May 11-15, 2020

Relationships

We had a wonderful and full week in KW last week connecting to one another through Zoom, Seesaw, and messages.  We started off with a Zoom dedicated to making messages for new children coming to school in the Fall. Having time together to share about the existing and coming relationships was meaningful as children shared about those they know, know of, and haven't yet become familiar with. Through the Zoom conversation and continued dialogue on Seesaw through the week, we saw children and families giving of themselves for these relationships. We observed the dedication to this important value and tradition of our school community: preparing for and welcoming new families into the school.

Here's some of what the children shared while working on messages and showing photos of the new children:

Grace M and Louise  talked about Frances and Luke coming to Brown room next year. 
Grace M: "I'm making a picture of Lukie...of me and him...going to Grandma's."
Louise: "Me and Grace we want Frances and Luke to get married so we can be sisters."
Grace nods in agreement and smiles.
Louise: "So about Frances is..." Louise tells about the games Frances and the family like to play at home. She even demonstrates one game enlisting Ali in the process!
Grace M: "Lukie likes phones. So Lukie might like to bring a toy phone to school, maybe."
Louise: "Frances likes to play with kitchen stuff and doctor stuff."
Grace D: "I'm starting one part all blue and this part all purple (because those are Lily's favorite colors.) When I show Lily pink and purple, Lily says, 'I want blue!' So I'm going to keep on going with the color blue because she really likes blue."
(Talking about Dakota coming to Tucker Room next year...)
Grace D: "I think I know who Dakota is already...Oliver's cousin. My mommy told me. But first I'm going to do Lily's card, then I think I might do her card."
(Continuing to look at and talk about the photos of the other children coming to school next year...)
Grace D: "I know Wilder! ...What's his doggy's name?"  Grace shares that she has seen Wilder around the neighborhood walking his dog. 
Grace M  folds a piece of paper in half : "I'm cutting out a heart."
Grace D decides to also incorporate a heart: "I'm doing it dark red so Lily can see it, because she can't normally see yellow." 

Through the dialogue and reflection of children on their work for incoming children, we see children not only making connections to new relationships but also to one another and their community. They take into consideration what they know about individuals and incorporate these ideas in their work and in the continuation of building connections within the group.

On Seesaw we saw families sharing in the delight of this tradition, creating colorful cards and messages and including personal notes about what they like at St. John's. We observe the ways individuals consider how to ease the transition to a new school and experience. For the children moving on from St. John's, it also helps them reflect on their experience and ease toward their own transition by passing on memories and meaning to others in the community. ​

Relationships are always at the heart of what, why, and how we approach our work but they really stood out as a theme throughout all our synchronous and asynchronous interactions this week. Children looked for one another on Zoom calls and recalled memories of time spent in-person together, they made cognitive connections as they linked concepts and built off of one another's ideas, they told about their families and other relationships which are meaningful to them, and made suggestions for ideas based on their knowledge of one another.

One of the bonuses of the online platforms we continue to see are the ways we are able to connect to one another's families and home-lives in a way that wasn't previously as accessible. For instance, this week we were able to see and interact with many siblings including all of Leigh's sisters, Sam's sister Claire read to us on Seesaw, we had a surprise peek into the metal-work Jen's sons were working on at home, and we got to meet Ellie's friend, Matthias.

Jokes continued to be shared this week, bringing a certain playfulness and joy as a bridge and connection between us. We also spent a lot of time thinking about our connection to the earth and the similarities in observations of Spring signs and the nature around us. ​From these reflections, and others (like "Updating the KW Photo") as we near the end of the school year, growth arose as a theme leaving us thinking about what Jossie said on Seesaw: 

"Nothing is better than having to grow." -Jossie

We look forward to continuing our reflections on the growth and learning shared this year in our time together this coming week as well as the joy of shared-explorations and simply being together.

And...just a little more from our week: some images from the materials work we did together on Zoom and continue to share on Seesaw related to printing cross-sections and sculpting tinfoil. We're loving seeing all your images and "tours" of the work you continue offline!