Digging our hands in

Tonight we had our first official board meeting of the year and I have to tell you, I'm ready to go. I hadn't seen our teacher since June so to talk with her again tonight was so exciting. I know my son is going to be even more thrilled come September 12th, his first day of class.

It was nice having a summer break from school work. Because being on the Board is being part of that proverbial 20% that does 80% of the work. However, I wouldn't have it any other way. This is my seventh year as a Co-op member and I used to be one of those parents who didn't serve on the Board nor understand what moved people to do so. But now I'm addicted: addicted to spending time with so many intelligent, motivated, and fun parents. I'm addicted to helping to actually run a school, rather than passively be served or instructed by policy.

Tonight we talked about our Open House, Orientation, Room Warming day, first day of school, three field trips, and our Harvest party. And this will all be taking place in the next couple of months! It's promising to be a busy start but well worth the effort.

The community garden is growing gangbusters

Raindrop Cooperative Preschool's plot at the Hoquiam Community Garden was spearheaded during the 2007-2008 school year by the Hogaboom family. The initial plantings of marigolds, pumpkin sprouts, and butternut squash starts were made by the students at the beginning of June 2008. The pumpkins were even grown from seed as part of a year end plant-life and gardening unit, and the marigolds have blossomed beautifully all summer long. Some additional herb starts (chives, mint, thyme, and oregano?) were donated by the Patterson family and the sunflowers have been grown by seed from a free packet left by another Community Garden participant. The Hunt, Hogaboom, Glowacki, and Patterson families have been frequent visitors and garden tenders over the summer.

Preschool teacher Mrs. Lenss plans several classroom visits to the garden plot during the Autumn months as part of an integrated curriculum theme. Please feel free to share your comments and aspirations regarding our tiny garden plot with other visitors to this site! Photos can be emailed to raindropcoop@gmail.com for inclusion in a digital scrapbook.