Parent News: I'd like to remind families that the end of our session is before us; our last day will be Thursday June 17th. I can't believe this time has gone so quickly!
On Tuesday, June 8th, we will have a visitor to the school. Jane Bush will be here from 9:30-11:30 to observe and to provide me with some professional feedback at my request. Jane is a retired teacher, having taught first grade in the Portland Public School system for years. Although an observer, she will be interacting naturally with the children. My hope is to gain some constructive feedback, which is important for a teacher flying solo.
This week brought a surprise to the preschool. An old-style cuckoo clock now hangs in the hallway near the bathroom. Once the first "Cuckoo!" was heard, the children were enchanted. About five minutes after seeing the cuckoo appear, T was stopped in the doorway, staring at it. "When is it going to come?" he asked me. I replied that it would come out for one cuckoo in a half-hour, thirty minutes. "Is that long?" he asked. I replied that I didn't know, and that I would ask him his question after we saw the cuckoo and see what he thought. Thirty minutes later and he decided that yes, it was a long time.
This was a typical conversation for our group this week. There were many questions about the clock, as well as other aspects of time. We looked at an illustrated chart and discussed how our preschool day has different times for different activities (Gathering time, Snack time, Art time, Outside time); and read "Kathryn Goes to Nursery School", making connections with Kathryn's nursery school and our own. We also used the chart to assign special helper jobs to each child. These tasks are things the children generally enjoy and include: wiping the tables dry before/after meals when they are cleaned, counting out how many smocks are needed for all the children and then distributing them, gathering up the wooden-handled tools outside, or being a special helper at clean-up time by giving an extra look around and helping to see what else needs to be put away. The children have adopted the idea of having special jobs and take pride in being a special helper, even if the task is something as simple as gathering mats together after our Gathering. I remind them of the positive contribution their task gives to the group and their faces light up.
Time isn't just a number on a clock, so we also discussed the ideas of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, explaining it with concrete examples on Wednesday. "Yesterday, V did not come to school. Today, V is at school. Tomorrow, V will come to school too", following through with all the children. Using explanations like "the day before you woke up, when you went to bed last night...that was Yesterday" can help at this age. You might also hear these words in combination with other phrases like "a long time ago yesterday" and such. It may take a long time for your child to understand exactly what these words mean (J likes to say "this day" in lieu of today), because they are still so precisely in the here and now.
On Wednesday we sat down for a group game of "What's Missing Lotto". We've been playing this as a matching game for a while, and had a lot of fun identifying the missing parts. Some of the children found that their missing parts needed labels, and thus a great opportunity for vocabulary enrichment fell into our laps. Spokes, rungs, tines, spouts, and teeth were just a few of the words we discussed; there was a lot of giggling, too, especially in regard to a comb having teeth. Your child may have even shared a joke about it with you, which made all of it even funnier.
On Thursday we headed out for an exploratory walk, taking in all the blooms~ roses, hydrangeas, dandelions and peonies, lavender and spirea were all inspected with noses and fingers. We came across a backhoe/excavator and two workers staring at a hole in the sidewalk, and noticed the shape of the hole (square) and the many cones in the street. This turned into a conversation about road safety, which is an ongoing discussion from our weeks looking at car and truck books. We also found some smaller holes in a neighbor's yard. "What's down there?" I asked. S thought there might be a rabbit. Who knows?
Some other glimpses into our week together:
J and T working playdough. Lots of pretzel making, as well as a few worms.
We revisited using the stamps and ink pads. Orienting the stamps and pads were a challenge at first, and I noticed the children trying different methods of applying pressure to the stamps, with the heels of their hands, fingers on both paper and pushing the stamps, or the simple one-handed technique.
Our stampy table needed a good soap up. The cars came out to drive through the suds, then we introduced popsicle sticks to move the bubbles around and make new lines.
S, V and T throwing balls back and forth to each other, standing on the rounds (and gladly climbing down to get the ball again and again), or on their feet in the grass.
Our carrots and peas are still growing strong. Tiny little yellow peapods are developing now, and the carrot tops are getting fuller. We also planted some nasturtium seeds near the house in the backyard.
Painting this week, twice. We revisited our print painting with circular props, and offered easel time. What a variety of pictures and methods of painting!
We worked giant puzzles several times this week. This seems to be far more popular right now than using our bin for beans or rice, so we've temporarily designated the kitchen floor for this activity. S and T especially like to get right in on these puzzles.
V and S snuggling babies and carrying them into the 'house' under the kitchen table.
S and J playing dress-up kitchen play with necklaces, aprons, pasta and lot of "silly"...giggling, rolling on the floor and having fun.
V, T and S singing "Ring around the Rosie" on the rug. More giggles.
J, V and S together outdoors, using discarded grapevines to "fish" in the raingarden again; grape leaves torn up with collected flowers from our walk...all this became a soup, seasoned with sand and cooked in a flowerpot!
We'll have another great week ahead of us. See you then!
