All of a sudden, during their daily work at school symbols become readable to them in everything, everywhere. Their genuine and spontaneous interactions reflect their early recognition of symbols, letters, and shapes in a natural context. Witnessing moments like these shows how the children are internalizing, processing, and applying all that they have been practicing…
During this season of touring potential schools and filling out applications, you might have wondered what our approach to different kindergarten readiness skills really is. This blog is for you! =) During our parent-teacher conferences for our East Wing class, we had many opportunities to discuss our approach to different kindergarten readiness skills. We thought…
Knowing Cactusland was a favorite neighborhood destination, I projected a photo the children took of it on the wall near the clay exploration table. Small groups worked over a period of days as they familiarized themselves with this sensory-rich, three-dimensional medium. As they played, cactus representations emerged. Sonia, Zoe, Mika, and Juliet create a collaborative clay…
I spent some time at the New School-West photographing the interactions of the kids and the teachers. It was an enjoyable time to see the school in action. One of the things I noticed, is that each child is being educated to be self-sufficient. I saw all of the children wash their hands on their…
What a wonderful way to bring in the holidays and close out the year . . . The East Wing was treated to the book “Hoppy Hanukkah” by Glaser, a dreidel demonstration and game by Jaclyn and Eli and donation of dreidels and pennies to continue the play. Both the East Wing and West Wing…
What could be better than our kiddos getting to orchestrate their own celebration of gratitude with their selection of delicious dishes and having the food offered to them by their loving teachers. It was beautiful and tasty at the same time! – Eli, EW Thanks to everyone’s contributions that made this experience possible!
Such an important topic and sounds like it was very informative and super helpful! Find photos and notes below . . . Naomi orchestrated. Thanks 🙂 Roleen has a notepad. It’s serious. podcast: https://anchor.fm/parentingportal/episodes/Tricky-People-with-Pattie-Fitzgerald-e8rplh listen to the podcast as a recap Used to be a preschool teacher Started in the early 2000s. Early in the…
Meredith (Penelope, WW) spent some time observing the children and teachers engaged and connected at the end of November and managed to jot down some rich quotes while snapping photos. Supporting Tai thread the needle, “You almost did it, try it one more time.”Poppy to Adriana, “I want to look at my family book in…
We are gearing up for the holidays! Katherine is meeting with children 1:1 to gather their ideas about thankfulness. These will be handwritten on fallen neighborhood leaves as part of our FEAST day on 11/27. Likewise, Amy is supporting private polling in order for the children to experience voting in our ‘what’s for dinner?’ FEAST…
With an interest in cacti, we recognized the children identifying with their shapes and textures. We considered materials that could be used to express their interest while also maintaining an intention for building ways to weave the children’s relationships together. Needle felting is a process that uses barbed needles to interlock wool fibers to form…