First Days . . .

The Beginning of the School Year

and the Lovely Charms of Young Children

One of my favorite "new moments" so far this year has been observing, returning preschooler,Violet, now 4, who used to prefer to play by herself most often, lovingly sharing her Pirate Booty with new preschooler and fun-friend, Reid, 3,  (who shared some of his yogurt raisins!)  They have great conversations while they are eating, too!

I can honestly say that, each year is different.  And I love that!  Each group of families and children are different and they all interact with each other, the room and me in different combinations.  This year we have three classes, so the diversity of group dynamics has been very obvious to me. 

Even if there are returning students, if we have just one new child in a group, that can change everything!  I also try to change the room around and do new things every year (mixed in with Milestones traditions like fixing Humpty Dumpty and pirate play…) to keep things fresh.

One new thing that changed in the classroom this year is that, in order to cut down on paper towel waste, each child has their own towel for drying their hands.  I had no idea if this would work out, but I constructed "pretty" towel hooks and each child has a different color of towel with their name above.  The preschoolers have been very cute about noticing which towel is theirs.  Elle, above, LOVES to say, "There's my name and my towel is white!" with a big smile.  I suppose there is something about having something specially made and ready for you when you come to school that is sort of fun.  Elle now points out her friends' names and which towels are theirs!  Very cool.

Another fun new thing in the classroom is that we have a new cuckoo clock.  The children love it when she appears and have named her "Lucy."  We often wonder when she will come out next and what she might be doing there in her little snowy house.  What is great, is that Lucy appears just when school should start, again at 10 for snack, 11 for outside time and lastly at noon - keeping us up on our routines!  A fun introduction to time...

We are in the middle of our third week of school and it is that time where a lot of teachers see the “gelling” of things – meaning, the children are getting the hang of the routines, know each other’s names and play more often together. 

I especially get a kick out of how wonderfully the children can play together this early in the year.

The MWF gang experiments with painting with water outside, while the girls from T/Th morning enjoyed cleaning the table together.

As I hope we all have heard, socialization is an important part of this age.  I find infinite benefits to the children playing together!  One of them is greater language development.  Children that play together have to work things out, assign roles and make observations to each other. This sort of play stimulates the brain in far greater areas, across both hemispheres, as opposed to solo play. (see Your Child's Growing Mind, by Jane M. Healy, ph.D. for more on that!)

Painting is much more fun when done together!

An important Milestones tradition is eating together!  Whether we are just eating snack, or cooking something fun, we sit at the table together and inevitably friendship and conversation evolve...

Above, the T/Th afternoon class had a blast rolling cars and trucks down the ramp several times.  They took turns sharing different vehicles and seeing which ones went the fastest.  It seems like, if you're all having fun, sharing is a lot easier!

Reid and Violet made a beautiful mess together, exhibiting a comfort level they must be experiencing with the classroom environment.  

It's been a great start, sure to be a fantastic year!!