So, the children are settling in and getting really comfortable with us, and coming out of their shells a little bit. We are loving it! They say such funny things and it's interesting to see their little personalities shine through.
I don't have any pictures, I kind of slacked last week and the pictures I did take weren't very clear, so I'm trying to do better this week.
It has been brought to my attention that I could do better about blogging for a broader audience. Meaning other educators, administrators, etc. Our school (and our classroom specifically) is a model for how early education should look, so I should be sharing the information others need to emulate it. These are some topics that I get a lot of questions about.
Writing--We do not write or draw or provide coloring pages for children in our school, except to take dictation, because we want them to understand that their words and drawings are important. If I draw an apple for a child, then I can just about guarantee that any apple they draw will look VERY close to mine. If they draw their own apple, it might look very different, but the details that are impactful for them will be there. They may not be organized the way we would organize them but they will be there. Then add their own words about what they drew, and they can see that their writing is important. Please note that we do have a lot of college student volunteers who mean well, but don't understand this yet. It's a process. And a lot of explaining.
Process Art--Our artwork is about the process and not the product. Art is about the experience and not making an apple that looks like all the other apples out there. What if I want my apple to be blue (think of Picasso's blue period)? That would be fine in our classroom. What if I don't want to draw an apple? That would be fine too (generally, we don't ask them to draw or paint any particular thing, anyway). What this means is that you will get lots of gorgeous art from your children this year, but it may or may not look like anything. It's okay.
Preparing children for kindergarten--DON'T WORRY. Your child will be ready for kindergarten. However, we are preparing them for LIFE. We want all of these little people to be able to solve any problem they come across. We're going to provide support for that now, and later they are going to be confident enough to do it for themselves. We all know adults who cannot do this, so how wonderful would it be if everyone could learn this in preschool?
This is my plan for world peace.
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