ICP at the Beach

Every spring we head to the best beach on Bainbridge Island to check out the sea life. The Orcas went when there was a minus 3.4 tide, and also on a day that reached into the 70's! After seeing an amazing array of sea creatures, we rested and had snack. The boys were hot and tired and chose to rest in my "shade" and they asked me to sing them a lullabye. How's that for sweet?

BUBBLE DAY AT BATTLE POINT PARK!

One of our favorite annual things to do is to host Bubble Day at Battle Point Park.  Saturday, May 19, from 10-12:00 we will have gallons of bubble solution and many different kinds of wands so that folks of all ages can have some bubble fun! This is a really fun way to connect with the community and get the word out about ICP. We hope to see lots of friends and new faces there. We will be next to the playground.




It's been a while since I last posted. My computer is on the fritz (tip: liquids and laptops don't mix well), and so downloading photos and such is challenging, to say the least! Lots of great things have been happening at ICP:

FARM TRIPS: all classes visited Bountiful Farm and were little farmers, feeding the horses, sheep, geese, chickens, llamas, and cow. The weather was gorgeous and fun was had by all.

FARMING AT MORALES FARM: Our work with the EduCulture Project has begun again. The Orca and Dolphin classes have visited the farm and have planted pumpkin seeds in the greenhouse. We also got to hold and pet the most adorable baby bunny. The farm interns hope to have several rabbit tractors (moveable pens) for rabbits to help keep the weeds down as well as to fertilize the soil. This should add some excitement to our farm days!

MOTHER'S DAY TEA PARTIES: The Dolphin class held the first Mother's Day Tea party, and the other classes will hold their's later this week. What a sweet way to tell our mamas that we love them! The presents we made turned out lovely, and I will post pictures soon, I hope.

SISTER ISLAND/HEIFER INTERNATIONAL PROJECT: The Dolphin and Orca classes have begun a comparitive study of Bainbridge Island, WA, and our sister island, Ometepe, Nicaragua. We are learning about what an island is, and how our two islands are the same and different. At the same time, we are raising funds (a dime at a time) to buy a flock of chicks and a hive of bees to help a hungry family on Ometepe. We have been connecting with members of our community who are a part of the Sister Island Association, and it feels really good to help young children know that they can make a difference in the world.

We are getting very excited for ICP's Children's Concert featuring Caspar Babypants on March 24th. The concert is at the Bainbridge High School Commons, and will begin at 10:30 am. Parents may know Caspar Babypants better as Chris Ballew, the lead singer for The Presidents of the United States of America.

Check out Caspar Babypant's website to watch videos and listen to his music.

Tickets are on sale now at Lollipops Children's Boutique, and Bon Bon for $7. Tickets sold at the door will be $10. Proceeds from the concert will go toward the next phase ICP's playground project.

Each of the preschool classes is also putting together some fun raffle baskets for the concert.

Hope to see you there. Grab some friends and come sing and dance with us!

What do we value?

As we prepare for our Open House (Feb 25, from 10-12), and begin the process of registering for next year, I have been thinking about what we value as a school and as a group of families. One thing we certainly value is involvement, whether it's in our child's classroom or in supporting each other on our parenting journey, ICP families care about being there. We care about how our school runs, and what activities our children have the opportunity to do, and we come together to make things happen for our children. A great example of this is the fabulous playground we created together. This amazing environment would not have been created without the commitment of the parents at ICP.

We value the natural world around us, and all of it's plants, animals, creatures, and mysteries. We enjoyed an impromtu lesson yesterday from a parent about douglas fir cones, and which cone is the boy cone, and which cone is the girl cone. Another parent caught a big spider and put it in a jar for us to examine and squeal about. Every day the children turn over the handmade stepping stones in front of our school to search for worms, or they sing a "Squirrelly" song to the squirrels we feed on our playground. We have built an army of young "Ivy Police" who know that ivy is not a good friend to the forest.

We value the community we have developind in our school, as well as our larger Island community. Parents have given baby showers, and created meal trains for families with new little ones. They have stepped up to help each other when life gets crazy and the schedule becomes too hard to manage. They have been there for each other with care, support, and wisdom when a child has been struggling with an issue. We have had winter clothing drives, and cereal or pet food drives for Helpline House. We have given a third of our crop of potatoes and pumpkins, grown on our farm plot, to feed the hungry in our community. We value supporting and uplifting each other.

I know... a school is a school, but it can also be an extension of the family network. It can be there when grandparents and other family members are far away. It can share some of the same values that you strive to teach your children in your families. Island Co-op is a special place, and we are lucky to be a part of this family.

"Traveling" to Mexico: the Orca Class takes a "trip!"

One of the best ways for children to learn and practice self-regulation skills is through mature dramatic play. As children are developing the ability to engage in this mature play on their own, they can do it with adult assistance. So the Orca class (4-5 year olds) is learning about transportation, and the country of Mexico, and enjoying this type of mature play while we take a "trip" to Mexico.

We started by learning about different kinds of transportation, and looking at maps to see how we could get from Bainbridge Island to Mexico. We have had first-hand learning about cars, the ferry, and the train.

At the same time, we have been learning about Mexico, it's geography, and language, and food and culture. We have been singing and speaking some Spanish, and reading stories about Mexico. We have painted murals of Mexico's volcanos, and of her jungles. We have painted the American and Mexican flags. We made our own fresh corn tortillas and homemade salsa. We have made suitcases, maps, and passports. We created a travel store and bought what we need to take to Mexico, and our suitcases are packed.

Today we start on our trip. We will play both the passengers, as well as the ferry and train workers. We will go through customs in Mexico, get our passports stamped, and exchange our American dollars for pesos (both of which we made). We will check into a hotel, and call it a day. Then, tomorrow we will play that we are in Mexico. We will board a tour bus to see the country and take our binoculars and cameras with us. We will go swimming at the beach, have a fiesta complete with a pinata, and end our day by taking in a bullfight. This is going to be fun!

Funny videos from school

Well, I have moved up into the ranks of those with iphones. Watch out for videos! Now, let's see if I can upload these.

December at ICP

Maybe I have figured out what has been keeping me from posting on this blog. I love technology when it does what I want, and get so frustrated when it doesn't!

Lots has been happening at ICP since November. We had a wonderful tree planting event, with lots of particpation from community families. We have had grandparent's days in all classes, and baked homemade pizzas, and learned about winter and celebrated with a Celebration of Light Party when the preschool was filled to the brim with Christmas lights.

We have been learning about transportation since we came back from Winter Break. The kids have explored all of the parts of a real car, and made cardboard box cars. They all had driver's licenses, too. We have played bus, and train, and are preparing for some ferry field trips. The Orcas will also visit the train station and tour an Amtrack train. They are preparing for a "trip" to Mexico, so along with learning how they could travel there, they have been learning some Spanish, and we made our own delicious tortillas in class!

It snowed one day at school, so we sang our snowmen songs and pretended we were snwmen. I hope we didn't wish too hard for snow, because we all got dumped on! I know the kids will have lots of stories to tell about their snowy adventures when we return to school Monday.