This Month in Rabbit Run Cottage...

​Hi Rabbit Run!


What a lovely stormy Saturday morning, we are finally getting some much needed rain! During the month of March, Rabbit Run worked hard in our garden to get it ready for spring. The children weeded the beds, pruned the bushes and removed dead branches leftover from the winter storm, and they unearthed many earthworm friends in the process. Now we have planted cherry tomatoes, green bell peppers, yellow pear tomatoes, a strawberry patch, rosemary, mint, and poppies. Our irises are blooming, as well, they weathered the snow/ice storm and are bringing the children so much joy. We have all been enjoying watching our sages, salvias, roses, and coneflowers come back with bright green new growth! We have also been listening non-stop to a new favorite song "The Garden" by Einstürzende Neubauten. A great one for this rainy morning, as the primary lyrics are "you can find me if you want me in the garden, unless it's pouring down with rain."

Spring in the classroom also means our bird, bee and flower units are on the shelves! Last month we focused a lot on the birds we see around Austin, their size/shape/coloring, as well as the size/shape/coloring of their eggs, and nesting habits. We have been discussing the change in seasons and seasonal cycles. This week I added to the shelves, introducing the life cycle of the honey bee, parts of the honey bee, and a Texas Wildflower identification work. Many of them have already learned some of the wildflower names, and have been working to identify them around campus as well. This might be a nice time to plan a visit to the Wildflower Center so they can continue this learning. Check out our class Instagram to see photos of all of these units in action! @rabbitruncottage

Lastly, I am sharing some slides from Curious Parenting that offer ideas for shifting language and using positive phrasing. These simple shifts in language create huge shifts in parent-child relationships, child development, emotional regulation, self-awareness, and a child's future relationship both with self and others. Curious Parenting has a great blog that I encourage you to check out, too!

Hope everyone has a nice weekend! And just a reminder that Conferences are next Thursday and Friday!

Warmly,
Elizabeth

​

2/20/2021

​​Good evening, Rabbit Run!
 
This month we have been celebrating Black History Month in the classroom. In our classroom, conversations about skin color are not unusual, and in fact skin color is a topic that comes up at school regularly, much more often than most parents might assume. Often, we think that if we don’t acknowledge or address differences in skin color then we are teaching our children that everyone is the same and should be treated the same. Though the intention is good, what we don’t realize is that in not addressing our differences we are promoting a colorblind approach to the world- and colorblindness is actually a form of erasure. For First Plane children trying to understand and adapt to the world around them, colorblindness is confusing and creates a foundation of misinformation from which stereotypes and bias grow. It is our work to give children the language to talk about difference in skin color in a positive, constructive, factual, and celebratory way. 
 
We can give them information that celebrates difference, promotes inclusion, and lays the groundwork for equity and anti-bias thinking. We simply notice difference and explain it (Skin color is defined by three things: our ancestors/parents, the sun, the amount of melanin in our skin. If your family came from a hot, sunny place, you have more melanin in your skin- you have darker skin. If your family came from a cool, less sunny place, you have less melanin in your skin- you have lighter skin). We offer language to describe the shade and hue of their own skin (You are the only one who gets to choose the words to describe your skin color- no one else). Just this week, children in our class were choosing beautiful words to describe their own skin: peach, pink, chocolate, almond, cream, brown, olive, and tan. We offer language to be a courageous bystander (It’s not okay to say someone can’t play because of the color of their skin. It’s not okay to say that about her skin- she gets to say what color her skin is. We all have different skin color and we are all beautiful.)
 
When we give children the tools- they use them. They are noticing subtle differences in each other’s skin tone- last week I overheard, “Your skin is a little bit lighter than hers. And mine is a little bit darker than yours.” They are also noticing bigger differences in skin color, and talking about it in beautiful, understanding ways, “Your family is from Southern India, and it’s really hot and sunny there, right?” “Yes, we are from Southern India, not Northern, and it’s hot and sunny and I have more melanin.” They notice changes in their own skin, “In summer, my skin gets darker when I am at the pool a lot.” Children are going to notice these differences whether we give them the language and tools to navigate them or not- that is the nature of the Absorbent Mind- so it is our work not to shush them or avoid the subject, but to give them the facts. 
 
We don't limit these conversations to the month of February, but we are taking this month to specifically celebrate Black figures from musicians, to scientists, to doctors, to artists, and we have many more to come. So far, we have talked about and listened to the music of Nina Simone (Feelin' Good, Good Bait are favorites). We have learned about Dr. Mae Jamison, a doctor and astronaut who did experiments with weightlessness in space (read: Mae Among the Stars, Roda Ahmed). We have talked about Matthew Hensen, an Arctic explorer who was credited as the first to reach the North Pole, with the help of the Inuit. We have looked at photos of dancers from the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater. We have listened to the songs River and Eleggua by the Afro-Cuban sisters Ibeyi. Still to go on our list is Bessie Coleman( (pilot)  Lewis Latimer (inventor), Wangari Maathai (doctor, environmentalist), Gordon Parks (photographer), Jean Michel Basquiat (painter, artist), Duke Ellington (pianist), Maya Angelou (poet and writer), and we are open to suggestions! Our time will not be spent talking about oppression, but instead celebrating wonderful people who contribute in amazing ways to our world. 
 
If you would like to do some more reading about how to talk to kids about Race, here are some helpful articles. I will also include a list of children's books about skin color that I love. 
Thank you and have a great week!
Elizabeth
 
Reading for adults 
How to Talk to Kids About Race and Racism 
https://www.parenttoolkit.com/social-and-emotional-development/advice/social-awareness/how-to-talk-to-kids-about-race-and-racism
 
How to Talk to Kids About Race: Books and Resources That Can Help
https://www.readbrightly.com/how-to-talk-to-kids-about-race-books-and-resources-that-can-help/
 
The Things Parents Don’t Talk About With Their Kids…But Should
https://www.npr.org/2019/10/08/767205198/the-things-parents-dont-talk-about-with-their-kids-but-should\
 
Children's Books
The Colors of Us, Karen Katz
Shades of People, Shelley Rotner, Sheila M. Kelly
Happy in Our Skin, Fran Manushkin, Lauren Tobia
All the Colors We Are/Todos los colores de nuestra piel: The Story of How We Get our Skin Color/La historia de por que temenos diferentes colores de piel, Katie Kissinger 
Whoever You Are, Mem Fox, Leslie Staub