BISCUIT'SBULLETIN
InThisIssue
Dear Day School Community,
I hope you are enjoying the warm weather and some summer fun.
Welcome to the Spring/Summer edition of Biscuit’s Bulletin In this issue, you will see that our spring was full of excitement, including the inaugural Day School Dash and the annual Spring Soiree. Thank you for supporting events that unite our community and help us raise essential funds for our school. Also, you can see highlights from some of the incredible learning experiences our children and educators immersed themselves in during the second half of the year and read about the impact that professional development has had on teaching and learning Finally, enjoy pictures showcasing the summertime fun that continues with five weeks of Summer Camp.
There’s one more piece of news to share If you watch Season 2 of the TV show Tulsa King premiering in September, you might do a double-take when you see a school that looks a lot like Saint Anne’s Day School That's because it is us! Out of over forty Atlanta-area schools, the production scouts selected our inviting halls and beautiful Outdoor Classroom to film a scene in June. It was pretty exciting to have Sylvester Stallone on campus and to see our spaces transformed for a few days
Thank you for everything you do to make the Day School a magical place Have a wonderful summer We look forward to seeing you for the 2024-25 school year.
Take care.
Rhonda Mitchell Director
Danielle Hutlas Assistant Director Admissions, Social Media, Communications
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End of Year Celebrations
End of Year Celebrations and Ceremonies happened the last weeks of school. Parties included water play, popsicles, and graduations. Here’s wishing the Classes of 2023-2024 a wonderful next chapter!
DaySchoolDash
The inaugural Day School Dash was a tremendous success, raising over $28,000. This fun run had a great turnout and perfect weather. Thank you to everyone who participated in fundraising, and a special thanks to our sponsors and to this year’s Chairs, Molly McCullers and Nancy Pollock
Classes won prizes for each fundraising level they achieved. Prizes included lollipops, bubbles, tattoos, sweatbands, a visit from a firetruck, dress like a superhero day, a petting zoo, and a foam party. Classrooms also celebrated the Dash event with a t-shirt wearing spirit day.
DaySchoolHappenings
(Clockwise from top left)
March kicked off with Day School staff Angie Cook, Loreen Costa, Rhonda Mitchell, and Allison East attending the Georgia Preschool Association Conference in Atlanta.
Saint Anne’s was honored to host members from Chattanooga’s Highland Plaza Preschool in a morning of shadowing our studio educators Lindsey Glass and Grace Mantle. Also visiting our school was St. Mary’s Episcopal School (not pictured) from Memphis, TN.
Returning to school this year was the Operation Teach Learning Dome, presenting Expedition Reef, an experience where we immersed ourselves in an underwater adventure inside a large inflatable dome.
Easter was celebrated with Chapel time, parties and egg hunts.
Spring Specials also wrapped up the season with Spanish, Tinkergarten, Ballet/Tap, Ballet, Cooking, and Play Ball.
(Clockwise from top left)
April’s cultural arts welcomed back AWARE Wildlife rescue to learn about snakes, owls, hawks, and more.
Our very own Jenn Nestor (former Saint Anne’s teacher and current consultant) presented the way her honey bees live and how to care for them. Children even got to taste honey from the bees’ hive.
Specials’ Play Ball continued as well as Cooking, while Ballet/Tap and Ballet ended their season with a lovely recital.
(Clockwise from top left)
Butterfly Release Teacher Time
Parent/Teacher Conference
Educator Appreciation Luncheon
Stemming from the Soirée, Teacher Time was one of the items families could bid on, so their child could have special time with his or her educators.
An annual tradition at Saint Anne’s is its yearly butterfly release. Children receive a cup of caterpillars they observe through the metamorphosis process before releasing the critters in late springtime.
Also celebrated this month was the Soirée’s Prince and Princess of the Day, where children shadowed Administration, assisting with special errands and helping run the school for the day.
Ending the month of May is the Educator Appreciation Luncheon. We give big thanks to the parents involved in making our staff feel so special.
Welcome,NewFamilies!
As a way to touch base with incoming families before summer starts, the Day School hosted its first Playground Playdate where current and new families had the chance to meet each other.
ClassroomFeature
Saint Anne’s prides itself on the professional development it offers its staff. This spring Early Mathematics Specialist Becky Holden spent a couple weeks with the Threes, Pre-K, and Transitional Kindergarten. Here Pre-K educators April Chalmers and Tena Sarabia from the Sun River Room share their experience working with early math concepts.
How are we still so amazed when the simplest of provocations becomes a learning experience for the children as well as US?! You would think we would be accustomed to this by now This must be why we thrive as educators. You never know what will transpire from moment to moment This is absolutely true when you work in an environment that encourages teachers as researchers, flexibility, and slowing down.
We are always intentional in our planning and provocations. But, we are now adding a bit of layering into the mix We, as educators, are challenging ourselves to blend math and language Integrating literacy activities into math helps clarify concepts and can make mathematics more meaningful and interesting Strategies for supporting the development of mathematical ways of talking have to involve creating rich opportunities for students to explain their thinking. Therefore, combining math and language will lead to children who are more confident in their reasoning abilities and who will feel safe sharing their thinking and the “why” behind their answers We continually talk of the “why” and express how important it is that children are able to explain themselves By merging work in language and math, we are increasing the likelihood that our children will more easily grasp new concepts and will realize that there is so much more to math than numbers.
We placed many small animals on the table for the children to choose from. We asked them to sound out the animal name and write the letters for those sounds We then encouraged the children to draw the animal, noticing details. Then we engaged the children in conversation about the chosen animal Our goal was simple to hear as many descriptive words as possible This created a list of attributes that the children could later use as ways to sort. We heard words like: slither, squiggly, ferocious, pokey, curvy, and sticky We were elated to realize that our children have a rich vocabulary and understand how to use these words properly. This also showed us that our children can think beyond the way these animals physically look When we asked them to tell us about the animal they had drawn, no one referred to the number of legs or the fact that it had two eyes They concentrated on attributes that describe how it moves or what its shape is, thinking more deeply about the animal. We did ask them to choose one of their describing words to sound out and write As each child shared their drawing and thinking with the class during meeting, they noticed that those who had chosen the same animal did not come up with the same words to describe it There are many ways to see the same thing This was a simple idea used as a way to begin our day. It became a learning experience we had not anticipated
Math: “I don’t really know math,” said a child during morning meeting It was an eye opening moment for us. Though we have been practicing our math skills all along, we hadn’t really discussed the overall idea of the word, math. We took this opportunity to talk about the many concepts we have discovered and practiced that fall under the heading ‘Math ’ We used the large white board as a visual. We wrote the numbers 1,2,3,4 and asked the children what this was They shouted out, “counting!” and “numbers!” This is math. We made a pattern on the board and asked what this was “Patterning!” Yes! This is math We made sets of 2s and 5s on the board and asked again “Two!” “Five!” This is math Then we wrote “1+2=3” while saying it out loud as well. We asked them to solve the problem and they did. This is also math. We drew a variety of different shapes and asked them what we drew. “Shapes!” This is math. We held up colored dry erase markers and asked them to sort them They did The children quickly discovered so many ways that they “know” math (while also using their language skills)
We shared with the children that we are thrilled to welcome Becky Holden into our classroom Coming from Trinity School, Becky Holden is a specialist in the development of math curriculums The 3’s, Pre-K, and TK educators had the opportunity to meet with Becky and discuss the “language” of math and the many different ways of thinking about math
Becky has been doing research at St Anne's, interacting with children, listening to their words, asking thought-provoking questions, and creating space for children to feel confident in sharing their thinking We feel very lucky to have her in our own classroom to model an experience focused on “attributes” through sorting and classification A few weeks back, we engaged in a similar experience so we are eager to extend on this learning and see how many different attributes will unfold “Is it sparkly? Or not sparkly?” “Is it red or not red?”. "Is it bumpy or not bumpy?" "Is it Christmas colors or not?" "Is it happy or not happy?”
When we begin to notice these details, we open up so many opportunities for more complex discoveries, learning, and growth. Becky introduced attributes as a math concept She has been working with us to share her knowledge of Counting Collections. Each day she joined our children for about 40 minutes During that time she led us in a story related to our topic. She worked with us as a whole group and facilitated breakout groups The children were engaged and focused. They made their own connections and shared their thinking
We observed the children as they talked through their reasoning, explaining how they counted and how they might count their collections differently THIS is the most important of things The focus is not on rote counting, but rather on how we arrived at our answer It is about taking the time to listen to one another as we explain ourselves. It is about discovering the many different ways of expressing the same number While working in pairs, children took turns preparing their sort. This involved deciding how best to organize the pieces before ever counting them Once organized, they counted each object and recorded the number This led into showing what the collection actually looked like The children accomplished this by drawing symbols, to represent the objects counted, in the same manner they had placed the materials This brought about some very interesting conversations as we realized that the way the objects were grouped looked different to each partner depending on how they were sitting in relation to their pieces The partners were then asked to show a different way of organizing their sort and recording that on the back of their paper After counting the objects again, the children could see that there is more than one way to group and count pieces, BUT we still got the same answer
We (educators) learned a great deal this week and have already begun implementing new strategies and routines We are excited to begin this journey with our children When immersed in these collections, it becomes easy to see just how important counting is to math’s foundation We have counted insects, candles, pom poms, erasers, mermaids, buttons and so much more, all while discussing social, counting, and recording questions
g t o r e c o u n t t h e o b j e c t s t o a n s w e r t h e
q u e s t i o n , w e n e e d t o w o r k o n a d i f f e r e
“Counting supports the development of a deep understanding of numbers, providing the core foundation for understanding place value, how numbers are composed and decomposed, and how they are related to one another. Children need ample and varied experiences with all kinds of numbers to support them in their mathematics sense making; they do this through counting.”
Choral Counting & Counting Collections by Franke Kazemi Turrou
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understanding of numbers and their values. This is a new chapter in the Sun River Room, and we can’t wait to share our confidence related to numbers with you!
Saint Anne’s largest fundraiser of the year, the Spring Soirée, proved to be another successful event this year. The theme was A Night in Paris, and attendees dressed to impress. This year’s event saw a dreamy night full of yummy crêpes, beautiful music from Sun River mom Kristen Petro, and wonderful items up for bid. The auction was highly attended by both families and staff. We want to thank everyone involved in bringing A Night in Paris to life: our generous families for their contributions and sponsorships, the teachers and parents who helped with class creations, staff and parents who assisted with all the behind-the-scenes setup and details, Administration, and especially the auction chairs — Bhrandi Hawkins, Melissa Koontz, and Marisa Kozachenok — for lending their time and talents to the cause. Again, a big thank you to all involved.
(Above) This year’s class creations -- artwork created by each classroom for the auction
summertime at Saint Anne’s like Summer Camp! Well both current students and the greater community, five weeks of fun for children ages two through seven throughout June and July. Some of the themes this included STEM, Sports, the 4th of July. As always, the popsicle truck also visited each week.
