Dear West Wing Parents,
One of our hopes in planning for the beginning of our school year is to give the children a strong sense of security and predictability as they become more familiar with the schedule. Their capability to connect with the experiences and with the people in the school environment proves that they are processing the information and applying it. Our long weekend put us to the test and we noticed that most children, when entering the school in what is just our second week, walked in feeling more comfortable and familiar with the spaces. We also understand that we are still continuing to be in the process of adjustment and note that challenging days may still happen and so this process of building trust is crucial in supporting a safe crossing as we all learn to bridge relationships in our new community.
Last Tuesday, we welcomed a new family into our community in the West Wing: Wiley Stavros Myers and his parents, Petroula and Shelby. They have joined the Cilantro group.
This week we were to welcome Collette Greene and her mom and dad Dominique and Ryan into the Cilantro group and Olivia Yungfleisch and her mom and dad Kimberly and Justin into the Dandelion group. We were disappointed that we had to close today due to the lack of good air quality. We’re staying hopeful that we will all meet each other soon. Challenging days, indeed.
On our Zoom meetings together, we spoke about the Appointment Board and we introduced that to the children last week. The appointments organize the schedule to support children throughout their day and are created to afford longer periods of uninterrupted time for freely chosen play with teacher-guided, small group work. Research informs us that children make better all-around progress in settings where there is a balance of both. This Negotiated Learning, a concept from the Reggio Emilia approach to education, has us uncovering the children’s beliefs, assumptions, or theories about the way the physical or social world works.
Making this Appointment Board a visual tool that’s available for the children to see invites them in as collaborative participants of their day and offers them much needed information such as:
- Who am I working with?
- Where am I working?
- What is the plan?
- How long do I work here?
To scaffold connections among the group, the teachers facilitate the activity by introducing techniques when using new or maybe even familiar materials. These instructional moments also include the steps of taking care of these materials and the set up in the environment. This involves:
- Noticing others
- Working with others
- Adding to each other’s ideas
- Listening
- Creativity
- Following directions
- Problem-solving
- Conflict negotiation
Through observing and documenting children’s choices via appointments, teachers learn about the children’s preferences. Based on these observations, the teachers guide and make suggestions to work with specific children or spaces to deepen relationships with each other, materials, and the environment.
Reminders and Thank you!
The Cilantro parent check-ins are on Wednesdays at 3:00. The Dandelions meet at 3:30. Thanks for joining us! For those who weren’t able to attend — or for those who’d like to revisit — here’s the link to the recordings:
Cilantro: https://vimeo.com/456371946
Dandelion: https://vimeo.com/456378199/9002c61184
Last Wednesday at the Cilantro and Dandelion parent Zoom meetings you requested that we share some of our circle time songs.
Cilantros:
Link to Angry song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYv2WkhDvB8
Dandelions:
Thanks to Emme’s family for bringing beautiful flowers this week. Check out the Signup Genius and please sign up to bring flowers next week. Thank you!
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0449afa629a02-flower
Thank you for your support in keeping all children in our community healthy by packing nut-free lunches and honoring the staggered drop-off and pick up times.
We will be observing the air quality and keep you updated in our decisions based on this link. https://www.airnow.gov/?city=Los%20Angeles&state=CA&country=USA.
We hope you enjoy seeing these photos of the children already showing us how capable they are.
-The West Wing Teachers.