The Bridge

This bridge will only take you halfway there 

 To those mysterious lands you long to see: 

 Through gypsy camps and swirling Arab fairs 

 And moonlit woods where unicorns run free. 

 So come and walk awhile with me and share 

The twisting trails and wondrous worlds I've known. 

 But this bridge will only take you halfway there– 

 The last few steps you'll have to take alone.

"The Bridge" by Shel Silverstein

This year MVS is sending off our largest-yet "graduating class" to kindergarten. We are so proud of all of these children and very excited for their next steps, but it is undoubtedly difficult to say good bye to those who have grown with us for years. Every child shapes our community in unique ways, and the 17 who are moving on this year will be greatly missed.

Thank you to all the parents, grandparents, siblings, and other friends and family who joined us for the ceremony on Friday. We were so glad to send the children off with such a large and supportive gathering. Thanks also to the teachers who stayed after-hours to help and to the parents who organized the post-graduation pizza picnic. It takes a village and on Friday it felt like we did it!

News and Reminders

We will be closed this Wednesday, July 4th for Independence Day. Hope you all enjoy the holiday!

If you have summer vacation plans, we would love to know them in advance in case it affects staffing needs. Please let your child's teacher know if your family is planning to be away. Thanks.

One of our parents, Amy, has arranged for MVS to be a weekly delivery location for fresh, local veggies from Sandiwood Farm in Wolcott. They'll send out a list of what is available and prices every week on Mon/Tues, then you can email them back with an order which will be delivered to school on Friday (or skip the week entirely). Sort of like a no-obligation CSA! If you'd like to participate please email sara@sandiwoodfarm.com and specify MVS as your delivery location.

Kitchen Update
Lunches this week included more of our favorite egg/spinach/quinoa muffins, English muffin pizza, and a whole wheat pasta salad with fresh veggies and honey dijon sauce. The infants snacked on honeydew melon, zucchini muffins and Havarti cheese. We tried a few different salad dressings and our favorites were a tahini based dressing and a caesar parmesan. Finally, we introduced tofu on Friday with crispy baked teriyaki tofu, and it was extremely popular with infants and preschoolers alike.

Classroom Updates
Infant I by Megan
This week we enjoyed a wonderfully rainy Thursday and spent most of our time outside in the puddles. Inside we have a couple of children still working to master how to get down from the climber. At this point all of our mobile children can go up either the steps or the slide, but bracing themselves against gravity in the other direction is another matter! Stef or I move in close when we see a child in a precarious position, and sometimes tumbles do occur, but we appreciate how this challenge is fostering both physical abilities and a healthy sense of risk. This was also O's first week with us; so far he's adapted to our ways smoothly and we've really enjoyed his warm, happy presence. We're also closing in on transitions to Infant II for a couple of our older children, so we've been placing extra emphasis on certain independence skills. Over the next couple of weeks we will have a little change in teachers: I'll be out on vacation from July 5-16, so on Monday and Tuesday a new teacher, Dana, will be shadowing me, and then she'll be in our room with Stef while I am out. I'll miss all the children but am glad to leave them with such capable teachers.

Infant II by Amanda and Hannah
We spent more time inside in the mornings this week enjoying some new toys and books. The children were very engaged but needed some assistance navigating shared and cooperative play, and they can't seem to get enough books read throughout the day! They will ask to be read to one after another. We also created a collage throughout the week by adding a new material each day to glue and paper. The children have been frequently requesting water play on hot days, and on this week's rainy day we got even more adventurous with the water. We ran around splashing and soaking each other, all in good fun. Stay cool this weekend!

Zippers are serious business

Toddlers by Carly
What an exciting week we had in our classroom. This week we focused on extending our independence beyond the classroom walls and playground experiences by taking walks in small groups to the Willow Garden and further out into the community. The children are working hard on following directions and listening to safety rules while we develop new skills through these adventures. The older children who went on our first walk were very excited to see several large construction vehicles, a man cutting wood with a big chainsaw, a bright red fire hydrant and a huge four leaf clover (I bet it will bring us lots of good luck). Another big highlight this week was practicing our safety skills during a fire drill. We walked calmly while holding our classmates' hands to our designated fire drill meeting spot. On the toilet training front we are going to begin toilet training the remaining younger children in the classroom, so please bring in extra underwear and clothes. Exciting times!

Classroom note: Carly C. will be out this upcoming week and next week. Alex W. will be in the classroom. Thanks Alex!

A small but happy crew enjoying our first walk off campus!

Talking about fire safety after our fire drill that morning

A chainsaw?! Very exciting to watch!

Preschool I by Shannon E.-F.
Sorry we missed the update last week– we just had so much fun making ribbon wands for the Solstice Stroll! This week we're experiencing our own transitions, even though none of our children are headed to kindergarten. We are welcoming friends from the Toddler room as we wish the best for friends moving to the "big kid classrooms." (We emphasize that the other children are older instead of bigger.) We've started exploring rocks and making our own rock collections– stay tuned!

Preschool II
Sarah T. spent the week with us as CG is out sick. CG will also be out next week so Sarah will get to spend another week!

We spent time talking about graduation and what it really means. The consensus is that they have learned a lot at MVS but have grown too big for our school. We talked about visiting one another once they are in kindergarten.

We spent time out and about visiting the brook near SES, playing on the playground, watching the builders at the end of Thomas lane, and picking clovers for Tibbet.

There was a big interest in drawing rainbows. We decorated the door of the classroom and shared how they make us feel as well as where they come from. Make sure to stop and take a look. 

She is making pink pastries.

PreK by Jen
This week was full of adventures balanced with extended play here at school. We've made several trips to the elementary school to play in the stream or on the climbing structures. It's been really helpful that through excitement, or disappointment, the children have developed a flexible attitude and are able to adapt regardless of how our plans change. We also enjoyed a visit from a fireman who came to talk about fire safety, which was nicely complemented by Thursday's fire drill. Finally, I've noticed this week how our two groups (older/Kindergarten bound group and younger group) have really bonded and are becoming more and more able to cooperate during play and routine times of the day. It made Friday's graduation even more bittersweet!