Hello Families,
I know that it’s been a long time coming, but the blogs are finally up and running! Last week was really fabulous and for our initial blog post I wanted to share a few photos from each class which represent some of the interests and projects emerging within the school.
Pre-K
The pre-k class has been very busy and is working on several interest areas. The children are becoming more independent and are working together in small groups with light and shadow, sensory play, science and nature, dramatic play and bookmaking and storytelling. We took our first field trip to the Wylde Center this week with a few children to scout out the space and the possibilities. The children that visited the center then shared their findings with the rest of the class. Everyone is very excited about our first outdoor classroom day this coming Wednesday. The entire class will spend the whole morning at the center and explore the great outdoors.
Preschool
The preschool class is engaged in a variety of projects including beading – very focused work on the part of these three-year-old children. They are using their work to create a beautiful mobile to add to their classroom environment.
They are also exploring tools and machinery and have taken apart many small electronics to see what was on the 
inside. This requires a great deal of concentration as well as a responsible handling of the tools. The confidence with which they go about their work is quite exciting to watch.
As always with this class, exploring the artistic and creative side of all sorts of materials is an important part of every day. Small groups of children work independently in the mini-atelier, sharing materials and conversing about their work with their friends.
Two-Year-Old Class
The twos are a large and busy group! They have been adding families throughout August and September and have put a great deal of focus on creating a sense of belonging and making sure all of our new families and children are welcomed into the classroom community. In addition to community building they have been engaged in many creative endeavors. They have painted indoors, as well as outdoors and have begun the practice of focused still life drawing to begin making connections between what they see and what they can create with their hands.
They have also begun an exploration of all sorts of balls. Small wiffle balls and soft golf balls have been used in a makeshift game of table golf which resulted from an observations that the teachers made on the ways that the children were using these small objects.
This group also engages in lots of active games and creative movement. From outdoor soccer and football games to silly, indoor dance parties, this group is always on the move!
One-Year-Old Class
The one year olds have been learning to share and be good friends. You can often see them show great empathy toward each other and they are learning to nurture each other so that the whole group can be happy and have fun. They often observe their younger counterparts and we are just beginning to open the sliding glass door so that the infants and toddlers can interact with each other. They are also full of giggles and love to get and give hugs. A little selfie at the end of the day is also not out of the question!
This week the class embarked on a study of color and created beautiful jars of colored water using found objects and watercolors. They then made colored ice with their project to see the different properties between the water that they created and the ice cubes that came out of the freezer the next day. The children had a great time exploring the ice and painting with it while it rapidly melted and returned to the original state that they had created the day before.
Infant Class
The infant class welcomed their new teacher and friend, Ms Susan this week. Susan completes the infant team and has done a wonderful job getting to know each child and spent time with the children exploring the outdoors.
The infants have spent time during the past few weeks studying lights and shadows. Each day brought new surprises for the children who delighted in the sparkling, glowing and iridescent nature of all sorts of different lighted materials. They also explored darker places through box tunnels and cozy corners. As babies do, they used all of their senses and their whole bodies to explore.
This week culminated in an exploration of water with water safe lighted toys. The babies were fascinated and delighted! Of course, Ms Keli could not resist but to join in on the fun!
It was an amazing and fun exploration and a perfect end to a wonderful week!
As we move forward into the school year, we hope to communicate each week through the classroom blogs so that you can keep up with what is happening at school. Each classroom now has access to be able to add to and update their classroom page and create blog posts.
We appreciate the opportunity to work with and get to know your children! They are all amazing and wondrous little people and they amaze us each and every day!
As always, we welcome your feedback, comments and suggestions!
Your truly,
Teresa
