This week in Mountain Laurel Cottage…

Our community will begin collecting food for the Capital Area Food Bank. It is the largest organization in Texas that collects and sponsors families in need. We will begin this collection this week; a bin will be under our patio for donations. Some of the items needed include; healthy, non-perishable food, unopened consumer or commercial packaging goods, and food within the expiration date on the packaging. Also, items families request and are in need most include; peanut butter, canned chicken or tuna, canned vegetables and fruit, brown rice and 100% whole gain cereal. We will be collecting donations for the month of February. Our goal will be to collect 100 lbs. worth of food by the end of the month.

A group of children are leading this activity and plan to deliver the donations to the Capital Area Food Bank on 2/26.

We made squash spice muffins and quinoa mac and cheese last week. The children loved trying squash baked and enjoyed the quinoa mixed with cauliflower and mozzarella cheese. Many had inquired about the missing noodles in the mac and cheese, and still enjoyed the treat. We will be making roasted squash with ricotta and honey, then roasted brussel sprouts with balsamic vinegar. The children are enjoying their time in the kitchen reading the recipe and preparing the ingredients. We recently got a new oven in our community, which was exciting for the children.

As the weather changes we have been talking about the sun and how its rays are positioned according to the tilt of the earth’s axis. A few children made baked dough earths representing this concept of perpendicular rays are hotter and directly shine on the equator and the countries, then rays extending further becoming acute and obtuse – leading to the frigid northern and southern poles temperatures. The children used toothpicks and popsicle sticks to represent the rays and equator. We will discuss more this week about the reasoning of seasons.

Last week we collected bricks for the Primary Campus communities. A small group did an outing to collect donated bricks from a Cedar’s family. The group divided the bricks into three stacks for each classroom. It was an exciting experience to do!

This week the end cycles will be visiting Rockwood on Tuesday, February 26th/28th. The children are excited to go and experience the morning work-cycle with the upper elementary community. They will be spending lunch and recess there as well.

We will be having Student Expo’s coming up in February on the 2nd and 4th. Be sure to sign-up to come and receive a lesson from your child from 3:00-3:45 PM.

Please visit the link to sing-up:
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/60B0F45ADAD29AA8-student 

Lastly, we will be having mid-year observations available in March. Please come and observe your child working in our community socially and academically. You may sign-up for a day and time to observe using the link below:

Mid-Year Observations Link:
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0f45adad29aa8-midyear1

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns!

Please have your child bring yarn, knitting needles and crochet hooks, as many are learning to use these tools during read aloud and throughout the day from peers.

Warmly, Mountain  Laurel Cottage ☺

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​This week in Mountain Laurel Cottage…

This week in our community the children are eager to begin work in our gardens. We 

harvested last week and made roasted broccoli florets as well as a chard salad. The 

children are closely watching the garden as the carrots continue to grow and the 

peppers mature in the garden bed. We look forward to more harvesting this week. 

Please send a shoebox or zip-lock bag to school with an extra pair of clothes. It gets 

messy sometimes while we are out at the playground or doing experiments. A change 

of clothes is always nice if needed. Also, many children are currently working on 

handwork; learning to knit and crochet. Please send a skein of yarn with your child. 

The children made potatoes and flatbread last week. Everything was delicious. We look 

forward to exploring different vegetables and fruits this semester. We are making quinoa 

mac and cheese with cauliflower, Greek yogurt and shredded cheese. We’ll add some 

rosemary into the dish for flavoring. The children will also be making squash spiced 

muffins, as well as an energy bite from the grocery crew. 

We will begin yoga with Ms. Autumn on Wednesdays and Fridays from 8:20-8:40 AM. 

Please have your child bring a yoga mat to practice meditation and breathing. We are 

excited to begin this new practice with our community. Please let us know if you have 

any questions. There are inexpensive mats that are under $20 from Amazon-Prime. 

Last, but not least, we will begin student led tours on Tuesday, February 2nd and 

Thursdays, February 4th from 3:00-3:45 PM. Please read the information below to make 

an appointment to receive a lesson from your child in our community. 

Student Led Tours - A Glimpse in Mountain Laurel Cottage

Have you ever wondered what goes on day-to-day in the elementary classroom? 

What is your child working on academically?

Join us after-school for a lesson from your child in our community. The children have 

been studying various areas throughout the semester and are excited to share with you 

one or two of their favorite lessons. Some of the mathematical material being studied 

includes cross multiplication with the Chequerboard, solving distributive law equations 

with the cubing material, multiplication and division with fractions and long division with 

the racks and tube. Other areas of study include learning parts of speech with the 

grammar boxes, reading and creating suffixes and pre-fixes. Or perhaps you’ll explore 

the states of matter with solids, liquids and gases. There’s more happening inside and 

we can’t wait for you to come visit to receive a lesson from your child.

Please sign-up and join us after-school in Mountain Laurel Cottage. We look forward to 

sharing this experience with you and your family. Please let us know if you have any 

questions about this premier event!

Student Led Tour Link

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/60B0F45ADAD29AA8-student

Warmly, Ms. Michelle

This Week in Mountain Laurel Cottage…

We are excited to welcome the children back after a lovely holiday with family and 

friends. The children were eager to see each other and to review materials as well 

as get new lessons in the various areas explored. We have been looking at the time 

Native Americans joined our country and the expansion with explorers Daniel 

Boone, Davy Crockett, William Clark and James Bowie. The children have been using 

the United States Timeline to reference this material seeing the development of 

humans and events through time until the new nation occurred in 1914. 



Parents, we are beginning yoga with the mid and end cycle children. If you have a 

child size mat, please go ahead and bring it to the school and it will be returned at 

the end of the year. Ms. Autumn will be sharing her yoga expertise with the children in 

​organized classes upon arrival during the week from 8:20-8:40AM. She has been working with 

the upper elementary assisting them with breathing and movement techniques. We are 

excited for her to share this practice with our community. The beginning cycles will join this 

practice later in the year altogether. For preparation, the beginning cycles will learn 

positions and mediation using the yoga material. 


We recently learned how to play “Australian Kickball” as part of PE and practiced 

“Tai-Chi”. The children loved practicing tai-chi in the classroom and modeling the 

movement expressed with the sound and rhythm played. Everyone enjoyed splitting 

up on teams and playing an organized game of Australian kick-ball. The children 

enjoyed playing the roles of pitcher, catchers in the field, and umpire. 


Many children completed their handwork material and are in need of adding to 

their handwork baskets. Please send yarn with your child for the remaining 

semester. The children can fit up two packages in their basket altogether. We are 

going to focus on handwork activities such as knitting and crochet. A few 

individuals are practicing and mentoring others currently. We do handwork during 

read aloud each day for 10-15 minutes. The children are enjoying the 2nd book of 

the Benedict Society. The adventure is beginning to gain suspense! 


In the kitchen this week we roasted broccoli and kale from our garden. Everyone loved the recipe and 

said it was delicious. The group added garlic and lemon zest along with a few other ingredients. They 

also made roasted potatoes with smothered sour cream and lemon juice. It was a practical life 

experience to scrub, peel and cube a potato. We will be ending the week with making a banana-apple 

spinach smoothie and flatbread pizza. Parents, thank you for your support with ingredients and 

contributing to our kitchen. We appreciate it so much! 
​

We’ve been exploring the movement of air and how it insulates our earth evenly. 

We’ve reenacted the movement outside altogether and talked about how cold air 

sinks as hot air rises and this cycle continues on and on until the earth is covered. 

The children were fascinated with the idea that the movement is “wind” and how 

this cycle relates to other weather patterns we are currently experiencing.  The 

geography lessons in our classes continue to span from the information about sun 

to the movement of water and air. Last week talked about erosion and its presence 

in valleys and canyons. The children explored pictures of the Grand Canyon. 

Lastly, the weather is changing as we spend time at the clearing and playground. If 

you would like to send a bag with your child’s clothes in it, please label it with their 

name and we will put in their bathroom. Many are playing gaga at the playground or 

building forts at the clearing. At times we encounter water and mud while 

collaborating and exploring creatively and would like an extra set – just in case! 

Please let us know if you have any questions. 

Warmly, Mountain Laurel Cottage