Every year in spring, Wildflower Open Classroom puts together our Spring Performance! At our Spring Performances, each of our classes have had the opportunity to participate and perform for our Wildflower family and community! Every year, the performance is centered around a specific theme, and this year's theme was Nature!
This year, our Spring Performance started off with a pledge to the Earth. Then, every class had the chance to showcase what they have been learning in their classrooms through a song, haiku, or spoken word performance! And to finish off the performance, all of our students sang together for one final song! We love seeing these beautiful moments our students create together!
Girls on the Run is a running program for 3rd-5th grade girls, but it is also so much more! It is a program that develops community and helps girls become more confident and empowered! This program helps them find their bold heart, embrace their "I Can" power, and gives them the tools to navigate through life's challenges! The team meets twice a week with each practice consisting of running training paired with socio-emotional lessons. The season culminates in a 5K event as well as each team completing a community action project!
We greatly appreciate Coach Sammie and our amazing community members for volunteering their time to give these runners the most amazing and empowering experience! Your hard work truly makes our Wildflower community shine! Keep up the great teamwork girls!
With the Endangered Species Faire coming up, we wanted to take a moment and thank one person that truly makes this event possible!
Taking on many roles around our campus, Steve Tchudi is someone who continues to help keep our community running! Every year, Steve volunteers his time in helping our students create their puppets! For over 10 years, Steve has been teaching our students about the process of paper mache and the importance of recognizing endangered species!
In addition to being an Endangered Species liaison for our school, Steve also volunteers his time organizing other activities and events for our students! One that our students especially love is being invited onto Steve's Ecotopia show on KZFR, where they have had the opportunity to speak on a variety of environmental issues!
Steve also serves on our WOC Board of Directors as Director as Large and is often seen around campus reading with students and supporting our teachers in their classrooms! We greatly appreciate everything Steve has done and continues to do to ensure that our Wildflower community thrives!
Over the next couple of weeks, our students will be hard at work creating paper mache puppets out of recycled materials for the Faire! Every year, students have the opportunity to create a puppet showcasing an endangered animal of their choosing! Alongside crafting a puppet, students will also research their species, combing the subjects of art and science! And to show off all their hard work, our students will have the opportunity to carry their puppets in the parade at the Faire!
Between all the excitement at the Faire, be sure to keep an eye for our booth, where many of our puppets will be displayed alongside information about our school! Wildflower Open Classroom is also proud to say that we continue to be a sponsor for the Endangered Species Faire! As a sponsor, we hope to make sure that not only our students continue to experience the wonder of this event, but also the Butte County community!
Come join us at Cedar Grove in lower Bidwell Park on Saturday, May 2nd from 10-3! We hope to see some familiar faces and meet some new ones too!
It's almost that time of year again! 🌼🎶
Here at Wildflower, spring time means festival time! Every year, our amazing team of parent volunteers and community members put on our annual fundraiser, The Wildflower Music Fest! And this year, it's back on Saturday, May 9th at 20th Street Park! Get ready to mark your calendars because you don't want to miss out on this day of music and fun!
Returning for the third time this year as our headliner, The Brothers Comatose! Also playing at this year's festival, we welcome Wolf Jett and T Sisters, with Wolfthump playing in between sets!
Featured alongside these amazing musicians, is our silent auction, plenty of activities for the kiddos, a showcase of over 30 artisan vendors, a free photo booth, a wide variety of food vendors, free bike parking, and of course, refreshments from none other than Sierra Nevada!
Every ticket sold comes right back to our school! When you attend our festival, you are directly supporting our students, classrooms, and community! So head on over to the Wildflower Music Fest website to grab your tickets today! We promise you don't want to miss out on this day!
Or what we like to call math switch-er-roo! Oftentimes, our teachers will collaborate on lesson plans, giving our students the opportunity to work with a different teacher and learn in a new environment! Just the other week, our Fawn Lily and Monkey Flower classes did just that for math! Staying within their 2nd and 3rd grade groups, these classes simply traded places. During math switch-er-roo, students worked together based on grade level standards. Here, students are working together on fractions as Sammie leads a lesson using tile arrays. Collaboration truly leads to amazing results!
This year, Morgan is centering her lessons around the theme of Nature Camp and right now, our Dandelion class is learning all about insects! There is such a buzz of excitement as Morgan's class practices writing independently on their insect reports. With an insect of their choosing, these little learners are working in writing multiple sentences about the habitat, diet, survival, and life cycle of their insect. Alongside practicing their writing skills, our 1st graders are paired up with our Kindergartners to practice their reading skills. And of course they're reading all about bugs!
To go along with their learning, the classroom has been home to a variety of bugs, including praying-mantises, ladybugs, ants, and butterflies, that are Dandelion class get to study. And pretty soon, they will have the opportunity to create a puppet of their insect for the Endangered Species Faire coming up! Stay tuned to see what all the buzz is about!
Every year in Spring, Wildflower puts on what we like to call our Spring Mixer! This is where each class is divided up into different groups with members from other classes, giving our students the opportunity to work with peers they may not otherwise be able to collaborate with on a daily basis. Each group spent time rotating around the school and participating in varying activities led by our hardworking teachers! This year, each activity revolved around the theme of Earth's Biomes. Participating in activities in math, science, art, and movement, our students got the chance to learn all about the different ecosystems of our world while working in dynamic groups together! And at the end of the day, our school has a beautiful new mural that every single one of our students helped to create! We love to see all our students working together to create these beautiful moments!
This year, Marisa's class theme is Trail Blazers! This theme is central to all aspects of their learning as our 4th and 5th graders discover all meanings of the word. For example, in science Marisa's class is learning all about the reasons for animal migration. In social studies, they are learning about immigration, from the Gold Rush to the Oregon Trail to today's migrant farmers. They have also been hard at work reading all about the many inventions of this world, including the race to space and the creation of flight. Soon, these explorers will be taking a field trip to the Chico Air Museum to see their learning in action!
Our Starflower class has also proved to be quite the group of little Trail Blazers themselves! This year, they have been designing and writing Wildflower's very first student-run magazine titled; "Migrate Magazine: A Starflower Look at the Explorers of Our World." In this magazine, they are writing about all sorts of expeditions, inventors, and explorers - from outer space to the deep sea. How cool is that! Keep up the good work and keep paving the way!
The other day, our kitchen crew served up chicken rice bowls with freshly roasted veggies for lunch. How delicious! Wildflower's nutrition program focuses on creating fresh, homemade meals to keep our students fueled throughout the day! Many of our meals are made from scratch too, ensuring that our students are getting the nutrition they need. Weekly, our students get to try out new recipes, like homemade pesto sauce to go with their pasta, or jam prepared in our kitchen without any added sugar! And of course the crowd favorite, Chef Jacob's homemade tomato bisque soup!
We went around and asked some of our students what their favorite meals have been this year! One of our 2nd graders said, "my favorite meal is spaghetti, strawberries, bananas, and milk!" An 8th grader said her favorite meal at school is burrito bowls. And of course, a 5th grader said his favorite meal is Chef Jacob's "homemade tomato bisque soup and homemade coleslaw!"
Some of Wildflower's 4th and 5th graders are traveling around the world! 🌍
This year, Jessica's class theme is All Around the World! Each month, these 4th and 5th graders have been "traveling" somewhere new to focus their learning on a different country. This month, their theme is Japan! Our Poppy class has been practicing the technique of Shibori dyeing: a traditional Japanese method of dyeing by folding and twisting fabric to make intricate patterns using real indigo. This week they have been studying the science behind the oxygenation process that makes the fabric change colors. Our Poppy class has also been hard at work writing haikus and learning all about anime and Japanese art. We can't wait to see where they go next!
Wildflower Open Classroom is now open for registration and enrollment! We welcome you to be a part of our vibrant school and community. Contact our office for more information or head on over to our website to learn more and fill out an enrollment interest form. Limited spots are available so don't miss out on this chance to join us!
A little bit about our school...
Wildflower is a TK-8th open classroom public charter school. We are an innovative school that strives to create life-long learners through our integrated academic curriculum. Our "whole child" approach to education addresses the academic, social, emotional, creative, and physical development of our students. Our classrooms consist of multiple grades, helping to broaden social peer groups and allow room for individualized instruction , where teachers can focus on individual based needs rather than grade level expectations. We are a school that takes pride in inviting children, teachers, and parents to collaborate as a community to cultivate learning and growth. Head on over to our website for more information on what Wildflower is all about!
This year, Kali's classroom theme is Growth- growing hearts, minds, and bodies! Throughout the year, our TK class has been exploring all things that grow. They have been planting lots of seeds, charting their own growth "sprouts", and tasting the yummy snacks they have grown! Our Sprouts have been hard at work discussing all the ways growth happens in the world!
I Wonder
By the Dandelions
I wonder...
Are planets the universe's heads?
Is grass the Earth's hair?
Is water the Earth's blood?
Are rocks the Earth's eyes?
Are clouds the Earth's teeth?
Are leaves the trees fingers?
Are parks the world's playgrounds?
Are humans the world's germs?
Does the Earth feel tickled when you dig up it's pebbles?
I wonder.
Me to.
