With messages in hand, the children in the Aloe Vera and Basil groups eagerly opened their mail to discover what lived inside. Some were filled with words, others included drawings and several held only pictures of the sender and recipient. The messages from the third category triggered curiosity: Keaton: I just have 1, 2, 3, 4,…
Children always teach us something new in how they might start their connections. So we formulated some open ended questions to guide us in our research of building relationships with the children. As teachers, we wondered: How does our energy flow in our outdoor spaces? With this research question in mind, we heard the wind…
Color is all around us. It adds emotion to our lives and connects us to the world. Look around and, for a moment, imagine a world without color. As humans, color helps us categorize and make meaning and order in our lives. We feel that this categorizing and order needs to be more deeply examined.…
Dramatic Play describes the type of play that often happens in the House Area. It may seem like they’re playing simple games when they pretend they’re doctors or pirates or when they create their own characters using dolls but when children use their imaginations and pretend it’s actually very complex. Children make sense of the…
Thanks to Dot’s and Leon’s family for providing flowers this past week! Reminder: Street work has us searching long and hard for places to park and we have opened the parking spots in the alley for all the pods. Please add time to find parking and be considerate of our neighbors when parking for pick-up…
Once the mystery of the East Wing mailboxes had been solved, the children’s excitement shifted into creating messages for their friends. The first batch of mail included birthday cards and notes that engaged the entire group. The ones that followed were more individualized. Checking the mailbox in a group setting created a context for the…
In “The Pedagogy of Listening”, Carlina Rinaldi reminds us, “From the beginning, children demonstrate that they have a voice, know how to listen and want to be listened to by others. Sociability is not taught to children; they are social beings.” Here at New School-West, we support the children’s natural ability to speak and to…
Aloes Basils Enjoy a peak into school this week! – The East Wing Team
Here is a DAY IN THE LIFE of the Cilantros and Dandelions this week: There’s a strong culture around the words we use at The New School-West. It’s in our handbooks and it’s collected and curated throughout the years to help children learn participation and responsibility without shame, blame or privilege. We are always happy…
As we begin each school year, we reflect on our values and continue to be inspired by this poem “The Hundred Languages of Children” by Loris Malaguzzi. As educators, we believe that children come to us full of rich intelligences. Our responsibility is to offer experiences that foster an avenue for them to make their…