The East Wing is bustling with new ideas and projects. You may have noticed some familiar spaces and activities, but this year the teachers will be working with the children to explore their interests more fully. Here is an overview of what’s familiar and what’s developing in the East Wing:
Friendship and connection:
This year, the concept of “The Invisible String” which connects our hearts to people near and far is part of the initial reacquaintance to community. The new bios and photos of the children on the wall describe in their own words their connections via “Invisible String”.
“Welcoming” provided the first week’s mantra, reminding us all to open up and support friends new and familiar. These simple mantras will be a tool to help focus all of us on community empathy.
Labeling feelings and demonstrating empathy:
At drop off, the Communication Center has been a place for children and parents to write notes to each other in support of transition. When they were in the West Wing, they used their journals to label feelings in certain moments or to document feelings that they couldn’t express to others at the time. The Communication Center is still a place to use these familiar tools and materials but has incorporated some new ideas to support this group’s love of original storytelling and acting out stories. This originality is dependent on their own skill and we ask that you DO NOT draw images for children but ask them how they would represent it. The journals are a place to keep the stories that live in their minds, perhaps to be shared later at Reflection meetings or acted out in the Cactus Land Theater. This new journal work is supporting literacy via fun storytelling.
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New technology:
In the Living Room, children can choose a favorite audio book and listen with 2 others using the splicer and iPod. They need to coordinate and support each other turning the pages and keeping pace with the story by listening and following prompts. There are quite a few steps to set up and put away this activity, so it provides a practice of responsibility for the classroom as well as cooperation.
The computer and large monitor by the front door have been used to display a shared Word document that allows children to explore letters and word making. It is also available for children that want another option of “signing-in” in the morning time. The monitor will occasionally show a slideshow of the children themselves, making connections with each other and the materials. It’s another tool for Reflection and makes visible the concept of their Invisible Strings connecting the community.
Small group work
Cactus Land Theater has been building on last year’s interest in playing with shadows, where children used movement for demonstrating expression and created games using their shadows and silhouettes. The children have been exploring this new space and making connections in multiple ways: tracing, using the overhead projector, collaboration on creating “plays” and playing characters, using their shadows to interact, dressing up, and using dance as a physical expression of feelings or ideas. Right now the teachers are listening and observing these interactions to determine deeper interests and how to support them, whether with new materials, technology, or friends.
Introduction of new materials and ideas:
With the intention of revisiting previous experiences and exploring new possibilities, the children have been meeting in small groups to tour the Atelier.
Cindy: We are going on a tour, does anyone know what that means?
Juliet: When you look around and are seeing things.
Sawyer: Walking around.
Olivia: Like when people walk around New School-West to see if it is right for their family.
Here are a few of the things the children are working on:
-Stop Motion Animation in connection to storytelling and the art of slowing down
-Neighborhood walks and the children’s connection to Cactus Land/Cactus Castle, mapping and familiar relationships and how we make connections.
-Partner drawings as an avenue to develop tools for negotiation in story development.
-Multiple types of paints and mediums to incorporate new techniques and represent ideas on alternative surfaces.
-Clay as a tool to represent ideas that relate to our interests and contribute to the community.
-Needle Felting as a medium to support the children’s interest in textures and textiles.
Daily Notes Binder (by the parent sign-in sheets)
This is the collection of notes the teachers fill out to support documentation of the work, to organize and reflect for the next meeting and to display pictures of the work in process. Take some time to thumb through and read some of the teacher notes and reflections. Feel free to comment on them or if you are inspired to support the work, by adding a resource and sharing your reflections as well. These notes are being used in the teacher group meeting to help follow threads and create larger documentation for things like Back to School Nght (coming up on September 26th!)