Birthdays are special times for children and we enjoy celebrating with them. Children wishing to celebrate their birthday at school bring a special book to donate. At morning meeting, the book is read to the group by a teacher or the child’s parent. The child’s name and picture are then added to the inside of the book and placed in the birthday book basket. Over time it becomes a permanent part of the school library.
Bryce Kessler’s Birthday with dad reading at circle.
In keeping with The New School-West tradition, Maisha’s mother read to us on her birthday from her favorite childhood book at morning circle. The children were very excited and a number of questions arose.
“How old are you?”
“What are you going to do?”
Within days it was Valerie’s Birthday. Then another five children, and soon came Cindy’s and Amy’s. These questions lead to a big discussion that incorporated many learning concepts in math skills, theory building, verbal expression, fine motor skills, and the ability converse, debate and compromise with peers. The topics of conversation include:
Older or younger versus higher and lower.
What is a birthday?
How do we celebrate birthdays?
How can we represent these special days on our classroom calendar?
The East Wing teachers will extend on these topics during circle times in the morning and they will come up with a representation for the calendar to represent these important events.