In every class there is a flurry of creativity that will translate into Mother’s Day gifts. Without revealing any top secret surprises, it’s heartwarming to see such an outpouring of appreciation to the moms who are such important members of our community. The Preschool 4s class held an extra special celebration in honor of their mothers on Wednesday. They cooked a delicious pot of beans using a Venezuelan recipe, along with a steaming bowl of rice. Each mom received a framed drawing of a flower, and all were serenaded by the class. It was a sweet, and much appreciated event.
In two of the elementary classes, the children wrote poems about their moms. For beginning poets, we work with a technique developed by the poet/teacher, Georgia Heard. Basically, the poem starts as a list with an added twist at the end. The twist is a line or two that can be a question, a wondering, or something that catches the reader by surprise. One of the young poets wrote this poem about his mother:
Mom
My mom is so nice to me
and she makes me happy.
She cooks food for me,
she works hard at her job,
she pays the bills,
she does laundry,
she keeps me company,
she drives me places.
And now it’s Mother’s Day and
it is time to do something nice for her.
Part of our work on these poems was to be more specific on describing qualities about their moms. In addition to saying what was nice or helpful about their moms, they were asked to “crack it open” and give more detailed examples. Over all their words were sweet, adoring, and appreciative.
As we move toward Mother’s Day weekend, I want to give a shout out to my own mom, to all of the mothers in our Seed community, and especially our staff members who are also moms. May we all continue to nurture each other, our planet, and ourselves.
“Motherhood is the biggest gamble in the world. It is the glorious life force. It’s huge and scary—it’s an act of infinite optimism.” —Gilda Radner