Important Dates

Monday, October 12: School CLOSED for teacher professional development.

Friday, October 16-Sunday, October 18: Autumn at Overfield, 6:30-8:30 p.m. on the Overfield Campus.

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Cold Weather Clothing

As you know, the weather is beginning to change and we are feeling the cool winds of fall more and more. Please remember the children spend extended amounts of time outdoors each day, so they will need appropriate gear to keep them comfortable and safe.

Please send your children in warm jackets, suitable clothing, and shoes that are good for hiking and climbing. If you have not done so already, please send in rain boots for those foggy and rainy days. Snow boots will come later, hopefully! Also, if you haven’t replaced their extra clothing with cold weather items, please do so. It is always a good idea to also send a hat and gloves/mittens.

As we love to say around here, “there is no bad weather, just bad clothes!” Thank you for making sure your children are properly clothed, so they can enjoy all nature has to offer.

This year’s Autumn at Overfield is fast approaching! We are excited about the opportunity to offer a more relaxed environment during this year’s autumn celebration. Families are invited to walk through our beautiful campus that will be filled with the colors, sounds, and scents of the fall season at Overfield! We will also have a trail of illuminated pumpkins to guide your way. To make this a success we need your help!!

Pumpkin Sale. One way to help Overfield is to buy a pumpkin from the Overfield Pumpkin Patch! These pumpkins were grown by one of our alumni parents and current board members, Allen Jones, to benefit our school. All money raised goes right back to Overfield!

Pumpkins are $5 each, and can be found in front of the vegetable garden if you want a quick “grab and go” purchase. If you’d like a longer stroll and more selection, you can walk in the meadow behind the playground to choose a pumpkin from our “pumpkin patch.”

To purchase, please put your money in the box labeled “Pumpkin Sale” outside the vegetable garden, or put your money in an envelope marked “Pumpkin Sale” and give it to your child’s classroom teacher. Exact change only, please.

Pumpkin Glow. Once you’ve paid for and picked the perfect pumpkin, carve your favorite design and bring it back to campus the week of the event to add it to our 3rd annual Pumpkin Glow–an illuminated trail of carved pumpkins.

This is an event that is open to Overfield families–current and alumni–as well as friends of Overfield. Feel free to invite non-Overfield families to experience this luminous fun alongside your family. We are looking forward to lots of creative pumpkins to guide us through the playground and tree-dotted meadows that provide the lovely backdrop Autumn at Overfield. See you there!

Don’t forget to bring your carved pumpkins to Overfield by Thursday, 10/15 this week so that they can be placed in the lighted trail for Autumn at Overfield! Please place these pumpkins in front of the vegetable garden. You are welcome to pick them back up on Monday, 10/19 if you would like to take them back home.

See you all this weekend at Autumn at Overfield!

The environment as an additional teacher

“It is tempting to romanticize Reggio Emilia. It looks so beautiful, it works so well. That would be a mistake. It is clear from the essays in this book that Reggio has struggled much in the past and that, indeed, conflict can never be absent from the achievements of any dynamic entity.” –Howard Gardner, from The Hundred Languages of Children

At the Overfield School, we are inspired by the fundamentals of the Reggio Emilia philosophy. Every morning we look at our classroom spaces with fresh eyes to see how we can use the environment to capture the attention and curiosity of the children. What elements of surprise can they find that encourage deeper investigations, encounters, and interactions? How can we encourage the building of relationships, both among children and between children and their environment?

Unfortunately, because of COVID-19 restrictions, parents aren’t able to see the inviting spaces that welcome the children each morning. In an effort to bring families into the classrooms as we would normally be doing in person, we will be sharing photos of classroom environments in this newsletter. Please enjoy these peeks into the learning spaces of Overfield.

Posted by: overfield on October 13, 2020.