This morning in the sand area, the children decide to work together to uncover ancient “dinosaur blood” buried deep beneath the sand. To complete this job, Ozzie requests “the big shovel”. The children agree to the safety procedures necessary and everyone puts their closed-toe shoes on. Rio begins digging. It’s hard work. The shovel is heavy,…
It’s part of our whole school culture to work together in creating welcoming environments for those entering the spaces after us. So at clean up time, the children in the Mud Pit set up a World for Animals as inspiration for the next group. As the children entered the Mud Pit, they began adding a…
At one point during the day, I watched as some of the children in the WW agree to play “family.” While planning roles, they mentioned the big bad wolf, the three little pigs, and a witch. Caitlin: Pretend the big bad wolf is chasing our family and trying to get the three little pigs! Estelle: Pretend…
The EW Trike-a-Thon was a blast! Parents ran alongside their children while the West Wingers cheered them on! The smiles on the children’s faces as they “flew” past the West Wingers was priceless! All of the proceeds from the event help support two of our NSW grads – Live Shimanovsky and Sona Brinkman. …
The EW teachers are focused on the children becoming a caring community. Though many of them have the tools to label their emotions and talk through their conflicts, their actions show a disconnection to their words. After the teachers shared their observations with each other, they decided to focus efforts on helping the children with…
In the EW, the teachers theorized that it was easier for the children to discuss difficult situations when they occurred to someone else. We introduced ‘persona dolls’ and have incorporated them into the classroom. Their names are Jane, Jill, Hector, and Sylvester. I shrunk images of them down to use as story props in the Communication Center…
Every day, the children develop a deeper connection with the living bugs, different plants, flowers, herbs, and vegetables they’ve been planting in the front yard garden. During this process of planting, the children encounter many different moments that support the development of a long-lasting sensitivity with our world. Grey: Look! Look, Mica. The flower is orange!…
During an afternoon appointment, a group of children entered the Building Area and were welcomed with a sign that invited them to add to the existing structure and repair the pieces if that fell. This experience was filled with a series of encounters that challenged the children to problem solve. Below are a few vignettes:…
Today at 10:00am, we practiced a safety drill and went to our meeting place on May Street. The children sat in their work groups with their teachers and responded, “here” when they heard their name called as designated teachers checked all bathrooms and small areas, grabbed your sign-in sheet from this morning, the yellow contact cards,…
The West Wing Building Area is a space where children have opportunities to collaborate. Sometimes these experiences begin with a common idea and other times children begin with individual ideas and are challenged to figure out ways to connect with the group. During a morning appointment, Coco begins to create a sidewalk next to the…