It’s May and preparations for International Night are in full swing. Many exciting projects are underway. In the next few weeks we will be working on preparing the building blocks for our representation of a pyramid. We will also be working on our African animals and the kindergartener children have special projects for Africa. A lot of time will be spent learning about the subjects of our projects, while painting, coloring, cutting and gluing. This is a wonderful time to come and volunteer in the classroom for an afternoon. We can always use a few extra pairs of hands to help with painting.

Of course, we can always use helping hands on the day of the event. We will be building most of our displays on the afternoon of the event. If planning and creating on the fly is your cup of tea, please come and join us for an afternoon of fun, chaos and creativity. Or you can pitch in once the festivities kick off, by taking on a shift at one of our activity tables. That will still give you time to enjoy the night with your family. Of course, don’t forget to check out our African art inspired quilt and bid on it. Each child worked on a piece of that quilt.

Along with all the preparation for International Night, we have also been working very hard on lessons in the classroom. Coincidentally, geography has been a favorite area lately. While the kindergartener children have been focused on learning about the countries and flags of Africa, the younger friends are busy exploring a little closer to home, by delving into the map of the United States. It is interesting to hear the stories that emerge as we name the different states, including favorite vacation destinations, places where we were born and places where we have friends or family. The more we learn, the more we relate to our world and find our place in it.

It was great to see many families at our spring potluck. The children got another chance to share their favorite works with their favorite people and our classroom community got an evening to come together and foster some relationships. It was nice that the rain stopped so some families could enjoy our outdoor classroom environment. The next time you visit our classroom, please take a moment to enjoy our beautiful flowers that the children planted for Earth Day. The bulbs that we planted in the fall also blossomed just in time for Earth Day. The children are working diligently to tend to their garden.

We look forward to seeing all of you at International Night on May 13th.

Sincerely,

Archana

Image Credit: alisonsmontessori.com