On the Monday of Thanksgiving week, the children started preparing muffins, kale chips, apple crisp and squash that they would share the next day at their Annual Thanksgiving Feast. Luckily, the weather cooperated and, with sun and mild temperatures, we were able to feast outside. Each class talked about things they are grateful for. At the top of Linda’s class’s list: MMS and their school buddies. At the top of Angelarose’s class list: family, dog, cat, school, friends and lastly, toys!
Halloween brought some colder weather but that didn’t stop our Halloween Parade; we made one long chain of adorable costumed children and looped through the two classrooms about a dozen times. At first it was a bit shaky with the younger children not really understanding that they were supposed to go into the “other” classroom but after a few loops, they had their rhythm! After the event the costumes went home with the parents (whichever staff member thought that one up deserves a medal!) and we continued on with our day in a fairly “normal” fashion.
Wes Sheeter’s grandmother Amy Haywood delighted us with song at our November Family Meet-up. Amy, a two-time Parent Choice Award Winner for children’s music and story recordings, is the founder of Music Kids, a preschool music program; she also writes children’s songs and stories. All the songs were new to us but that didn’t matter because Amy has a wonderful way of bringing everyone into the song. We look forward to having her back!
Back to School Nights are a wonderful way for parents to get a peak inside the daily lives of their young children at school. It’s always fun to see how excited the children are to show parents their favorite lessons; sometimes it’s a lesson they’ve been working on and sometimes it’s totally random! After the work time, parents and children participate in a circle time and we sing some of our favorite songs together. Thanks for participating in this fun event!
Wes’s dad Daniel organized a Bike to School event for October 4th’s National Walk and Roll to School Day; several families participated in the fun!
On Oct 10th Heloise’s dad Garrick, a firefighter, came to MMS to talk about fire safety. He brought all his gear, explained what everything was and allowed the children to try it all on. When he’s fully dressed, clothing, mask and oxygen tank, he’s carrying about 200 extra pounds! He also brought a fire hose, attached it to the fire hydrant and allowed each child to take a turn. They got to feel the power!
The 45th school year is upon us. We welcomed new students, new classroom sinks surrounded by new wall and floor tiles, and three new staff members, Angelarose, Hattie and Helen! The children, all at different stages in their development, are helping each other, learning from each other and generally getting along very well. September has been busy; we had our first family meet-up (a well-attended playground social) and we celebrated Peace Day, singing Light a Candle for Peace on the playground while monarch butterflies danced in our butterfly bush!
What a great summer we had. Movement Climbing Gym (new for us) was an easy walk for the children – it’s right on Valmont and 28th. The instructors were wonderful with the children and because they trained us, we were pretty good at belaying! As you can see, some of our kids made it to the top – spider monkeys gone wild! Then, when the YMCA canceled us for lack of lifeguards, we ended up at the Louisville Rec Center and loved it! Both Bill at Movement and Danny at the Louisville Rec Center welcomed our group with open arms and top-notch instructors. Thanks to both of you for your warm welcome and fun instruction. Barbara Curtis our clay teacher, Nina Berezina our story-teller, Hilary Tulloch on Spanish and Linda Kilanoski on dance all added their talents to our program, as did our amazing teachers. And of course summer at MMS wouldn’t be complete without an occasional flooding of the sandbox! It’s amazing to see the teamwork of the children as they work collectively through the magic of water! Thanks to everyone who helped make this a summer to remember!
On Monday, June 12, 2023 we experienced a thunderous storm that left mountains of hail (still there two days later) by our front door! We filled a bin with the cold pebbles and set it on a classroom table with a few spoons and cups. It was an instant hit, to say the least!
We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day for our 44th annual family pot-luck graduation at MMS. Each class performed their songs, then the older children, members of the Angklung performance band, played their (recognizable!) songs. The children presented a gift they’d made, to our dear parting friend Susan H; a mosaic stepping stone for her garden. All the children then got to walk over the bridge in a moving-up ceremony that was quite moving! Congratulations to all our amazing MMS students and the best of luck to those who moved on – we’ll miss you!
Watching baby caterpillars grow and form into butterflies can take weeks and be quite tedious, but the day they hatch and fly free is a magnificent event – well worth the wait! We order baby caterpillars and watch them eat and grow for about two weeks; then they attach to leaves or stems to form chrysalises where they’ll hide for about ten days, undergoing radical metamorphoses as their caterpillar parts break down and reform into monarch butterflies. WOW!