I would like to check in with every family by phone or person after the first days of school, and I also realize that we might not reach each other. Feel free to check in with me by email if that works better for your schedule.
In our play time before and after snack this week, every child in the class has shown the ability to find joy in vigorous movement and to value more tender games. As a teacher, I find it helpful if there is a balance between the more extroverted and internal play. Most children, even ones who seem quiet or reticent at first, benefit from the chance to run or laugh or jump or roll or tumble. Most children, even the ones who seem always inclined to run or jump or yell, benefit from the chance to pretend to have a meal of wooden blocks with Kim or sing a baby doll to sleep. Sometimes the mood can and does move too far in one direction--the new couch and open space inspired some vigorous running. In some cases by building new scenarios, Kim and I were able to draw the children into a new energy. In a few cases, we used the "time in" that is mentioned in our Children's Garden Handbook, inviting children to see what we were doing at the table making soup or with the dishes. Although a child in the midst of a race might protest at first, she or he in a few minutes seemed pleased to know that there were peelers to use, vegetables to taste, and work to help with.
Some play scenarios have included falling into mud, setting sail for a journey with food, hosting a wedding, creating a pretend meal of woodchips, setting up a fireworks display, bringing cats around in bags, building a playground with the slide and wood in the classroom (the couch next to the loft seems particularly helpful in this case--the children can climb up one way and down another), pretending to juggle, building beds in many parts of the room and pretending to sleep and wake up, placing baby dolls in a basket and pretending to be horses to pull a sleigh, rocking on rocker boards in all different positions, and more.
All children have come to the table for snack and rest and our birthday celebration (the slow transition to rest time has been particularly peaceful; I allow children to play quietly once the toys are asleep). Some children have claimed not to like the rice or soup without tasting it. This happens every year, and we keep offering the rice and soup each week. To help those children who do actually eat the rice and soup, I sometimes reflect back to very vocal complainers not to worry, that learning to like rice and soup is like learning to ride a bike and is something we can practice. The ginger muffins (they look like chocolate but are not) were generally popular on the first two days. We do have that additional snack at 11:30 or 11:45. The berries in the berry patch have also been helpful for children who refuse to try the rice or soup.
Many children helped cut or peel vegetables on Wednesday and knead dough on Tuesday. Next week I will begin painting to make our lanterns for the lantern walk later in the fall (more information to come). Freya Jaffke, a master kindergarten teacher from Germany who has taught for decades, always began her school year by painting paper after paper to prepare lanterns for the children and families. Working out of imitation, for the first few weeks she painted as the adult activity. Children were free to play or watch. Then, in a few weeks when the children began painting, they had already observed how the teacher painted. The children knew what to do, how to clean their brush, and the like without the need for a stream of instructions and corrections from the teacher. I have always wanted to try to introduce painting in this manner and will be doing so this year--this seems particularly possible insofar as painting has not been part of the nursery week at this school in recent years. I tell you all this so you can have patience for your child and for me if you hear complaints that "Teacher wouldn't let me paint at school!" You can reflect back, "That sounds frustrating. I wonder when you'll get to paint," and then move on with your day.
We have been blessed with fine weather outside. As I mentioned in my meeting, my walk is much more a chance to pretend to be horses galloping or mountain climbers running down and up a mountain. Especially when it is dry and warm, we have been encouraging children to take off coats before our walk. Once it starts raining, of course, we will keep on all our gear for the walk. All 8 children have stayed relatively close to me on our walks; Kim and the last child are never far behind me. It has been delightful to share these walks with your children. After experiencing the challenge of running down and up a steep hill with me, some children now choose to wait with Kim rather than running with me. This is fine--I specifically build events like this into the walk because I find most years some children seek a lot more exercise than other years.
On the playground, the berry patch has drawn many children to explore or play hide-and-seek. The swings remain very popular with Kim. We do our best to get outside by 11am, and we have been right at that time most days.
When it is pick-up time, if your child wants to run to give you a hug and then return to the playground, I would like to encourage that. Please try to have your child make eye contact with a teacher before leaving the nursery playground for a moment. Kim, Dyanne, and I are going to try having siblings hold hands as they walk to the final circle so that parents with children in kindergarten and the nursery don't have to be in two parts of the circle at once.
Thank you for bringing the fruit and vegetable. Because it is apple season, some families are blessed with more apples than they have use for and can bring quite a lot at present. This means that other families need not necessarily bring a crunchy fruit or vegetable on Mondays or Tuesdays. Some children like the routine of bringing something every day, so feel free to continue if it nourishes our family. Do remember that we bring these crunchy fruits and vegetables along on our walk, so please bring in things easy to cut and eat with our hands without napkins. Any and all vegetables are welcome for our soup on Wednesday.
It can be hard for some children to have 3 rich and full days of school and then a 4 day break before their return to a second week of school. For those of you planning to come to the Children's Day on Saturday, know that I will be at our school's booth playing fiddle. This could be a chance for a quick hello to keep connected for Monday.
With warmth and light,
William Dolde
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