April Kapok Newsletter

Dear Kapok Parents,

What a great event “ Follow the Child” was. I must thank all the families that supported their children by attending this event. It was a record setting 22 attending families. It warmed my heart to see children and parents enjoying our beautiful classroom together.

“Humanity shows itself in all its intellectual splendor during this tender age as the sun shows itself at the dawn, and the flower in the first unfolding of the petals; and we must respect religiously, reverently, these first indications of individuality.”  ― Maria Montessori

This month we said goodbye to our friend Scarlet Barber, who’s family got relocated. Best of luck to the Barber family! We welcomed a new Kapok, Zoe Garvey – Welcome to the Kapok family. Also this month, our pet “Cutie” chose to make a house somewhere else and left his cage during spring break – We miss you Cutie.

Kapoks have been off to a busy start in our cultural immersion unit study. This year our classroom is studying the continent of Asia. We are going to study Asia in depth over the next month, wrapping up all our learning on our Cultural Immersion Day. Cultural Immersion Day is when each classroom shares their research of the continent they have been studying with the rest of the school and parents. Cultural Immersion Day is combined with the Art Fundraiser (more information to follow). All the classrooms will be open for all families to tour the rooms and admire our children’s work. Each child will be doing an animal study in which they will choose a particular animal and their habitat within Asia. Most of their creativity and work will be taken home and shared with family. We encourage you to help your child with their creativity in displaying their research. Some examples families have done in the past: poster boards, picture book, diorama, models, habitat sanctuary. The ideas are endless!  This should be a fun and creative project for the whole family! In order to display the animal research properly for Cultural Immersion Day, we ask this project to be completed no later than May 8th ( 5 weekends)

**If any families have books, artifacts, pictures, clothing, etc. of Asia, please share them with our class!!

Here is the list of animals chosen so far:
Gabriella _ Giant Panda Zolina_ Asian Civet Beau_ Komodo Dragon Tiberius_Black Panther
Summer_Jumping Spider     Charles_Indian Cobra Cormac_Orangutan       Jack_Pit Viper
Addyson_Slender Loris Isabella_Wagler’s Palm Viper Johnny_Giant Centipede  Naia_Tasier
Ahana_Indian Tiger  Leila_Mouse-Deer Kian_Clouded Leopard    Sienna_Asian Horned Toad
Cecelia_Man-Face shield bug Aralynn_Draco Lizard Ava_Yellow Belied Sea Snake Ryder_Yin-Yang Frog
Alexander_Sun Bear     Zoe_****(vacation) Reef_****(vacation)      Alice***(still deciding)
Penelope_****(still deciding)

A word about transitional objects:

Infant and toddlers first learn how to soothe themselves with an object. These special comforts are called transitional objects, because they help children make the emotional transition from dependence to independence. The transitional objects are generally most important when the child is about two-and-a half years old. This may be because between the ages of two and three children develop the necessary skills that allow them to emotionally relate to people other than the people most important to them. We respect the attachment that the child has to these objects. At the same time, we encourage children to translate those skills to other behaviors. We encourage and value the child’s ability to self regulate and self soothe. We have observed all the children in our classroom to be capable of self regulation.

**Let’s work together to help the child succeed by leaving all transitional objects at home or in the car.

Parent-Teacher conferences are almost here. They will be on Monday, April 17th, Wednesday, April 19th and Friday, April 21st. You will be receiving a Pre-conference questionnaire next week by email and hard copy. You do not have to answer it, although it would be helpful if you do. Please return your questionnaire at least a day before your scheduled conference time.

***Sign up for your conference by following this link:  http://signup.com/go/KkJspe

Thank you.

Ms.Marjorie and Ms.Karina