Our final week of school passed very quickly.  We enjoyed our outside time playing games together, collecting caterpillars, playing with rain water, picking flowers, and having a final lunchtime picnic.
 For the last Monday art activity, the children made paper.  We learned that paper comes from trees, which are cut down, ground up into pulp, and rolled on big rollers to create paper.  We recycled used paper by ripping it up, blending it in a blender, then pressing it out to dry.

 The kindergarten students and some Monday preschool students made their insect projects – diagrams of an ant – to wrap up our study of animal classes.

 At the art table the children made frogs and butterflies from paper plates that they painted last week.  They attached legs or antennae and tongues made from blowers, which was the truly exciting part.  Students also did some shape printing with various round and rectangular objects.

 On Wednesday we had some very exciting guests!  Duco the police dog came to visit with Officer Ladd.  We learned that Duco’s job is to help find people who may be lost and to help Officer Ladd stop bad guys.   Officer Ladd trains Duco to search and to jump and bite, and as a reward for doing as he is told, he gets to play with his favorite toy.  They demonstrated some of the things that Duco can do, including jumping way up high to grab things with his back teeth, and going through and over obstacles.

Thursday, our last day of school, had everyone busy preparing for the presentation and graduation.  The students helped carry out and set up all of the projects on the playground, and then had fun running and playing with their friends.  At the end of the morning we read the story Miss Rumphius, about a girl who grows into an old lady and at her grandfather’s request does something to make the world more beautiful.

 The children did a fantastic job singing the songs for the performance and the kindergarten students did an excellent job reading their animal reports.  It was a bittersweet day.  It is hard to say goodbye to our friends that are moving on, but it has been such an amazing experience watching them progress and grow over the years!  We wish you the best and you will truly be missed!