1. Last year, our students visited Deir Al Qamar. During one of our Morning Meetings regarding field trips, this year’s KG1 B students indicated their desire to also visit Deir Al Qamar. Our discussion of the visit struck a responsive chord with the students, as they were so enthusiastic and anxious to make the same visit. We asked them what they wanted to do during that visit, and based on their suggestions we were able to plan accordingly. Planning centered around discussion of last year’s trip that consisted of three activities. Students made observational drawings of two rabbits. They also observed when making noise the rabbits would hide in their house. One child said, “Rabbit is scared! We have to be quiet.” As a group of students fed the two rabbits, they sang to them in a soft voice. During the second activity, the students made insects out of clay. In the third activity, the students went on a nature hike and collected items. Based on these discussions, the current students are so excited and expressed their interest to make the visit. As a result, we will be visiting Deir Al Qamar on October 21 st.

3. Our first Mystery Reader was Ms. Adele. The children were so excited to share with her how they are doing. Our second Mystery reader was Mr. Clark. Mr. Clark explained the importance of reading, and that he had noticed before our Morning Meeting how each child took a book from the basket and looked carefully through it. He told the children how proud he was of them in showing interest in books. If you would like to be a Mystery Reader, please email us.

4. A group of children continue to show an interest in learning about countries, maps and flags. Two parents, each from Australia and Syria, visited our classroom to discuss about their country and its culture. Thank you for helping your child with the paper bag activity. Students were happy to collect recyclable items from home to bring to school. Children will be working in small groups to discuss the items they collected and come up with suggestions and ideas as to how these items can be used or what can be done with them. We wish you a happy Eid! If you have not turned in your child’s Hopes and Dreams form, please do so by Wednesday, October 1 st.

5. We were very happy to welcome the children back to school during the first week of September. Together we discussed and set the classroom rules; the children were able to come up with many rules, model them and differentiate between the right and wrong behaviors. We read stories related to the daily routine and classroom centers. We introduced the children to the classroom centers; their names in Arabic as well as the names of different objects in them. We started conversations in small groups and talked about the children favorite games and toys. We read a story about “Bus RANROON” and led many activities related to the story; singing & dancing, as well as playing and making our own bus. Salwa and Caroline

6. Warm greetings from the atelier! This first month has been dedicated to building relationships and establishing trust with your children. In order for creativity to flourish, it’s incredibly important to feel that you are in a safe space- a space that encourages risk-taking, and one that embraces failure as a normal part of the process. I spent the first few weeks working in the centers of their own classroom, and have just started to slowly introduce them to the atelier in small groups. I’m thrilled to see how eager they are to explore the atelier’s materials and how generously they share their ideas with each other. (Sharing initial ideas can actually be very difficult for adults, especially artists, so it’s inspiring to watch.) Many thanks to those of you that have already begun to send me recyclables for use in the atelier. It’s never too late to send these along with your child. Some example items would be: glass jars and lids, empty cans/tins of any size, ruined clothes/old sheets, cardboard, cereal boxes, tubes from paper towel rolls, broken electronics, etc. Feel free to snap a phone photo and email it to me at jschlabach@acs.edu.lbif you’re unsure.jschlabach@acs.edu.lb Wishing you all a wonderful fall break, Jesse

7. My year in KG1B began by visiting the classroom with a few recorders in my basket. The students and I sat together in the music center, playing recorder, and discovering a variety of new sounds. One student played a succession of very fast notes and everyone wanted to try. Another student used voice and recorder together, a third danced and played. During my next visit the students wanted to add piano to their music making, so we went outside the class to their music center. Here the recorder exploration continued with loud sounds that went all the way to another class, very loud sounds that hurt our ears, and made the other class close their door. We have begun a discussion about how we share the aural space around us. The piano has become a compelling part of our exploration with the children reading sheet music, singing and playing at the same time. When they wanted to play a song for which there was no sheet music, they gathered paper and pencils from the class and made their own sheet music. They have a variety of approaches to the keyboard, using fingers, whole hands and even whole arms. They use the pedals: ‘it makes so many sounds!” As the children make different sounds, both with the recorder and at the piano, their attention is directed to a closer observation of exactly how these different sounds are made, and what these different sounds express. Ingrid