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Here is a list of some of the things we learnt this year: 

• Earth’s layers, why the Earth is a giant magnet. Rock cycle and rock formation. Types of rocks: sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic. Erosion. Tectonic plates. How mountains were formed through volcanic eruptions and tectonic plates pushing upwards. Underwater volcanoes, life around thermal vents, tube worms. 
• The formation of the Northern Lights (or, the way I think of it, “this is how we see that the Earth is taking care of all life on Earth”) 
• Numbers to 9000, addition, subtraction, division, perfect squares. Snake game, stamp game and bead triangle ( all math). 
• Number Pi. Infinity. We find it in every circle!
• Maps, maps and more maps! Continents  and Oceans. Flags. 
• The Amazon Rainforest, the Congo Rainforest and a bit of the Borneo Rainforest. 
• How trees talk with each other. fungi. Deciduous and evergreen trees. 
• Land forms: islands, lakes, peninsulas, bay, archipelagos and lakes. 
• The arctic and Antarctic. Polar bears and penguins. Inuit people. 
• The Equator. 
• Why do we have nights and days/Earth’s rotation. 
• Romanian language.  
• states of matter: solids, liquids and gases + experiments : dissolving, melting, evaporation, freezing. 
• Viviparous ( mammals), oviparous ( egg laying animals)  and oviviparous animals ( animals that grow their babies in an egg and then give birth to fully formed babies : some snakes, some sharks, etc)
• The strangest animals on Earth: echidnas and platypus , but living in Australia: mammals that lay eggs. 
• Diatoms! And how diatoms make every second breath of air we take.  
• And of cours, plankton: phytoplankton ( planet plankton) and animal plankton. And of course chlorophyll. And of course, how plants make food  by mixing the sun’s energy, water and nutrition. 
• Octopus life cycles. Moon jelly life cycle. Eells, whales. How whales sleep! 
• Letters, letters and more letters. Blending the sounds into words, practiced reading. Vowels and consonants. 
• Art, never ending and every day. 
• Read books. Danced every day. 
• Learned and practiced ways to speak kindly with each other. Take turns, wait to speak until others are done. 
• Printing press and how books are made. 
• What are we grateful for? meditation, yoga. Expressing emotions. 
• Geometric solids and shapes. 
• Picasso, Degas, Frida Khalo, Dali.  
• Solar systems, planets, meteors and how the Moon was formed. 
• First plants on Earth, first flower on Earth. 
• Planting seeds in the garden, vegetable/fruit cutting and dissecting. 
• Life skills: how to blow noses, sneeze in the elbow, wash hands, push chairs under the table, get snack/lunch and clean up. carry our own backpacks, put shoes/coats on, peeing in the toilet, paying attention to what we are doing, put activities back where we picked them from, put materials back gently to take care of them and the school, taking care of books, etc. 

Enjoy summer break and see you at Summer camps in July! 

• at the playground: “We all have a piece of wood. They are our phone-zies” 
• Conversation while teacher Justine was changing a pee accident : ” I had a leak. Few drops of pee ran away from my penis.” 
• me: “do you want to show your friends your favorite yoga pose?”    (Enthusiastically nodding yes).  Proseeds with a funny made up duck pose: “This is the duck pose.” (everyone becomes a duck and exuberant quacks  all over the circle )
• “This is zero. I don’t have to write ‘zero’ because ‘zero’ means nothing.”
  “I am practicing the word ‘hexagon”. Teacher: “it sounds to me that you already know it”. No, I can only say it on the weekends.”
• me, while reading a book: “please keep your questions and thoughts in your imaginary pocket until the end of the book, and then we will share them.” ” But i have real pockets”
• “I had a pet dog, and now it turned into ashes.”
• me: “what fruits do you have in your lunchboxes?” “wet strawberries” 
  “what is your favorite way to eat eggs?” ” with a fork”
• me: “this is how gorillas say “can I play with you?” ( me making the sound). Can you say it in the gorilla language? “No thank you, I prefer speaking human, Bogdana”
• Me asking the kids if they prefer walking at the playground in pairs or by themselves: “-one at the time, says one little one. -Can you tell me why? ( I understand what he is saying, but it’s funny and I want to hear more about how this student expresses his perception of the world)-Because some people have ube icecream on their hands. -Me (laughing inside) : how do you know they have ube icecream on their hands? -It feels like they have ube icecream on their hands. -another student, losing her patience with me for seemingly not understanding: “he means that some people have sticky hands, Bogdana! ” -me: “:-) “
• We read a book about art that, amongst other things, talked about cave art. The children asked about people living in caves, so I told them briefly about prehistoric times, caves, discovery of fire, hunters, etc. They were very interested! At the playground, one of our little friends was playing “cavewoman”, hunting sabertooth and mammoth, and lighting fire in a cave. I asked her “what are you playing?” her: ” cavewoman!!” me:”what do you mean, cavewoman?”. Another little friend, passing by, without batting an eye and stating the absolute obvious (and a bit rolling his eyes at my question): “Bogdana!  she means a woman in a cave!” me: ….( left without words, only laughter)