News

Affinity Groups

Thank you to everyone who responded to our survey about affinity groups at Plymouth. Based on the responses we formed one group - Families of Color/Multiracial Families - who are meeting several times this spring. We know they had a wonderful first meeting and will be meeting again next month.

Gala Art Nights

The Plymouth Spring Gala will take place this year on May 2nd and the Gala Committee is already planning for this celebratory event.

Spend a night out helping create Gala decor.

Art Around Plymouth 

From our Art Specialist Kara: 

Across our Plymouth classrooms, the children are busy exploring, experimenting, and creating. Through hands-on, process-driven learning, they are discovering new ideas and ways to express themselves. Our classrooms and hallways are filled with their creativity, highlighting the joy of making and learning together.         

 

As you step into our building, you are greeted by vibrant ink and chalk pastel explorations created by the Willow Room children. This project reinforced the foundational concept of printmaking, which is creating multiples, whether through marks or images. Each child used a piece of cardboard to print and repeat bold, black ink marks on their paper, experimenting with both intentional and spontaneous mark-making. Once the ink dried, the children layered in color with chalk pastels to bring their compositions to life.  

 

      The Cranberry Room children explored another exciting form of printmaking—collagraphy! This technique involved creating prints from textured collages. After selecting and arranging various recycled textured shapes to compose their collages, the children used a brayer to carefully roll ink over their designs. The moment of revealing a print is always magical and it was a joy to watch each child light up as their shapes and textures transformed into inked impressions!  

We recently used more of these repurposed cardboard shapes to decorate nests for the bird study that is underway in the Cranberry classroom! The nests will be decorating their classroom tree very soon! 

The Little Green Room children have been studying the process of recycling and repurposing. Our exploration began with sculpting creations using cardboard tubes from the Materials Center and designing wearable art from repurposed Plymouth ID badges. The children recently toured the Materials Center, gaining firsthand experience about how to sort donations and learning how materials enter our school through generous family contributions.  

We took our investigation a step further this week, asking - what if we made our own paper?  

Our journey into papermaking has just begun! We started with a collaborative, hands-on experience: tearing recycled paper into pieces, laying the foundation for our next steps. In the coming weeks, we will continue with paper making and think about the many ways we can give new life to old materials!   

 

The Purple Room children have been engaging in an expanded exploration of dirt! Did you know that clay is a very special kind of dirt? Our journey began with pinch pots, one of the oldest forms of pottery making.  Each child rolled, pushed and pinched their clay to create a pot and experienced how their hands could be used as excellent clay shaping tools! The pinch pots were painted shades of purple this week. 

As our exploration continued, we introduced the technique of slip and scoring—an essential practice in ceramics for joining pieces of clay. Collaborating as a community, the children rolled coils, scored surfaces and used slip as a binding agent to construct a large vessel. Now, as the clay dries in the Purple Room, the children are observing its slow transformation, noticing how time continues to change their creation as the water evaporates from the clay. 

 

The Big Green Room has begun to explore the variety of sea life that inhabits the East River. We looked at the artwork of author and illustrator Leo Lionni, focusing on the beautiful illustrations he created for Swimmy. The children have been captivated by the story of Swimmy, a brave little fish who inspires his friends to be courageous and appreciate the wonders of the sea.

 We observed that Lionni used a variety of techniques to bring his story to life, which inspired our own multi-step artistic process. The children began by applying a watercolor wash to create an underwater world, sprinkling it with salt and dabbing plastic wrap to add texture and depth. Next, they used a mono-printing technique to create rocks and coral for the seabed. Finally, they collaged their printed rocks onto their backgrounds and added printed fish to complete their ocean scenes.  

 

 The Blue Room children have been nurturing their classroom babies, sparking discussions about what infants need to feel safe and content. Inspired by these conversations, we decided to create mobiles for their cribs! 

 We explored the work of Alexander Calder, the artist who transformed sculpture with his kinetic mobiles. His bold colors, geometric shapes and playful sense of movement inspired our own. Together we created mini mobiles, experimenting with balance and color. These are now outside the Blue Room, dancing in the air, bringing movement and joy to our hallways. 

  The accompanying collages and prints on display were also inspired by Calder’s enthusiasm for primary colors and shapes.  

 

 The Red Room children have been tenderly caring for their teddy bears, thoughtfully creating cozy beds in their classroom. As they tucked their bears in, they realized something was missing—a blanket! This realization led us to explore quilt making, drawing inspiration from the extraordinary women of the Gee’s Bend quilting collective in Alabama. 

We studied the vibrant, improvisational patterns of these masterful quilters who have long repurposed materials to create one-of-a-kind textiles. The Purple Room children embraced this spirit and carefully designed their own quilts for their beloved bears using felt and fabric scraps that have been donated to our Materials Center.  

 

There is always so much more to share, as inspiration and conversations are ever-growing and evolving in our collaborative spaces. Wishing you all the best as we continue to explore, grow and learn together!  

 Important Dates to Remember 

 March 

21 - Family Chapel 

24 - 28 School Closed for Spring Vacation 

31 - School Closed for Eid-al-Fitr 

 April 

1 - Classes Resume 

11- Parent Talk with Rachel Hass

15 - School Closed for Parent/Teacher Conferences 

16 - Picture Day 

18 & 21- School Closed for Easter 

22 - School Open – Evening Parent/Teacher Conferences 

 May  

2 - Spring Gala