Marybeth & R.J.’s Class Notes

Happy March! The children have been enjoying the recent spring-like weather with renewed interest in muddy games of gaga and active digging in the various sandpits. In the classroom they have been preparing for our annual Soul Food Night celebration of black history and culture. To this end they have been memorizing a poem by renowned African American author, Eloise Greenfield, which they will recite for you on Wednesday evening. Having completed their biographies, the oldest members of our group have been working on portraits of Harriet Tubman, Louis Armstrong, Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglass, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which will also be shared at the celebration.

This past week the oldest children took time to present their learning about folklore to their classmates. They did a wonderful job detailing and explaining the attributes of the genre in a way that the youngest could understand, and demonstrated that they really know their stuff!

As part of our history work we set out to understand the magnitude and vast nature of time, which can be very abstract for children. In order to build their understanding, we created a “toilet paper timeline” in the gym, where each square represented one year. As we unrolled the toilet paper we counted back more than two centuries. Along the way we marked each of their birth years, our own, that of the oldest person they could think of, along with some of the historical figures we have read about. This will become relevant as we move into our local history of whaling.

We have two significant dates coming up that you should mark on your calendar. On Wednesday afternoon, March 19th, the children will present a variety show at a special school gathering. A week from Monday, March 10th, we will launch our foray into whales and whaling with a field trip to the East Hampton Marine Museum. Details about both will follow in a separate email.