CG Birthday: How to Celebrate with Us!
We are turning 49 on April 6th, but we are celebrating ALL MONTH LONG!!
Normally this would warrant one of our excellent all-school events with food trucks, moon bounces, a giant cake, maybe a carnival…
But since we can’t do that, we are finding a ton of new, exciting ways to celebrate, and we want to tell you how you can join us from your own home.
Sign up for our Spring Stuffy Sleepover!
Our featured author Andrea Lamont will be doing a reading of her new book “The Friendship Rock” for the stuffys and their kiddo friends at home. This event is a total blast that we really think is a perfect way to celebrate together while apart.
Participate in and Share our Book Fair!
From April 12th-April19th, 24/7, you can participate in our Online Book Fair with Scrawl Books! There will be readings, book recommendations, and wish lists! Whether you are supporting your classroom, buying your kids’ new favorite book, or finding your next “relax by the fire pit” Spring read, any book you buy supports our fundraising efforts to raise money for our Non-Profit mission. The best birthday present you can give Common Ground is helping us raise money for our educational efforts.
Host your own Fundraiser on Facebook!
Our Non-Profit missions benefit our students, our teachers, our outreach, our support of much needed educational reform. By supporting our beloved school, we are also supporting our community! Helping us raise money to support those efforts is an AMAZING WAY to help us celebrate our birthday.
Here is our Our PayPal Donation Link where anyone can donate! Thank you for widening our impact.
You can Celebrate “The Week of the Young Child” with us!
We have several activities we are doing with all of the children at the center, but here are some ideas for how to celebrate at home!
Music Monday: Instead of turning on the tv when you get home, turn on the stereo and have a dance party!! Show your kids your favorite songs, and let them show you theirs, make a big Youtube playlist of your favorites, dance your heart out!
Pro Tip: Eighties Pop makes great Dance Music, here is our Owl’s Spotify List.
Struggling to come up with songs? Check out our Mister Josh Rock at the Blocks series on Youtube!
Tasty Tuesday: THROW YOUR OWN COMMON GROUND BIRTHDAY PARTY!! We know putting together something complicated on a Tuesday night feel like it’ll take more energy than you have, so you can always save this for a free weekend day. Whether you decide to try it on a weeknight, or a weekend, this does not have to be over the top to be special with your kiddos. Big Bird has a super easy Banana Bread Recipe! Make healthy banana bread “cupcakes,” stick candles in them, sing Happy Birthday, and chow down!
Work Together Wednesday: At school we will be planting our new class gardens!! We encourage you to plant local, pollinator-friendly plants with your kiddo so they can contribute to a healthy environment. Every little act brings great goodness to the world, and if your kid learns that early with you, they will be more confident and ready to do more and more each day.
Artsy Thursday: Draw chalk art on your sidewalk. Send postcards to family members you haven’t seen awhile with pictures from your kids. Let your kids paint with ice cubes or paint rocks to leave on your local trails. Any little art project that you do with your kid is time spent creating something lovely in the world, no matter what your skill level is. This is also a perfect opportunity to show teacher appreciation: If you want to make your teacher’s day, have your kiddo make an art project for them telling their teacher just how much they matter.
Family Friday: Movie Night! Family Walk! Shadow Charades! Board games! If you want to make it Common Ground themed, this is a fine night to throw the CG Birthday Party! You can also do a “name that teacher” guessing game.
All-Smiles Saturday: Sign your kids up for our Saturday Session on April 10th! While your kids are partying it up with us, you can relax, go on a date, do some much needed yard work, finish that 1000 piece puzzle you’ve been saving, anything that makes you smile!
HOWEVER: If SPRING CLEANING without interruption is what really makes your Saturday perfect, we highly suggest saving any gently used clothing/linens, small household appliances, personal accessories, and books for our JUNE FUND-DRIVE DONATION EVENT! By cleaning out your houses and freeing up your space, you could earn your school BIG MONEY. It’s our favorite type of “fundraiser,” because it is a WIN WIN WIN. You get a cleaned out bureau and don’t create more waste, we get much needed funds for our various educational objectives, and someone gets much needed “new to them” items for an affordable price from UNIQUE without creating more waste.
Whatever you do to celebrate, however you do it, please send us pictures. We would love to make a huge birthday picture collage for the center to show all the ways we honored Common Ground Childcare. Show us your cakes, your decorations, your art projects and gardens! Whatever it looks like, it was done with love, and that is everything to us.
Love Love Love,
Your CG Family
P.S. Let us know how you plan on participating on Common Ground’s Birthday in the Comments!
Earth Hour: A Moment to Pause and Reflect
Saturday, March 27th at 8:30 PM local time is Earth Hour.
What is Earth Hour?
Traditionally, global skylines have gone dark and millions of individuals have turned off their lights for Earth Hour as a symbolic gesture to their commitment to preserving our planet.
EarthHour.Org encourages people to participate in the hopes to keep nature loss and climate change top of mind. It is that mindfulness and reflection that will encourage people of every generation to stop and reflect on the lovely fragility of this earth that holds the entirety of our past, our present, and our future.
The World Wildlife Post is hosting a meditative hour for peace and mindfulness Here. You can sign up for text reminders Here.
Reflection may be an important step, but it’s just the FIRST step. There are so many things you can do, even as an individual, to change the world for the better.
Educate Yourself
Earth Hour has links on Nature Loss and Biodiversity, Climate Change, and Potential Solutions Here
World Wildlife Fund has several excellent links on what’s at stake, what needs to change, and how we can help Here
Nasa talks about the proof of Climate Change Here
COTAP.org talks about several ways to reduce your Carbon Footprint Here
The Rainforest Alliance offers tips on how to teach your kids about Climate Change Here
One Planet One Future has a video lesson series coming out that you can watch Here
SCRAWL BOOKS has a whole section on Science and Nature for Kids Here
Sign Petitions and Donate
Earth Hour has its pledge for educating others and finding greener ways to live Here
World Wildlife Fund has a ton of excellent petitions to go through Here and several ways to donate Here
GLOBAL DEAL FOR NATURE PETITION HERE
TWENTY GLOBAL NON-PROFITS PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT YOU CAN DONATE TO HERE
#GiveFundsGiveTime is a motto we came up with during our Giving Tuesday event last year, but we find that the concept behind it is one we want to keep top of mind ALL year long. If you don’t have the funds to donate, spend time educating yourself and others! Every time you pass on knowledge to someone, they pass it on to someone else. These good deeds ripple out. You may be one person, but one person spreading their love can change the world.
With Love,
Ms. LJ and your Common Ground Family