Farewell For Now Week was here
before we knew it! The children had a wonderful time on Field Day!
We are delighted that
so many of you were able to join us for our Songs, Book Reading and Picnic.
Looking
Deeper: Exploration and Learning through
Play
Let's
take a closer look at the children's social emotional growth.
I always
love looking at the photos taken of the children during the special events of
our last two days of school; namely Field Day, our Book Reading and our Family
Picnic. Over the course of the year we
have routinely looked deeper at the growth occurring in the developmental areas
of fine & gross motor, speech & language, and cognition. This week's photos aptly illustrate the
social/emotional growth which has also been on-going.
Every
single day as the children have come to school they have strengthened their
social/emotional skills and utilized these emerging and intricate skills to
broaden their circle of relationships.
We spend a life time working at our inter-personal
relationships. This year as parallel
play has moved into the realm of interactive play, the children have worked
hard daily to move beyond themselves and "play" with friends. Achieving this end is one of the paramount
goals I have for my young students. Meeting
this goal is at the heart of my plans each and every day. The classroom is designed to support and expand interactive play as are
the Units and Themes presented. Each day
I have observed the children as they have stepped outside of themselves and
worked at making and being friends.
Witnessing these efforts and the fruits they bear is one of the most
gratifying gifts of my job as their teacher!
It has been a privilege and a joy to behold the children sharing their
thoughts, ideas, opinions, preferences and imaginings with one another as they
build and strengthen friendships. The team work and joy the children demonstrated on Field Day illustrates how far they have come in building important interpersonal relationships.
Our Book Reading and Family Picnic brings us full-circle! The lovely
photos of today's final activities brings you most appropriately back into the
picture, as you are ones who gave the children the wonderful foundation and
confidence to expand and transfer their trust from home and family to school
and friends!
Thank you
for sharing your children with us! They
have become a vital part of the Parker family/community, and it has been an
absolute joy to witness this process and their abundant growth daily. It has been a lovely school year!
One More Thing!
While I will not be returning to the classroom in September, I will remain a part of the Parker Community. I was both honored and delighted to receive an invitation to serve on the Robert C. Parker School Board of Trustees. I will assume that role in Fall.
It has been a privilege to serve on the Parker Faculty for the past 20 years. It is an amazing gift to be able to do work that one truly loves, and I have loved working and playing with my countless students in Pre-K Three all these many years! I would like to conclude my final Blog Entry by sharing with you the remarks I made at the Parker Benefit just a month ago.
One More Thing!
While I will not be returning to the classroom in September, I will remain a part of the Parker Community. I was both honored and delighted to receive an invitation to serve on the Robert C. Parker School Board of Trustees. I will assume that role in Fall.
It has been a privilege to serve on the Parker Faculty for the past 20 years. It is an amazing gift to be able to do work that one truly loves, and I have loved working and playing with my countless students in Pre-K Three all these many years! I would like to conclude my final Blog Entry by sharing with you the remarks I made at the Parker Benefit just a month ago.
"Growing Up Parker"
From the moment Jamie told it to me, I loved the name for
this year's Benefit! "Growing Up
Parker" really resonated with me.
It became the thread that connected the thoughts and reflections that I
would like to share with you over the next few minutes. I find it a bit ironic that I have never really
enjoyed or been very good at actual gardening.
I love and admire Public Gardens and those of my friends. In fact, some of the very best gardeners I
know are sitting with me at my table this evening. But despite my attempts, I have always found
digging in the dirt to be very hard work that I did not enjoy. Yet throughout
my career, at the very same time every year, usually around February, there is a
moment when I look around the classroom and realize there has been a transformation. It is in that moment of awareness, that I suddenly realize that these beautiful
little children have "Blossomed."
One of the many things I have loved about teaching three
year olds, is how transformative I have found that year to be in a child's
life. The children enter in September
with the last vestiture of Babyhood. There
are tears of separation, sometimes by both children and parents. Most children have only been speaking for
about a year and a half, so group directions have to be modeled, as well as
spoken. They have cute ways that they
say certain words because articulation has not yet been perfected, and their
play is much more parallel than interactive.
That's why, except for the crying, the Three Year Old Classroom is often
much quieter than that of the Four Year Olds' at the start of the year. But in that February instant when I look up,
I see that they are now independent, they are chatting away, playing together, planning,
problem solving, collaborating in the Block Area, Cooking Meals in the Dramatic
Play Area, requesting their favorite books at Story Time, and the room is now
far from quiet. The children have indeed
"Blossomed", and have in my mind's eye left the last bit of Babyhood behind and become "Kids". For me, that instant has always been a major
and memorable step in "Growing Up Parker".
Interestingly, one of my favorite spaces on the magnificent
Parker grounds is the Co-operative Extension Gardens, located in the front of
the School. I have loved spending time
walking around these gardens with my Pre-K Three Classes in the Fall and Spring
of every year, enjoying the beauty, talking about what we see, and experiencing
first hand the life cycle of these amazing plants and flowers. I have always marveled at the talent and artistry
of these incredible "Master Gardeners."
Well, I am here to tell you that there are equally
incredible "Master Gardeners," at work inside the Building! It has been a joy and a privilege to work
side by side with colleagues who skillfully and lovingly nurture the children
entrusted to them, allowing them to grow and blossom in their own way and in
their own time! I know of no more
fertile soil than that of Parker's Philosophy and Pedagogy. It has been an amazing gift to see many of my
little students moving up through the grades each year. Until suddenly it is that 8th Grade day in
June when they are standing on the Parker Stage giving their Graduation
Speeches. And on that evening, I know that
everything that they possess from an educational standpoint was always in
them. The educators at Parker do not
pour knowledge into their students, we simply create an environment within
which the children can grow, and we support, nurture and mentor them to the
very best of our ability as they do so. I
think that is the very essence of "Growing Up Parker".
Yet, for as much as we give to the children, they give as
much if not more back to us. There is no
question that as a teacher of Three Year Olds, I have encountered in a
multitude of classroom situations, a fair amount of age-appropriate
"childish" behaviors that I seek to help the children negotiate and
traverse. "I had it first!"
"Can I go first?"
"I want the purple one!"
"No, I want the purple one!"
"JoAnn, I never get the purple one." That sort of
age-appropriate stuff! But if the truth
be told, there have been far more "Child-Like" qualities displayed on
a daily basis that have gifted me and that I would do well to emulate. Every
single day these little ones enter the classroom confidently, enthusiastically
and while there continuously demonstrate:
Trust
Courage
Innocence
Honesty
Kindness
Joy
Humor
Curiosity
Creativity
Tenacity
A sense of wonder
about their world
And a sense of pride
in their accomplishments!
Spending my days in an environment with that kind of
positive energy has been a true privilege, and I have come to believe that the
secrets of a life well lived are hidden in those Child-Like qualities that my
little ones model daily!
There is no doubt that over the years, there have been days
when I have wondered, "Do I really have the energy to do this
today!" It could be due to
something as simple as a bad night's sleep, or as major as a personal loss of a
family member, friend or colleague, or perhaps another school shooting.
The gift and challenge in all of those situations has been
that my little three year olds do not know about those things, nor do they
possess the understanding to deal with or process them. So on those days, like all of the
professionals at Parker, I strive to leave my excess baggage at the door and
enter the classroom where together with the children and my wonderful
assistant, we
Sing
Dance
Read Stories
Paint
Draw
Cook
Shape Play Dough
Build with Blocks
Dress Up
and Play Pretend!
But upon reflection, I have come to consider that perhaps it
is not Pretend that we Play.
It is said that Life takes place in the moment, and three
year olds pretty much "live" in the moment. So perhaps it's not Pretend that we play,
perhaps we in fact "Play Real".
It is in all of these ways that my little Three Year Olds
have blessed and enriched my life all these many years, and together we have enjoyed, and reaped
the abundant benefits of "Growing
Up Parker"!
Thank You so very much for supporting our school and for
being part of the Parker Community.
And to all of my Parents who are here tonight, Thank You for
sharing your children with me!
Thank You
for