October 13, 2025
Important Dates…
Tuesday, October 7: Dine to Donate, 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Chipotle in Troy.
Friday, October 17: School CLOSED for Teacher Professional Development/Conference Preparation.
Saturday, October 18: Autumn at Overfield. Games and food will be available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Pumpkin Glow walk will be open from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Monday, October 20-Friday, October 24: Visiting artist, Jake Lockwood of Muse Machine, at Overfield for week-long residency.
Thursday, October 23: Celebration of Jake Lockwood’s residency, 6 p.m.
Insights from the World of Words and Melodies
When I began teaching at The Overfield School 24 years ago there were a multitude of things that impressed me deeply. Within the Reggio Approach, all of the factors that I believed were important for the education of young children came together with a perspective and clarity that left me hopeful, delighted, and humble. Within the rich principles, I noticed an underlying thread that permeates every aspect of the philosophy: QUALITY. This standard of quality is significantly embedded in the Reggio Philosophy that inspires us and impacts every facet of our school life at Overfield: quality of relationships, quality of materials, quality of experiences, quality environment, quality exposure to the arts.
A standard already set in place by our founder, Julia DeCamp Hobart, was her regard and insistence in quality literature for the children. Many times she would say that every child has a right to know outstanding children’s books and their authors. She would name notable authors: Marjorie Flack, Robert McCloskey, Lillian and Russel Hoban, Margaret Wise Brown, Leo Lionni, Astrid Lindgren and more. She wanted the children to know about Tim Tadpole and his struggle being patient and how the wisdom of the great bullfrog was a balm for his troubled heart. Julia wanted them to laugh at the humorous antics of the mischievous monkeys in Caps for Sale and to feel the relief of the baby owls when their owl mama finally returned to their nest in Owl Babies.
In Julia’s unwavering commitment to children, she reminds us that we have a responsibility to introduce the children to these classics so these stories would be shared and not forgotten. As a lover of children’s literature and former librarian in the public sector, this not only rang true, but elicited a sigh of relief and joy from me when I began teaching at Overfield. I found in Julia, my good friend and fellow book critic, a camaraderie and unshakeable belief in the power of quality stories for children. It was from this belief and striving that our impressive library at Overfield was created. To this day, 65 years later, it continues to nurture and serve children with a vast range of genres guaranteed to make them laugh, wonder, question, be surprised, and yes, even cry. Don’t ever ask me to read Dog Heaven to the children again!
Our Overfield library has grown immeasurably through the years and has presented several challenges. One is space and the other is that the content of the collection has not been convenient for the teachers to peruse. In order to search for a book, they have to physically scour the shelves to know what books are available. In order to remedy this, we have taken first steps in making the library more efficient and the books more searchable. This past summer under the guiding expertise of Maggie Gall-Maynard, we began to digitize our library at Overfield using the StoryGraph program. Maggie is the middle school librarian in Tipp City and an Overfield parent. Updating the library was a necessary boon, but technically, I am not the most proficient or confident. Without Maggie’s direction and unwavering optimism, I could not/would not have even begun this seemingly daunting task. Her reassurance of “one step at a time, one book at a time” never failed to calm me and bring humor and levity to the project. I am happy to announce that we now have over 2,000 books processed! These are all searchable by title, author, and subject tags. We have many more to go and some challenges, which include processing our treasured vintage books, but it is a start and the teachers are grateful!
There are countless reasons why books and stories are important in our lives and in the lives of young children. Simply put, when we read with children, we find ourselves cheering for the same character. We laugh, we hold our breaths in anticipation of an outcome, sometimes we cry…together. It is a shared journey that binds us all together and offers us a joint perspective and experience of the world in which we live. We have access to a treasury of quality literature: stories, poems, songs. Let us be proactive and deliberate in choosing stories that are deserving of a child’s heart, mind, and attention. Please know, we at Overfield are always striving to do the same. Ruth Sawyer, American author and storyteller, provides for me a personal gauge, a standard of quality literature for children that is the same today as it was when she voiced it many years ago. In my estimation, it will remain so forever. “What books are proper fare for a child’s mind?” She answers this in her book The Way of a Storyteller: “Stories that make for wonder. Stories that make for laughter. Stories that stir one within with an understanding of the true nature of courage, of love, of beauty. Stories that make one tingle with high adventure, with daring, with grim determination, with the capacity of seeing danger through to the end. Stories that bring our minds to kneel in reverence, stories that show the tenderness of true mercy, the strength of loyalty, and the unmawkish respect for what is good.”
Carla Briggs – Librarian/Music Leader
Please join us in welcoming back theater artist, Jake Lockwood! Jake will be joining us as an artist in residence for the week of October 20th-24th to involve the children in the wonderful world of theater! We will have a celebration of the residency on Thursday, October 23rd at 6 pm; more details about this to come, but mark your calendars now! We can’t wait to create with Jake!
Autumn at Overfield is fast approaching! This fun-filled day will take place Saturday, October 18th from 11 a.m-2:00 p.m. for games and food, and from 7 p.m.-9 p.m. for the Pumpkin Glow. We need your help to make this day a success!
Volunteering
Please volunteer to set up, clean up, or to work one of many fun stations!
Chili Cook-Off
Do you have a winning chili recipe? Enter it into the Overfield Chili Cook-off! The soup with the most votes wins a $50 gift card and the soon-to-be-famous Chili Master engraved spoon. Sign up to enter your famous chili!
Pumpkin Glow
Buy a pumpkin from the Overfield Pumpkin Patch! Then, carve your favorite design and bring it back on the day of the event to add it to our 9th annual Pumpkin Glow–an illuminated trail of carved pumpkins. Pumpkins and carving stations will also be available the day of the event. Pumpkins are $6 and can be purchased via Zeffy, or by putting cash or check payable to Overfield Family Partnership in an envelope labeled “Pumpkin Sale” and turning it into the Overfield Office. Once you have paid for your pumpkin, you can pick it out from the Overfield vegetable garden.
Other Exciting Activities
The day will also feature art experiences, nature activities, a hayride, face painting, hair tinsel, an obstacle course, concessions for sale, children’s games, 50/50 raffle, exciting raffle prizes, music with Carla Briggs, and apple cider by the bonfire during the Pumpkin Glow!
