Upcoming Calendar Reminders
Monday, February 15th: SCHOOL CLOSED for Presidents’ Day
Friday, March 5th & Monday, March 8th: SCHOOL CLOSED for West Coast Collaborative Reggio Conference with Teachers
In case anyone still has the remnants of the original short NSW calendar sent last spring, we have also changed two days that were intended to be closed for staff retreat and inservice — February 12th and March 26th — and will now be open on those days in place of these. We have made this plan to be sure teachers have this opportunity to collaborate with our local colleagues and mentors from Italy. We are grateful for your flexibility and support as we continue to value these professional development opportunities during this challenging time.
Monday March 29th through Friday, April 2nd: SCHOOL CLOSED for Spring Break
Valentine’s Day
In the days leading up to Valentine’s Day, the West Wing teachers are planning to continue facilitating a lot of card making and note sending at school as we keep exploring as a group the ways that we can send messages (including messages of affection!) to each other. Through this work, we celebrate love and our deepening connections with one another every day!
We recognize that the concept of Valentine’s Day might still be very abstract for many children at this age, so there will not be an expectation of a focused Valentine exchange at school. However, if your child would like to share cards from home, we ask that you send one for each member of your child’s group. (The teachers emailed home updated rosters on 1/29.) The teachers will support your child in exchanging the cards with his or her peers throughout the month of February.
Flowers
Thank you to Luka’s family for the beautiful full blown flowers! The gorgeous displays brightened the Cilantro classroom and its height spread wonder to the other groups.
Here’s the link to our SignUpGenius for classroom flowers: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0449afa629a02-flower
Cilantro
On Tuesday, it was teacher Wendy’s 28th birthday! Cindy set up the projector and we facetimed Wendy for the children to greet her. They were curious to see how Wendy mobilizes herself on a healing foot. She demonstrated how she puts on her special boot and showed the children how she moves around with underarm crutches. Jack suggested for Wendy’s mom to bring her to school for a little while and Emme mentioned how much she misses her. We all do! We ended our call singing Happy Birthday to her. We wish you well, Wendy! Thank you, Jelena, Ana’s mom from the Dandelions, for brightening Wendy’s birthday with a beautiful bouquet. And thank you to Leo’s family for making Wendy’s birthday extra tasty with a yummy lunch.
In the classroom, the children are seeing more possibilities in the materials the Communication Center has to offer. Children cut various sizes and transformed paper into three dimensional creations using folding techniques and tape. The paper hole puncher has also been an interest this week. Some children added hole punches as borders to their mixed medium designs. Paper has also been taking different forms in the Middle Courtyard. The children compared the dried hardened pieces from the previous paper pulp experience to wet squishy pulp. The new paper pulp was pressed down on a screen with an absorbent towel underneath to soak the water for the children to investigate how long that drying process will take and what form will take shape.
The children have taken pride and ownership in taking part of the care for the turtles. To honor their compassion and encourage their interest in emergent writing, the teachers introduced the “Feeding the Turtles Calendar” to the group. A child writes their first initial of their name on a date to sign up to feed the turtles. This has inspired the children to practice writing their full names. Dry erase boards have been added to the Communication Center. For beginning writers these boards offer the opportunity for multiple do-overs which fosters perseverance and flexibility. A few children have asked spelling of words to write to their first loves, – their parents!
Note from Cindy
Hello Dear Families,
I’m sure you are all aware that I am going to a grandma! My daughter Kimberly, who is a graduate of NSW and one of the original silhouettes on our alley fence, is about to have her first baby on February 14th. Kimberly and her husband Steve live just down the coast in San Pedro. I will be staying with them for a little bit following the birth of our little guy. The plan is that I will go into quarantine and then be on call. This will give me time to cuddle with my new grandson and to support Kimberly and Steve during this new transitional time in their lives. I will be back at NSW on Monday March 1 and though I’m going to miss all the fun we have together, I know you will be in great hands with Julia and Silvana. Kris will be working on the plan for our Check-in table in the Morning and Roleen will be onsite and ready to jump in wherever needed.
Love all of you so much,
Cindy
Dandelion
This week, the Dandelions had several different opportunities to connect with others in our NSW community, as well as with our neighbors who live in the area around our school. The note they have been working on in the past weeks got delivered! The children came in ready with their walking shoes (Thank you, parents!). Immediately after the morning circle, we left for our walk. Envelope in hand and holding on to our “walking rope,” the children walked noticing their surroundings. These neighbors are only a block away from New School-West, so once we had crossed the street and were by the stop sign, Emma points excitedly: Look! That’s the tree right there! We crossed the street one more time to get onto the sidewalk in front of the house and tree. Flora explained to the Dandelions that we were only delivering the envelope with our note and would wait to get a YES or a NO response from the neighbors about climbing their tree in our future walks. We brought clipboards and invited the children to draw what they saw. Most, if not all, of their representations showed branches and the rocks around the tree. The children also took turns running up and down the sidewalk with Evelyn at one end and Flora at the other. They love running! After that, Marcel expressed how the neighbors still hadn’t come out to get the envelope and it was getting late. Flora reassured him and the rest of the Dandelions that we had left our telephone number and school address on the note and that we hoped the neighbors would call or write back to us. With that, we started to walk back to school. The day was warm and sunny, perfect for being outdoors and the children enjoyed even the smallest things they noticed such as a house with lots of frogs on their lawn, a small balancing brick strip, and a small treasure box. The teachers took photos and will be using them to encourage children to use their imaginations and collaborate on some storytelling using these images in connection with our walks and the neighborhood. The beauty of walks is that it is full of possibilities and options we can engage in learning if the tree climbing permission doesn’t come through.
On Wednesday, a small group of Dandelions met at the Mini Studio and participated in a Zoom call with Teacher Jen and the Mint Group. The Dandelions and the Mints showed each other the way that they can use Sculpey clay, both with tools and with their hands. Then, the Dandelions showed the Mint group some of the clay alphabet letters that we have formed with the clay, baked in the oven, and then painted with acrylic paints and oil-based paint markers. These letters helped us connect more with the Mint children when we used them to play a matching game: which clay letter matches the first letter of a new friend’s name? We found an E for Elliot, an M for Mabel, a K for Kevin, a B for Bei-Hai, a C for Copper, and a D for Dylan. The Mints also showed us how to make some new things using the clay, including a lasso! We are looking forward to seeing what else we can learn from each other on our next Zoom call.
The Dandelions also have been enjoying many opportunities to explore and experiment with our ramps, cars, and balls. Ramp play is such a rich type of play for preschoolers. As the Dandelions construct different types of ramps, using different types of materials both indoors and outdoors, they are working on several important pre-academic skills. For example, this week the children were working together to build ramps where the balls could go “down, up, and down again.” Doing so required the children to employ a wide variety of math and physics concepts: balance, speed, distance, length, trajectory, length, height. The Dandelions had to place the blocks and the ramps carefully and with consideration, speaking both to the development of fine motor skills and problem-solving skills. When balls would fall off the ramp, or go down but not up again, they had to use scientific skills like questioning (why did the ball fall?), developing hypotheses (I think it will work if I move the rubber ramp on top of the blocks), and testing out theories through experimentation (What happens if I put the ball more in the middle of the plank?). This type of play is also a lot of fun, of course! The children loved watching the balls and cars go back and forth — and they loved chasing after them as they bounced around our spaces.
Next week, the Dandelions have a couple of celebrations planned. On Tuesday, we will be celebrating Spencer’s 4th birthday with a book on Zoom and a popcorn snack. Thanks to Spencer’s parents, Barbara and Justin, for providing the popcorn. And on Thursday, we will be celebrating Lunar New Year with a book and a virtual visit from Eddie’s Nai Nai and Ye Ye, as well as some mandarin oranges at snack for good luck. Thanks to Yvonne, Pei-Chuen, Jeff, and Dana.