Good Morning Berkeley Academy Parents, Students and Families:
On behalf of our school staff and community, we want to wish all of our Berkeley Academy moms a Happy Mother’s Day!
We hope that our elementary students were able to bring home a small token of their appreciation to their moms as well as a very special card. I want to take the opportunity to explain just a bit more about what kind of gift you have.
The card that was made for you was part of an self-identification exercise that all of our elementary students went through in their very first days at Berkeley Academy. It is a practice that is utilized in advanced art programs at the university-level, as well as one that is used for adults in art therapy.
All students were first asked to think and write down the five (5) things that made them the happiest in their lives. Students listed objects like their homes, a pet, and their families. Some students listed ideas and concepts like “peace,” “playing,” and “love.” Then, there were tasked to assign a color to these five (5) things. Next, they were asked to assign a color that represented themselves and color a part in the middle of a small silhouette. Lastly, they were tasked to color in the rest of the silhouette with the colors they chose for the five (5) things.
During that process of creativity and expression, your child was able to naturally calm their bodies, reduce blood pressure, and even release chemicals in their brains that decrease the chemicals our bodies that induce depression. Studies show that this exercise alone causes a sense of self-satisfaction, personal achievement, and accomplishment in children.
So, what you have in your hands is a captured moment of your child’s happiness, self-identification, and an accomplishment during their first days at school.
We hope you can keep this small gift and memory with you for a long time.
Happy Mother’s Day and we look forward to having a wonderful year!

——– Peter J. Swing *President, Head of School* *BERKELEY ACADEMY | *FOR MULTICULTURAL STUDIES www.berkeleycr.com
(506) 2203-4621 CR (506) 8582-2505 CR (415) 944-9392 USA pswing@berkeleycr.com