Dear Families,
We continued our work creating lanterns and rolling candles, transforming flat sheets into cylinders of light. The children have put enormous effort and concentration into these projects. They know they are creating something very special to bring home and share with their families. I noticed while we were decorating candles that the children asked for different colors using thier newly acquired french vocabulary, “Vert, please.” “Jaune for my candle. My candle is jaune and I need more jaune.” “Noir and blanc.” “Rose.” “Rouge.” “I need violet, because violet is my favorite color.” They made connections to Halloween, too, and to pumpkin lanterns from the Fall. “These will not be scary lights,” someone said, and ran to find Pumkin Moonshine and show me the picture of a jack-o-lantern.
We continue to sing every morning and the children’s repertoire of memorized verses grows and grows! We learned a new song about a person rowing in a canoe, following the wild goose flight: “My paddle’s keen and bright, flashing like silver. Follow the wild goose flight, dip, dip and swing.” When someone asked for a piece of silver beeswax for their candle, they said it was part of the song, the silver dot was a piece of the song about something silvery. This led to an interesting discussion of all the beautiful things in the world the different colors reminded us of: Sky, leaves, sunshine, Wiskey-Friskey (a little squirrel who lives in our classroom), roses, strawberries, oranges, banannas, etc, etc. So much significance and so many stories on one small candle! I asked them to imagine what would happen to the colors when the candle was lit. “It will get on fire.” “I don’t want my candle to get on fire!” “I don’t want my candle to disappear!” “It will melt.” “No! I don’t want that.”
We have been playing games in our morning meeting with jingle bells and a wintry cape worn by, “Jackie Frost.” Each child takes a turn running through the ‘windows’ in our circle and nipping(gently) fingers and toes with icy magic. Outside, the children have noticed the way the grass in the shadows stays icy and how little puddles are frozen. “Look! It’s Jackie Frost on the leaves!” “Jack Frost got snow on my swing!” One day we went out with the Pre-K class to sing to the sun on top of the berm and shake bells.
Children continue practicing writing and are ‘reading’ the signs in our class: Their own and their classmates’ names on pictures and aprons, the labels for songs, the attendance sheet, the schedule of the day and when they take out books to retell stories to themselves and one another.
Practicing the letter, ‘A.’
On Friday, we went to the compost pile to check on our pumpkin and the garden. I asked the children what they thought they would see. “It’s gonna be all gone because the squirrels eat it!” “Yeah and the fox is gonna come and eat the yucky pumpkin.”
Last week, I talked about children wanting their work to ‘stay.’ Each child has had an opportunity to share something with the whole class – a piece of artwork, a special book, something from home. These times of sharing are important learning opportunities. The audience is able to respectfully listen, ask questions, offer a comment. The presenter is able to engage in public speaking. Reese shared a presentation about a special block construction. I largely stayed out of the way as the five children decided how to arrange themselves. They lined up chairs and Reese placed a chair in front of everyone, right next to his tower with a ‘balancing block’ precariously placed on top.
Some comments: “I heard a movie about blocks.” “I like that block on top and it doesn’t fall.”
Some questions:”Why Reese take blocks?” “Why is that block balancing?” “Why’d you put that thing right on top?”
Some answers: “I was doing this and there’s squares on the bottom.” “It’s balancing because it can’t fall down on either side.” “I know this doesn’t talk but it’s the control. I know that.”
Early childhood is a time of such wonder and magic. I feel a great part of my role as teacher is to show the children every day that they are reflections of a world filled with goodness, beauty, light, artistry and mystery. It is difficult to express how deeply saddened I am by the tragedy of what occurred on Friday in Newtown. Please know that I will always strive to protect your children, keep them safe and affirm for them that they are surrounded by love. Since the children in this class are so young, I do not anticipate questions to arise about what happened. Should the topic come up, however, I will answer their questions very simply and reassuringly. If any of you have questions or concerns, or just want to talk, please e-mail me. Paul, Carmen and John Evans are also available to talk with you.
All the best,
Sarah