Madeline Rose: ChildRoots Events

Maddy showing off her book at Retrospective

Maddy is in her fourth of five years at ChildRoots and enjoying many activities throughout the school day. The day starts and ends in the yard, with lots of playtime and running around. The kids have "Centers Time" where they choose an activity to focus on, such as the writing table, art area, animal figure, vehicles, trains. They also have "atelier" every afternoon where they spend time with children from their class and from other classes, and the theme and teacher changes each week. Some examples of atelier themes are: math, biology, performance, textiles, self-portraits, games. Maddy really enjoys her ateliers and tells us about them. During one of her ateliers, "performance" the kids learned about theater and put on their own play at the end of the week. Maddy was a "star" in the play, and you can see her costume below. A video was shared with the families, and it was fun to watch! As you can imagine, there was a lot of "directing" happening during the less-than-ten-minute performance.

There have been two big ChildRoots events so far this year: Retrospective and March Drum March. Retrospective was new this year, and it was a time for parents to come to school after hours one day to see some of the activities and masterpieces the kids have been working on. Steve had another event that night, so just Maddy and I went to Retrospective. Maddy had made a book that she showed me, and we were allowed to bring home. Different rooms were open for the children to show their parents, such as the art studio, the light table, and a dark room with flashlights and glow in the dark paints. There was also a room to make paper airplanes and test fly them to prove our engineering prowess (or lack thereof). It was a fun event!

Steve, Maddy and I all went to March Drum March. We started in Maddy's Room (South) where the the kids donned the special drum march outfits they had made during the school week prior to the Drum March. The outfits ranged from capes to skirts, dresses, masks and hats. Maddy made a skirt with flowers and leaves. It was a bit big for her so I wrapped and tied it around her as well as I could! Lots of her classmates were there too, and it was nice to meet more of the other parents. Kati, Maddy's teacher, read the story The Root Children by Sibylle Von Olfers, which is the origin her school's name, and what the March Drum March is also based on. After the story was read, we were given drums, and the whole school marched out the door. Luckily it was a nice day, and we enjoyed the walk from ChildRoots to Buckman, the neighboring elementary school where professional drummers were waiting for us and playtime and drumming ensued.