A Reflection of Another Wonderful School Year!

And just like that, here we are, the last day of school. It has been a wonderful year full of learning, friendships, explorations and discoveries! We feel so lucky to have spent the last year with an amazing group of kiddos. We are also thankful for the amazing team of teachers who are nothing less than incredible. I call them all super heroes because that is in fact what they should really be called! These teachers created a school year full of curiosity, wonder and excitement for learning. I know for a fact that that is no small feat. It takes a special person to be able to create wonder out of the simplest things in life. I feel truly blessed to have these teachers in my life. 

The month of June has been our busiest month all year. We were practicing daily for our play, creating costumes, feverishly painting backscratchers for father's day (Happy Belated Father's Day! We hope you put those kiddos and backscratchers to good use!) and learning all about metamorphosis! 

The children had a blast learning about our caterpillars. It also worked out perfectly that they were ready to be released as we also said goodbye and good luck to our new kindergarteners.  The children arrived at school each day excited to see how big the caterpillars had grown. It seemed like they had doubled in sized each night. After a few days in the classroom, one by one the chrysalis' formed.  As we waited for our butterflies to emerged we learned the words metamorphosis (the process of transforming from a caterpillar to a butterfly inside the chrysalis), chrysalis (the protective casing for which the caterpillar goes through its metamorphosis), and proboscis (the mouth of the caterpillar; used for drinking nectar from flowers and fruits).  It seemed like we waited forever until one day the children discovered that one butterfly had emerged. It took two and a half days until all five butterflies were fluttering all around our butterfly habitat. After eating lots of yummy orange slices and after a chance to observe their beauty, we happily released them into the world. This past Monday, we bid farewell to Ana and Elsa. On Tuesday we said goodbye to Prince Hans (who wanted nothing to do with being released!) and finally, on Wednesday we let Lightening McQueen and Jackson Storm fly free! We wish you all a safe flight - Painted Lady Butterflies are migrators and will fly great distances to be in their preferred location. Isn't nature the coolest?!

I do have to say that the children's end-of-the-year adaptation of "The Hungry Thing" by Jan Slepian and Ann Seidler was quite outstanding! Everyone worked so hard to make the show a success! I am always so delighted to see the children shine on stage and that is what it is all about! We also had a blast at our cast party with lots of yummy treats that the families of our school donated (thank you!!) and it was an extra bonus to have Ms. Melissa and her sister, Sarah, face painting!!! We are so grateful for everyone's generosity and a shout out to our awesome neighbors, The Real School of Music, for graciously letting us borrow their stage and auditorium for two days!!!

Lastly, this past week the school year began to wind down with lots of time spend with friends. We asked the children what they most looked forward to this summer and we got some great/silly answers such as "I am going to do lots of cannon balls into the pool," "I am going to watch dolphins swim," and "I can't wait to play in the snow and go skiing!" We are not so sure about the last one but we all hope you find your snowy mountain! 

Don't forget about our Little Free Library!
Our Little Free Library is ready for more books! We need you to help us fill our library up! We are especially looking for children's book (board books are ok too!). Teen and adult books are always welcome as well! If you would like to label them with our LFL labels before adding them to the library please drop them off with the teachers and we will happily add them to the library for you. Thank you all for your support!

Upcoming Dates and Reminders:

June 30: July tuition is due
July 3-7: SEE closed for Summer Break
July 10- August 29: SEE summer program!
August 1: August tuition is due 
August 30-Septmeber 4: SEE closed for new year prep and Labor Day
September 5: First Day of School! 
September 5: September tuition is due

Some pictures from the last few weeks:

Baby Caterpillars: Day 1

No longer babies: Day 3!

Drinking "nectar" (aka juice) from our proboscis!

The children sang "Let it Go" as Ana and Else Flew away!

The set of "The Hungry Thing"

 And there you have it, year number six has come to a successful end! We look forward to a super fun summer and another wonderful school year this fall! 

Have a restful summer break! We'll see you on July 10th!

Joanna