February and March 2023: Marching towards Spring!!!

It has been another couple of busy months at CMC! Unfortunately, we've continued to see more mild and moderate illness than during any other winter in my memory. Thank you to all the little ones that learned how to blow their noses, wipe up messes of all kinds, and keep their hands clean through it all! Thanks to all the adults that took off time from work, had faith in the care we offer, and continued to enroll their children at CMC! Our attendance is back up to normal levels these past few weeks. This week, we are also seeing signs that the warmer weather will help us all recover from this winter's fatigue and we'll be less susceptible to illness in the year ahead!

Our little learning communities in Children's House East and West have stayed about the same size throughout the winter and early spring, however, we have shared some significant hellos and goodbyes these past two months. Established CMC community members KK, Yazan, and Hannah all left CMC in February. Mia and Roshan also took multi-week breaks from attending to help welcome new siblings to their families! We were also very happy to welcome four new children to the CMC community: Syd; Ike; Saranshi; and Soraya! Back in January, we welcomed Jesse to observe our practice in both Children's House East and West as part of her course of study for her Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) Primary (3-6) Diploma. In March, we welcomed Jesse back to Children's House East to complete a two-week practicum experience!

As you scroll through the pictures from the busy eight weeks below, I recommend keeping your eyes peeled for examples of repetition and mastery among the children's work. The unique structure of our learning environments — with consistent materials carefully arranged to engage every skill level and interest among our two to six-year-old learners — afford us a unique capacity for repetition and mastery over months and even years of work together! For many established community members, the consistency of late winter and early spring also offer the best opportunities to get into good grooves where their learning and growth is concerned.

The Week of February 6th

We were sad to spend our last days with KK during this first full week of February; her spark and curiosity brought an unforgettable energy to the Children's House East community from her first days with us as a two-year-old last August up through our long winter together! We miss you KK!

The Week of February 13th

The next week we were happy to welcome two new brothers to team CMC — older brother Syd (left) joined Children's House East while younger brother Ike (right) joined Children's House West. The boys have enjoyed playing outdoors together most days so far!

Happy fourth birthday Isla! Keep on cracking Jiraiya! I can't wait to find out what every-day object will win our next Factory Vote in Children's House East!

The Week of February 20th

The week of February 20th was bitter-sweet. Roshan made a copy of an important new phrase Mary shared with us on Monday using one of our Small Movable Alphabets, "Take a deep breath and choose your words carefully" (pictured above). We were so happy to wish Avriel a third birthday with our birthday walk ritual! We also said tearful goodbyes to two incomparable community members: Yazan Futransky and Hannah Almassry. Both "Hannah-banana" and "Yaz" joined us in the first half of 2021 and grew up right alongside our little community. We will miss them both dearly!

Above, a just barely 30-month-old Yaz enjoys one of his first-ever snacks in Children's House East early in the summer of '21; below, Yaz carefully counts individual drops of stevia in an effort to get his farewell batch of CMC Citrusade *just* right.

And here's Hannah in her very first weeks with us in the winter of '21 and on her last day, overseeing the creation of her farewell batch of CMC Citrusade!

The Week of February 27th

The last week of February brought a few more hellos as we welcomed a new picture-based guide to dressing for the weather (pictured above with Avi pointing to it in the hallway on a day we were headed to the Movement Room) and a new little one to Children's House East: three-year-old Saranshi (pictured below) joined Children's House East full of ambition to do things for herself!

The Week of March 6th

Early in March, we welcomed a second new girl to Children's House East, four-year-old Soraya. So far, Soraya has shown a keen interest in our Sensorial puzzles and art materials! We also said hello again to Jessica, this time to complete a practicum requirement for her Association Montessori International (AMI) Primary (3-6) Diploma!

We also said hello again to planting wheat berries in egg shells and watching (and watering) carefully as grass sprouted. A big thank you to all our families that donated egg shells and their cartons to this exciting spring ritual (based on Eastern European and Western Asian transitions) this past month plus!

Check out Lincoln's vigilant attention to four-digit Golden Bead addition problems, Jesse's leadership of Factory Vote (where children vote for videos of everyday objects getting manufactured in factories), Rizwan's creation of a transportation-themed booklet, and just-turned-three-year-old Avi's writing with a Large Movable Alphabet!

The Week of March 13th

Look for: Avi and Jiraiya working with our fabulous new wheelbarrows (thanks Sara!); Vera mapping the geometry of quadrilaterals and cursive letters; and Sage preparing to be his generations' Ray Kroc (with North American map making; a whole lot of math with Jesse; and a fantasy about a new kind of burger joint)!

The Spring Equinox Potluck

What a turnout and what a spread! Thank you to everyone that made our Spring Equinox Potluck our best attended community event yet! Please be on the lookout for an invitation to our end of the year picnic in May and — possibly, it's still in the works — an exciting family field trip opportunity up north!

The Week of March 20th

After all the hubbub of our potluck died down, we all got back to work with the particular grace and courtesy of budding spring!

Week of March 27th

Three cheers for all things consistency and cherry blossoms! Sometimes the most uneventful weeks are the most productive!