​ ​One of my best-loved songs is from the musical The Sound of Music. The song, My Favorite Things is sung by Julie Andrews. In the musical she plays Maria, the young nanny to the Von Trapp children. Julie sings the melody to ward off unhappy times and thoughts. The song has been performed countless times by other artists as a centerpiece of their Christmas repertoire because it employs a sense of hopefulness, and winter imagery. The song begins with the stanza: Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, Brown paper packages tied up with string, These are a few of my favorite things! During the winter break, I listened to the tune and repe

Flagship units are learning themes that the whole school engages in over the course of a week or two. There is nothing better than walking through our school, and finding everyone engaged in learning about the same topic—yet benefitting from the individuality of the classroom teacher, and interests of the students in their classes. This past week we enjoyed our first flagship unit, and it was a great hit. This year our school made a commitment to include learning nature-ally as part of our ongoing focus, and nothing could be more natural than water! Over 70 percent of the earth is water, and our bodies are of course, about half water, so it made great sense to expose our little learners to