Taking Care and Nurturing
This last month has been a busy one in the Early K classroom. We were in charge of taking care of many things from eggs,
to seeds,
and even caterpillars!
We cared for them and watched as they became chicks,
plants,
and butterflies!
But as all good mommies and daddies experience sooner or later, we had to say good-bye to all the special things that we nurtured so that they can continue their life growing and becoming strong and healty chickens, plants, and butterflies. For the children, it was hard to say good-bye, but they did not let these well loved creatures leave without celebration and well-wishes!
Before the chicks went off to their new home with their new families, the children crafted drawings and wishes for them.
"I wish that the chicks are happy and have fun and grows safe and healthy."
-E.T., age 5
“I wish them to keep happy”
-O.L., age 5
After spending a few weeks with the butterflies in our homemade Butterfly House, we knew it was time to set them free. So, we loaded them back into their butterfly tent and took them to our favorite part of the Arboretum, The Running Space. Before we let them free into their new world, we left them with a song and a few wishes:
We hope that the chicks, the plants and the butterflies know that we loved and cared for them while they were with us, but we also hope that they know we will still love and care for them even when they are gone. We learned a lot from our expereinces taking care of and nurtuing a lot of different things this year. We will be spending our final few weeks of school synthesizing all that transpired this year and really dig deeper into the question: What does it mean to take care of something?
We will leave you with a small video that shows a few children following one of our butterflies as they said good-bye!
