April 2023
Trillium, trillium how do you grow?
With three leaves of green, and three white as snow.
In early spring you emerge from the ground
growing slowly, slowly - without a sound.
Surrounded by waterleaf, a vibrant emerald green,
your home is a paradise; a woodland dream.
Written by the Air Class, March 27, 2023
Class Updates
Water Class—Water class is coming right along. We can collect most of our gear and be ready when we hear “gear check.” We are working together more and discovering new friends to play with. We had our first “sit spots” in the backwoods and next week we get to use dry erase boards!
Fire Class—Holy Fire Class Batman! Fire Class has been growing leaps and bounds these last few weeks. It's always at this time of the year for kinder's (Spring, go figure) that they are really growing up and into themselves. They have developed so many skills towards social/emotional processing and are in a space of actively doing the work with each other. I love watching this class problem solve, they are building up some great tools. We have been delving into the silly world of Elephant Gerald and Piggie which has been a stellar way of getting Fire Class excited to learn to read. These books are giving me a chance to model good reading strategies, sounding out words and identifying our sight words. These students are ready to get reading!
Earth Class—The Earth Kids have started skip counting, the precursor to learning how to multiply! Since they learned how to add doubles earlier this year, skip counting just makes sense, and they are flying through this skill with lots of hands-on learning. Additionally, we have started reading a fable every day and summarizing the story the next morning. We will be looking at lots of stories this month in preparation for character-development and story writing coming soon!
Air Class—Last month, students completed their first Project Based Learning study on Food and are now embarking on a second project based on the essential question: How is it made? Students choose their own topics and are doing wonderful research and writing at the library and during school on the bus. They are planning on sharing their learning with families and the rest of the school on April 13th from 1:30-2pm. The Air Class has been counting all the trillium they see on our adventures. Recently the count was over 200 on one trail alone!! The poem we worked on as a class last week and shared with the whole school is at the top of this newsletter, please check it out!
School News
Forest Family Face Paint—This coming Thursday April 13th, will be a Forest Family day. One of the activities students will be a part of is coming up with Forest Family specific face paint to represent their group. We are planning on using plant derived coloring (beet juice, spices, berries, etc) and a child friendly mineral sunscreen base to make the face paint. If your child has skin allergies, and you don’t want them to participate, please let your teacher/assistant know.
Myceli-Moms—The room parent moms now have an official name the Myceli-moms. Like mycelium working underground, our mom helpers work behind the scenes, largely unnoticed, but have a great impact on our school and seasonal celebrations! Thanks to Grace (Iris), Kathryn (Owen), Helena (Ronin) and Natalie (Karris and Kallen) for all their hard work with Equinox planning. May Day is fast approaching, reach out if you are interested in helping out
Elderberry Syrup—This Wednesday (tomorrow) Melissa (Aya and Talon) is going to come to the school and make Elderberry Syrup with each class. The Air Class is going to support each class in chopping, grating cooking, labeling and bottling. Kids love to gulp their whole bottle down which won’t hurt them but drinking straight from the dropper makes it mold quite fast-just FYI.
Book Club—I have heard from a few of you regarding our book club. We are going to start with “Free To Learn” by Peter Gray. If you need a copy of the book please let me know, I have an extra or two. The hope is that you’ve read some, all or skimmed the book so we can generate discussion. This is an experimental gathering and all are welcome. Please RSVP Heidi.
Ms. Märta and Ms. Heidi had the pleasure of attending a training hosted by Wilderness Awareness program called Coyote Mentoring. It was well worth the drive and sleeping in the cold! The WAS (Wilderness Awareness School) trainors travel and I am curious who would be interested in attending a weekend with our teachers in learning more ways to guide your children in nature connection. WAS also hosts sleepaway camp for kids, bird language classes and other very cool adult programming. Check them out!
Class Websites—
Fire Class (coming soon!)
Enrollment—Preschool is now full with a waitlist for the 23/24 school year. Air class is just about full also. We still have a few spots in Fire and Earth next year - tell your friends!
April Break—There is no school April 17th-20th for a Break. Please try your best to squeeze in those family trips during that week.
Camp—Forest Camp will be the last week in July and first week in August. Camp is hosted by Ms. Heidi and is for kids aged 3-8 years old. McIver Park Monday-Friday. The cost is $350 for the week. Heidi is looking for counselors also! Reach out downtoearthheidi@gmail.com.
Thank you for a lovely Spring Equinox Celebration. We are so grateful to our parent volunteers!
Parking Restrictions—Paving at MSY The overflow gravel parking lot will be paved this month with anticipated closures from April 17-29th. This could potentially impact our pick up and drop offs if the main lots are more full than normal. Please keep this in mind and arrive early and/or carpool if possible. Thank you!
Heron Watch—Just down the street from Mary S Young, is a small park called Maddax Woods. It’s along the river and has a wonderful view of Goat Island. Right now and through mid-May, you can observe roosting/nesting Great Blue Herons. Their large nests are built in rookeries high up in trees and grouped together for safety. On Saturdays through June 11th from 1-3pm, you can join at the park for volunteer led heron viewing and activities. Bring your binoculars!
Volunteer Opportunities
We have some great things coming up this Spring, and we could definitely use your help! May 2nd we will celebrate May Day (Bealtain), dancing the Maypole and making fresh flower crowns.
June 15th, the last day of school and our end of the year celebration with Contra dancing and a potluck is my personal favorite! Can’t wait!!!
