Congrats to Shannon
We wanted to send hearty congrats to upstairs teacher Shannon, who was recently accepted into the Early Childhood Master's Program at Champlain College. If you've not met Shannon, you can find her in the afternoons here at school, Well done Shannon!
Classroom Happenings
Infant I: We want to welcome Hannah back to MVS, many of you know her already; she previously worked upstairs with the older children. We are happy to have her back and working with our youngest students. This week, a few children have been out of the room due to illness, and while we never like the children to be away, this does allow for a little more one on one time with the remaining children, getting to play and explore at an even closer level. We are persisting through movement struggles and providing gentle support and encouragement to children who are pushing themselves to the next step, whether that step be a literal one, going after objects just out of reach, or learning to roll over. We continue to work on walking and crawling to the next part of our day such as heading over to high chairs independently for meal time, or moving to outside time without being carried.
Infant II: Danielle and Amanda have teamed up again, but now in their new digs in Infant II. It's been a busy week for us. The children have been using the colored blocks outdoors, but more and more it seems like with real purpose. The kids can be found together, often in a row, stacking the blocks mindfully, one atop the other to construct towers or cars. We have also been bringing books outdoors in the afternoon. Everyone enjoys this mellow time together, flipping through pages, and listening to the teachers read the stories. We have been continuing to do a lot of singing together, and it seems we are also doing a lot of large group socializing as well. Our focus on clean up has been showing, everyone has been doing their part, putting toys back before before a transition. This clean up time also helps the children know what is coming next. Welcome to another classmate who moved into the room from Infant I!
Toddler Room: More welcomes! We have had several new students join us in the Toddler room and it's been wonderful to get to know the children and their families. Some of our "veteran" students are helping the new children along in learning the routines and expectations of our room. This week we especially worked on completing morning jobs, just another way we help foster independence and build self help skills. We want the children to feel pride and a sense of accomplishment when they work through a struggle and do these kind of tasks independently. As a group we have been focusing on kind social interactions and using words to express our emotions. On the art front, we have been really into using both crayons and markers: we are making deliberate lines and marks on the paper. Recently it seems those marks are starting to resemble shapes.
Preschool I: Our teaching team now consists of Melissa and Sam, with Shannon joining us in the afternoon time. We are all getting accustomed to seeing these familiar faces at different points in the day. We have been really trying to focus on creating a calm, inviting room in the morning time. You may have noticed our Gregorian chanting in the background to bring some soothing energy to the early hours. We have been building on our new morning song at circle, "Good Morning Dear Earth." The children are now tying the phrases together without much instruction. The song incorporates some yoga movements and the combination of singing and moving seems to be a joyful part of the day. In literacy, we are focusing on plot and predictive questions. Two examples: In Sheep Take a Hike, we asked the children to predict what was in the sheep's backpacks...they rightly predicted, snacks. In the book Lunch, students practiced making informed predictions by finding clues on the page. We have been doing a lot of painting all week, using a variety of paint (tempera and watercolor) and comparing and contrasting the way we use the paint and how it spreads on the lead in page. We are slowing down to have conversations about kind language both ahead of frustrations and in the midst of them.
Preschool II: We used a new easel this week, and started off with chalk and wet towel erasers. We had a lot of interest in writing our names. The children re-visited the lacing cards and carefully worked on their sewing. They mentioned that the activity, "takes a lot of focus."
There were construction projects that involved Legos, and visits from butterflies. More specifically, MT brought in some black swallowtail butterflies that were eating the dill from their garden. We watched them carefully in our butterfly enclosure. CK created a ferry with pillows, he lined them up as seats and the boat went to Charlottesville, New Jackson, and New Charlotte before arriving in New Hampshire. There were significant ghost stories told by EK, and luckily everyone made it out of the haunted house safely.
Pre-K: Our mornings indoors have had many activities to hone our fine motor skills including snipping with scissors, painting and drawing. We have also been working on making a few minor adjustments to our classroom environment. Block structures have also been on the uptick. We have been thinking about and planning new structures, using tools, and looking at design books in the process. One day this week the kids built a bridge together.
Our classroom goal of putting away our things where they belong continues, and we have been talking about chores. Extending this conversation at home would be helpful. Here at school we do a lot of chores together: sweeping and using the dustpan, unloading the dishwasher, washing the tables, etc. What kind of chores happen at home? Another area of conversation is in being kind and gentle in our words and actions. We have been reading books on both the chores and kindness topics. On Thursday we walked to Sunset Rock and met Brenna, a Stowe Land Trust naturalist. There we learned about predator and prey dynamics and played games where we hunted for different objects.
As Seen at MVS
Thanks for Reading
We wanted to send hearty congrats to upstairs teacher Shannon, who was recently accepted into the Early Childhood Master's Program at Champlain College. If you've not met Shannon, you can find her in the afternoons here at school, Well done Shannon!
Classroom Happenings
Infant I: We want to welcome Hannah back to MVS, many of you know her already; she previously worked upstairs with the older children. We are happy to have her back and working with our youngest students. This week, a few children have been out of the room due to illness, and while we never like the children to be away, this does allow for a little more one on one time with the remaining children, getting to play and explore at an even closer level. We are persisting through movement struggles and providing gentle support and encouragement to children who are pushing themselves to the next step, whether that step be a literal one, going after objects just out of reach, or learning to roll over. We continue to work on walking and crawling to the next part of our day such as heading over to high chairs independently for meal time, or moving to outside time without being carried.
Infant II: Danielle and Amanda have teamed up again, but now in their new digs in Infant II. It's been a busy week for us. The children have been using the colored blocks outdoors, but more and more it seems like with real purpose. The kids can be found together, often in a row, stacking the blocks mindfully, one atop the other to construct towers or cars. We have also been bringing books outdoors in the afternoon. Everyone enjoys this mellow time together, flipping through pages, and listening to the teachers read the stories. We have been continuing to do a lot of singing together, and it seems we are also doing a lot of large group socializing as well. Our focus on clean up has been showing, everyone has been doing their part, putting toys back before before a transition. This clean up time also helps the children know what is coming next. Welcome to another classmate who moved into the room from Infant I!
Toddler Room: More welcomes! We have had several new students join us in the Toddler room and it's been wonderful to get to know the children and their families. Some of our "veteran" students are helping the new children along in learning the routines and expectations of our room. This week we especially worked on completing morning jobs, just another way we help foster independence and build self help skills. We want the children to feel pride and a sense of accomplishment when they work through a struggle and do these kind of tasks independently. As a group we have been focusing on kind social interactions and using words to express our emotions. On the art front, we have been really into using both crayons and markers: we are making deliberate lines and marks on the paper. Recently it seems those marks are starting to resemble shapes.
Preschool I: Our teaching team now consists of Melissa and Sam, with Shannon joining us in the afternoon time. We are all getting accustomed to seeing these familiar faces at different points in the day. We have been really trying to focus on creating a calm, inviting room in the morning time. You may have noticed our Gregorian chanting in the background to bring some soothing energy to the early hours. We have been building on our new morning song at circle, "Good Morning Dear Earth." The children are now tying the phrases together without much instruction. The song incorporates some yoga movements and the combination of singing and moving seems to be a joyful part of the day. In literacy, we are focusing on plot and predictive questions. Two examples: In Sheep Take a Hike, we asked the children to predict what was in the sheep's backpacks...they rightly predicted, snacks. In the book Lunch, students practiced making informed predictions by finding clues on the page. We have been doing a lot of painting all week, using a variety of paint (tempera and watercolor) and comparing and contrasting the way we use the paint and how it spreads on the lead in page. We are slowing down to have conversations about kind language both ahead of frustrations and in the midst of them.
Preschool II: We used a new easel this week, and started off with chalk and wet towel erasers. We had a lot of interest in writing our names. The children re-visited the lacing cards and carefully worked on their sewing. They mentioned that the activity, "takes a lot of focus."
There were construction projects that involved Legos, and visits from butterflies. More specifically, MT brought in some black swallowtail butterflies that were eating the dill from their garden. We watched them carefully in our butterfly enclosure. CK created a ferry with pillows, he lined them up as seats and the boat went to Charlottesville, New Jackson, and New Charlotte before arriving in New Hampshire. There were significant ghost stories told by EK, and luckily everyone made it out of the haunted house safely.
Pre-K: Our mornings indoors have had many activities to hone our fine motor skills including snipping with scissors, painting and drawing. We have also been working on making a few minor adjustments to our classroom environment. Block structures have also been on the uptick. We have been thinking about and planning new structures, using tools, and looking at design books in the process. One day this week the kids built a bridge together.
Our classroom goal of putting away our things where they belong continues, and we have been talking about chores. Extending this conversation at home would be helpful. Here at school we do a lot of chores together: sweeping and using the dustpan, unloading the dishwasher, washing the tables, etc. What kind of chores happen at home? Another area of conversation is in being kind and gentle in our words and actions. We have been reading books on both the chores and kindness topics. On Thursday we walked to Sunset Rock and met Brenna, a Stowe Land Trust naturalist. There we learned about predator and prey dynamics and played games where we hunted for different objects.
As Seen at MVS
Thanks for Reading
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