This has been one of the busiest weeks of the year with preparations for the International Festival well underway, Halloween on a Tuesday, YMCA on Thursday! WHEW! Juniper elders really pushed inwards to help our younger friends make it through their work cycles, holding them to their part in collaborative work and supporting many friends throughout the day as a part of their pact of our "Helping Club". The Helping Club consists of children who go around helping and supporting children in and out of our community and will be coordinating activities outside of our class and around CMS. This week we held lessons on Apostrophes, quotation marks, analogies and metaphors and practiced reading famous quotes and a favorite was by Frederick Douglas "If there is no struggle, there is no progress". We sat around in a circle and discussed these quotes and held their symbolism in our hearts. Each day our first year children have made it their personal goal to use their work journal to record the date, day of the week and their work of choice. There were many moments of growth this week that were the children working through their personal goals and not only seeing their progress but FEELING that progress! 

One of our discussions in the community was centered around trusting their own reasoning and strengths. Many children are relying on the adult to "tell them what to do" in the community and I shared that it feels uncomfortable for me to witness it let alone have so many children rely on me to do so. The greatest gift I can give is to trust in them to figure out solutions to their concerns over work or to leave them to take ownership of the class without always coming to Sarah and myself to do it for them. I ask that you pull back and allow your child to figure it out by asking " What would you suggest? What would you feel is the right thing to do? What are your thoughts? How can you take care of this?" This helps foster independence, problem solving skills, critical thinking skills and independence of the adult and ownership of their own autonomy. These are vital executive functioning skills that ALL friends could work on, this is also most importantly what fosters self-construction!. Another topic in our classroom, and we find is a way that they connect with each other, is the discussion of movies and video games. It overtakes lessons and seems to be the main focus instead of their work. The tech world serves its purpose and is a great tool for us adults who already have the skill sets we need to live and function in this world meanwhile children are learning these functions and skills and without devices and digital tools providing immediate input the reliance of their reasoning skills have them looking at the analog clock living on the wall wanting to ignore its importance and the value it has served a human race for many years. As an adult who lives with ADHD I can speak on the usefulness of a timer to help me keep track of time and the use of visual tools are quite supportive but there is so much beauty in living a life detached and unplugged. I CHALLENGE you all to quit the devices and explore other ways of meeting your needs with your child. They love stories of my "olden days on the ranch" where we had zero luxuries and lived in union with the land. 

Disclosure: I was born in the 80's and we left the city for the country in my adolescent years, the horror was real as a teen but so was the beauty of it. 

Keep a chart of how many days with visual charts, stickers etc and see just how long you can keep this as the "new trend". As always, I appreciate you all supporting us to support your child, the foundation starts at home! Happy Friday!

Reminders:

* Send a coat and appropriate clothing for the weather

* Label ALL coats, gloves, hats etc (we are not the keepers of these items, your child is)

CMS Calendar

• Oct. 30th to Nov. 4th - Paper Pie Book Fair 
• Nov. 4th - International Festival, 10am to 12noon
• Nov. 10th - Nova Parent Night Out, 6 to 10pm RSVP here
• Nov. 20 - 24th - No School, Thanksgiving break

Sincerely,

Veronica and Sarah