Some of you already know about our online group, the Mints. Some of you were actually a part of the group before you joined us on ground! And some of you are thinking. . .
Who are the Mints, anyway?
With the amazing leadership of our teacher Jen (who sadly moved to Maryland in July), the Mints have been meeting via Zoom connections since August and thriving. With curriculum steeped in our NSW culture that values respectful relationships, connections, and interconnections, Jen has created, what some would say “the impossible”, and designed a virtual learning environment that is truly magical. True protagonists of the learning, she invited the parents to be active participants from the very beginning and the families have formed a very strong bond and value learning together:
Being in a virtual learning environment with Jen and The Mints is like
stepping into a Mister Rogers-style New School-West neighborhood with
magical Jen and her puppets as our Reggio guide. Through Jen’s
remarkable lens, The Mints experience a daily exploration of
materials, emotions, inquiries, and experiences—finding connection
with each other, the New School-West community, and the world around
us! As parents and collaborators, we are given the rare
glimpse into the inner workings of child development in preschool—with
the opportunity to learn and collaborate by strengthening bonds and
inspiring deeper connections. Margaret (Elliot)
Jen has managed to create an authentic classroom environment in a virtual setting. Our son Marley has learned how to listen and have patience before speaking. He raises his hand for Jen to call on him and responds to his classmates so they all create a dialogue between each other. It’s so wonderful to see how much Marley has bonded with the other children, but especially with Teacher Jen, who he calls “his favorite.” Heather (Marley)
Christoph was in the Mints from August to December. In that time we saw the whole group go from only talking to Jen to talking to Minty the Turtle to being able to ask each other questions directly and even have dance parties, exercise days, and breakout room playdates. Jen was amazing at picking up what was going on at home. For example, one day Christoph did NOT want his little brother to join in on class and the next day Jen had a book about baby brothers and feelings. She really let the kids (and parents!) in on her process, showing how she picks books to order from her library based on their discussions and choosing projects specific to skills she saw were needed (ie tearing paper for hand strength and coordination). Our whole family depended on the structure and bright light Jen provided three times a day to get through those early days of the pandemic. An unexpected bonus was gaining some social-emotional skills ourselves! Hillary (Christoph)
It’s hard for me to simply convey the deep, interconnected layers of our Mint experience, but one of the memories I cherish is listening to Bei speak about his fears with reading, “Here Comes the Big Mean Dust Bunny!”, with Jen’s intentional listening to support him in conveying his experience. And, realizing my assumptions, of what he was struggling with, was not it at all: To hear him express out loud that he didn’t want to see his ”friends” getting hurt and realizing Bei’s empathy for the characters in the book was driving his fears…It was a really profound moment for me and I wondered if Bei also felt known at that moment, when he spoke out loud his fears, and then to have his feelings reflected back to him from people he cares about. We are deeply grateful to Jen and NSW to be part of this intense ride. Howard (Bei-Hai)
Connecting Online to On Ground
Planning ahead for the school year, Jen and our on ground teachers met via Zoom in January to work on curriculum that would support the children’s transitions when it was time to enter on ground. The posts that you are seeing on the Parent Portal (zoom meetings with on ground groups, treasure maps that lead to gift exchanges, and the latest sunflower plantings) highlight some of this intentional work but we’ve never posted what an actual class with the Mints looks like. Here’s just one peek into a day last week. Enjoy the magic!
Tomorrow we won’t see Marley online for some time as he and his family are going on vacation. When he returns we will make plans to celebrate him as he will be joining the Cilantros in May. In the meantime, we have the opportunity to make videos for him expressing our love!
In our Morning Circle, Minty and the Mints had a special conversation about their bodies. Here is a 10 minute video if the children want to watch this special moment between them again.
Minty was willing to have his body traced, though he did tell me to stop if it was too tickly for his body.
In our Afternoon Zoom, the children and their grown-ups worked on their body tracing.
The children followed the pencil outline of their tracing with a marker. This tracing work is really tricky for children but they all did really well!
Afterwards we read a great book called “Me and My Amazing Body” by Joan Sweeney.
Here we are feeling for our heartbeats.
In our Afternoon Zoom, we had an opportunity to watch a video from the Aloe Veras. Our sunflowers are budding!!! We also went over some pictures of the Aloe Veras measuring their growth! =)
-teacher Jen