First Day of School

Dear Families,

All children had long periods of joy throughout the morning. A few children did miss mom or dad for a while and found comfort on Celeen or William's lap; again, even these children had other times in the morning during which they were joyfully engaged in work or play.

A number of children particularly liked kneading bread (which we will eat tomorrow). Many children played in the rocking boat and in the loft. We did have a few loud conflicts--largely around toys; one child might want 3 hats while the other child wanted 1 (from a distance, it seems unfair, of course; the other child wanted them as mittens). These conflicts and the children's determination seemed equal with younger and older children, only children and 3rd children (which is to say that I did not see clear winners and losers or bullies and victims).

Thank you for the bounty of fruits and vegetables. On the first day, children did not eat a great deal. My experience is they will eat more and more as they get used to the routine (some children did have seconds of rice). Some children were a little sad because they chose not to eat nuts and fruit earlier and then learned that the later snack would be rice (it really is pretty tasty rice). Some children were also sad because they could not sit where they wanted at snack time; again, my experience is that once they are used to the routine, they come freely and happily to their seats; my experience with letting children sit wherever they want for snack is that it soon breeds unhappiness as children compete for prized seats.

Several children washed dishes with gusto. 3 children carried rice up to Maureen and Paul in the tower.

I will report more as the week goes on.

With warmth and light,

William Dolde