Anna Much

September 26, 2025

Hello Families,

It’s officially Fall and it’s been exciting noticing the changes of the season. On Monday, I told a story about the Autumnal Equinox and the balance of night and day and we listened to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (Autumn) while the children drew an autumn tree for the cover of their journals. We’ll be starting journaling next week and I will share all about it at our conference. We’ve been learning new Autumn poems and noticing the leaves turning from green to yellow on our Sycamore trees. We took a walk with the Acorn class yesterday to the vineyard just behind school and noticed the grape leaves turning red, orange and yellow. This is an abandoned vineyard so we picked and ate grapes, then continued walking until we got to the bike jumps further on. We had fun running up and down, and sliding down too, with our Acorn friends. 

We are continuing to read about our names. It’s so lovely to hear the story of their names and they feel so proud as I read about them. If you haven’t turned one in yet, please do so soon. 

The children made some beautiful nature name art this week with Miss Lena. It was a two-day project where they collected leaves, bark and sticks on the first day, then they glued on the materials the next day. 

We had a fun buddies day today making paper airplanes with our big buddies, flying them and then measuring the distance. We worked with our big buddies making the planes and creating a name for our team. We also measured our big buddies on our height chart. We had to make an extension for some of them! 

We read lots of books about apples and apple picking as we are getting geared up for our field trip NEXT WEDNESDAY, October 1st to Ratzlaff Ranch. We need more drivers so please get your paperwork in to Carolyn if you are able to drive. Some of you are just missing one or two things so I will be emailing you to let you know. 

Conference Week is 10/7-10/10
Please sign up on the sheet on the white board. If none of these times work for you, please let me know and we can try to figure out another time.

Are you ready for the rain? Please make sure your child has rain gear (boots, raincoat/rain pants or a rain suit) and extra clothes. The rain is coming next week…hopefully! 

Save the date: October 24th Fall Festival and Pumpkin Walk (More details soon!)
I hope you all have a beautiful weekend and get a chance to go outside and enjoy the beauty of Autumn!!

Much Love and Gratitude, 
🧡 Miss Anna

September 18, 2025

Hello Amazing Families,

I have to say I am so filled with gratitude from our Back to School NIght! We had 100% attendance and I really enjoyed sharing and laughing with you all. I loved hearing what your children have shared with you about school and I am so honored to be a part of this magical time in their lives. 

Language Arts: 

We started the first page of our Red is an Apple Book. The children have been learning a Color Poem with sign language and we will take the next few weeks to complete this book. We read an amazing book called Beautiful Oops about how when you make a mistake with your art, you can use your imagination and turn it into something beautiful. It’s a fun book and a really great life skill to be flexible and learn how to fix mistakes. 

Math: 

We had lots of great Number Talks both at Centers and at Morning Circle. Number Talks are when we look at a visual representation of a number and then talk about it. When we’re working with our ten frames and they are putting their play dough balls on to represent the number 8, I ask, “What do you notice?” Children start noticing the empty spaces or that the top row of the ten frame is full. This is all getting us ready for adding and subtracting and having a solid number sense foundation. We also play around with this when we are counting sticks for the number of days we’ve been in school. If we have a group of 8 sticks I show them different ways to make 8 and they show me by holding up their fingers in different combinations. 

Science: 

We were playing outside and observed something so interesting yesterday. There were two red-tailed hawks on the ground and in the air. We watched and made predictions about what they were doing. Then another hawk swooped in. Some of our predictions are that they are two males fighting to mate with the female, they are fighting over food, or they are fighting over a nest. Could it be a juvenile with its parents? We need to do some research to learn more.

Field Trips: 

Wednesday October 1st-Apple Picking at Ratzlaff Ranch 9:00-12:00 with the Acorn classWe need drivers and chaperones!! If interested, please get your paperwork into Carolyn. 

You need: 
Proof of Insurance-$100,00-$300,00 coverage
Driver’s license copy  Fingerprints
Meeting with Rebecca

I have shared a google doc (please let me know if you didn’t get it): The first form EVERYONE will fill out to tell me what kind of car seat/booster your child has. The other forms are the field trips. Please fill this out if you are interested in being a driver/chaperone. You need to have your paperwork into Carolyn if you want to be a driver/chaperone. I will then let you know if you are needed as just a driver, or a driver/ chaperone. 

No School Friday!!

I hope you all have a lovely long weekend! 
Much Love and Gratitude, 
❤️ Miss Anna

September 12, 2025

Hello Families,

This week was extra fun as we watched our weather change. It was pretty exciting getting caught in the rain storm! Thank you if you have brought rainboots and a raincoat or rain suit for your child. Everyone will need rain gear. Children will need rain boots and either a rain suit, or a raincoat and rain pants as we will play outside in all types of weather. You may leave them here or bring them home daily. I love the idea of leaving them at school so they are not forgotten at home but I realize that you may not have a second set of gear. 

Language Arts: 

The children have been learning a rainbow song in sign language and made rainbow books this week to help learn their color words. Adding sign language to our poems and songs helps children learn kinesthetically, visually and auditorily. Hopefully, the Rainbow Book made it home and your child shared it with you. We will make several of these types of books throughout the year and it is wonderful if they can “read” them to you at home to strengthen their learning and bridge home and school. 
We read a book in our garden called Yoon about a girl who moved to America from Korea and was navigating the differences of her new school. She didn’t want to write her name in English and didn’t like the way it sounded but with patience and kindness from her parents, teacher and a new friend, she began to write her name and love school. This led to a discussion about our own names and what they mean. We are going to explore this more as a class so I would love your help. On Monday, I’ll be sending home directions for a simple Name Exploration homework. Please let me know if you have any questions or need guidance on completing this with your child.

Math: 

We made lots of patterns this week with our bodies (clapping and snapping and stomping) colored bears, and macaroni necklaces. The children are beginning to be able to name their patterns now too. We also learned about 10 frames and played with playdough to represent numbers on ten frame. We played a game with our play food classifying healthy foods and made a Healthy Foods poster to continue talking about how to take good care of our bodies.
We worked on deadheading our flowers in the garden and collected the Scabiosa seeds. We also ended our week with a lovely yoga session doing a Sun Salutation and some cat and cow poses.We had lunch and recess with our big buddies today too! 

Important Dates: 

Tuesday 9/16 Back to School Night-Potluck and Parent Meeting
5-5:30 Potluck
5:30-6:30 Parent Meeting 
Please let me know if you can attend. The meeting is for parents only but Isabella (my daughter in 6th grade) has offered to watch any students if you cannot find childcare. Please do let me know if you are planning on this so she can be prepared with who and how many. I hope that at least one parent can attend. This is a time to connect with one another and for me to share about your child’s daily routine and important info about the year.

Picture Day Wednesday 9/17

No School Friday 9/19 See an attached flyer about a Village family beach meet up on this day.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend! 

Much Love and Gratitude, 
💜 Miss Anna

September 5, 2025

Hello Fabulous Families,

We had another wonderful week exploring our world and working and playing together. We took a walk on the trail behind the school to pick those beautiful wildflowers called Madia (also known as Tarweed). You may have seen them on the drive into school. We usually leave most flowers for the bees and butterflies but since there are so many, we picked a few to make some hammer print art. We also used some of the Scabiosa (also known as pincushions) from our fairy garden for a beautiful red and purple color. We used rocks instead of hammers and talked about how our ancestors and people long ago didn’t have hammers so they used rocks as tools. 

Language Arts: We read a book called All the Colors of Us  where we learned that we get the color of our skin from our families and ancestors, the sun, and melanin. This then led to a discussion of who our ancestors are and where in the world they lived. We’ll be talking more about families and ancestors in the upcoming weeks as we continue to learn about who we are and how we connect with the world. We are still learning about feelings and what to do when we have big feelings. Today we brainstormed what we can do when we are angry and the children had many great ideas for safe ways to manage their mad feelings. We also read the book When Sophie Gets Angry-Really, Really Angry. In this book Sophie runs outside and cries and then connects with nature before she’s ready to join her family again. We talked about how crying and being outside helped calm Sophie and how feelings come and go.

Math: The children have been building with pattern blocks and noticing how two shapes together can make a new shape. We also count the days we’ve been in school and we had our first bundle day!! Ask your child if they can tell you how many sticks are in a bundle! We are continuing our work with graphs and made a new graph for our hair color. We also added our big buddies to our Favorite Color graph!

Buddies: We met our big buddies (from Mr. Robbins’ middle school class) today and had fun learning their favorite color and painting our handprints together. We also played Red Light, Green Light and had lunch and recess with them. We can’t wait to play and do more fun activities with our big buddies! 

Save the Date: Sunday 9/7 Village Fest 1-4 @ the Rio Nido Roadhouse There will be music, good food, swimming and a Silent Auction! Come support VCS!!

Picture Day: 9/17

Back to School Night: 9/16 5-6:30 Potluck and Parent Meeting here in our classroom. We will have food from 5-5:30 and start the meeting at 5:30. This is an important night to learn about your child’s daily school routine and information about the year. Please let me know if you can attend. Parents only!!

Thank you and I hope to see you at Village Fest this weekend!

Much Love, 
💜 Miss Anna

August 29, 2025

Hello Fantastic Families,

We had such a fun and busy first full week of school! We started the week off with yoga where we learned how to grow a little taller as we sit with a straight spine and strengthen our core.
We had some stuffie friends help us with our belly breathing and did a sun salutation, as well as a few other poses. The children also made fairy houses in our garden and were delighted to see that the fairies had left some treasures for us. We had our first music class with Miss Rachel on Monday where we were tapping, clapping and stomping out rhythms. 

Language Arts: We read a book called In My Heart that was all about different feelings we might have. After the story, we painted hearts and the children told me how they were feeling in their heart. We continued our discussion of feelings later on with the Acorns with a collaborative circle where we read another book called Lots of Feelings. Then, Miss Jess (the Acorn Teacher) introduced the children to Bug, a shy stuffed animal who was very brave and talked to the children about feeling nervous and shy. Exploring and identifying feelings is so important for children as they develop their social/emotional selves.

Math: The children played several games this week learning some new shapes and identifying numbers. The children also graphed their eye color and their favorite color and learned that graphs help us organize information.Next week we will continue to explore who we are and how we connect with one another in our world. Please feel free to stop in the classroom and check out the children’s art work. They drew their self-portraits and I’m sure they would love to show you.

Remember: NO SCHOOL MONDAY!! Happy Labor Day!

Save the Date: Next Sunday 9/7 Village Fest at the Rio Nido!!This is a fundraiser and will be a lot of fun to build community and support our school! There’s a pool, music, silent auction and good food!

I hope you all have a lovely 3 day weekend!! 

Much Love and Gratitude, 
💜 Miss Anna

August 15, 2025

Hello Fabulous Families,

The first day of school is next Wednesday, August 20th!! School begins at 8:45 and ends at 1:15.  We have been busy working in the classroom to prepare for the children and getting excited for the fun we’re going to have. Just a few reminders: 
Orientation: Monday, August 18th at 5:30. Parents only please! 

Morning drop off: You or an older sibling may walk your child into the classroom in the morning to drop off their backpack, lunch and water bottle. We encourage children to be independent during this time as it helps them gain confidence and organizational skills. Students will hang their backpack or tote bag on a hook right outside of the classroom. These are not labeled, just choose a hook. Then students will bring their lunch, water bottle and jacket inside to their cubby. Cubbies will be labeled with their name. After your child has their things put away, they can take a quick look around and say hello, but we do encourage you to help them head out to the black top to join the rest of the school to play before the bells ring. At 8:45 the teachers will all call their children to line up. Each teacher has their own sound to call their students. Bells, whistles, a tambourine. My call is hand clapping. I will clap my hands several times and our class will line up on the black top closest to the ramp by the office. 
Every Monday morning (or the first day of the school week) we gather for an all school circle where parents are welcome to join. On the first day of school we will walk out to the field for our annual Spiral Dance. Parents are welcome to join and if you have never experienced this, it is truly a beautiful community event. We finish the last day of school this way too, so put it on your calendar if you are interested. After the Spiral Dance, we head back to our classroom to begin our day. If you are staying for the Spiral Dance, please say a quick goodbye to your child in the field. Then, students and teachers will walk back to the classroom as a class. 

Pick up: Please wait for your child outside of the classroom at the picnic tables or in the quad. I will excuse them individually. 

Extended Care: You can drop your child off at 8:00 a.m. in the Extended Care room (also the Acorns indoor space and right next door to my classroom). The children will go outside at 8:15 and play on the blacktop. Aftercare is provided until 5 p.m. every day. If you know your child’s aftercare needs please let me and the office know. Aftercare is always available even if you have not planned for it. So if you are running late and will not be there at 1:15, your child will go to aftercare. If you know your child’s aftercare needs in the morning, you can write this on our class dry erase board outside the classroom. You can verbally communicate to me or Miss Lena but please also write it on the board.

Things to bring daily: 
1. A healthy snack and lunch (protein, fruits, veggies, grain). No sugar or juice! There will be a handout by my dry erase board of some yummy suggestions compiled by Village families if you are interested. 
2. Water bottle filled with water only!! 
3. Extra set of seasonal clothes including socks and underwear
4. Jacket or sweater for the cool morningsPlease don’t bring any toys/stuffies from home. We have a class stuffie for snuggling (you’ll meet them soon) and it helps to keep things simple by keeping things from home, at home.
5. Sun hat (please apply sunblock before school starts)

What to wear: Children must wear close-toed shoes for safety. We are active and get messy and dirty at school so please keep that in mind. Remember: no logos or characters on clothing, backpacks, or lunch boxes. 

Communication: The mornings are busy in the classroom as we get prepared for the day. I do love a hello and brief conversation but if you have anything lengthy to discuss, please email me. I check my email early in the morning (before 8:00) and then again at the end of the day (after 3:30). If your child is going to be late or absent, please email the office. You are welcome to include me in the email as well.

Family Jobs: I have a Family Job list that will be posted outside of the classroom for anyone who is interested in helping out. Thank you to the families who have already signed up. 

Please let me know if you have any questions. 

It’s going to be a great year!! 

💜 Miss Anna