September 5th

What a wonderful first week getting to know each other and creating our preschool together.

Here's some things I learned:

Scarlett loves to play in the kitchen, setting up every dish and food item, and is even (pretty) good at cleaning up. She likes pushing the babies around in strollers, 'shopping', going for 'drives' in the car ("you're supposed to tell me to drive safely!"), and painting and playing the keyboards. She uses her mighty vocabulary clearly and sometimes emphatically, and is not shy. She's exuberant and likes to show you exactly where she hides the pink pompom pillow!

Rowan loves dinosaurs and frogs, birds and farm animals, the axolotls and Rocket, the cat. And all the stuffed animals. She likes to sort them and line them up and play with them and sing songs. She is independent and confident, and sometimes likes to watch and listen before jumping right in. She is very kind and patient with all of us, and is empathetic when a friend is upset. She likes stories and puzzles and games. She's a little shy at first, but also exceptionally verbal and communicates clearly. And she loves the sand box!

Nova likes dinosaurs too. And painting, drawing, stamping, and any kind of art. She does not have the vocabulary of her friends and sometimes resorts to yelling and pushing, but she follows up right away with hugs and 'thank yous' and sharing. She also likes stories and games, especially Barbapapas. You'll start hearing about these French characters at home as we read more stories, play with the figurings and see the puzzles. I can't imagine why Barbapapas are not translated into English.

Things they may have learned:

Before eating (unless I forget), we sing a little song. May there always be sunshine. May there always be rain. May there always be good friends. May there always be you and me.

A marker without a lid is a sad marker.

If some food doesn't look good to you, try a 'no Thank You' bite. If you're feeling brave, you can smell it. If you're feeling even braver, try licking it. And if you are feeling super brave, try a little taste. You never know. And if you don't like it today, you just might like it tomorrow.

'Clear the coast' is a good thing to say if you are going up or down a slide and someone is in the way.

The routine: first there's Free Play. Then clean up (mostly me cleaning up to a jazzy clean up song, encouraging them to help). Then some group time on the red carpet with stories and songs and games. Then snack. Then art. Then outside. Then some more free play. Then lunch. Then whatever seems like it will suit them. Today we played 'hide-and-seek', which at this point is 'hide-and-let-me-show-you-where'. I love it :)

(The man in the picture is Adindu, from the Early Childhood Division, who has been inspecting my preschool for the last ten years. He wants me to replace one of the windows in the rest time room as a second egress. I will).