Dear Camellia family,
The children have been very busy in the classroom painting, gluing, and stamping  their Valentine's boxes. We have also been learning a Valentine's Day poem. Here's one of their favorites, "Love is like a Cabbage": My love is like a cabbage, divided into two, the leaves I give to others, the heart I give to you.              

The Ginkgo Class is busy planting, observing, and learning to care about each other.  Our drive way is blooming with flowers. We are keeping a close eye on our seedlings in the green house as well.  We are carefully misting and watching what has happened to our seeds.  With the warm weather comes the desire to explore outside.  We notice the changes in the weather and the birds on our campus.  We are also learning about our classroom with the many changes, new shelves, new layout, and new activities.  Please come and check out the classroom.          

 
Love was in the air this week in Jacaranda! We had a very love-ly Valentine's celebration on Tuesday thanks to all of your support and care in helping the children make their beautiful cards. They so enjoyed delivering them to each of their classmate's mailboxes! After our card exchange, we set tables with special Valentine's tablecloths, candles and rose petals. The children enjoyed a "tea" with a variety of sandwiches including turkey, cream cheese and cucumber and honey. The highlight was hard boiled quail eggs (thank you Patrick, Theo's Dad). Our dessert included sugar cookies, baked by the children the day before and a purple and pink fruit salad! Thank you to all the families who helped and contributed to this lovely celebration.               

On Tuesday we enjoyed passing out and receiving all the Valentine's notes. We could tell parents also enjoyed helping their children write out homemade cards cut from colored construction paper and other materials. The children also enjoyed eating their special snack, red muffins, prepared by Juniper children. We have also enjoyed learning the parts of a bird, bird songs and a bird poem, "The Chickadee-Dee", which can be found on the following website .  

The children who don't take naps have been reading the book "Little House on the Prairie" with Ms. Craig each day and were particularly captivated by the descriptions of the tasks the characters must do for daily living. One task in particular, churning butter, was so interesting to them that Ms. Craig decided to show them how to churn their own butter. She brought in a jar and a carton of heavy whipping cream. After pouring the whipping cream into the jar and tightening the lid securely, they all took turns shaking the jar, and shaking, and shaking some more. Sure enough, separation occurred, leaving a clump of butter with a side of buttermilk. To complete the cycle, the whole class got to enjoy the "school made" made butter with our Valentine's Day snack of biscuits and fruit. Yum!

Thank you for helping to make our Valentine's Day party a huge success!  When asked what Valentine's Day meant to them, many of the children responded, "Making cards for my friends with my parents."  They were extremely proud of their homemade cards!  The children worked diligently to decorate their mailboxes, adorn the classroom with beautiful flowers, and rearrange the classroom in order to make a big family table.  All of the efforts paid off and the Magnolia children truly enjoyed each other's company.             

Monday the children decorated their cereal boxes by coloring and Valentine's stickers. On Tuesday they prepared a special snack by cutting waffles into heart shapes and spreading strawberry jam on them. Later that day, the children took turns passing out their handmade Valentines to their friends. This week the children learned about aphids on the plants in our gardens and sprayed with soapy water to get rid of them. Please check your child's extra clothes bag to make sure they have a good supply in case they get wet.