Untitled No. 1

Ponche Navideño is a traditional hot fruit punch enjoyed during the Christmas holidays in Mexico and other Latin American countries. Teacher Macrina showed us how to make ponche using delicious ingredients such as apples, guava, cinnamon, sugar cane, and hibiscus flowers. Before making and enjoying our own ponche, we got to smell the ingredients, chew on pieces of sugar cane, and add hibiscus flowers to hot water to observe the color change. Finally, it was time to enjoy some hot and delicious ponche for our afternoon snack! Thank you to Teacher Macrina for making and sharing ponche with us. Happy holidays to all! ✨

Thank you for this Community & Youth Grant used to support our teachers to participate in this year’s annual conference Anaheim where they delved deeper into our school’s focus on anti-bias education in the company of mentors & colleagues! We appreciate your appreciation for early ed teachers and what sustains them in this vital work!

“Water is the first medicine. It affects and connects us all…” - “We Are Water Protectors” by and

The book “We Are Water Protectors” has been a favorite of our children’s every year. We’ve read the book many times this year, sparking conversations about the role of water: Who needs water? What does water give us? How can we take care of water and the many living things that inhabit it? We use stories, visual art, and videos to build our understanding of the sacredness of water and what it means to be a water protector:

“I see the colors in the waves and it has blue and white and the light blue, so I am making a pattern so you can see all the colors.”
“I make my ocean dark blue, like this.”
“If I hold the whale here it looks like it’s in the ocean! Look! It’s swimming.”
“We have to drink water.”
“What is the black snake?”

🌊💙

Drag story hour with 💕🌈🌈

Lil’ Miss Hot Mess serves on the board of and is the author of some of our favorite books here at school: “If You’re a Drag Queen and You Know It” and “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish.” We were so happy to welcome her to school this week for our very own read aloud! The friends loved listening to her stories, singing and dancing along to some songs, and, of course, getting to feel and admire all the amazing sequins and feathers on her outfit! Thank you Lil’ Miss Hot Mess for a wonderful morning 🤗🌈

Last week, our team had the special and unique opportunity to attend the Annual Conference in Anaheim, CA. We were so lucky to learn from and connect with our fellow educators, mentors, and leaders in the field, sharing a wide range of ideas and perspectives about how we can continue to grow in our professional development and (un)learning journeys as early childhood educators. Thank you to all who made this experience one to remember!