The Pathway: A Winter To Remember

Pre-Primary Class works on independence
Transition back since the holiday break has been fairly smooth. Thankfully at this point in the year, the children are very familiar with the routine, so a couple weeks does not affect them too greatly. We are transitioning the older ones to start preparing for some 3-6 tasks (unpacking lunches independently, doing harder works, etc.), which they love!

It has been great to see the children so excited for newer, challenging works. They try and try again until they have mastered the work, and then they are excited to help show their classmates how to do the work. One thing the children love to do is "watch." If they are standing close to a lesson or another child doing work, they often choose to watch the work being done, and of course love to comment if the other child is open to help. Their absorbent minds are hard at work.

This semester, we are going to be continuing working on independence in the classroom, social skills, and communicating well with other children and teachers.

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MONDAY, FEB. 13 IS SKI DAY FOR ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL. WE'LL MEET AND GET PICKED UP AT APP SKI MTN. (There is no charge for 6 to 9ers. But you still have to fill out a form with your child's height, weight, and skiing ability which for most is level one. Forms are in the 6-9 classroom.)

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Middle Schoolers have been learning about the 4 fundamental forces of physics, learning their way around their fancy graphing calculators, and testing sanitation methods by swabbing and incubating samples.

We would also like to congratulate 8th year student Luke Doty on winning his robotics tournament and going to the international competition in Houston.

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HEY PARENTS: HELP YOUR CHILD PRACTICE "CATCHING" HER COUGH OR SNEEZE IN HER ELBOW, AND IF YOUR CHILD IS SICK, STAY HOME! THIS IS THE TOUGHEST TIME OF YEAR FOR US TO STAY HEALTHY. HELP US OUT!

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Going South in Primary West...

The children got right back into the routine after the holiday- excited to get back to work!

We are enjoying learning about Antarctica and snow in Primary West even though it feels more like Spring right now!! We are hoping there may be some more white stuff in the coming weeks! If it ever does snow again, please make sure that you send waterproof gloves/mittens, snow pants/bibs, and snow boots so your child can have fun in the snow!

We will be celebrating Valentine’s Day in a couple weeks. Now is a good time to get started on making Valentine’s. We prefer handmade cards- but nothing fancy! We have 24 children in our class and 3 teachers, so that is a lot for your child to take on in one sitting! Also, unless your child can read the names, please do not address the cards- just make all of them the same. Finally, we ask that you do not send candy. If you have questions, please contact Ellen. Thank you so much!

In February, we will begin to study Asia, so if you have any family history or experience traveling or living in Asia, we would love to hear about it!!

Thank you for sharing your wonderful children with us-

Ellen, Dianne, and Taylor

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All is well in the Primary East classroom.... The children have made a smooth transition back into the school routine- enjoying their work, their friends and the classroom community. The room is full of the sounds of children sounding out phonemes together, counting to 9,000, matching snowflake pictures and humming songs as they paint.
We continue our lessons about how to make a peaceful community- teaching the importance of listening to each other, being kind with our words and actions and respecting everyone's needs and differences.
We are honored to spend our days with your amazing children!
Enjoy the photos:)
~Sara & Brian

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PARENT EDUCATION NIGHT IS THURSDAY, FEB. 16,

5:30-7 PM. CHILDCARE PROVIDED.

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9-12ers working on Year-Long Projects and More...

I'd like to start off by introducing our new student Chloe Hemsoth! She comes to us from Blowing Rock Elementary and is a 4th year. Welcome, Chloe!

The days are starting to get longer which means that spring is right around the corner. Students are beginning to put in their final rounds of research for their Year Long Projects and will be interviewing professionals that are experienced in their field of study. Students will then do a 5 hour internship that will immerse them further into their topics.

February we will start legging up for our Appalachian Trail field trip by hiking once a week on various trails in our area. We typically start at Moses Cone then work our way up to the Boone Fork and parts the Tanawah trail. Since we are studying the geographic features of the Appalachians and the abundance of biodiversity, we will finally get to experience them first hand. So far we have learned how to identify mature forests, determinants of a community, and how to recognize subtle changes in our surrounding forests. We are hoping for a good wildflower year so we can work on our plant identification skills as well!

We will also be dusting off our seed catalogs, ordering wax for our bee frames, and cleaning out the greenhouse in order to prepare for our upcoming growing season. Our bees seem to be hanging in there and go out on warm days to stretch their wings. We are looking forward to checking on them in March to make sure they have enough honey to get them through till the flowers start blooming. If you notice around the end of February, the maple trees send out tiny red flowers and if you listen closely, you can hear the trees alive with not only honey bees but also local pollinators taking advantage of the early blooming hardwoods-sort of a metaphor for the classroom since students will be ramping up their efforts in their work and their studies, taking advantage of that extra energy that comes from more daylight and hints of warmer weather.

We are looking forward to the months ahead and wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Kristy and Emily

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