Growing ........

There's evidence of growing everywhere at this time of year.  There are green shoots and plants in the forest, flowers blooming, and birds singing and making nests.  We have found egg shells dropped from busy robins on our playground!   In the classroom, the children start to feel their own "growing pains", missing home more, maybe having difficulty with common transitions, or having strong emotions and feelings.  We stay the course with our routines, rules, and schedules, and offer hugs and listening ears when they are needed.  This developmental cycle is something to love about PreK 4's!  

In the classroom we take advantage of the restlessness and activity by taking some time to focus on ourselves and our own growing up.  We measure ourselves, adding a significant amount of tape to the height wall.  We draw self portraits, and revisit writing our "ME" books and sharing them with our peers.  We even explore using tools that require attention and focus  like lo temp hot glue.  

An important part of our "me books" is reading them aloud to our peers. We get a chance to hear about similarities and differences, and we point to ourselves for a "me too!" moment. When the story is read, there's a loud "bravo!"

The cooperation and fantastic structures that are being developed on the block rug reflect the social and cognitive growth of the children. There are details, rules being made, games being played WITH the structures, and then the incredible clean up when all the blocks are off the shelf.....

And, of course, there's always outdoors!  We planted some native shrubs (thank to Leiana our science teacher) outdoors, walked about in the rain and sunshine, and had  time in our outdoor classroom. 

Until Next Time,

Michele and Charlene