I have been working on Assessments for about two months now. First, I spent weeks combing through developmentally appropriate expectations for 3, 4 and 5 year olds, then examined and considered various early childhood checklists of skill development. Finally, I created a very thorough checklist of our own. It is based on developmentally appropriate norms, milestones and standards, then adds a dash of Seabury spice to the formula. The "Seabury spice" takes the children a little beyond what is normally expected for the average 4-5 year old, exposing the children to experiences that are designed to prepare them for kindergarten at Seabury School.

In observing the children lately, I am seeing that we are at that wonderful point in the school year when our class is becoming a wildly creative, kindly supportive and active community committed to positive outcomes. Children spontaneously partner with one another to play, discover, create, invent and learn. Many are negotiating their way through problems independently, being helpful and cooperative in getting big jobs done together and taking pride in doing a task for someone else as a nice surprise... It is such a satisfying time for all of us!

As I work my way through the assessment checklist for each child, I am enjoying thinking about how every individual child has grown so remarkably this year, as well as how we are weaving a beautiful tapestry of caring community together. Thank you for the rich and colorful strands you have brought to the warp and weft of our learning loom... we will continue to use the threads of our collective experiences to weave our way through spring!
Judith

In the early dark and stillness of this pre-dawn morning, I heard a story on National Public Radio that caused me to just cease my routine, sit down and pay close attention.
The story was about how imaginative play helps the child's brain develop, particularly in the area of executive function relating to self-regulation. Most children don't get many opportunities for this "old fashioned" type of play that was far more prevalent a few decades ago. The NPR story cited studies which showed that children who have little uninterrupted time for these types of play situations, one in which the child designs by imagination and "self talks" through the process, have more difficulty focusing on a concentrated task at a level which used to be appropriate for the age of the child 25-30 years ago. This is a fascinating topic about which teachers who have been in the field for a long time always have an opinion, usually corroborating these observations!

This is one of the really serious reasons that most early childhood educators value creative, imaginative play! True play is the work of the young child and develops skills that directly and powerfully relate to increasing one's potential. We early childhood educators will do nearly anything to encourage children to learn to play as if their very lives (and brains) depended on it!

More important than my musings is the actual story... here is a link to it:

NPR: Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19212514&sc=emaf

Enjoy! Judith

With love, from our 3,4 and 5 year olds

"What does love feel like?"

"Love feels good."

"Love feels like Mommy and Daddy."

"It feels like hugging!"

"You give love away and then you're happy."

"Love feels good, like loving Mommy and Daddy."

"Love feels like family."

"You love yourself and it feels great!"

"Love feels like helping somebody."

"It feels good, like Mom and Dad loving me."

"Love feels like family and pets."

"Mommy is love. I feel happy."

"Love feels soft and smooth, like when you pet your dog."

"Love feels like a friend."

If you love someone, you can hug and kiss them. Then you are all happy!"

"Love feels like God is all around."

"Love feels like it is surrounding me."

"When you love someone, you can play together. It feels good! My dad loved my mom and married her. They go to the same bed together. And they still play together, too!"

Can you guess which one your child said?

(We won't tell!)

February 8, 2008



Another Celebration of Light encompassed our classroom this week as we learned about Lunar New Year. We welcomed in the Year of the Rat using many senses and multiple intelligences. We read some books about the celebration and discovered that red is an important color because it signifies good fortune for the coming year. We made red lanterns, decorated with Chinese characters of positive attributes. We learned to "read" several simple characters, such as "tree" and "forest." Some of us even tried our hand at painting characters at the easel, using red paper and black tempera paint! Many of us learned how to set a Chinese table and the basics of manipulating "trainer" chopsticks designed for children. We learned two simple folk songs, one in Japanese and the other in Chinese. Much creative storytelling, collaboration and social interaction took place at the small Pupper Theater with the Asian finger puppets... The big dragons and colorful lions were the most active characters in nearly all the performances! Speaking of dragons and lions, some of us also completed a long number sequencing dot to dot to make a dragon or colored and cut out lion masks. The most anticipated activity that made the greatest sensory impressions had to do with eating (of course!) Chopping vegetables, mashing tofu, stirring in rice and spices to make the filling on Thursday (m-m-m, Judith, this smells good), filling, folding, frying, dipping and eating the egg rolls on Friday (Wow, Judith, this tastes REALLY GOOD!) Thank you to all of our classroom parents who sent in ingredients or helped in class with our food preparation. Our children loved celebrating Lunar New Year!

Gung Hay Fat Choy! (Chinese)

Chuc Mung Nam Moi (Vietnamese)

Happy Lunar New Year

Judith

Did you know that Lunar New Year ushers in the Spring? We can always hope!