RED BALLOON SCHOOL -- a story from audrey

THE RED BALLOON SCHOOL

Once upon a time… as Brooklyn babies began to grow into children….

Mommies and daddies imagined all the wishes they had for these children.

An empty red balloon filled itself up with their good ideas,

and got very big and full and energized!

Freely, it floated.

It hovered next to a teacher named Audrey who was drawing pictures.

It blew some of the good ideas into her curious ears.

She listened and said “Yes, let’s go!”

Then the balloon grew bigger with her good ideas.

She held its string, and they flew together.

They swooped down to whisper to a teacher

named Krista who was dancing with the trees.

Krista said “Yes, I will fly with you too! Let’s go!”

And the balloon grew even more round and strong with her good ideas.

The balloon flew with its teachers through Brooklyn.

“Now it’s time to gather the growing children

and offer them all of the good ideas of the red balloon!”

The children and the teachers sat down around the red balloon.

Together, they made the shape of the balloon:

A C I R C L E !

Suddenly, just like a full balloon can do, the red balloon

WOOOOOOOSHED OUT all of its hot air and flew away.

All that was left was something magical called

S C H O O L . . .

A bunch of good ideas to share.

The air sparkled with the energy of good ideas.

So, the children got right to work…

creating art and singing songs....

dancing and making yoga shapes...

caring and sharing with gentle hands....

giving thanks for food and friends....

feeling feelings and using words to express them....

exploring nature and planting seeds....

learning and playing and growing together....

creating their very own GOOD IDEAS !

Together, they became the RED BALLOON SCHOOL!

Newsletter May 26-27, 2009

Last Week
Last week was a bit unusual, as we changed locations to Emily's and Alise's house.

Here is a rundown from Alise:
First everyone arrived and we sang our warmup songs. Then we made a project with cut out fish, squids and sharks and drew them with magic markers, Then Audrey got out some paper which we used as our ocean. She had blue colored waves which we glued on the paper and also made into crowns and belts.(the kids really liked that.) We moved our way over to the kitchen and had a snack which consisted of fresh fruit and crackers. Then we went outside to play which was great since it was such a beautiful day. We also had cut up snail shapes and used glue and colored sand to decorate them. There were alot of balls there to and everyone did different things. Abe and will were picking up rocks and looking for snails, Avani liked to kick the ball and everyone went on the rocking horse on there way down the stairs. Then we went upstairs for lunch and had dolphin shaped sandwiches and mac and cheese. Finally we sat down to read and Carl really wanted to read his favorite book on snakes. We played some more , parents arrived and that was the day. It was really fun!


This Week
We have arrived at our final week of school, and many of us are bittersweet about this ending, as we have spent a great year together, watching our little ones grow and learn to socialize with each other. Many of them getting potty trained too!!!

**IMPORTANT: LOCATION CHANGE this week. Ali and family are sick. So sorry for them! I hope they feel better soon.

TUESDAY: Amanda's house. 540 Prospect Ave #2--leave strollers in the back and come up the side stairs. Parent volunteer should plan to come from 10:30-11 AM for outdoor time.
WEDNESDAY: most likely at the same place, we'll keep you posted.

Below is the volunteer schedule. Please let me know if anyone has a conflict with this

Tuesday May 26 Emily
Wednesday May 27 Deepa

PLEASE BRING:

*Labeled sippy cups
*Diapers or change of clothes we've used the ones we have

* Drop-off time still 9:10 am - Pickup at 11:45 am.

Newsletter May 19-20, 2009

Last Week
We continued at Ali's house this past week, enjoying some nice weather. The children played a lot on the roof, with animal finger puppets, and forming a circle around the map of a flower singing "Ring around the Rosie". They identified the various parts of the flower, such as paddles. This tied in nicely with wathing the "plantation" growing. A new regimen was added after snack- and lunch time: washing the table and clean up. The children also played a lot of dress-up games and sang "Baa Baa Black Sheep".

This Week
**IMPORTANT: New Locations. We are changing locations this week, as Ali and family are away on vacation.

TUESDAY: we are at Abe's house, at 209 18th. Street, (between 4th and 5th Ave.) Ring the bell up the stoop and Emily will open the ground floor door for strollers to come in. Remember to put sunscreen on the kids, as the weather might be nice-- we certainly hope!

WEDNESDAY: we are at Alise' and Carl's house: the address is 215 17th Street, (between 4th and 5th Ave.) The phone number is 718-499-5233.

Thanks for Emily and Alise for volunteering to host this week!

Audrey is planning to introduce more games around the themes of water/fish/ocean so certainly the sunny weather would be nice to have for that.

Below is the volunteer schedule. Please let me know if anyone needs to switch days.

Tuesday May 19 Amber
Wednesday May 20 Krisztina

Tuesday May 26 Emily
Wednesday May 27 Deepa

PLEASE BRING:

*Labeled sippy cups
*Diapers or change of clothes we've used the ones we have

* Drop-off time still 9:10 am - Pickup at 11:45 am.

Counting and Singing with Ducks

Newsletter May 5-6, 2009

Last Week
A spontaneous art project was born after Audrey came across some spring-themed foam stamps in our supply box. The children experimented with print making by dipping the stamps into paint trays and imprinting on a large roll of paper. Voilà, another garden was born! They also made turtles using nylon, soil, grass seed and construction paper. When watered regularly, the kids will witness the grass growing out of the turtles' backs.

We discussed our planting project for next week and the kids got to feel pea and green bean seeds. We hoped to speed up the germinating process by having the seeds sprout in wet paper towels. This week we will plant those seeds and watch them grow. Our special planter will allow the kids to see the roots in the soil as their plants grow. The kids also took turns pretending to be seeds that grow into tall flowers.

On the playground, we met several groups of other children and our kids did a great job socializing. They were by far the youngest, but enjoyed sharing and interacting with the older kids.

Back inside, we read "My Daddy is a Pretzel, Yoga for Parents and Kids", by Baron Baptiste and practiced some of the new positions mentioned in the book. For snack, the children made their own fruit salads and enjoyed choosing their own fruit and mixing it on their plates.

This Week
**New Location - Soren's House

As mentioned above, we will plant our pea and green bean seeds. The children will also see how the grass they planted a week ago has really begun to grow.

A new group activity will include a variation of duck, duck, goose. We'll call it -- Flower, flower, butterfly! With our new space, we will make a few adjustments by removing some of our regular toys and focusing on choice activities that will include the sewing/lacing activities and dress-up. We'll also have a dress-up dance party.

Outdoor activity (weather permitting) will include more print making on the roof. We'd like do some vegetable printing using potatoes, cucumbers, radishes, and any other veg. we can carve. **Parents please bring a couple of vegetables we can carve. If you have any baby spoons or sporks, please bring to use for carving. The children will make some hand and foot prints.

Important for this week:
We will meet at Ali/Soren's house. Their address is: 270 21st Street, #2, between 5th and 6th Avenues. (212-851-6445)
Below is the volunteer schedule. Please let me know if anyone needs to switch days. I switched days with Deepa, so let me know if this doesn't work for you.

Also, please keep in mind that we will be out of town for the week of May 18, so the location for that week is TBD.

Tuesday, May 5 Amanda
Wednesday, May 6 Alise

Tuesday May 12 Maya
Wednesday, May 13 April

Tuesday May 19 Amber
Wednesday May 20 Krisztina

Tuesday May 26 Emily
Wednesday May 27 Deepa

PLEASE BRING:
*A couple vegetables for print making & baby spoons/sporks if you have
*Labeled sippy cups
*Diapers or change of clothes we've used the ones we have

*Last call for baby pictures. We will plan do the self-portrait project next week so please email me one baby picture and one recent picture of your child for our self-portrait project. We don't want any of the kids to be without a portrait. Please email jpg's to apriljenkinsnyc@gmail.com

* Drop-off time still 9:10 am - Pickup at 11:45 am.

Weekly Newsletter April 28-29, 2009

Weekly Newsletter April 28-29, 2009

Last Week
We were so happy to hear the news of the birth of baby Nate! Glad to hear Emily is home with the baby and the family is doing well.

Unfortunately Audrey was ill on Tuesday, but Krista did a great job leading the group. Special thanks to Amanda for using her special teaching skills to fill in any gaps! The kids enjoyed reading "Going on a Bear Hunt" while acting out the adventure. We also started our spring planting projects as each kid filled a cup with soil and sprinkled grass seed. It was messy, but a lot of fun!

The kids were excited to have Audrey back on Wednesday! We celebrated Earth Day with our globe cut-outs that the children colored and decorated. They continued with their Yoga practice and did a construction art project with magic foam. Before heading out for some outdoor play, we also enjoyed some carrot cupcakes (a big hit)!

This Week
We will explore some real pea and green bean seeds and prepare them for planting. The kids will check in with our grass growing project and see that the grass is starting to sprout!

In continuation of our discussion of the planet earth, we will make special Earth necklaces, using our globes and our new sewing skills. Sewing and dress-up will be a choice activity.

We will read, "My Daddy is a Pretzel, Yoga for Parents and Kids", by Baron Baptiste and use some of the new positions in the book in their practice.

NOTE: This is our last week at April's house. Next week will be at Ali's house.

**Parents, when volunteering, please be sure to enforce our holding hands policy for our outdoor time. It is important for us to be consistant, even if you know your child is good about staying close to you. We want all kids to learn how important it is to be safe and hold hands when we are walking as a group. Thank you!

**Audrey would like to organize an end of the year get together with the groups she teaches. She is hoping to have it at the Society for Ethical Culture. Please email Audrey at akindred@gmail.com to let her know if you would prefer a Thursday afternoon/early evening (perhaps beginning around 4 pm), or a Saturday afternoon.

Important for this week:
*Please email me your jpg's of one baby picture and one recent picture of your child for our self-portrait project. I hope to get the last pictures in so the kids can do the project next week at Ali's. Please send to apriljenkinsnyc@gmail.com

*Drop off at 9:10 at April's house -- 332 Prospect Ave. Apt. 2. If you need to leave your stroller in the garage, just let me know and I can open the door.
*Pickup at 11:45 am.

This Month’s Volunteer Schedule
Volunteers please come to April's at 10:45 am to help get the kids dressed for outdoor time. Please contact me if you need to switch days: apriljenkinsnyc@gmail.com

Tues. April 28th -- Ted/Amber
Wed, April 29th -- Ali

Weekly Newsletter April 21-22, 2009

Breaking News....
Congratulations to Emily, Ben, and Abe! Emily gave birth tonight to a healthy 8 lb. baby boy. Apparently it was a 'ridiculously quick' labor. Glad to hear they are all well. Sending them lots of love!

Also, Audrey has been feeling ill and may not make it in tomorrow. I will speak with her in the morning to see how she is feeling, but know we WILL meet as planned. Krista will lead the group and we have lots of activities to keep us busy!

Last Week
Continuing with our garden/spring theme, the children created a beautiful garden mural using markers, crayons, dots, play-doh and collage. Yoga was a choice activity again followed by music and movement time. We continued to talk about things that grow in the garden and had peas and carrots for snack to go with the theme.

Audrey and Krista introduced a new activity this week -- sewing! The kids were able to use their fine motor skills, while weaving string in and out of holes cut out of colorful cardboard shapes. Some of the children continued on with this activity for a long period of time!

Audrey read, "Mortimer's First Garden", by Karma Wilson, a story about wonderful things that grow from seeds. After the story, the kids took turns pretending to be a seed that grows into a sunflower! Pretty adorable.

On Wednesday it rained, so we were not able to go outside, but the children were able to participate in the sharing and caring room here for the first time. Audrey read a very familiar story, "The Napping House", while the kids enjoyed some free play time.

This Week
In honor of Earth day (or Earth Week), the children will participate in a variety of 'green' activities. They will plant their first seeds as a group and watch as their pea plant grows over the coming weeks. We have a special clear container so the children will be able to see the roots beneath the soil.

We also will be potting and growing grass from grass seed. We'll talk about the Earth and make Earth necklaces in honor of Earth Day.

Yoga and movement will continue to be a part of our morning. Our 'choice' activities this week will be the sewing activity from last week and dress up.

NOTE: We still need some panty hose for our grass planting activity. If any of you have old "panty-hose" to recycle please bring this week.

Important for this week:
*Please email me your jpg's of one baby picture and one recent picture of your child for our self-portrait project. I am still missing quite a few. Please email to apriljenkinsnyc@gmail.com

*Drop off at 9:10 at April's house -- 332 Prospect Ave. Apt. 2. If you need to leave your stroller in the garage, just let me know and I can open the door.
*Pickup at 11:45 am.

This Month’s Volunteer Schedule
Volunteers please come to April's at 10:45 am to help get the kids dressed for outdoor time. Please contact me if you need to switch days: apriljenkinsnyc@gmail.com

Tues. April 21st --Krisztina
Wed, April 22nd -- Amanda

Things to Bring if you haven't already:
*Your check or cash for the monthly cost plus snack (checks made out to April Jenkins)
*Labeled sippy cup
*Diaper of change of clothes if we do not have them.