We had a couple birthday celebrations this week! Grey turned 5 and Emilio turned 5! Their parents read a favorite book that they then donated to the NSW library (available for check out in the office!).
This week the parents again provided a once a month lunch for the teachers on the first Tuesday staff meeting.
Katrina (Luca WW) brought sandwiches from Panera, Tamra (Isaac, EW) brought homemade cookies, and Jordon (Dylan, WW) provided the salads. All delicious and all appreciated.
Snack was brought by: Harrison, Kayden, Julian, and Arrow (EW) and Juliet, Diego, and Tallulah (WW). We introduced partner menu making as a new strategy to facilitate scaffolding in letter and number formation as well as graphic representation. This week Avey (EW) and Ephy (WW) and Mabel (EW) and Finn (WW) worked together. The overlaying principle and main focus of this strategy is to give the children experiences with learning how to take critique and be flexible in their own thinking.
Flowers were brought by Eva (EW) and Kirby (WW)
Michelle and Peter (Arrow EW) opened their lovely home to an intimate group of parents on Thursday. We were so engaged that we forgot to take photos but here are two takeaways from Tamra (Isaac EW) and some keys thoughts from Lisa (Gia WW):
- Most surprising thing – the importance of physical support – kids needing 90 degree support for their bodies, including their feet, while sitting! As adults we get this support in the chairs and furniture made for us, so forget how it would feel to not be grounded. And then wonder why a kid doesn’t sit still or feel comfortable?
- Reminder – it’s not our job to problem solve everything for our kids, protect them from the mean things other kids said, etc. It is our job to listen, allow them (and ourselves) to sit with emotions, and make active choices on how we respond. Tamra
Thank you so much for such a special morning. And thank you Michelle and Peter for hosting! After our talk, I definitely left with more language and tools to use at times when I’ve been stumped or frustrated or just felt like I was failing as a parent. Lately, we’ve been dealing with a lot of kid questions about death and life and other similar weighty subjects, and your advice about not having to answer everything for them or fix it is so helpful. The idea of throwing the question back (what do you think it is, or what does it mean to you?) takes a lot of pressure off, and it also gives me insight into what she’s imagining.
There were so many other golden nuggets of advice, but some of the ones I remember most:
1. A child who chooses to watch or stay quiet is still actively participating. Being careful to stay away from the word shy, when it’s really about being observant and introspective.
2. Allowing hard moments to be hard for our kids, and just listening and empathizing rather than trying to fix it. (Which is really difficult sometimes)
3. We can’t control life. All we can do is respond to it, which is different from reacting to it. (I think I should have this one stitched onto a pillow). 😀
I hope I can make it to more of these coffees in the future. Thank you again.
Xo Lisa
And we ended our week with a trip to the farmer’s market with Jordan, Dillon, Barrett and Olivia (WW).
