Pre-k Welcomes Guests for Lunar New Year Celebration
On Wednesday, our pre-kindergarten classes were joined by the parents of Averie, Oliver, William, and Zachary for a celebration of the Lunar New Year! We learned all about foods with special meaning such as noodles, dumplings, fish, and chicken, and Lunar New Year traditions such as new clothing, fireworks, and the reunion dinner with family. We made dumplings and bao out of clay, cut our paper flowers and fish, and made paper dragons. We even assembled our veggie dumplings with the help of Chef Lightbody! Children scooped the filling, wet the sides of the dumpling skins, and folded them up tight. Then, after Chef Lightbody steamed the dumplings, we got to taste them! We are so grateful to Iris, Zhuyun, Catherine, and Trish for joining us and sharing this special holiday with our class!
– Kim Edwards and Nicole Siverls, prekindergarten teachers
Wellness: Drawing The Breath in Middle School
Every week middle school advisories have the option of participating in a Wellness Wednesday mindfulness activity as an opportunity to play, rest, connect, and recover. The activities vary from games that stoke body and mind awareness to brief meditations or mindful movements.
Last week the activity was called Draw Your Breath. Students used markers and paper to literally draw a line or other visual representing their breathing. Then they were asked to try breathing in a calming pattern and to see how that visual might differ.
The MacKillop advisory took on the challenge, and their illustrations show how unique our breathing patterns can be. Need a calming activity? Try it yourself and see what you create.
– Alex Tzelnic, physical education teacher and mindfulness director
Fifth Graders Creates Guidebooks Based on The Arrival
This week in humanities students have been working on their guidebooks project. In chapter three of The Arrival, the main character consults a translation guide as he is trying to find a loaf of bread. Students created a similar guidebook for this project. They chose one theme to focus their guidebook on, animals, places, transportation, or food. Students used their creative writing skills to describe and explain these different themes to help people understand the wonderous, but confusing world of The Arrival.
– Vaniecia Skinner, fifth grade teacher
