Hello Spruce Families!

I cannot believe it is already the end of May, so crazy how fast this year has flown by! And what a jam packed month it has been. First off, thank you so much for your support and enthusiasm for Tea for Two! It is one of the highlights of the year for me and I know the children love it so much as well. After the event, as I sat eating lunch with the children, I realized that I was remiss in thanking all the helpers during the tea! I apologized and honored them as we were eating, but I wanted to give some special shout outs here, too: Ellery and Heidi designed our invitations that the children colored; Grace and Heidi put together our lovely flower arrangements; Atlee, Lark, and Trevi (and more!) helped with the classroom decorations; many children sliced the strawberries but Atlas and Claire specifically took ownership of that massive task and made sure it was up to the highest standards; and finally the Kindergartners gave up their time sitting with their families to help serve and didn’t want to stop until the job was done! I always tell children that helpers make the world a better place and these helpers definitely made our Tea for Two a resounding success!

Also, when looking for photos for this month’s post I found a few of our Elementary Buddies and realized I never shared about our visitors! For the last month, we’ve been welcoming friends from the Madrona and Maple classrooms twice per week for games, stories, or to help with specific works. At first, the Spruce children were a bit hesitant and shy with these “big kids” but after a few visits they embraced the older children excitedly. Especially when an older sibling comes to help out! Elementary Buddies had been a  tradition at MCS pre-pandemic and I’m so glad that it could start up again, especially as I get to see students that I had when they were your children’s ages! My how far they’ve come.

Speaking of working in the classroom, many children have been interested in counting lately, either through skip counting with the Bead Cabinet, adding numbers together with the Addition Strip Board, or making paper chains for days left in the school year or summer break (which the act of making the chain might have gotten more exciting than being accurate in the numbers!). The classroom elders have also been exploring analog clocks and will dive into reading clocks in the upcoming days. I can’t believe there is only one week of school left – so much to do and so little time!

Amy Glen
Spruce Guide
971-237-3347

“Within the child lies the fate of the future.” – Maria Montessori