Monday Memo 4/25/16

Welcome back!

I hope you had a great vacation.  The weather was so nice, and I was able to attend a family wedding in Milwaukee, which was lots of fun.

Happy Hollow Garden

Our class got to do some planting last week in the Happy Hollow Garden.  Here are a few pics!

Flat Stanley

Thank you so much for helping your child send out their Flat Stanley.  Almost everyone brought in their Flat Stanley and letters and photos before vacation, and we are looking forward to sharing them this week.

In more Flat Stanley news, you may have heard that our classroom received a package all the way from California.  My aunt, Miriam Hopkins, is a second grade teacher in Santa Monica, and she had each child in her class make a Flat Stanley and write a letter to a student in MY class.  How cool is that?  We spent Friday afternoon walking around Happy Hollow and the playground with iPads, taking photos of each student with their Flat Stanley in various places and poses.  We will send Ms. Hopkins' class an Animoto of all of our photos, as well as include a few in the letters each student will write for a reply.  What a fun project!  Here is a sampling of our photos:

Butterflies

On Friday the 15th, our Painted Ladies finally emerged from the chrysalids, and we were thrilled to see them!  However, it was only 50 degrees, so we thought we shouldn't release them.  Painted Ladies live about fourteen days, so we had kind of a Sophie's Choice of keep the butterflies in the pavillions and hope they live through vacation, or set them free but know they will die in the cold.  It's like the famous quote from Mary Oliver:  "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

A couple of the butterflies suffered an early passing, but as of this writing at 8:21PM, four are still fluttering in the pavillion on my coffee table.  So I hope to have a lovely releasing ceremony tomorrow in the courtyard.  Stay tuned!

Natick Earth Day Festival

I have to put in a plug for the Natick Earth Day Festival.  It's this Sunday from 11-3 on the Natick Common.  It's free and fun for kids, and my dad (retired Wayland teacher and major environmentalist and community activist) runs it.  Hope to see you there!

Have a great week!  Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Miriam