Donation Request: Hamilton Walkathon Oct 20, 2017

Hello!
It's Lillian's first year at Hamilton (in Pre-K) and Simon's 4th year (now in 1st Grade). They both love the school and are SO excited about learning more about computers from the new technology teacher.

This year, during the annual walkathon, they are raising money to fund a classroom of macintosh computers in addition to some other technology upgrades throughout the school. In addition to coding and all the logic foundations to enable successful development, the computer class will teach formal typing, how to use email, how to use google office tools, and then transition to open source graphics and computer animation.

But we need your help!! Please donate to their walkathon page! Donations to this page are split evenly between the two Basque kids.

The Basques will be at Hamilton for the next 11 years and a classroom of computers would make a world of difference as they learn through those years.

Thanks so much!
Emily and Alan and Simon (6) and Lillian (3) Basque

Simon is 6, Lillian is 3.

School's Official Letter:

This year we are participating in Hamilton Elementary's 9th annual walkathon on Friday, October 20, 2017.  We are walking to help our school reach a $55,000 fundraising goal in order to buy Macintosh computers, cameras and microphones for our Multimedia Arts classroom, iPad carts and computers for our teachers, and equipment for our Physical Education classes.

Note: This year there are 5 sponsorship options to choose from: PATRIOT, BRONZE, SILVE, GOLD OR PLATINUM. With a sponsorship, you can have your name included as a sponsor on the back of our Walkathon t-shirts!

The countdown to Lillian's Birthday begins

Lillian was asking every day when her birthday was, so on October 1st we made her a countdown chain. Every morning she gets to tear off one of the links. 

Boston 2017

Oh, kid sleeping. Love these kiddos.

Blumstein's in Boston 2017

Thanks to a friend for these great pictures of the family.

Lillian in Pre-School (Excerpts from the Pre-K Blog)

Posts About Lillian From Ms Zairel's Blog: 

Week of 9.18.17-9.22.17

These are my two favorite photos this week. Lillian was feeling a bit sad because she wanted to make a beautiful rainbow, but she felt like she did not know how to do it. She came over and asked me for help, when Kennedy interjected and said, "I can show you how to make one."

Kennedy sat down next to Lillian and patiently showed her how to make curves on a piece of paper. Lillian copied the process and was so amazed by her own skills. She was also so grateful that she hugged Kennedy and told her, "You can come to my house and we can draw rainbows there."

Week of 9.11.17-9.15.17

Lillian learned this song:

Eyes are watching
Ears are listening
Voices quiet
Bodies calm
This is how we listen
This is how we listen
At group time
At group time​

A GARDEN SURPRISE

As many of you may know, I spend a majority of my vacation time outdoors, enjoying every beautiful things that this world has to offer. I consider myself a nature lover, and today, I found out that I have a classroom full of students who also love to explore our natural world.

It was our very first day and we went outside to enjoy our playground and garden space. About half an hour into our play time, a group of kiddos ran over to me while screaming wildly, "We have a caterpillar! We have a caterpillar!" Our small group turned into a giant group in no time, as word spread that Andrew had a "real live caterpillar" in his hands.

Here is what happened, as told by the children:

Lillian: Ms. Zairel, you're not going to believe this, but we found a caterpillar that was living in the garden.

Andrew: Yes, she will believe it because she can see it!

Lillian: We can all see it because it is alive and it is even a real live caterpillar that moves.

Nora: When we were in the garden, we saw it crawling on the leaves and then we picked it up to show you.

Andrew: Yeah, but I don't even know his name.

Lillian: Because probably he doesn't know his name either.

After a bit of deliberation, the kids decided to call the caterpillar, "Caterpillar". We spent the next part of our play time taking turns petting Caterpillar. We discussed how big and strong our own bodies are, and how soft and small Caterpillar's body is. We agreed as a group that we needed to be gentle with our hands so that Caterpillar would not get hurt. We used a soft, two finger touch to pet it. The kids really liked the way that its body felt. We noticed that Caterpillar had bright green and black stripes. Amelia pointed out that this is actually a pattern, and that she thought his pattern was so super beautiful. 

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When we first found the caterpillar, A lot of friends were apprehensive to touch it. While they were still very much excited to see it, they were a bit nervous about getting close. In the picture below, you can see Eva inspecting Caterpillar from a safe distance. She watched multiple friends pet Caterpillar, but let me know that she did not want to hold it in her own hands or even touch it. She continued to observe while her friends reached out for their turn to hold and pet Caterpillar.

Grayson held Caterpillar long enough to notice that every time the Caterpillar moved, his hands would feel like they tickled.

"How much do they tickle?" Eva asked him.

"Like so much!" he screamed out.

Apparently this was enough to convince Eva to extend her hand so that Grayson could share Caterpillar. She still seemed a bit nervous, but also very excited to be doing this thing that had seemed so scary to her just a couple of minutes ago.