Newsletter

4/16/26

Greetings fantastic families!

This week we leaned into the hot temperatures and spent extra time outdoors. We've been so happy to start our mornings on the playground again consistently, and we still go outside before lunch time each day. It's been a great time of discovery and understanding. We've been having lots of talks about bugs we find as they begin to emerge for the warm season, pointing out how bugs live outside and they are alive, just like us. We talk about how we take care of other living things and help them live their best life. To enjoy the warmth this week we had sidewalk chalk as one of our centers, which meant we talked about how we don't put chalk on the bugs we find. Oh the conversations you have in the Preschool world!

We also did a lot of exploring this week. On Monday we took a nature walk to enjoy all the signs of Spring emerging around our school campus. We walked through Westfield's graveyard which is coming alive with all the flowers and trees blooming. We picked pinecones and other things we found, and we were so excited to spot ducks in one of the backyards nearby! On Wednesday we took a walk to the Main Building and spent time in the school Library. We noticed all the books, art and shelves around us and read part of "The Moon Book" by Gail Gibbons. Our class was excited to be in this shared big kid space.

Another center we focused on this week was cutting with scissors. This is a challenging skill, but our friends develop stronger fine motor control they begin to be more capable with handling these important tools. We practiced cutting straight lines and used magnets to guide the direction of scissors. Some Preschoolers quickly and easily took to it and others had a harder time, but this was a good first school experience with scissors and we will continue to work on this as in the weeks to come.

We were excited to welcome Caitrin's mom in today and spend some time with us. She read us two books that Caitrin loves to read with her family. Thank you so much for joining us!

Finally, this week during Morning Meeting we asked our friends "What do you want to study next?" We spent a few meetings going around the circle and letting each student tell us what they hoped to learn about, then we took the most frequently requested topics and had them vote. The most common answers were "flowers" "learning about my family and families" and "cars, trains, ambulances, cruises and other vehicles." We had everyone cast their vote, and flowers narrowly won. Thus, our class will be studying flowers next!

**Important Reminders:**

Tomorrow is an In-Service Day for teachers, which means there will be no school for students (Friday 4/17)

One more gentle reminder that our Spring school event Friends & Frames Bowling & Auction is coming up on Saturday, April 25th. This is an event for the whole family and will be tons of fun! Information and fundraising details can be found with this link: Friends & Frames Spring Event

Your family might also be taking advantage of the warmer weather and spending more time outside. If so, you can continue the conversations we are having at school. Are you spotting bugs around you? Flowers? Other plants? What are you noticing about them? What are you wondering about them? You can talk about how your family might take care of these living things around you and help them live their best lives!