Baby Week II

Baby Week II facilitated a continuation of our baby exploration through play and discussion.  Additionally we broadened our scope to include music, movement, literature and  "special guests"!

We pretended to be babies during Music and Movement time!  First we could only lay down, after a time we could roll over, soon we were crawling, and before you knew it we were taking our first steps!

In addition to reading lots of "Baby Books", Baby Mikka came for several visits during story time.

We also had lots of visits from real babies!

Sammy's brother Ben

Rowan's sister Isla

Louisa's sister Mapel

Emmett's sister Meryle

Evvie's brother Declan

Ann's granddaughter Emersyn and my granddaughter Anna

We had a wonderful time all week working with Sean, Eric and John as we participated in Parker's Artist in Residence Program.

We had a fun time celebrating with Sebastian who turned four on Thursday!

Many thanks to Reid's mom, Janel for coming in as our Guest Reader.

Looking Deeper:  Exploration and Learning through Play

Let's take a closer look at Parker's Artist in Residence Program, and its emphasis on process as well as product.

For the past two weeks the children have worked with Sean, Eric and John for a half hour each day as part of Parker's Artist in Residence Program.  The broad umbrella of the program includes learning about storytelling in general, learning about William Shakespeare's story telling in particular for the older students, opportunities for movement and improvisation and providing an opportunity for all of the children to be part of a school-wide performance for the Parker Community.  This year in addition to creative movement exercises each day, the children listened to a reading of the book, Caps for Sale, and then helped develop a play based on that story in which they played the part of the monkeys.   The children fully enjoyed the time spent with Sean, Eric and John each day between 9:30 and 10:00, and it was these sessions more than the performance that made the greatest impact on the students because the program is much more focused on process than it is on product.  For those of you who were able to stay for the entire performance , you are fully aware that the product was indeed impressive.

However,  above and beyond the performance, our youngest students were deeply impacted by this special time.  This was profoundly illustrated to me this past Wednesday when Tommy, who had been playing independently, emerged from the Dress-Up Corner, with no fewer than six hats stacked on his head and proclaimed; "Caps for Sale"!  A clear sign of learning is being able to demonstrate what you have been taught, and such demonstrations routinely occur within our classroom.  It is moments such as these that are most exciting to me as they illustrate not only the children's learning, but the joy that the children have experienced in the learning! 

Have a fun and restful weekend, and a wonderful break!