Students at the Soboba Tribal Preschool treated their parents to special days last month. Mother’s Day was celebrated on May 8 with a tea party themed event. Fathers got to join their little ones for a BBQ themed luncheon on May 22. Father’s Day is on June 21 this year, but the students will not be in school, so they observed the occasion early.
Mothers and other female relatives were treated to finger sandwiches and sweet pastries to go with their iced tea. They joined their children in decorating pretty hats, using a paper plate as the base with colorful markers, ribbons and sequins added as desired. They also used a fabric flower making machine to craft the perfect blend of their favorite petal colors and lots of leaves for a keepsake flower.
One wall poster created by the preschool class had students answer what they love most about their moms. Orion MacDonald said, “I love my mom because she plays with me and reads books to me.” Daiya Muhammad said, “I love that my mom is beautiful and she loves me.” Another poster was titled “Mommy’s favorite cup of tea” and featured photos of the children on the teacups.
Pre-K students were asked to complete the sentence “I love my mom because…” The poster featured a huge heart in the center decorated with pink handprints of each student. Paulina Aguirre said she loves her mom because she is always happy, Mavii Ortega said it’s because she’s nice, and Neqpikat Arroyo-Modesto said it is because, “I’m growing up.”
Kindergartners got to design and color teacups that were attached to a poster letting their mothers know they are one “tea-rific” mom. There were handmade projects the children did in their classrooms put into gift bags for their mothers to enjoy.
Fathers and father figures got their special day two weeks later seated at long tables covered with red checkered tablecloths. Some of their gifts were in bags designed to look like traditional ribbon shirts. Others had grill master apron shaped cards attached. Gifts included a can coozie and a cutting board, both decorated with their child’s handprints on them. A fun craft they got to do together was to design a Shrinky Dink keychain.
Posters around the multipurpose room walls showed expressions of love from the children for the men in their lives. Pre-K students were asked to complete the sentence “I grill-y love my dad because…” and the heartfelt answers were written in the “smoke” that came from the grill. Ellie Calderon said, “He always lets me help him” and Natalia Girard said, “He goes to work.” When students in the preschool class were asked what they loved about their dads, ‘Eshash Shuullaw said, “I love my dad because he calls me pretty all the time, every day” and Talla Grant said, “I love my dad because he’s so special and he always helps me get ready for somebody’s practice.”
Kindergarten students got to share their favorite thing about their fathers, and their comments were very sincere. Marcie Brane likes that her dad is strong and helps her, Kut Vega-Castello said he likes that his dad helps him learn new things, and Nu$uun Valdez said, “My favorite thing is he makes me cereal.” The youngsters also got to assemble construction paper hamburgers and hot dogs that were displayed around a colorful poster that claimed, “You are a grill-y awesome dad.”
The lunch featured grilled chicken, ribs, and hot dogs with sides of corn on the cob, baked beans and potato chips, all followed by a sundae bar. Many of the men were happy to share that they love to barbecue at home. So kudos went to the kitchen staff who prepared the food that met with the approval of the experienced guests.
Keith Escalante said grilling is something he enjoys doing. “You can’t just put the meat on the heat and expect it to turn out good; there’s an art to it,” he said. He was enjoying hanging out with his grandson, kindergartner Kyler Escalante. “We’re having a good time.”
Junior Medina’s five-year-old son Kavikvish is in the Pre-K class and he thought the event was very nice. “I like spending time with my son and talking with everyone else,” he said. “It’s nice to see the kids with all their friends.”
Both events featured performances by the kids who learned special songs about how much they loved their moms and dads. There were also raffles for lucky ticket holders and coloring pages for the families to enjoy together.
For more information on the preschool, please visit https://preschool.soboba-nsn.gov.
