The Garden School Tattler

We had our International Feast today with a wonderful turnout. I was so happy to see the daddies bringing great homemade dishes. We had all kinds of food from rice and noodles to meat rolls, and Japanese food, and chicken dishes and curry and venison and spaghetti and lasagna and noodle salad and apple dumplings with Mountain Dew! It was spectacular and we are so grateful to parents for bringing all the goodies and sharing their time and talents with us.

The children were very well behaved and sat and ate politely and tried just about everything. I was delighted when they asked to try something brand new. We make a big deal out of new food and we were all surprised when nearly every first grader was eager to eat the venison and dive into the curry.

We will making a book of all the recipes for the parents who came, so please fill out your recipe paper and return it.

Tomorrow is a regular school day - a cold one. We will be discussing going ice skating this month. We are not sure when.

We are doing a lot of yoga exercises now. Our focus is balance and core strength and strengthening and lengthening our hamstrings. Children should be able to stand with their feet together, keep their legs straight and bend and touch their toes. Later, they should be able to lay the flat of their hands on the floor and get even lower. Likewise they should be able to sit on the floor with their legs straight out in front of them and put the flat of their hands on the bottom of their feet over their toes. They should be able to stand on one foot, hold their right foot with their right hand for thirty seconds. Later they should be able to take that foot and extend their leg to a straight position while standing and balance as long as they want to.

We are half way through the month already, and the children are doing great work and have really bonded into a cohesive group. The kindness among the children is outstanding. We have not given a demerit in a long time.

Remember that illness is at an all time high. Please keep children home that first ill day. Don't try to baby pack a child who "may" be ill. Illness the first day is the contagious day, and children who are kept home that first day of any illness do better and recover faster than children who are sent to school with a dose of over the counter meds.

Please send children to school in long sleeves. Some children are still wearing summer clothes, and are catching cold!