No More Green Dot Days...

Here we are at the end of the school year. It has felt long and fast at the same time. Seems like Spring went by in a blink of an eye. Imagine what it’s like to try to understand the passage of time as a 4-5 year old. They have less experience with the way time keeps moving forward, with endings and beginnings. Your children have been interested in discussing the end of the school year, the final green dot days and the many, many red dot days. They have shown beginnings of understanding: one child recently shared that he is not sad about the red dot days because he will have play dates with his school friends. Many others wail in real and exaggerated grief as we cross off each green dot day on the calendar. All the while, teachers have attempted to be open sounding boards for kids’ feelings; scribes, as they dictate strategies for staying in touch; and, calm, reassuring figures of predictability in the face of impending change. Our advice to families is this…Look for ways to build some predictability and routine into your child’s Summer days (i.e. simple calendar they can engage with). Give them lots of space for their feelings and time for rest during the Fall transition. When they are falling apart, remind yourself it’s temporary. During hard times, look to the tool kit they’ve/you’ve built this school year. What will provide your child a sense of security? Can they keep a photo of you in their pocket? Maybe a small trinket? What about something that smells like you? And, finally, sometimes everything needs to be put on pause, because a good snuggle with a favorite book can take us a long way on the road to emotional refueling – for your child and you.

Teachers and parents feel the end of the school year, too. Every school year’s end is bittersweet. We build significant relationships with you and your young people, so it can be really hard to say goodbye. This year is an especially big goodbye for us. Amanda is off to a new adventure, Katrina to a new team, Anna to a new country! Thank you for your partnership this year (and many other years for some of you!) You have supported us in so many ways – time in the classroom, volunteering on the board/committee work, communicating with us, and trusting our ideas. We could not do this job without the parent community we are so fortunate to have at Park West. Finally, thank you for the generosity you’ve shown in end of the year gifts. They are a lovely treat!

Oz Park

JK kids really enjoyed walking to Oz Park this week. It was especially exciting because we got to see JK-W at the park! A rest with some pretzels and water helped to prepare kids for the trek back to school. Though the walk felt long to some, we made good progress and had plenty of time in the building. Our air-conditioned classroom was a cool respite after playing and walking in the sun and kids settled in for a snack, story, meeting and table time. These group excursions create a strong sense of community and are especially enjoyable at this point in the year.

Counting Down Green Dots and Drawing Simple Shapes

We began talking about the end of the school year this week. With this being our final full calendar page, it was unavoidable. At group time, we showed a calendar page for June with one green dot day followed by all red dots. Someone quickly said, “yeah, because it’s summer break”; another asked, “when will we all be together again?” We asked children what they know about it, what is summer break, and what will they do after summer break? Some kids knew they would go to kindergarten, and some knew the name of their next school. We went around the rug so each person could have a turn to share what they know.

We touched on camp when someone brought that up, and we explained that not everyone will do camp. There will be some new kids, some new teachers. Camp will not be the same as JK. The last green dot on our calendar page really is the last day for these kids and these teachers to be together in this room for JK.

This was likely the first of many conversations we will have with kids about the end of this school year and what will come next for each of us. We will help kids work through their feelings about this by reflecting on other times they’ve experienced change (the start of this school year, for example), and by helping to develop strategies for staying connected (play dates, for example). Most of the time, kids relax when we reassure them that their own grownups know what their plan is, and that their new school doesn’t start until after lots and lots of red dots with their family. As much as one school year or one summer feels like it goes by at lightning speed for us adults, it really is a very long time for young children. It can be too much time to worry about something new, so we recommend you try to focus on the present with kids as much as you can. Give accurate information, but really dig into the new school stuff closer to the end of the summer.

In the meantime, we are still chugging along here at school. This week we’re doing a representational art activity about drawing buildings. Teachers build something with hollow blocks in basic geometric shapes. These structures are placed in the middle of a table. There are felt tip pens in colors corresponding to the shapes. We ask children to try to draw the shapes as they are in the structure. To do so, they must take into consideration so many things in addition to being able to draw a square or a triangle. Orientation, size, space needed…plus, we expect drawing individual shapes to be for kids this age. Children typically begin to draw shapes between 2 and 5 years old and there’s a pretty wide range of ability within these years.

So, this activity is a stretch. It’s a stretch we wouldn’t have asked of kids earlier in the school year, even just a couple months ago. Children need to feel safe to take risks like this, their work needs to be accepted and embraced many times over. They need to know it’s not just okay, but good, to do it their own way, as one child told a teacher very clearly when he proudly held up his work to show her. “I did it my way!” he exclaimed, with a giant grin. We cannot force someone to be able to draw a triangle before many different factors line up for them. To support each child’s individual development of these skills, we may scaffold their work in a number of different ways: maybe by drawing dots for them to connect, or holding a marker hand-over-hand, or simply backing off to give someone the privacy they need to try it their way without an audience the first time. As with so many things, there’s no one way to go about it.

Math Talk in JK

What a week it’s been! Amanda and Katrina are thrilled to be back in the classroom after both being out sick. Kids have been busy with classroom activities and we returned to a lot of thinking and talk about math. Discussions about number and operations are common in JK as kids encounter mathematics in everyday situations. Since children are naturally invested in questions that relate to their play and classroom life, supporting and extending math talk is a powerful tool for helping children develop their understanding of mathematical concepts. In addition, these conversations provide teachers with insight into each child’s approaches to learning and understanding of math topics. Here are a few examples from just one day at school:

We had 3 kids out on Wednesday which led to a question - how many were at school if 3 were missing? How could we find out? Some kids had reasonable guesses, but how could we know for sure? When we talk about who is missing, kids typically reference the cubby tags, which are visible from the group time rug. One child automatically thought to reference that again, but each tag has both a name and a number. Did the number assigned to the last tag we looked at denote the number of children who were at school? Children agreed that it did not. Someone else decided to count the cubby tags of kids who were present, but that also proved tricky and yielded different results. Finally, someone else suggested counting the actual kids who were sitting on the rug. This led to several rounds of counting to make sure all were accounted for, including the child doing the counting. 

This week, we added sea creatures to the putty kids have already explored at school. Everyone liked the creatures and some kids said that they needed more because others had more than they did. Teachers asked how they knew who had the most. They said they could tell by looking (estimation - a critical skill for making sense of mathematical problems!) Then the question posed was how could you check? Each child took a turn counting their creatures, some with teacher support as the numbers got larger or because it was hard to remember which creatures had been counted and which hadn’t. It turned out that one had 24, one had 17 and one had 12. Their estimations of most and least were correct! But how to remedy the situation? With math, of course! To start, teachers recorded each child’s total number of creatures. The child with the most creatures started out by offering the one with the least 2 more. Then we had more math to do. Some attempted to count down from 24, but then were unsure and changed their ideas afterward. So, we checked by counting. Then, the child with 12 had to think about how their number changed and we again checked with counting. Was that fair? Some thought so, but others did not. They did agree that it wasn’t equal. Then another child joined the play who had zero creatures, so more negotiating and counting ensued. Issues of fair share at school present opportunities for children to compare quantities and act out mathematical operations. In this case, the operations were addition and subtraction, but it could also be approached as division. At times, children have different ideas about how to approach problems which leads to rich and lively discussion.

At snack time, kids were excited about the watermelon that was served. It was cut in small wedges, and it felt satisfying for kids to help themselves to a lot of pieces. Many gathered a large number of rinds as they ate and counted them. They compared their quantities to each other’s - who had more? Who had less? Who was full? Who wanted more? One child said she needed one more to reach “the world record of ten.” Then, others started to think about how many more they would need to reach ten. Everyone had ideas to share about this. Some kids were pretty sure about their numbers, but others were less sure. They talked about it with each other, sharing their strategies for how they came up with their answers and trying them out. 

At group time, we had a note to read from the morning class. They had seen some numbers that one of the JK kids had hung up around the room and wondered about them. What were they for? Who made them? As we discussed what to write back about them, the creator (Sammy) told us that they were about what you do when you first enter the classroom: First, you put your stuff away. Second, you wash your hands. Third, short play. These are ordinal numbers and we welcome their use and discussing them. As you can see from the many raised hands, children were highly engaged as we discussed both the numbers that Sammy hung up in our room, the order of procedures for entering our classroom, and composing a response to the morning class.

Drawing our bean sprouts

It has been exciting to watch what is happening to the bean seeds we have hanging on our windows. Some have sprouted roots, stems and even leaves, while others have little to no growth. Some have developed some mold, which seems to have stopped the growth. This week, we invited children to draw the sprouts. We have placed a few on tables along with colored pencils and papers. Children looked very carefully at each sprout in order to duplicate what they saw, inspiring not only drawings, but discussions about the differences in each sprout. Some were long, some had leaves, some had curled around each other and in some, we could still see the remnants of the bean’s outer covering. What caused these differences, some wondered, while others had pretty firm ideas about it. The bag was too small, the napkin was too wet, there wasn’t enough water, not enough sun, the bean fell off of the napkin. This led to discussions about what else could be planted and how. Do all plants get started on napkins? While a few seemed sure that they do, others had some first hand knowledge of planting in soil. This led to children thinking about the plants that they see growing outside. We are encouraged to see children grow in their ability to make connections between what we do in the classroom with what happens outside in nature.

Putty

This week, we added tongs with fruit and sorting trays to the putty. Children have been sorting their fruit, creating patterns, making baked goods and ice cream and even playing tic tac toe with the fruit. As children use the fruit for their creations or patterns, some of them have been looking for more of a certain type. This has led to many discussions about how many each child has, how they are using them and how many more they want than they already have. We’ve been seeing lots of counting, comparing and discussion of number as a result.

Fishing

We turned our water table into a “pond” for fishing. In the pond are fish with paper clips which can be “caught” by poles with magnets tied to the end. Those who wish to fish can take a bucket with a pole. The bucket can be used to hold the fish they catch and when they are done, they return the fish to the pond and the rod to the bucket.

Children have also been creating fish to catch in the pond. To make fish, they choose a fish template and then decorate it. Then, the fish must be cut out. It takes both fine motor control and patience to follow the lines of the fish with scissors. Once the fish is fully cut-out, it is time to add a paperclip, which will allow the fish to stick to the magnet. But how does one attach a paperclip to a paper? It is tricky to fit the clip onto the paper. Opening up the clip a little can help, but if you open it too much, it won’t stay on. It is also a challenge to work around your own fingers. It takes some fortitude, and sometimes some encouragement, to persist in the face of these challenges. Children have shown an interest in taking their fish home, so we’re helping them remember to write their names on the fish they make, while also reminding them that, for the time being, the fish will remain at school so that we can catch them in the pond.

This Week in JK

Kids are experimenting with new vessels for pouring in the sand table. The wooden stand is a place to mount these vessels, if children wish, and also has a stopper that can be added to block the flow of sand or removed to allow the sand to pour out. Children have combined all of these elements in unique and interesting ways as they explore them.

We had putty out on the sensory table. On the first day, kids worked to combine two colors of putty. After they had been combined, we added scissors and pizza cutters to use with the putty. It is always fascinating to watch how the putty stretches and drips. One child even made a picture of a face for others to try to make out of putty. 

Using stencils at table time has inspired more stencil use during the school day.

Children have worked with partners and independently in order to create the complex and interesting constructions that have graced both our block rug and our tabletops.

Seed Song and Planting Experiment

We learned a new song last week. Here at Park West we call it, “The Seed Song.” It’s a song with a lot of parts to remember and we practiced singing it everyday at group time. Just like our beloved Tree Song, there is a sequence to be followed, and it takes a lot of practice to get it down. This week we tried it again, and it was really amazing to hear how kids really remembered the words and the hand movements that go along. We recorded the 4AM class this past Tuesday (they were very excited about being recorded) and you can take a listen here: Seed Song

THE SEED SONG

If you’ve got the sun, and if you’ve got the rain

You can plant a little seed down the old back lane.

You rake, and you hoe, and you keep the weeds down.

You might find, you might find…..

A root coming out from the seed in the ground.

(Repeat chorus: If you’ve got the sun, etc.)

You might find, you might find……

A stem coming out, with the root,

from the seed in the ground.

(Repeat chorus)

A leaf coming out, with the stem,

 with the root,

from the seed in the ground.

(Repeat chorus)

A flower coming out, with the leaf,

with the stem, with the root,

From the seed in the ground.

This week during group time, teachers demoed a planting project/experiment. We say experiment, because it really is just that. Children were shown how to “plant” a seed, using a ziplock sandwich bag, a paper towel, water and a green bean seed.  Then during play time, everyone had a chance to plant their own seed, label their bag, and tape their experiment onto a window in the classroom where the seed will receive sunlight. How exciting!! Hopefully all the seeds will germinate and children will be able to experience our Seed Song in real life.

Spring Walk and Journal Writing

Welcome back to school! It has been such a treat to have such warm days this week after spring break. Because it was so beautiful outside, we took a walk with JK to look for signs of spring. We noticed a lot of things starting to grow. Some plants were just peeking out of the dirt and some flowers were starting to bloom. We also noticed the sunny skies, spotted a few birds and saw some other interesting things, such as a broken bicycle and a hopscotch game.

Later at tabletime, we made journal entries about what we noticed on our walk. Though many children  choose to write and draw regularly at playtime, a focused journal writing activity provides an opportunity for children to reflect on a specific experience and exercise their growing literacy skills. 

Writing happens on a continuum, so we see many different forms of writing from children this age. At the beginning of the writing continuum is drawing, which we can have varying degrees of complexity. In JK, most children are able to do some form of representational drawing. During this particular journal writing activity, children drew a variety of things, ranging from flowers and plants, to sunny skies, to the friend next to whom they were walking. This is what we’re looking for: children accessing their impressions and memories from our walk and putting their ideas on paper.

We include a visual of the date in case children want to add that to their drawing. As the year progresses and children have a deeper understanding of the calendar, we’re seeing more interest in replicating the date. Some choose to skip this step or write just the number while others might include a single letter or even all the letters of the day and month.  This gives children practice making letter forms and more experience with these familiar words and numerals.

Once children have completed their drawings, we ask about adding words. For some children, we record their dictation, which helps to demonstrate the process of writing and build the understanding that what is spoken can also be written. Seeing their own words in print can be powerful for children.Some may prefer not to have any words with their drawings and that’s ok, too.

First attempts at writing are reflective of each child’s understanding of it. Initially, many children make squiggles and will report what those squiggles say. With a bit more experience, these squiggles begin to look more like letters. Eventually, children start to make random letters that, to them, represent their meaning. Each of these steps represents a part of the writing continuum. It is important to both encourage each child’s efforts and affirm that they are all forms of writing.

We often ask children to help us think about which sounds they hear in words that they want to write and encourage them to write those letters themselves. This type of writing, in which children begin to spell words phonetically, is called invented spelling. When children first begin to use invented spelling, they often start by writing just the first letter sound of a word. As they develop more experience, they might try to add more sounds that they hear, often eliminating vowels. Practice with invented spelling helps children develop the ability to both write and decode the written word.

Most children look forward to journal writing and enjoy creating a record of their thinking. It gives us insight into each child’s literacy development as well as their unique ways of approaching written work. At the end of the school year, children will bring their journals home to share with you. In the meantime, we value sharing this experience with them in the JK classroom.

Boundary Setting and Consent

At our staff meeting last week we discussed a recent document released by the Chicago Public Health Department that focuses on boundary setting and consent for children of all ages including those in their early childhood years. We found that the language and approach described in the document reflects the way we communicate and work with students at Park West. We thought it would be informative and helpful to share the document with you. Please find it here.

In the beginning of the year at the Parent Orientation, we talked about the transference of trust that takes place during the Separation process. Not only do we want children to feel safe with teachers, we also want to provide students with the tools to make their own environment a safe and comfortable one for themselves by setting boundaries and advocating for themselves. Teaching children the words they can use when they want another kid's action to stop, whether it’s a classmate taking a toy, offering a hug or hitting, is one way we help students advocate for themselves and set boundaries with others. We might say to a child You can say No or Stop if you don’t like what ______ is doing. Sometimes children aren’t ready to use those words on their own. In those situations, a teacher can help in a variety of ways depending on what actually happened including modeling the language and saying the words for the child.

 Teachers can also help seek consent from a child during play. It looks like ______ wants to put their car on the road you built. Is that ok? Or It looks like ______ wants to touch the sparkles on your shirt. Can they do that? We also prompt kids who are seeking the interaction to do the asking as well. You can ask _____ if you can put your car on the road they built. Throughout these back and forths, we hope to normalize setting boundaries as well as giving children the tools for how to do it.

As teachers we are mindful of the power differential between us and the students we teach. We want children to feel as safe as possible and to be able to practice as much autonomy as they are able. When a child needs to use the bathroom, for example, we have a number of questions we may ask a child: Do you need help? A child may let us know what kind of help they need in the bathroom, and if they don’t, we’ll ask. Do you want me to help pull your pants down? If they don’t respond, and they don’t pull their own pants down, we’ll let them know we will help. It looks like you need help with your pants. I can help you. We want to make sure children know what to anticipate from an adult and give them opportunities to voice what they need from us.

We also pay attention to what comforts children. There are some children who do respond well to a hug if they’re missing a parent or if they got a bump or hurt in some way. There are also children who just need a quiet moment to recover and don’t want physical comfort. We take note of those children and make sure they have a book to look at if they’re sad or a quiet spot to sit until they feel better.

If there are times, and there are, when a teacher needs to help a child stop an action after asking them to stop, we will let that child know I’m going to help you now and remove them from the situation. Again, it’s helping children anticipate a teacher’s behavior in our effort to both keep that child safe as well as those around them, depending on the circumstance. 

Our main goal is to help children begin to understand how to set boundaries with others and seek consent as well. It’s a first step in building a foundation for these children’s ability to communicate clearly as a means of self-advocacy. 

We were reassured by the approach taken by the Chicago Public Health Department. We hope you have a chance to take a look at the document they released this month as this is an important topic for families to address with children throughout their lives.

Sewing and Parents' Day

You may have seen pieces of fabric with colorful thread attached (or barely hanging on, depending on how the project made its way home!) We hope your child let you know that it is a sewing project they worked on at school. We begin sewing not by doing any kind of construction, attachment, or repair work. Rather, our focus is initially on the physical coordination of one’s body and then developing intentionality in terms of stitch size and placement. 

Children use fabric on embroidery hoops and blunt needles threaded with yarn.  They are tasked with stitching in and out, back and forth, without going around the hoop. It’s a big challenge. They have to not only remember that language, but also conceive of the front and back of the fabric simultaneously in order to remember why they’re not going around the hoop. They have to have impulse control and an organized mindset to execute the plan. This is no small feat.

Next, we’ll move to fabric with a tighter weave. This will require stronger effort to pierce the fabric (a good way to build fine motor muscle strength). 

Children will continue to bring these “sewings” home with them, and they might not look like much to you...fabric with scraggly colorful yarn or string...but bear in mind they take a lot of effort, thought, and self-control; the stuff nursery school is made of, after all.

You'll have a chance to do some sewing with your child at Parents' Day next week!

Parents’ Day is a time-honored Park West tradition when parents & caregivers gather to visit their child’s classroom, participate in activities, and join in songs led by teachers together with other classes.

Parents and children will arrive at school together for a shortened afternoon at school, and then leave together at the end of Parents’ Day. Thursday, March 30th, 1-2:30pm (Platemaking: 2:30-3:00pm)

Teachers will have the room set up for children and parents/caregivers to explore together. It is important that an adult is present for each child, so if you are unable to attend, please ask a loved one to come in your place. You can choose to have one or two adults join your child for Parents’ Day. No siblings please!

Marble Painting and Voting

Some children have brought home papers with tracks of paint criss-crossing the page.  This is the result of a physical knowledge art project called marble painting.  As opposed to representational art (self-portraits, for example), physical knowledge art supports children’s understanding of their impact on objects, as well as the objects’ physical properties. 

To start, marbles are placed in cups of paint.  A child writes their name on a paper and flips it over into a box.  Spoons are used to drop a marble onto the paper, and the child lifts the box and tips it to move the marble.  They have to grapple with the sticky paint, adjust to the marble’s faster movement as the paint is shed from it, and they get to see the track the marble makes on the paper.

It’s a great way for teachers to gauge and support sequencing and motor planning skills.  The steps involved are many, and the coordination of movement is challenging.

We’re voting on a new playhouse setup! It’s a slightly complicated process, since this decision affects both the AM and JK groups. We surveyed both groups for ideas last week, then narrowed them down to things that are different from the ice cream shop play we’ve been doing (taco shop, hot dog shop, etc are essentially the same thing in action), as well as being within our capabilities to create. We’re down to 6 options: light tables with pictures to trace, a castle, a flower shop, a museum, a salon, a cat house.

We made a voting chart with space for children to attach their own photo next to their top choice. As we have moved through this week, we’ve asked children to hypothesize about which option will get the most votes. Many children optimistically suggest the choice they’ve made will get the most votes, even if the numbers do not add up that way. Some JK children have been able to do the math required to make predictions about options that will have the most votes if everyone who hasn’t yet voted chooses one option or another. We will finalize the vote at the end of this week so we can begin construction next week!

Recent activities in JK-E

It has been a busy few weeks in JK! In addition to working in the ice cream shop, children have explored using watercolor paints to fill in stencils and then to create self-portraits. We have introduced funnels on an elevated stand for pouring water and changed our gym arrangement. We hope you enjoy the photos below of these classroom activities. 

Stencils with watercolor paint week of 2/27

Self portraits with watercolor paints week of 3/6

Pouring with elevated funnels in the water table

Jumping, climbing, dancing, rocking and balancing on the mats in the gym

This week we introduced hockey in the gym. As some classmates try out the hockey sticks and pucks, others cheer them on from the sidelines. 

Ice Cream Shop

There is an ice cream shop in the lower level of the classroom playhouse. Kids are now taking turns to be workers and customers, but the whole process to create the shop was enjoyable and full of skill building work. (This week’s newsletter format is a little different in that we have used a combination of photos from both groups in order to illustrate all aspects of the project.)

On a Monday, JK kids helped us make signs to indicate that the area was “under construction” as we worked to create the play scheme and the materials needed.

“STOP      NO PEPL      OPEN LATER”

They really needed to block off all the small spaces, something teachers hadn’t planned on.

During group time, both groups listed what they know about ice cream shops, what we need to make an ice cream shop, and what we might do when we play ice cream shop.

We have a collection of ice cream shop props at school, so we showed the kids that we have some of the things they listed: cups, scoops, and money, for example. We needed their help making cones, ice cream treats, sprinkles, and decorations.

Colorful foam clay for so many ice cream treats!

Sprinkle-making materials.

Making ice cream cones.

Sparkly fringe to decorate the sign hanging at the entrance of the shop.

Worker: “This is the menu. Can you read it?” 

Customer: “No, I cannot read it.” 

Worker: “Neither can I.” 

A teacher suggests, “You could look at what is available to offer to customers.”

After a few moments, this shop worker is able to decode a few items written on the menu and uses the V in vanilla, for example, to determine how much he’d like to charge for a scoop of vanilla.

Customers may make several purchases in one trip, something some kids didn’t believe possible.

We have limited play to two customers and one worker. The space is small, and play can get confusing or frustrating when a scheme like this is complicated by too many players too soon. We may loosen the reins a bit as children have some experience in the roles. 

Exchanging money is a big draw for some kids. We’re using simple paper money from monopoly, in denominations of 1 and 5.

An off-menu order of fresh squeezed orange juice in an orange glass.

Many customers are very precise in their orders, down to the color and shape of the cup they’d like. Some shop workers are open to this and some are not. It’s an interesting exercise in flexibility, delaying gratification, and/or negotiation.

Oobleck!

We have written before about how important sensory play is for preschoolers. We’ve talked about how this type of play stimulates learning through exploration, curiosity, problem solving and creativity. Nerve connections in the brain are built through sensory play and language and motor skills are strengthened. 

This week we have a new sensory mixture, Oobleck, in our classroom. What is Oobleck? Well, it is a simple mixture of water and cornstarch. Is it solid? Is it a liquid? It actually behaves as both! 

Other familiar substances, like water, change states from solid to liquids to gasses by changing temperature. But Oobleck is a pressure dependent mixture. Oobleck changes states from a solid to a liquid by changing the pressure placed upon it. Applying pressure on the mixture of Oobleck increases its viscosity (thickness). A quick tap on the surface of Oobleck will feel hard and wet. The pressure from a finger pushes the cornstarch particles together. But, if you slowly slide your finger into the mixture, through the water, the corn starch particles have time to move out of the way, creating a smooth liquidy path. This pressure (created through a child’s hands playing) physically changes the Oobleck from a solid to a liquid.

Back and forth, fingers and hands poke, drag, squeeze and drip. It can be soothing to some children, almost meditative, who want to spend all of playtime with their hands moving around, exploring the different states of this mysterious mixture. For others, it can seem a bit disconcerting. Is it slimy? Will it get on my clothes? Will it come off of my hands easily? And while teachers don’t ever insist that a child play with Oobleck, we do try and model how wonderful it can be. And we always have plenty of towels for cleaning! Feel free to make some Oobleck at home. Just mix equal parts water and cornstarch in a container that allows enough room for a child to move their hands around freely. At school we placed some starfish in the trays, along with some small scoops and other tools. 

Paddle Ball Painting and Spray Bottle Painting

We’ve been working on some interesting painting projects: paddle ball painting last week and spray bottle painting this week.

Paddle ball painting was an extension of the balls, tongs, paddles we wrote about recently. We lined the empty sand table in large butcher paper and poured paint into trays placed at either end of the table. Each station also included one set of tongs and one paddle. Children signed up for turns to paint with a partner. They used the tongs to roll a ball in the paint and then place it on the paper in the table. At this point, nearly everyone had to pause to think about what to do next. They were holding tongs that had drippy wet paint on the ends, but they wanted to be holding a paddle to begin passing the ball back and forth. Making that transition is complicated and really includes multiple steps to plan. This whole project is a really fun way to stretch kids’ motor planning skills.

After sorting out where to place the tongs and picking up the paddle, they tapped the ball and sent it sailing across the table to a partner who hit it back to them – sometimes! Another challenge: how hard to push to make a ball covered in paint move across the table? And then, just when they figured out how to get that going, the paint was no longer covering the ball so it moved much faster with much less force.

After a few passes back and forth, the duo might have noticed that there was no paint left on the ball and decided to take it out. Or, they might not have been sure how to communicate about that. Another challenge, but social this time. How do you decide when it’s time to take a ball out and how do you come to an agreement about that? Who gets to put the next ball in? Which color? What do you do if one person feels done with the game? There was a lot to sort out, but there was a lot of motivation to do all that work.

Spray bottle painting is, in some ways, a much simpler project. There’s a large piece of fabric hanging on the wall and you get to aim a spray bottle filled with liquid watercolor paint at it. There’s still a fair amount of planning that goes into the activity. How does one hold a heavy spray bottle filled with paint anyway? Then, how do you squeeze that trigger? How do you do both at the same time? Many kids tired quickly. It takes real strength to extend one’s arm and squeeze the trigger repeatedly. This kind of work is really good for developing the muscles in arms and hands that will aid fine motor work, like writing.

Children have been taking turns solo. It’s a nice respite from the social and emotional challenges involved in paddle ball painting (and everywhere else!) It’s proving to be a positive social activity anyway. Children have been enjoying watching each other. Many have even noticed what a great vantage point the top of our playhouse is. Some have shown an interest in turning over the timer and tracking turns as we go through the sign up list each day. Since it’s set up near our musical instruments, some kids have taken to forming a band to play “spray paint music” to encourage the artists.

On the last two days, we added “targets” and then the idea of scoring. Some kids were really excited to write down their numbers or tally marks and then count them up at the end.

Block Play and Valentine's Day

Valentines Day

This year, our JK group will have a Valentine card exchange at school. While we don’t generally observe holidays at Park West, we really like to share the  literacy and community building aspects of exchanging Valentines with kids. If you want your child to participate, they should bring one card for each classmate on February 14,  with each child’s name marked on the outside. These can be simple store-bought cards or hand made, but please don’t include treats or candies. If your child is interested in doing some or all of the writing, that’s great. Some kids are really motivated to write their friends’ names. Others may not want to write any of the names, or may want to just write one or some of the names. 

Any approach is fine. We want this to be an enjoyable experience for kids, and don’t want them to feel pressured to do more writing than they are ready for. We thought it might be helpful to let you know now, so you have time to spread out the task in a manageable way for kids. Some may like to work on all of them at once, but others will benefit from spreading it out over more days. See what works for your child.

Block Play

Block play is something we deeply value here at school because it provides rich opportunities for development. Through block play, children grapple with many mathematical concepts including counting, measurement, comparing, proportion, symmetry and balance. In fact, research has linked block play with math competence in later stages of life.  In addition, children gain firsthand experience with scientific principles related to gravity, balance and weight. Block play provides natural opportunities to make and test hypotheses, promotes both gross and fine motor development, aids spatial awareness and provides opportunities for collaboration and negotiation with peers.

Block building follows a natural progression and we often see children fluidly move between different stages of block building and combine them in their play. In the classroom, we provide large hollow blocks, which allow children to build structures that they can play in as well as unit blocks, which are smaller and allow for more intricate constructions.

As well-loved as our blocks are, we have noticed that our numbers are starting to dwindle as blocks get worn out and retired or lost. We decided it was time to get some new ones and enlisted children’s help in taking inventory of our block supply. Teachers made a chart with each block’s shape on it. As a whole group, we matched the actual blocks to the outlines and then counted each type of block.

Everyone agreed that it would be nice to have more unit blocks. Teachers showed a few pictures of block constructions and children identified particular shapes that they thought we most needed. Teachers ordered new blocks and have been introducing them gradually. We started with the square shaped blocks, also called half-units. After introducing them at group time, we offered each child just a few of these blocks to build with during table time. Having only a few blocks to work with inspired interesting designs. It was exciting to see how many different configurations children made and their interest in each other’s building.

We have continued to introduce each type of block individually and offer different combinations of blocks to children at tabletime. It has been exciting to see the building that these news blocks have inspired.

Children have continued to explore block building at free play and created many creative and interesting structures. 

Sand in the Water Table! JK Parent Visits!

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We’d like to begin welcoming parents to sign up for a turn to visit the classroom in February. What this means for you is that you may email us to schedule a date to come in and spend the afternoon with your child. You can come for the whole time or part of the time, but be sure to let us and your child know what your plan is. When you’re here, we recommend that you follow your child’s lead and play with them. Expect that you might get messy. Keep in mind that your presence will be a new thing for your child at school. They may be somewhat uncomfortable with the idea, and may not react the way you think they will when the day arrives. We’ll help you through it. We find that it can be easier to navigate this exciting experience if one parent comes at a time so we encourage you to schedule separate visits if two parents in your family are interested. However, if this is a challenge for you, please let us know. 

We try to have at least one day a week without visitors, so we’ll start by asking you to limit your scheduled visits to Tues, Weds, or Thurs. Again, if that’s a challenge for you, please let us know. We’ll try to wrap up visits in May so that we can close out the school year without visitors. Hope we get to see you at school soon!

Perhaps your child has mentioned that we no longer have sand in the sand table. Where did it go? Teachers scooped out all of the dry sand and carried it over and into the water table. We then added water, and placed letter molds in the wet sand for exploring. Some children were a little worried about the change in our physical arrangement. And some were so thrilled they could barely contain their excitement. Though we know this can be a challenge for some, we also know that weathering small changes can help to build flexibility. It also gave us an opportunity to voice some of these feelings for children. We affirmed what children noticed and tried to identify what they might be feeling. It looks a little different. Are you worried that things have changed? Everything else will stay the same at school. 

Experiencing a familiar material in a novel way is one way that we spark children’s thinking and build their awareness of the world around them. By changing the physical property of sand, you use it in different ways and notice new things about it. It also provides a different sensory experience. Children are engaged in experimenting with how sand behaves when it is wet. They experimented with using shovels to create sand castles, molding letters out of sand and making big mounds of wet sand. Some children love the texture and feel of wet sand. For others, tolerating the way it can stick to your skin is a challenge. For those who find it more challenging, we provide tools so that they can interact with the wet sand without touching it, if they prefer. Engaging in such sensory experiences helps to build a child’s ability to process and organize sensory input. When they are done, we show children how to rub the sand off of their hands and refer them to towels or the sink if necessary.

Now that our sand table no longer has sand in it, we have filled it with a variety of balls and tongs. Children have been exploring how the tongs work and filling buckets with balls. Many children have been engaged in sorting and like to collect one specific type of ball. Others have sorted them by color while others have acted out a variety of pretend scenarios with these materials. This activity promotes hand eye coordination, hand strength and dexterity while providing opportunities to explore mathematical concepts such as sorting by attributes and comparing sizes.

Leader Cards and Class Project

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We've begun using Leader Cards to designate one child to lead the group when we leave the classroom. These are simply index cards printed with each person's name. We'll randomly pull one each day, then ask if that child would like to be the leader. Children have been clamoring to be first in line, so it's a pretty good motivator to become familiar with print, and a meaningful way to use it. When we showed the cards lots of kids could recognize their own name. Some weren't so sure, others definite about their letters and the order they should be in. Some thought it was their name any time they saw a familiar letter.

This is one of the examples of ways that literacy awareness is creeping into our classroom. We try not to hit kids over the head with 'lessons' about letters and words and reading, but JK kids really are becoming more interested, so we find ways to infuse our classroom environment with meaningful ways to incorporate reading and writing. We often find children's first interest in literacy centers around their own name - recognizing the letters, starting to write them, noticing them in other people's names and in other words. When picking names we will make a short guessing (that is, thinking deductively) game before revealing the name by giving clues about the name: how many letters, first letter, last letter, repeated letters, etc. Most kids get pretty good at knowing the spelling of most kids' names, and it prompts a lot of discussion about names with similar letters, whether more than one name fits the clues, which clue clarifies the selection.

The Class Project (an auction item everyone in class is working on) was mentioned in last week’s bulletin, and we began working on it this week. We’ve told children that “we’re working on one art project for all of us to see at school when it’s done.” We’ve done other group projects already so it is not a new idea. We also mentioned that we’ll get a chance to see the project after it’s “put in a very hot oven to melt the pieces together,” and then it will be at a party for the grownups so everyone’s parents can take a look. We have not shared with children that one family will ultimately have it at their home after the auction. This information seems less important to share with kids than the idea of working together and then seeing the end result. So far, they’ve enjoyed having a chance to add their ideas to the piece and it’s looking great!

Here’s how it goes: children sign up for a turn to work with one other person. We prompt them to take a moment to look at the materials and the work that’s already done. Then, when they’re both “ready with some ideas” we turn over a 3-minute timer. This sounds like a very small amount of time, but in the world of early childhood, so much can happen in 3 minutes. Watered-down glue is applied with a brush and pieces of glass (not sharp glass) are applied to the glue. Children can sign up for another turn if they’d like to. Later, the piece will be fired at a glass studio and then returned to us. 

Welcome Back to School!

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Welcome back to school! It has been exciting to have everyone back together in the classroom after the winter break. We have provided a combination of familiar and novel materials to aid children’s sense of competence and nurture their curiosity as they return to the school setting.

One new item we have added to the gym is noise-canceling headphones. Despite our soundproofing, the gym can be a noisy place, as children run, jump and exuberantly shout. Many young children exhibit sensitivity to loud noises or can only tolerate them for so long. This is common and to be expected as children develop their ability to recognize and process sounds. On top of that, there is a lot to process in the gym. Children are not only processing sounds, which are harder to distinguish and filter over background noise, but there is constant movement. Having some power and control over noises can help sensitive children to better tolerate them. Our headphones lower the decibel level of background noise, but still allow for children to hear conversations. While some choose to wear them to give them a break from background noise, others enjoy hearing the difference between wearing headphones and not wearing them. Several children have experimented with making loud noises themselves when the headphones are on while others pull them off their ears in order to better hear language. Having these tools available for all to explore allows those that might become overwhelmed by noise levels to have a sensory break and others to explore how the headphones change sounds.

We are also offering a few enclosed spaces in the gym where children can retreat if they’d like. We have had a tent up for much of the school year, which children enjoy huddling inside. Some prefer to crowd in together while others like to be in the tent alone. We now also have a “dark den” in the gym, which blocks light. There is a flap in the front to enter and on a window, but when they are closed, it is very dark inside. Children have enjoyed retreating to the dark den and marveling at how dark the space is before popping a head out of the window to again see the light.

These materials offer children the opportunity to take a break from the sensory stimulation at school and explore physical properties in a new way. We look forward to continuing our exploration of these materials in the coming days at school. 

Winter Break

Next week we begin the two-week break and so it is good to prepare you for the quite natural possibility that the return to school, even for the most confident, may get a little rocky. 

Along with a lot of days off from school, you may find over the break that your home life routine is disrupted as well, with heightened celebrations, activities and indulgences. Many loved ones showering attention, relaxing structures and of course providing lots of extra treats. Therefore, getting back to the predictability of everyday life is often something we all want to resist. Accordingly, our expectation for kids to independently and happily resume school life is one they often want to remind us is unreasonable. 

So you might think, here we go back to scratch and the beginning of the year. We need to start separation again. Not really. Remember when we described separation as a lifelong process? Well here is an example of a mini episode in that process. In the fall your kids knew nothing about the space, the adults, the kids, the routine of the day, the expectations. That is no longer the case at all. Now they have laid the groundwork for constructing the experience. On varying levels they now move independently in that space, trust and engage with the adults, play, negotiate and disagree with the other kids, remind each other of the routine of the day, and anticipate the expectations. And we encourage you over the break, to reinforce and converse with kids about the school experience, the people, the activities and the times of day. Reassure them that school will be starting again soon and that it will be the same. For some, a condensed calendar format for the countdown until school starts can prove useful. 

Practically speaking this means you can have confidence in their ability to return to Park West without you, even if they're making a big fuss. And it will help them enormously if you convey that confidence when you're bringing them into school. It's understandable that adults may be taken by surprise and just react with their own variety of dismay when their kid dissolves in the morning rush, but your composure in these moments often provides the lifeline your child is looking for. The first week back, for example, is not a good time to attempt your first curbside drop off. If you happen to be among those who already hand your child off outside, it's a good idea to decide beforehand if you really have time to walk your child into school. Are you parked in the loading zone? Are you late for a call? If you think it's going to create more tension, remember there are adults at the door ready to help. A confident goodbye sooner is often preferable to a harried one later. 

While you are walking your child into the building keep these points in mind. If they are clinging, go ahead and hold their hand. "Let's hold hands. We'll go in together." 

When there are days that you decide to accompany a reluctant child into the room, don't be surprised if they initially regard us with wary or even hostile looks, we may be perceived as interlopers at that moment. Just continue and take them through the motions of hanging up their coat. You can point out their picture on the name card and their cubby, both designations of their own space. This can create a concrete transitional moment from home to school. 

If you continue on to hand washing, don't be surprised if kids who were previously independent suddenly want help from their chaperone. In these instances furtive looks may continue. Instead of urging them to go with us, take the cue and reassure them you'll stay with them while they wash. Teachers are not put off or offended by these moments. On the contrary, we appreciate your helping your child towards a smoother transition from home to school. If you are unable to wash hands with your child before leaving, then hand off to a teacher with confidence. Make the goodbye clear and emphasize that teachers will help them. Most kids get over teary goodbyes in seconds. 

Keep in mind always however, that most kids cry sometimes. It's a natural response to the strong affection and bond you share with one another. The main point is, even on days when kids are opposed, they know us well enough and even trust us well enough that once you've left they get engaged. So you may want to help them to choose an activity to settle into, but after that, even if you can stay longer, please don't, because in a different way, that can undermine your kid's own self confidence. Of course we will try to be alert and sensitive to your moment of departure, but if teachers seem otherwise occupied it's a good idea to go ahead and alert us. All of us working together will make the experience a little clearer and a little smoother for your child. Thank you for all your help. 

Thank you for the showering of appreciation and the generous gifts this holiday season. We feel so very loved. 

We hope everyone has a happy, healthy break! See you in 2023!!