Pragmatics of Language Zoom Link
On 2/17, Roleen and the Cilantro, Dandelion, and Mint teachers and families met on Zoom to talk about Pragmatics of Language. Thank you so much for joining us for such a wonderful, enlightening conversation about how we can support our children — and each other — with our words! A special thanks to Erin Cypers, our dear colleague and friend, for joining us, too, and adding insights and knowledge from her years of experience supporting children and families. If you were not able to attend, here’s the link: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/Zt_r2VxaXY7XSRwZkIAkqfYkwbcPLJU2uUxf0u3MdtUoOc4RaFcWZw7N9VA3IwWk.bqVn4hRTUhcQ6VG3
Passcode: kay^Ct9T
Valentine’s Day, continued!
The children’s excitement carries on as they make their love tangible through card making! The West Wing teachers are planning to continue facilitating more card making and note sending at school after Valentine’s Day. We will 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.
Upcoming Calendar Reminders
Friday, March 5th & Monday, March 8th: SCHOOL CLOSED for West Coast Collaborative Reggio Conference with Teachers
Monday, March 29th through Friday, April 2nd: SCHOOL CLOSED for Spring Break
Flowers
Flowers brighten our West Wing spaces and provide children with multiple opportunities for exploration and investigation. Here’s the link to our SignUpGenius for classroom flowers: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0449afa629a02-flower
Cilantro
Our week was spearheaded by the children’s imagination and pretend play! We allotted longer time for free unstructured play to nurture and extend close relationships. In the Middle courtyard, fantasy play encouraged children to play cooperatively in larger groups. Through narrative, movement and sounds, the children expressed what special powers their superhero personas possessed with great energy.
Children used the Building Space to create a forum for their imaginative play. They collaborated on familiar structures, from skyscrapers to bridges, with the idea to build New York City for the bear figurines. Play with these constructions allows the children to integrate information they have about the world around them, as well as to share new information with their peers.
Free play provides us with a wonderful window into the minds of our children. Engaging in unstructured play time encourages children to use their imagination, boost their physical strength, and learn to effectively communicate. Different play schemas merge together as their play evolves. The Cilantros often integrate or alternate between family and fantasy roles. Opportunities for problem-solving transpire as they figure out– what is their possible new role, what are the roles their peers are taking, and how do they contribute to the narrative. Time and again children are faced with how to approach a disappointing or frustrating situation as they navigate through their play. The challenges that arise are opportunities to develop the skills on how to regulate their own emotions while becoming sensitive to the values and needs of others. When children participate in pretend play that requires more complicated interactions with their peers (cooperation, collaboration, sharing, negotiating) they are practicing and strengthening their abilities to connect to other people in healthy, productive ways that will benefit them their entire lives.
On Thursday and Friday we had different, yet familiar faces at check-in. Thank you to Petroula and Amelia for greeting families this Thursday and Friday while Cindy and Kris were out.
Dandelion
The Dandelions were so busy celebrating Spencer’s 4th birthday and welcoming back Leon that they scheduled their Valentine’s Day party this coming Thursday February 25th. To the Dandelions, “Love is heart that says I love you and visit each other at their homes when the virus is gone so that they can play tag games.”
This week the teachers asked the children: How could we celebrate our time together? What would our group party look like?
Here are some of their ideas:
We can celebrate “All Together with decorations, balloons, pizza, waffles, pancakes, oranges and strawberries.”
Dandelion parents, we would love your support to make this celebration super special for the children. We will be sending out a signupgenius early next week so families can contribute if they please. Thanks in advance.
Just like the Dandelion parents had the chance to meet the Mint parents during our Pragmatics of Language conversation on Wednesday, more of the Dandelion children had the opportunity this week to learn more about the Mint children. The Dandelions brainstormed some questions for the Mints:
1. Do you like hats?
2. Do you like sparkles?
3. Do you like crocodiles?
4. Do you like decorations?
5. Do you like the letter C?
6. Do you like rockets and rocket boosters?
7. Do you like firetrucks?
8. Do you like skeletons?
9. Do you like pink and purple unicorns?
10. Do you like numbers?
11. Do you like kitties and cheetahs?
12. Do you like rainbows?
During our Dandelion and Mint zoom call, we had a chance to ask each other these questions — and some others!
Teacher Jen: We heard that The Dandelions wanted to get to know The Mints.
Teacher Dana: Do you remember all the questions we thought of yesterday? What do you want to learn about the Mints?
Teacher Jen: A lot of our friends know Sign Language. So maybe we can answer your questions with (ASL signs for) yes, no….
Mabel: Maybe so (making the sign for “maybe so”)!
Marcel: Do you like a hundred bears?
Elliot: No!
Bei: No (in ASL).
Marcel: Yes (in ASL).
Copper: I like them too.
Mabel: I don’t like a hundred bears because that’s too scary for me.
Bei: That’s like me. Too scary for me.
Eddie: Do you like one hundred people?
Elliot: No! (and in ASL)
Kevin: I like a hundred people. (Yes in ASL).
Emma: Do you like necklaces?
Copper: Yes!
Teacher Dana: I’m noticing Kevin has some sculpty clay around his wrist.
Kevin: I made a bracelet.
Mabel: I have a question everybody. I made a baby doggy out of sculpty clay to add to my other collection of doggies. Do you like dogs or have dogs?
Emma: Yes, I like dogs. No, I don’t have a dog.
Eddie: I like dogs and I do have a dog. Her name is Tina.
Marcel: I have a cat and a dog.
Elliot: No! (Signing “no” with both hands).
The children also had the chance to share some of their clay creations, as well as the tools and techniques that they were using to make them. Then, at the end of the call, the children revisited some of their questions for each other.
Teacher Jen: Eddie you said you had a very important question before we go.
Eddie: Do you like, umm, trees?
Bei: (Yes in ASL)
Copper: Yes.
Teacher Dana: We have been spending a lot of time at school thinking about trees. We were wondering if when you come to visit if you can take a look at the trees.
Teacher Jen: The Mints are picking up a special package on Saturday at NSW. Maybe they can look at the trees then?
Teacher Dana: The Dandelions have made a surprise to hang from the tree, a way to say hello without using a computer. We can leave a clue for the Mints to find.
Later this week, a group of the Dandelions got to work creating the note — with the clue to where the surprise would be — in the Mini Studio. The children looked closely at some large photographs of the tree in the front yard, and on the front of the card, they drew the shapes that they saw with some black Sharpies and added the colors they observed with some oil pastels. Inside the card, they cut out some pictures of the tree and added small photographs of all of the Mints and the Dandelions. Finally, at Thursday’s Reflection Meeting, the Dandelions worked together to come up with the words of the message that would accompany the drawings and pictures: “Dear Mints, Do you like our tree? We like to climb on trees. You can sit on a tree branch and climb high branches. You can hang on the branch. We ride our bikes around the tree. Love, The Dandelions.” We are looking forward to hearing back from the Mints!
