Welcome to spring Spruce families! This past month has been such a joy with the sunshine and warmer weather.  We’ve had so much fun studying insects, pollinators, flowers, and gardening. I’m sure you’ve heard about our “special visitors,” the caterpillars, who will very soon be turning into butterflies.

We had a blast celebrating Earth Day. Thank you to all who volunteered to help out!  The biggest hit was definitely filling our new garden beds! We’ve been planting since and are proud growers of peas, sunflowers, and herbs like lavender, thyme and rosemary as well as some carrots and soon to be tomatoes and dahlias!

The children who stay for lunch have been inviting guests from the other classrooms to be a special visitor. It’s been super sweet to have “guests” as well as to be “guests” in each other’s classroom. It’s rare we get to see the other classrooms inside and the children are definitely enjoying the opportunity!

Our next unit is so exciting and Teacher Lydia had a special message:

This month concludes the bulk of my classes and work required to finish my Primary Montessori certification! Over the course of the school year, one of my instructors, a wonderful Montessorian named Ali Lovie Zollo, has come to observe and offer feedback on my teaching several times. This month, she will be coming to observe me one more time. As part of my coursework, I have independently created a unit on whales, spurred by my love of the natural world and my desire to learn more about these majestic creatures that share our waters. We will be learning about toothed versus baleen whales and focusing on several types of whales that can be found along the Pacific Northwest coast: blue, gray, humpback, minke, and sperm whales, as well as our Southern Resident Orcas. I am excited to dive in (pun intended!) and share what I have learned with the children! I also wanted to thank you all for sharing your children with me this year as I step back into the classroom after my time away. It has truly been an honor and so much fun to spend time with each and every one of them.

We are excited to start studying whales and see where the end of the year (soon) leads us!

Best wishes,
Cydnie and Lydia