Community helpers

The Superstars had several opportunities in the past week to interact with some of our important community helpers. We had a State Patrol trooper come to the class and talk about stranger danger and personal safety. One of our local firefighters came to class and talked about fire safety in the home and stop, drop and roll. On Thursday, the fire truck rolled into the parking lot to show us what firefighters do when they are on a call. We even got to sit in the driver's seat! And then on Friday we had a Seabury family come to gathering to introduce us to the puppy they are socializing to become a guide dog for the blind. Another of our Seabury parents came in one afternoon this week to talk about taking care of our teeth and yet another parent (one of our Superstar parents) came to class to talk about germs and staying healthy! We are so lucky to have some many resources at our disposal. All of this excitement was in addition to our regularly scheduled activities and lessons. Did I mention one of our dads came in on Friday to paint the kids' feet?

Superstars visit Seattle Art Museum

The Superstars had a great visit to the Seattle Art Museum this week. We learned how families differed around the world. In Japan, families entertain with a tea ceremony. In France during the 1800's, family portraits didn't include smiling, it was a very serious business! Pacific NW Indians use storytelling to entertain and pass down their history. We enjoyed the bus ride to Seattle and the tour of the museum. After the tour we created our own scrolls to describe a feast the same way families in China have done in the past. Check out our pictures, I especially like the one where the children pretended to be part of an old French portrait. It was hard for them not to smile. Fieldtrips are exhausting business, the two girls curled in a ball together on the bus are sound asleep! It was a good day.

Snake Lake and other adventures

We've had a lot of fun this week in the Superstars. Our visit to Snake Lake was great. We are so lucky to have these resources so close by. For some of us, it was our first ride on a school bus and we enjoyed every minute of it. The educator at Snake Lake was wonderful as she introduced us to the wildlife there and took us on a hike where we used our "fox ears" to listen for animal and bird sounds. Later in the week we had our first introduction to "speed kindergarten". We divided into groups and rotated through 5 different stations. One station for science, 2 for math, one for art and one for critical thinking. You could feel the excitement in the room as they waited for the triangle to ring to indicate time to change stations. Amazing what you can accomplish in a 7 minute station!

Thanks to everyone who came to curriculum night, it was great to have you with us. We're looking forward to another busy week in the Superstars.