Emotional Resilience - The First Days of School
The First Day of School is FULL OF EMOTIONS!
And not just from our students! Teachers, Parents, Bus Drivers, Admins, even pets feel the change in our schedules.
Flip flops are exchanged for sneakers. Swimsuits and goggle are exchanged for books and pens. There are new routines, new friends, new rules.
Here at Common Ground we experience the beginning of school from all sides. A lot of our school-aged kids have been with us since they were babies! When they get off the bus, all we want to see is a HUGE, confident smile on their faces after a long, successful day.
Brace yourselves, friends, because the reality is, they are just as likely to come off the bus crying. If it’s not the first day, it may be the fifth, or the ninth day when the novelty wears off and the anxiety and fatigue kicks in.
It is totally normal for a kid to be bewildered, overwhelmed, or even angry about what seem to you to be the littlest things.
Even so, this can be a lot to process. In the moment, you may not know what to do or say! Having experienced this ourselves with LOTS of kids as teachers and parents, we have some perspective and tips to share with you.
FOCUS ON THE WHOLE.
When you ask your child how their day went, we know you really, really just want for it to have all gone well. It hurts your heart when the first thing (or the only thing) they bring up are all the bad and sad things that happened to them! You might be inclined to say “let’s focus on the good things! forget the bad, tell me the good!” in an effort to help reshape their perspective. Ignoring the bad does not change their perspective. It just makes them feel like those feelings are shameful, or that they’re wrong for feeling that way. They may even try to hide their worries and negative feelings from you. Worries and negative feelings are as natural as victories and good feelings, and should be honored with the same weight.
Allowing each child to speak. One of the tricks we noticed works really well with kids, especially if there are multiple kids around the dinner table who want to share bits from their day, is to take turns sharing one thing at a time. We go around the table and share one good thing each, then one bad thing, then one weird thing. We keep going around until everyone is shared out.
The round robin mentioned above may not work if a kiddo has a big worry or problem to share. They also may not want to share it with an audience! Taking them one-on-one for a moment to let them talk it all out may be required before they can even focus on finding a good thing to share. Whether you are comforting them, helping them find a solution, or just simply honoring their feelings, you are letting them be heard. That is sometimes all they need.
Finding good things to say about the day is still important. Sometimes we are inclined to give more attention to issues and worries because we are trying to honor them! This is good, but we want to be engaged with their positive stories too. When they are sharing, be sure to give them your full attention. Ask questions, give them specific feedback, show you are interested! We have found that having a specific “cell-phone parking” place for these conversations is incredibly helpful for everyone involved. We get so much more out of something that has our complete attention.
Remember: What you focus on, you get more of. Giving each share equal value and weight will encourage them to share everything, not just the things that get them the most praise or comfort. It will help them honor their day with a more objective perspective.
Whatever they share, the good, the bad, and the weird, show your gratitude. Thank them for sharing their whole day with you, and for discussing solutions for any sticky bits! This will remind them that, no matter what, you are a safe space. Don’t forget to share YOUR day with them too! Your victories, your frustrations (obviously ones they can handle and help with), and moments when you felt you weren’t your best. This reminds them that you are human, that you are not perfect, and certainly do not expect your loved ones to be.
THERE IS NO “PERFECT.”
There are no perfect days. There are no perfect people. Perfect is an enemy of the Good, and expecting perfection only leads to disappointment. THIS IS NOT A NEGATIVE STATEMENT! This is freeing, and empathetic, and forgiving. It allows for a day to be GOOD even if a bunch of things didn’t go right. It allows for a friend to be a good friend even if they don’t alway get along. It allows for a child to know they are amazing, no caveats required. We are all intimately familiar with fear of failure. We all know those days where it feels like one misstep spoils the rest of the dance. It is incredibly hard to remember, when we are upset, to give others the benefit of the doubt, and to not take others’ actions personally.
Scenario 1: Your child is upset because they feel like their teacher did not call on them as much as other people. Honor that feeling! Let them know that it may very well be true. But also remind them that Teachers are not perfect. Remind them that it’s their teacher’s first week of school with nineteen new children they need to get to know, so maybe they just made a mistake! This lets the child know that it’s not a “vs. them” situation, that they can give their trusted adults the benefit of the doubt.
Scenario 2: Your child is upset because they had friction with their friend. This is disappointing! This is uncomfortable! No one likes this, and let them know that. Remind them that friction is normal, and is important for growth and learning to talk to each other with honesty. Remind them that our friends have bad days too, and they are learning to express themselves too. EVERYTHING TAKES PRACTICE, including friendship!
Scenario 3: Your child is mad at you because, while you were running late for the bus this morning, you snapped at them to put on their shoes. Apologize. Let them know that parents are not perfect. This is a good reminder for you too. you are not perfect! Forgive yourself, practice, and grow. Let your child know that you were frustrated, that you should not have acted that way, and encourage them to discuss solutions with you for how to avoid rushing in the morning. This is where you could encourage them to, perhaps, have their shoes on by a certain time. This empowers them with responsibility, and creates a “team” out of a blame/vs. situation.
WHAT WE CAN CONTROL/WHAT WE CAN’T CONTROL: We cannot make others feel or act the way we want them to. But that means they cannot make us feel or act any particular way either. Kids want control over their world as much as we do, and they want us to help them find peace within themselves. We cannot MAKE them feel happy or grateful or confident. We can help them find the tools to do that on their own.
Check out our posts on DEEP BREATHS to help you and your kiddos regulate your own emotions.
We cannot control how others feel and react. Work hard to hope for the best for everyone in your life. WISH WELL.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE: We don’t have all the answers! Check out some of these resources that we recommend to help with emotional resilience, gratitude, conflict resolution, and communication. This list will be updated often, so come and check it out!:
Chrysanthemum: A First Day of School Book by Kevin Hankes: Chrysanthemum thinks her name is absolutely perfect—until her first day of school. "You're named after a flower!" teases Victoria. "Let's smell her," says Jo. Chrysanthemum wilts. What will it take to make her blossom again?
Ninja Life Hacks: Books for Emotions and Feelings: Life is tough. But so are you! The new children’s book series, Ninja Life Hacks, was developed to help children learn valuable life skills. Fun, pint-size characters in comedic books easy enough for young readers, yet witty enough for adults.
Ninja Life Hacks: Books for a Growth Mindset: The new social emotional learning children's book series, Ninja Life Hacks, was developed to help children learn valuable life skills. Fun, pint-size characters in comedic books easy enough for young readers, yet witty enough for adults.
Doggyland - Kids Songs and Nursery Rhymes: Snoop Dog is ready to use his vast talents to teach our kids social-emotional skills!
Essential Bluey Episodes: Bluey is an amazing children’s show on Disney+ with some incredibly key episodes for overcoming emotional obstacles:
Bin Night: Bingo is being teased by a new child in her class, and has conversations about it with her parents over the course of a month.
Bike: When Bluey becomes frustrated with riding her bike, her dad, Bandit, has Bluey watch her little sister Bingo and friends trying difficult things.
Dance Mode and Yoga Ball: Dance Mode and Yoga Ball are all about finding your voice and standing up for your feelings, especially with people you love!
Pass the Parcel: This is an episode about learning that disappointment is a natural feeling when losing, but that it does not have to define your fun!
Most importantly, keep an open channel of communication with you and your teachers! Conscious Discipline’s idea of “The School Family” insists up on the fact that you, your child, and your child’s teacher all want the same thing: For Students to grow up safe, healthy, happy, and confident. Giving each other honesty, communication, and the benefit of the doubt is key to strengthening those bonds and giving your child a firm foundation.
What kind of obstacles did your child have on the first day of school? How did you handle them? What kind of tools do you wish you or your child have? Let us know in the comments!
VIRGINIA FAMILIES WITH INFANTS AND TODDLERS - listening session
VECF (Virginia Early Childhood Foundation) is working with an early childhood research and evaluation firm to conduct a gap analysis of child care for Virginia children ages birth-3. They are especially interested in understanding the child care needs and preferences of families who may not be well connected with the formalized child care system. Register Here.
As part of this, they are conducting a series of virtual listening sessions with families this summer to hear about their child care needs and preferences and what barriers they might face in accessing the child care they desire. They will be holding six listening sessions of up to 12 families each. Listening sessions have been scheduled on a variety of days and times to help families attend a group that is most convenient for them. They will be offering a $100 gift card incentive to each family that participates in a listening session and completes a short survey at the end of the session.
They are particularly interested in families who are Spanish speakers and in the Northern Virginia and I-95 corridor regions (who are currently underrepresented among registrants). Please note that they are registering families for this opportunity only through August 9 (deadline has been extended). If you are interested or know of interested families, please email Holly Murphy at holley.murphy@eceinsights.com.
Animals Visiting at Common Ground during "Animal Jam" Week!
Our Third Week at Camp is ANIMAL JAM!
And we have had so much fun so far! On Monday, we discussed the differences between amphibians and reptiles and created our own favorite animals out of egg cartons! On Tuesday we prepped for animal paper mache masks and played “predators vs. prey” game relays. We will be making Bird Paper Airplanes, laughing through marsupial games, and hunting spooooky cryptids in the woods!
Our local fauna must want to join us… because they have been coming to visit in droves!
We have baby birds currently nesting at the back of our center… we are being very careful not to disturb them, but it is so hard not to peek at Common Ground’s tiniest babies residing just outside the HUMAN baby room!
We also had the Common Five-Lined Blue-Tailed SKINK come RIGHT INTO THE SCHOOL!! Were they hoping to join the camp? Maybe… but we didn’t have a big enough shirt for them. Maybe next year, little skink…
All of our favorite little mammals throughout the center have been enjoying water-play in the bright sunshine!
Share your favorite animal facts here! The more we know about our friends, the more able we are to share this world with them.
Allergy Friendly Small Crackers (that are actually good!)
Miss Liz here with an important product recommendation: Made Good Star Puffed Crackers!
I have celiac disease and have been looking for a “goldfish” cracker replacement for myself since I was diagnosed 10 years ago. I easily found replacements for my other favorite “kid foods”, but the snack cracker remained elusive, until now!
I ordered the three flavor pack, and all three are amazing! I personally LOVE the pizza flavored ones, but I have always been a pizza goldfish fan.
These crackers are made in a facility that is free from the following allergens:
peanuts
tree nuts
wheat and gluten
soy
dairy
egg
sesame
fish
shellfish
Hope you like these crackers as much as I do!
This post contains Amazon Affiliate Links. Money made from Amazon Affiliates helps to support our nonprofit mission.
What do we celebrate in May?
Last year we talked about May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Month!
It’s really important that we educate ourselves and honor all the cultures that we are blessed to have around us. MORE importantly, we must share what we learn with our children and teach them that we change and grow our whole lives, and that learning is a huge part of that.
Check out this Award Winning Children’s Book ISLAND BORN that we would like to add to our list!
SPEAKING OF LEARNING: What Else do we celebrate in May??
MAY IS AMERICAN CHEESE MONTH!!!!
This one may seem pretty CHEESY, but if you want to get your young eater to try new foods, celebrating with a THEMED MEAL can be the ticket! You could make dips, pizzas, fondue, desserts! They could grate it into cheesy confetti and put it on tacos!
Hey… that’s an idea! Why don’t you read DRAGONS LOVE TACOS or SPACE MICE or THE GREAT CHEESE ROBBERY while you snack on cheese and crackers with a picnic!
Here are tons more CHEESE RELATED kids books to add to your bookshelf of life long favorites.
You can also try asparagus DIPPED in cheese… because May is also NATIONAL ASPARAGUS MONTH!!!
MAY IS JEWISH AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH
There are so many ways to learn about our Jewish friends, family members, and neighbors. You can find amazing events and learning opportunities here everywhere from the National Archives and National Gallery of Art to the Holocaust Museum and Library of Congress.
One of our favorite ways to teach our kids is, of course, cooking together. A full-body, multi-sense experience with quality time and learning baked right in is the perfect way to instill lifelong lessons and love for other cultures.
Here are 20 traditional recipes you can cook with your kiddos. Latkes, Chocolate Babka, Bagels and Lox, Savory Potato Knishes with Caramelized Onions, there are so many amazing foods that you can make on this list! While making these yummy treats, you can discuss the importance of these foods and what they represent to Jewish Culture.
There are also several amazing Jewish Heritage children’s books Listed Here. Some of our favorite titles include: Here is the World, Koala Challah, Lights Out Chabbat, and, and Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins.
MAY IS MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH
The best part about learning and practicing Conscious Discipline for our classrooms is that we are learning so much about how to take care of our own mental and emotional health. It is important to support and honor our feelings and the feelings of our children to promote mental health!
You can practice Deep Breathing together! Diaphragmatic breathing can help bring a person into a calmer state, and more able to face friction and problem solve. We have a post about Breathing on a Tropical Island that can help you out!
You can also take the time each day to talk about all of the things you felt, good and bad, and how you got through it. Let them speak, take your turn to speak, and sit in close proximity to one another. Just knowing that our emotions are valid and supported by loved ones can be a huge boost.
We use the NINJA LIFE HACKS series in our classrooms to help explain complex feelings and emotions to our preschool and kindergarten kids. We highly recommend them all!
MAY IS NATIONAL FOSTER CARE MONTH
Families come in all shapes and sizes. What we recommend most of all is to instill this in your children. Talk about how families come in all shapes and sizes! Talk about adoption and foster children. Talk about expanded families and families with one parent and families with two mommies or two daddies.
Explain what foster care really means: There is great need for loving foster families for these children in need of stability, and that fostering is a temporary arrangement. Keep the conversation where your children can understand based on their age.
Kids Need to be Safe and The Foster Dragon are two incredible kids books that can answer a lot of questions, provide perspective, and inspire empathy in kids who may have never met a child in foster care before!
MAY IS NATIONAL BIKE MONTH
We have been using our new strider bikes out on the playground with the older preschool kids, and they could not be more thrilled! The weather is getting warmer and Reston is FULL of incredible bike trails. Take this month to turn off the tv and GO OUTSIDE to explore! Remember to go over Bike Safety with your kids, including the importance of wearing a helmet, sticking with your grownup, and keeping your listening ears on!
What other things do you all celebrate in May? How do you celebrate? Let us know in the comments!!
Book Recommendation: Sex Positive Talks to Have with Kids
Book Recommendation: Sex Positive Talks to Have With Kids: A guide to raising sexually healthy, informed, empowered young people by Melissa Pintor Carnagey LBSW
When a parent sent me a photo of this book and recommended it to me, I have to admit, my first reaction was “How cool! But can I share this with the Common Ground Community!? Is it okay!?”
I feel like this is an important topic, yet I felt slightly uncomfortable.
After reading “Sex Positive Talks to Have with Kids”, I realized my reaction was colored by my own upbringing and the fact that I was brought up in a house where discussing our bodies and sex were taboo. Which is funny, considering that I watched Beverly Hills, 90210 - a show that broke barriers when it came to how sex and teenagers were portrayed on TV - with my parents, beginning in the third grade! I guess that was there way of making sure I knew things without having to have uncomfortable conversations.
This book is a great resource for parents! It has conversation starters for each age group - birth to age 3, ages 4-8, ages 9-12, and teens, covering a lot of great topics. The goal is to normalize these conversations and have shame free talks so that children grow up prepared, not scared.
The topics covered in the book are:
bodily functions
body parts
consent
good touch/bad touch
gender identity
and so much more!
We encourage you to order the book (the links provided in this post are amazon affiliate links that support Common Ground’s non-profit mission), check out their Instagram, and begin to have the age appropriate, sex positive conversations in your home!
I’d also like to thank the parent that brought this book to our attention as a great resource for our community. And now after writing this post, I have Salt-N-Peppa in my head!
April 22nd is Earth Day - Things to do with your Kids
FRIDAY, APRIL 22ND IS EARTH DAY AND WE ARE SUPER EXCITED TO LEARN ALL WE CAN WITH YOUR KIDS!
What is Earth Day? I Earth Day Videos for Kids I Our Earth Day Post 2021
A lot of our classrooms have done Creative Curriculum Units, like Trees and Recycling, about protecting their planet. They have learned poems about The Litter Monster and read books on all the wonderful things trees do to keep our planet healthy and safe. Even in the Busy Bees’ Space Unit, they cover that Earth is our little blue dot in the vast expanse of the universe, and the only known one to hold life!
In celebration of Earth Day, rather than focusing everything on the one day, we have provided a month’s worth of activities, songs, and experiments to awaken curiosity and excitement for the subject from a bunch of different avenues!
World Wildlife Fund Activities and Presentations
Millions of Monarchs: A Journey Through The Monarch Butterfly’s Winter Home
Court Whelan, Natural Habitat Adventures
April 26, 2022
1pm ET | 10am PT Register now and download the supplemental material pack for pre- and post- activities.
Recommended for grade levels: 2-6Plant a pollinator garden
Interested in a hands-on project that supports pollinators? Use your green thumb and our Pollinator Garden Guide to create a garden of wildflowers at school, in your community, or at home. Learners can track the garden’s progress (and its visitors!) with the included wildflower science journal.
As part of the One Square Foot campaign, Air Wick and WWF are giving out free native wildflower seeds suitable for your region. Visit the Air Wick page to get your free seeds and learn more.Discover the Northern Great Plains
Teach about ecosystems and the impacts of human activity through the lens of one of the last remaining healthy temperate grasslands in the world using lessons from our Grasslands of the Northern Great Plains Content Pack.Just added! An activity book with fun printable puzzles and easy-to-read infographics on pollinators, wildflowers, and grasslands.
Some Excellent Teachers Pay Teachers Activities: We know it seems a little counterintuitive to print a bunch of activities out on paper for your kids… but these are really fun and simple. You can do math activities, language art activities, art activities, anything that interests you!
Science Experiments for Earth Day: We are so excited for these we may do some of them at school! But if you’re looking for a “non-screen” activity to do with your kids, these are excellent options.
Fun Songs to Sing Together — Have an Earth Day Dance Party!!!
Excellent Books to Share Together
What kinds of songs, books, and activities do you have? Do you all do a family clean-up day, or daily activities to help the Earth out? We would love to hear from you! If we all share and learn together, we can do incredible things.
All The Earth is a Garden! Let’s grow together.
LJ and your CG Family
Screenless Activities - Springtime Fun
It is finally Spring! The days are (mostly) warmer, and our evenings are more filled with light!
Our busy lives can still make creative moments with our children challenging. Trust us when we say we understand the impulse to hand over the tv remote or the iPad so you can get the dishes done or one last load of laundry into the dryer (we didn’t say ANYTHING about folding it. That’s over the top).
We had a lot of fun with our Simple Recipes for Kids blog, so we wanted to give you some more screen-less activities to do with your kids. None of us are the perfect #PinterestParent, so we kept them simple and (mostly) pre-planning free! You can use stuff you have around the house and the local environment.
Spring Time Origami - Spring Time can be beautiful… but it can also be rainy. Sometimes getting OUT and ABOUT just isn’t possible! Here are some fun folding crafts that can lead to imaginative play and don’t involve a big crafty mess. (Unless you want to paint them, put glitter on them, attach googly eyes, etc. Be as intensive as you like once the animals are finished)
How to fold your own Frog : The timeline for Spring in Reston is defined by amphibians! In Walker Nature Center’s spring update they talk all about vernal pools and their necessity to the survival of tadpoles. They also talk about when you can hear and see certain amphibian species throughout the season. Fold your own froggies and create your own little habitat right in your living room!
How to fold your own Rabbit (Whole Body) (Head): Rabbits are a spring icon! You could make whole rabbits, you could make rabbit heads and use them as book marks, you could set up a whole spring scene or do a play with the fox puppets below. While you’re at it, check out some amazing National Geographic rabbit facts here!
How to fold your own Tulip: One of the quintessential spring flowers for any garden, the tulip is known for its wide variety of colors and dazzling beauty! You could create your own garden without the requirement of a green thumb. You can find tulip facts here!
How to fold your own Fox (Whole Body) (Head): Reston is FILLED with foxes. Fox kits are born in the spring, usually in March or April, and you'll see them emerge from the den four or five weeks after birth. Read more about foxes HERE.
How to fold your own Butterfly or Water Bomb
Moon and Stars Journal: This is one of my favorite ideas for the spring. You do not need a fancy telescope or binoculars to find Spring Constellations. Look at the pictures of them and see if you can find them in the sky! Find an open field or go on a night walk. You can also track the moon phases together! Once you’re done observing, either make some drawings by flashlight outside, or do them right from the window of your house! (We do it from our back balcony.) They do not have to be perfect, this is all about enjoying the night sky together… but you would be surprised at what your children retain.
Spring Scavenger Hunt: Find these things out in the wilderness! You do not have to collect them, just enjoy them.
A blooming flower
The sound of a frog
A bird’s nest with eggs (don’t touch!!!)
A honeybee
Three different bird calls.
A cherry blossom tree (See if you can incorporate the bridge by Lake Anne. It’s incredible)
A lightning bug (late spring)
Tadpoles (any vernal pool!)
A Fox Den
Add your own
Do you have Spring traditions? Share them with us in the comments! We love finding new and exciting things to do, especially if they can be done spur of the moment.
Love Love Love,
LJ and your CG Family
How to Help Ukraine and Ukrainian Families
Russian-Ukraine War: Info and Ways to Help I Write to Elected Officials I Voices of Children
What’s Happening in Ukraine? I How to talk to your child I Books and PBS Info for Kids
Ukrainian families are fleeing their homes, and those that cannot escape must seek refuge in subway stations. Hundreds of thousands of people are without electricity, water, or basic supplies. There could be as many as seven million refugees in desperate need of help. It is disheartening to see people suffering and feel powerless offer assistance, especially when so many of them are children.
How do we do anything that seems gigantic and overwhelming and impossible?
One piece, one step, one breath at a time.
A crisis like this is a marathon, not a sprint. Help how you can, when you can. Whether it’s time or funds, you will be able to offer aid less often and consistently if you overextend yourself.
Ask for help. Many hands make light work, and if you encourage everyone around you to give a little, and they reach out in turn, the ripples from your initial kindness will expand exponentially.
Here is some guidance for how to help out:
UNICEF - Protect Children in Ukraine: UNICEF has been working nonstop in eastern Ukraine, delivering lifesaving programs for affected children and families as fighting has taken an increasingly heavy toll on the civilian population of 3.4 million people — including 510,000 children — living in the Donbas region
World Food Program USA: $75 can provide a family with an emergency box containing enough food for an entire month.
NOVAUKRAINE is a local Northern Virginia group that you can volunteer your time with.
AirBNBs in Ukraine: A lot of people cannot get out of Kyiv. As a result, a lot of Ukrainians who run AirBnBs in the country are offering their houses to families who can’t stay at home. You could purchase a week in an airBnB to support a family directly, especially families that are offering their homes.
NPR gathered a ton of vetted charities where you can donate. Check them all out HERE.
Another small way to help that might also be meaningful to kids and to help them feel connected is to buy digital patterns (sewing/knitting/crochet/etc) or art from Ukrainian creators on Etsy. It’s a small but measurable way to help. One woman is using her Etsy store to sell digital art made by her children JuliaHappyArts's shop on Etsy https://etsy.me/3sy2OsF. (Thanks for the brilliant suggestion!)
Educate yourself and your child about what’s happening. We have provided some helpful links above.
MOST IMPORTANTLY: Encourage your children’s desire to help and comfort, not any desires for violence or vengeance. If the kid says “I wish I could fight the bad guys,” help them to write a letter to a Ukrainian child instead. Focus on the people who need help. Encourage helpful behaviors and compassionate feelings.
If you have any questions or anything to add to our list, please email us or message in the comments below. We will update this! Let’s extend Common Ground’s reach. Love your neighbors, wish them well, work toward a better world.
Love Love Love,
Your CG Family
Ms. Gitti talks to our preschoolers about Nowruz
What is Nowruz?
Nowruz is the Persian New Year. Our beloved Ms. Gitti went over the basics with our Busy Bees and Love Bugs this morning! It is all about new beginnings. It's a time of reconciliation and neighborliness, "contributing to cultural diversity and friendship among peoples and different communities."
Nowruz marks the end of the old year and the beginning of a new one, and it occurs on the day of the vernal equinox.
It occurs on March 20th this year coinciding with the arrival of Spring!
People start getting ready for Nowruz about three weeks before the actual vernal equinox. Pretty much everyone goes into serious spring-cleaning mode, ridding their homes of any unnecessary clutter and lingering grime that’s settled in over the past year so they can start fresh.
In these same weeks leading up to the actual day, families also set aside a space for a “haft-seen,” or a collection of items that symbolize a different hope for the new year. While some families add their own variations to the haft-seen (more on those in a bit), there are seven things that are always included:
Sabzeh: Some kind of sprout or grass that will continue to grow in the weeks leading up to the holiday, for rebirth and renewal
Senjed: Dried fruit, ideally a sweet fruit from a lotus tree, for love
Sib: Apples, for beauty and health
Seer: Garlic, for medicine and taking care of oneself
Samanu: A sweet pudding, for wealth and fertility
Serkeh: Vinegar, for the patience and wisdom that comes with aging
Sumac: A Persian spice made from crushed sour red berries, for the sunrise of a new day
Today, our preschoolers got to do one of the most important parts of the celebration! Ms. Gitti presented all of us with two bowls.
We took a handful of lentils from one, make a wish for the new year, and place it in the other bowl. These lentils will sprout and be a part of the celebration! Thirteen days after Nowruz, families head outdoors and throw the lentil sprouts they've been growing (and using to decorate Haft Sin tables) into flowing waters.
Do you celebrate Nowruz? What kind of traditions does your family have?
We wish you well! Share your joy with us!
Your CG Family
Read Across America Day March Second
Reading is an essential building block to every child.
It is the key to a universe of learning.
It is an essential guide to empathy and understanding Other.
It is the breadcrumb path leading into a forest of imagination.
It is a shared experience for bonding, love, and growth.
It’s also just really really fun.
NEA's Read Across America is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading with the theme: Celebrating a Nation of Diverse Readers.
Every month the National Education Association has recommended books for kids of every age.
Here are February’s Books - The Theme is “Explore Families and History”
Here are March’s Books - The Theme is “Play with Stories”
It’s Also Dr. Seuss Week!
Dr. Seuss’s birthday is Wednesday, March 2nd. We use Dr. Seuss books throughout the year in our classrooms, but we have been reading them a lot in the run up to Dr. Seuss week! We would love for you to ask your kids which Dr. Seuss books they like, which they’ve read, and then share your favorites!
One of the ways to celebrate is doing family readings in whacky places. Build a fort to read a book in! Turn off all the lights and read by flashlight! Read behind the shower curtain in a bathtub filled with pillows! Remind your kid (and yourself!) that reading is an ADVENTURE that you can go on without a single step. If you loved doing it, snap a picture and share it with us! We would love to create an album of our families celebrating reading and being together.
We will also be doing clothing themes every day next week! See below for details!
Make sure that they have back-up clothes that are weather appropriate if they’re wearing costumes or other odd pieces of clothing.
Let us know if you have any questions, and share your favorite kids books in the comments!
Your CG Family
Screenless Activities - Quick Recipes
Your kid is a font of good ideas. They want to make dragon trains and have princess dance parties. They want to turn the living room into a Hotwheels rainforest! They want to cook a three-tiered cake to celebrate Wednesday! If only we could see the world through their eyes…
But you’re tired! Work is long and Covid is never ending. There are dishes to be done and laundry to fold. It can feel like it takes a huge effort to switch directions into the creative realm.
My advice to you: Do it anyway, keep it simple.
You don’t have to turn your whole house into a sprawling city scape to play Taxi like they did in Bluey, but you can pull the chairs around and put on “city noises” with youtube. (I did say screen-less… but I think we can make exceptions for excellent ambient noise apps).
You don’t have to put on full costumes for a dance party! You could just only dance a certain way if you’re a certain character/princess.
I WILL WRITE MORE ON SIMPLE DANCE PARTIES AND IMAGINATION GAMES IN A LATER POST! For this entrty I’m going to focus on one thing, and it’s because my little Imagination Rockstars have been a little obsessed with it…
Baking on a School Night.
I know. I picture it too.
Sticky bowls. Flour on the floor. Every one of our measuring spoons eventually hits the floor, and they all just end up tossed into the batter bowl.
But before you say no, think about what baking offers your child and you.
Measuring out ingredients is good for several different math essentials from number sense to subitization to fractions.
Helping in the kitchen gives them a sense of independence. It offers confidence that they are being entrusted with real tools, not toys. It gives them a chance to feel like they are contributing. Being natural helpers, this is an enriching experience for them emotionally.
Baking and cooking give the child an opportunity to experiment. Little failures with you help them become more familiar with failure as an essential part of the learning process rather than something to be feared.
You get a chance to be with them, doing something fun, no distractions. This is an incredible boost to your relationship and the trust you share. It also may help you feel enriched and emotionally boosted, because who doesn’t like licking a batter spoon? At the end of the day flour and milk are pretty easy to clean up. Having giggles and belly laughs can turn a whole day around.
All this being said, you don’t have to bake a three-tiered cake.
Simple recipes that do not take four hours to complete are key. I like to use the Star Wars Cookbooks for kids! They also have Harry Potter cookbooks, Sesame Street Cookbooks, and countless online resources for parents like who you have gone through the process.
Rice Krispies Treats: We LOVE cooking rice krispies treats at the center with our students. They are easy, fun, and full of mostly shelf-stable ingredients. They are also super easy to modify for allergies. You can cut them in any shape you like. They can be multicolored. You can BUILD with them! The possibilities are endless, and the clean-up is quick.
Banana Bread: Everyone has a fantastic banana bread recipe. We included “Big Bird’s Banana Bread” recipe because it was specifically designed with little hands in mind. It’s yummy, healthy, and perfect for breakfast and snacks!
Frozen Yogurt Bites: These are so cool because you really can’t go wrong with flavors. Fruit and Yogurt are foods for all ages, so an older sibling can make a scrumptious treat FOR a younger sibling. Silicone baking molds come in all sorts of shapes from robots to unicorns, so you can have “themed tea parties” with your frozen treats on the side!
Mug Cakes: Full disclosure, we make these in my house all the time. They’re quick, simple, and small, perfect for a little sweet bedtime bite while we read. If you are totally out of energy but still want to do something a little extra sweet with your littles, this one “takes the cake.”
No Bake Cookie Dough Balls: All the fun of making cookie dough without any of the worry about raw ingredients or messing with the oven! This is one example of a really great recipe that accommodates allergies and has healthy ingredients for growing bellies.
We are not always the parents we want to be, all patience and creativity. But you are amazing. All of you. Just as you are. At the end of the day, you’re not going to remember spotless counters. You’re going to remember the first time they cracked an egg. You’re going to remember when you mixed up baking flour and baking soda and laughed at the result. And they’re going to remember that even on a cold, rainy Tuesday, you all found a little magic together before bedtime.
Do you have recipes you and your families use when baking with kids? We would love to see them! Share them in the comments.
With love (and plenty of baking disaster stories!)
LJ and your Common Ground Family
Busy Bees and Love Bugs meet Jiji the Penguin- 4s start ST Math
This week the Love Bugs and Busy Bees started their ST Math journey with Jiji the Penguin. ST Math is an online program that teaches math using fun puzzles that keep the children interested and entertained. The first step is starting to learn their 13 character password- which sounds daunting, but feels like a matching game. The expectation for Pre-K is 30 minutes per week. We are doing small group sessions of 10 minutes 3 times a week: Love Bugs MWF and Busy Bees TWTh.
To learn more about ST Math and to play games, visit bit.ly/welcome-stmath. For more information about ST Math or to download free family resources, visit stmath.com/parent-math-resources.
So far the kids have really enjoyed the time together learning from Jiji! We will keep you updated on our progress.
Happy Lunar New Year!
Lunar New Year for Kids I Year of the Tiger I Activities to Do
All around the world people will be celebrating Lunar New Year on February 1st, 2022! What is the Lunar New Year?
With a history of over 3,000 years, the Lunar New Year festival, like most holidays, originates from mythical and spiritual roots. “The holiday is celebrated on the first day of the lunisolar calendar when the new moon comes out, and lasts 15 days until the next full moon rises,” writes author Eugenia Chu in her latest book, “Celebrating Chinese New Year: History, Traditions, and Activities – A Holiday Book for Kids.” The lunisolar calendar is calculated based on the moon, sun and the seasons while the western calendar is based on the sun’s movements only. This is why the Lunar New Year falls on a different day each year, typically between January and February.
An estimate 1.5 billion people across the world celebrate with family and friends. Ms. Hui told us about some traditions she participates in- wearing new red clothes, exchanging red envelopes and sharing a meal with family. In the Chinese culture the color red symbolizes luck, joy and happiness. Ms. Nha has been preparing for the Lunar New Year by cleaning her home in preparation for a clean start in a new year and cooking traditional dishes. They also have five fruits that are part of their celebration table- pineapple, apple, oranges, mangoes and grapes. Ms. Nha and her family also have traditional Vietnamese red clothing that they will wear. She will be visiting some of our classrooms to teach our kiddos all about the day.
We will be sharing the book Alex’s Good Fortune by Benson Shum which tells the story of girl named Alex who invites her friend Ethan to celebrate Chinese New Year with her family. She and her family teach him about their traditions throughout the day.
Once you have educated your kiddos about the history and significance of Lunar New Year, you can do some really excellent crafts with them! Here are a few of our favorites
Mod Pizza Fundraiser -- Pizza Your Way!
(* NOTICE * Date updated!)
On Tuesday, February 22nd, Mod Pizza will be hosting a fundraiser for us ALL DAY LONG!
Where: The Mod Pizza in the Plaza America Shopping Center: 11642 Plaza America Drive, Reston VA 20190
When: Tuesday, February 22nd from 10:30AM-10:00PM
What: A fundraiser where you get your delicious, fully customized pizza, and your school gets 20% of what you pay!
How: You an order in store, through the Mod Pizza App, or directly on the website! Whether or not you do sit in or carry out, it counts! If you are ordering online, make sure to use the code MODF2789. If you are ordering in person make sure to show this flyer! Please note: ordering through apps like UberEats, DoorDash, etc WILL NOT COUNT toward the fundraiser!
Why: Mod Pizza has a pizza for everyone. Each pizza is lovingly created with your preferences, style, and dietary needs in mind! It is fun and scrumptious for the whole family! Which is why it is absolutely perfect for a Common Ground Community Fundraiser. Help us celebrate our 50th Birthday this year by helping us earn funding for our mission to lift early childhood educators up and provide living wages!
Winter Weather: Friday, January 28th - Pick Up Changes
Due to the weather today, we have some updated to the pick up procedure.
If it is possible, please try to pick your child(ren) by 4:30pm. However, we are not closing early and will remain open until 6pm this evening.
Pick Up, Update:
Please park on the concrete slab and in the handicap parking spaces, and then walk to the check in/out station by the mailbox.
You child(ren) will be delivered to you at the main entrance.
FCPS Language Immersion Lottery Now Open
If you have rising Kindergarteners or first graders and are interested, the lottery for the language immersion programs in Fairfax County opened today. We have been really impressed with what we have seen from the Lake Anne Spanish Immersion Kindergarten Teachers. .
Below please find additional information.
For families wanting to apply for Lake Anne Dual Language Immersion, the lottery registration begins today. Here are the dates
Online registration will close March 3, 2022 at 4 p.m.
Status notification emails regarding lottery outcomes will be sent on March 16, 2022.
Parent online responses with school selection, signed disclosure statement and fee payment (if applicable) is due on March 30, 2022.
Late online registration will open March 16, 2022. Late applications will be added to the end of the generated waiting list according to the date received.
https://www.fcps.edu/registration/dual-language-immersion-programs-registration
In order for families to place their kids in the lottery, they need to register their rising kindergartener at their base elementary school and ask for an activated SIS Parent account.
https://www.fcps.edu/registration/kindergarten-registration
Then they go to this URL and log into their SIS account.
https://insys.fcps.edu/WLImmersion/login/ED/00
The Hunters Woods lottery is separate and has slightly different dates, beginning in March. Hunters Woods has an info session on 17 Feb. Hunters Woods Elementary School has a magnet program for the Arts and Sciences. Through Responsive Instruction, Responsive Classroom strategies, arts integration, STEAM and Project Based Learning (PBL) opportunities, we work to promote a collaborative family of learners, focusing on innovations in teaching and learning. The staff at Hunters Woods is committed to weaving the arts throughout the curriculum.
https://www.fcps.edu/academics/elementary-school-academics-k-6/elementary-magnet-schools
https://www.fcps.edu/registration/elementary-magnet-school-lottery
It is ok to go into both lotteries. It is also ok to accept a Lake Anne offer and then decline it if you get into Hunters Woods. You do not give up your spot at your neighborhood school or the other lottery by doing so.
Step into 2022
It’s been SO COLD this month!! Believe us when we say we understand the impulse to stay under a warm blanket, sip hot cocoa, and play wordle until Spring.
BUT we are holding a 6 week step challenge for our teachers and we will tell you why!
While we are staying outside as much as possible to maintain a firm “fresh-air” defense against the Covid-19 pandemic, there are so many health benefits to keeping outside and getting consistent movement.
Getting daily sunlight is essential for people of any age. Sunlight boosts mood, helps with sleep, increases Vitamin-D production, and helps you sleep! Balanced and Barefoot author Angela Hanscom also goes into detail about how outdoor activity boosts strength, reduces anxiety, helps with attention issues, sensory issues, and behavioral issues.
Consistent daily activity nourishes nearly every system in your body. A study published in the journal Comprehensive Physiology found that 35 different chronic health conditions are accelerated by physical inactivity. They range from heart disease and stroke to depression and constipation.
1. You could strengthen your heart.
Someone who gets 10,000 steps a day will have a bigger stroke volume—how much blood the heart pumps per beat—compared with someone who gets 1,000 steps a day. “A larger stroke volume is a sign of greater aerobic capacity,” says John Thyfault, PhD, associate professor of physiology at Kansas University Medical School in Kansas City, Kansas. “Aerobic capacity is arguably the best predictor of mortality and disease risk.”
2. You could store less body fat.
Calories eaten by someone who gets 10,000 steps a day do not travel the same path when they’re consumed by an inactive person. Thyfault has performed studies that shows when someone who exercises regularly eats that food is used differently by the body to fuel key systems compared with an inactive person. In someone who is habitually physically inactive, however, those calories are more likely to be stored as fat or in the muscle or liver. Evidence shows that habitual exercisers are also better able to handle those inevitable periods of excess—splurges like Thanksgiving Day, for example—without gaining as much weight.
3. You could help stabilize your blood sugar.
“The person who gets 10,000 steps a day will have a much lower glucose and insulin response in their blood after a meal,” he says. “The inactive person will have a much bigger response. That surge of glucose and insulin after a meal is a predictor of who will develop diabetes down the road and also a predictor of cardiovascular disease risk.”
4. You could improve your brain's performance.
The ability to learn new tasks, grow new brain cells, and stave off cognitive decline are all aided by daily moderate exercise. A study in the journal Current Biology showed that just one bout of exercise enhanced the brain’s ability to reorganize, repair, and adapt to new situations. Aerobic exercise, such as walking, may also spur new cell growth in the hippocampus, the area of the brain that regulates emotion and memory, according to a study done on rats that was published in The Journal of Physiology.
5. You'll reinforce healthy habits.
There is one difference between a stepper and non-stepper that can’t be seen on a glucose monitor, brain scan, or electron microscope: strength of will. Small successes build upon themselves. If someone got 10,000 steps yesterday and the day before, they are more likely to hit that mark again the following day.
“The whole 10,000 steps model is based upon making movement part of a normal routine where it wasn’t there before. It facilitates behavioral change,” says Brian Richardson, MS, NASM-PES, co-owner of Dynamic Fitness in Murrieta, CA, and associate professor of exercise physiology at nearby PGCC junior college. “When it comes to weight loss, behavioral change is dependent upon creating habits.”
We are hoping that in the next six weeks, along with providing healthy competition and fabulous prizes, we help our teachers develop and maintain lifelong habits that will keep them healthy and happy for years to come! We invite you to join us. If this is something you’d like to do SCHOOL-WIDE, let us know in the comments! We would love to hear from you!
Your CG Family.
Friends of CG Fridays: Just Cats Clinic
Just Cats Clinic has been caring for our cats like they’re family since 2013. Now, when we need them the most, they have opened an Urgent Care clinic with extended hours.
Website I Contact Info and Hours I Directions
Dr. Elizabeth Chapmen started the Just Cats Clinic in order to offer your cat a personalized, comfortable experience for your cat in a stressful time.
Every person employed goes through cat-specific trainings so they are familiar with feline behaviors and handling. They are flexible and change their procedure based on each individual cats needs and temperament. From ample natural light, to windows with bird feeder views, to hiding places in every room… this will truly feel like a sanctuary for your cat.
Working with animals is a labor of love, and the veterinary community as a whole has been pushing itself to the brink to keep our animals safe.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic started, vets all over the country have suffered from staff shortages. Along with sickness and quarantines, the field is primarily women. When schools were closed or primarily online, many women left their careers to take care of their children.
For the first time in 20 years you can’t just go to an emergency vet. Imagine your animal is in trouble, you call their doctor, and they have to check to see which emergency vets might have space.
There are a lot of patients that NEED to be seen, but are not a life or death emergency. They are in pain, or vomiting, but would be turned away because the number of more urgent patients was just too high.
Dr. Elizabeth started an emergency clinic on January 1st to help mitigate this problem. Just Cats Clinic will do same day urgent care appointments for ANYone with a cat in need, whether or not they are a patient. They are not an emergency vet, but can help diagnose, stabilize, and take care of your beloved pet, and help you find a space in an emergency vet while they do so if it is necessary.
Help Common Ground Childcare show some love to our local heroes! If you or someone you know has a cat they adore, bring them to the place where you know their doctors will love them as much as you do.