroom including topics such as, The Code Talkers, Thanksgiving, and bears.
Prior to the Thanksgiving break four children decided to bake pumpkin and apple pies to share with the class as they ate banquet style and expressed being grateful for their friends, families, and pets.
We are looking forward to a joyous December filled with discoveries and opportunities for growth.
Sincerely,
Ximena Camarena
ROADRUNNER
Dear Roadrunner families,
Here we are again, finding ourselves closing another wonderful month that was full of joy, laughter and great warmth in being able to share our discoveries within our community. Several children participated in a traditional tea ceremony as they began to discover the history of Ancient China. Many children shared many presentations this month and our calendar is quickly filling with a variety of future events.
Our group of friends who spent several work cycles researching roller coasters were able to visit Castles N Coasters to get a behind the scenes tour of the moving mechanics of their beloved adrenaline catalysts. It was quite an impressive tour as the guide led the children with fun facts about the park’s history as well as providing in-depth answers to questions which they had previously submitted to them. The children were excited to extend sharing their presentation of their research and experience to other classrooms.
There was success in the Sweets and Treats bake sale to raise more than enough money to pay for our dear Stormi’s recent veterinarian visits and expenses. The surplus will be donated to a local animal shelter and animal rescue farm as deliberated by the children.
The children also took much joy in planning a community meal to enjoy with each other before departing for our break, it was a wonderful way to spend our last day together.
Although our time together in December is short, there is much planned by the students that I am excited to see flourish. Hoping everyone enjoyed their break with loved ones.
Best regards,
Ms. Lauren and Ms. Juany
