Friday, October 14, 2022

The Table Runners!

On Thursday, children put the finishing touches on two of our three table runners.  One of the runners has now been bedazzled with some fancy gold trim.  Children have enjoyed seeing them on display in the hallway.  We can't wait to use them next week!

Small World

On Wednesday evening,  Molly, Elena and three teachers attended a DCREA meeting.  DCREA is a DC-based Reggio study group "committed to elevating professional discourse through research and collaboration."  On Wednesday, Sandy Lanes was the speaker.  Sandy has worn a lot of educational hats in her career and is currently the host of the "Awakening to Reggio" podcast.  Sandy spoke about the image of the child and creating a culture of connection.   She encouraged teachers, when  they notice something happening in their classrooms to ask themselves the question, "What does it mean that...?"  So....
                    "What does it mean that KW children are so invested in the
                                     time they spend creating small worlds?"
When we ask the children, they usually say something like, "Well, it's fun."  When we look more closely, we can speculate about the attraction.  Here's some possibilities:

• Small world lets children explore whatever they are interested in: magical creatures, castles, families, cooking, etc.  
• There's usually some interesting power dynamics.  For example, for some reason, a tiny stingray figure is often a ruler in the community that is created.
• The characters, both human and animal, are often having a great time:  baking cookies, attending a movie night, relaxing in the hot tub, etc.  

Perhaps your child has spent a lot of time this week working on these miniature intricate and creative scenarios.  If so, you can ask them about the world that they've created.  We would love to hear their responses! 

Exploring Long....

...and Tall

The Rainey children spent time working with manipulatives this afternoon. As they measured each other with these materials, they're counting, collaborating, and solving problems.  Karen, Emma, and Elena all stopped by to admire their work. 

This and that...

• It was raining during our normal outside time yesterday, so  we had fun with some of our favorite games in Blake Hall.
• On Thursday, children added lights to the beautiful block structure  that they had built on Wednesday.  
• Our studio experience for today was leaf collages.  We will continue working on these next week as children enjoyed the gluing process! 
• The children always love working on messages.  The exciting news is that Shelly now has a mailbox!

It was great to have Maggie work with us today, so Brigitte could make a quick trip to see her son at the University of Minnesota.  Maggie read several Halloween books and admired our work throughout the classroom.  

Have a wonderful weekend!