Hello everyone,

We have been continuing to talk about urban wildlife this week. We have talked about turtles, slugs, snails, salmon, and we will talk about snakes tomorrow. So many of the spring animals that we learn about go through profound metamorphosis in their lives, and for the last month or so we have been learning about those changes. We will continue this theme next week with our study of butterflies and moths. These transformative creatures are a poignant way to finish the school year, and to reflect back on all of the learning that has happened for each child and the changes that have been brought about. We encourage you to take some time to reflect at home about metamorphosis and change and about the ending of the school year and the welcoming of summer. At school we usually raise and release butterflies for the end of the year, and the freedom of watching them flutter off into the sky mirrors all of our hearts as we step into the warm, welcoming days and unstructured time of summer. We can't do this together this spring, but I wish you some closure on the school year and a joyful release into the new season in your own way.

A few business things as we look ahead to our last week of school next week:

Please let us know asap if you would like to do the summer program from June 15th to July 24th.  We have had a few signups but we need a few more in order to make it work, so let us know if you are thinking about it.

It is hard for many of us to think about ending the school year with little closure. We are preparing special gift packages and messages for all of the Fiddleheads students that will be moving on to kindergarten next year. We will be sending them out in the middle to end of June.

These have been very difficult months for so many of us, including here at Fiddleheads. We continue to make progress toward opening again in the fall, and are pursuing the new certification that we will need in order to do this. I feel hopeful and optimistic. We are fully enrolled right now for the 2020-21 school year for in-person programming. We look forward to connecting with everyone again in person in September!

Thank you all so much for your continued engagement and support through this challenging time! If you have appreciated our online learning program throughout the spring, please let me know what about it you liked. Your feedback will be very helpful to the school.

We have decided that we will continue offering distance learning lessons to families interested in online school throughout the next school year, even while conducting in-person programming. To capitalize on the hard work that we have put into creating an online school program this spring, and to help support the school through any other possible interruptions in in-person learning, we are actively looking to enroll new families into this online program for next year. You can read about the program here. Please help spread the word to any families looking for this kind of programming. They may be people living outside of our school area, or maybe they have health issues that keep them from engaging in more public life during this time, or maybe they are choosing a very cautious path for the school year ahead. Whatever the reason, we believe that there are probably families out there looking for this kind of programming right now and we are hopeful to connect with them. Thanks for your help.

May you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be peaceful, may you be filled with joy!

Jessica

Hello everyone,

We've had some fun this week studying amphibians, and learning about their fascinating, hidden lives. Many amphibians are common all around us, but we don't often see and hear them. Amphibians can be indicator species of the health of our local waterways. It's been interesting to talk about them with the kids this spring as we continue our explorations of creatures that undergo profound metamorphosis in their lives. We can draw so many social, emotional and physical parallels in our own lives with metamorphosis that we see in the natural world.

There is no school on Monday for memorial day, and the last day of school will be Friday, June 5th. Please let me know by June 1st if you would like to do a summer session of school from June 15th through July 24th.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the onset of summer and the opening up of the world a bit in whatever ways feel right.

Stay safe and happy,
Jessica

Hello everyone,

How are you doing out there? I know that my kids have kind of hit a wall on social distancing this week. I hear the same from some other people too. They are frustrated with screen interactions, bored, lonely. It's so hard to see kids going through that, when we want them to be playing outside with friends and enjoying springtime together. At my house we got some bows and arrows, a new swing, and we're going looking for some tadpoles soon. I know that we'll get through this. Every childhood has its adversities, and the best path that we can take for ourselves, and the best example that we can show our kids is to make lemonade out of lemons. Keep looking for what is special and extraordinary in a good way about this unprecedented time together.

We've had some good bug lessons this week! We talked about transformation and metamorphosis in an insect's life cycle, about predator and prey relationships, about insect defense mechanisms, and about insect aversions and the creepy feelings that bugs can give us sometimes. Today we have a lesson about walking sticks and camouflage. Next week we'll be talking about springtime baby animals, then moving on to focus on amphibians.

I want to thank so many of you for your continued support of Fiddleheads and for staying in touch when you can and letting us know how you and your families are doing. As this strange time goes on and this unusual school year gets closer to wrapping up, it's nice to be able to hold onto some threads of continuity.

I want to share some tentative good news as well. I have seen a draft of the ELD guidelines for reopening early childhood programs, and it looks like we will be able to have something resembling normal programming at Fiddleheads in the fall. There is a long road and much that can happen between now and then, and the details are all not clear yet, but Oregon seems to be proceeding with prudence, and that makes me feel cautiously hopeful for being able to resume regular school without big setbacks.

Have a great weekend everyone and stay safe. May you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be peaceful, may you be filled with joy.
Jessica

Some scenes from online learning this week: