Summer Session 2023: Onwards and Upwards!

The summer has always been a bittersweet time at CMC. It's big goodbyes after big years (or many years) together. It's also anticipation and planning for a big year ahead, full of new faces and experiences we're yet to imagine!

Please join us in saying goodbye to (in order of departure from daily life at CMC this summer): Katherine (our long-time CMC board member and staff member since December); Roshan; Saranshi; Sage; Dane; Sagine; and Rizwan. We wish each one success and growth in whatever their next trip around the sun brings!

Roshan at his cubby in November 2020 and after helping to build an exquisite block tower in June 2023!

Saranshi, in February, grappling with her first pair of scissors and again this month building with Lincoln Logs!

Sage in September of 2022 building the Pink Tower for the first time and back for a week of summer building an intricate palace complex!

Dane gleefully enjoying his first snack in August 2022 and hanging with the big kids this summer!

Sagine focused on flower arranging when she first arrived in the fall of 2022 and again showing off a beautiful present this summer!

Rizwan reasoning through his first experience with our stamping work, below, in September 2022 and, to the right, confidently reading a favorite book (The Book with No Pictures) to the group after lunch this summer.

I'd also like to offer an honorable mention to TJ, Juniper, and Calvin for attending a few days to a few weeks of summer each and modeling all their "big-kid style" to our newer and younger friends.

And now, without further ado, please help me welcome our new community members this summer — Addy, Khalo, Pearl (not pictured), Charlotte and Ani — with these pictures of the group in our special "Summer Children's House" and big-kid outdoor space!

After all the basics were taken care of, building, making, and playing took center stage in the Summer Children's House!

Puzzles and puzzling also played a big role in our young explorers' days! Charlotte showed a particular fascination with our locking doll house.

What would summertime be without some good naps! We had particular fun in the nap room with Dane's variation on my, "sung as a bug or loose as a goose?" tuck in options: "snug as a pizza!!!" (The bottom is pure swaddle while the top is tucked in like a bed sheet.)

Many also took advantage of the freedom that summer afforded to engage in some free-wielding art. We particularly enjoyed Ani's (red shirt) spirals, circles, and spiral-circle faces! See below for Ani engaging in a special art project with Katherine on her last day at CMC.

In late June, Wally (my son) and I donated his collection of preschool-level board games to CMC and in July he visited for a few days, offering a very informal chess clinic along the way.

Birthdays and exploring the earth's relationship to the sun were also very popular activities. Happy Birthday again to Dane, Addy, and Charlotte!

Speaking of the sun traveling around the earth, our third Summer Solstice Picnic Potluck was a big hit in June!

Preparing snack each day was a highlight of many children's morning routine:

. . . and eating snack was almost as fun for others, especially Khalo!

We also extended our time outdoors with positive results in terms of both resilience and social-emotional development.

A big thank you to all that came out to make our first-ever Back to School Ice Cream Social a success today. It was a good chance to check in and catch up ahead of a busy first week of the School Year Session! If you would like, you are welcome to record one Community Hour for your family using our new Community Hours Family Contributions Recording Form!