You learn a lot when you're barefoot. The first thing is every step you take is different. –Michael Franti

Thank you, Vermont, for another beautiful week of weather. The sun just seems to be beckoning us outside these days, and we wanted to share an article about one particular privilege of summer: going barefoot! It turns out that our feet are hugely rich in nerves, which means they are sensitive to all sorts of touch sensations that send information to our brains. Those sensations play a huge role in building neural connections; brain-wise exploring such sensations is infants' and toddlers' main preoccupation, and it continues to be important for older children and adults. The author also noted that being barefoot gives children better control over the different parts of their feet which can be used to build strength and balance. It's easy to forget that the bottoms of our feet are, in fact, perfectly built for gripping the ground; I often remove infants' socks and shoes for this reason.

If MVS were located on a beach (hmm!) then we could go barefoot all the time, but of course we do have restrictions for safety reasons. We don't allow children to go barefoot out back because of the rocky, challenging surface, and ticks also have to be a consideration. We do let children abandon shoes in the grassy yard out front, and when you find similarly amenable environments over the summer I would encourage you to do the same. Your children and their brains will surely appreciate it.

Thanks for reading,
Megan

News and Reminders
We have set up a group order form for MVS sweatshirts. There is a hoody style for children and a quarter zip in adult sizes. You can order and pay online. The link will be available until June 1 and the order will arrive at MVS on June 15th. Here they are:
Children's Hoody
Quarter Zip

We recently learned about a brand of infant puréed food that systematically introduces allergens to your child. Inspired Start foods can be found here.

A reminder that we will be closed for Memorial Day next Monday, May 28. Enjoy the long weekend!

Kitchen Update
Kitchen offerings this week included cous cous and veggie mixes, Buddha bowls, and egg muffins with broccoli and spinach. The children also enjoyed fresh strawberries and blackberries, orange peppers, and ginger biscuits.

Classroom Updates
Infant I by Megan
A big highlight of our week was that our youngest child finally rolled all the way from her back to her belly! It's always so exciting to see a child's world and experiences broaden because they have just gained a new skill. The comfortable weather this week also allowed all of our children to continue extending their gross motor abilities outside. Our yard's variable and ever-changing surface gives them so many challenges that we couldn't provide inside. On Thursday we also had a little lunch picnic out on the ramp in the sun. Inside, the book I Like Toys: Petit Collage has become very popular. It's a book with lots of shapes and few words, and we have been tracing the shapes with our fingers and touching the textured surface on each page.

Infant II by Hannah and Amanda
Our weekly walks have become the highlight of our week. The children ask to go for a walk until the day arrives. They all get excited when they see the stroller and ask to get in it. On the ride they sit very calmly and focus on observing their surroundings, and they also love waving to passing cars. Out on the back playground, many of our children have been choosing to play in the sandbox. We also made play dough with flour, water, and baby oil, and the children helped us experiment to find the right mix. We ended the week with body painting in the hallway! It was a truly immersive sensory experience.

Toddlers by Carly
We were very thankful for the nice weather this week; it allowed us experience our day and learning in a classroom without walls. This week our big focus with several children has been wearing underwear and trying to use the toilet successfully. We are starting to make real progress and we are quiet proud of our children. We continue to work with everyone on self-help skills such as taking off their own shoes, pulling down their pants and taking off their own diaper (then discarding it in the trash). Another area of focus this week has been reading books at the picnic table first thing in the morning. Books that have been especially popular this week included books about animals, Angelina Ballerina, and our special MVS book All the World. Being outside in the sun and the warm rain this week has really helped our bodies, our spirits and our minds feel free and joyful. Nothing better than springtime in Vermont!

Preschool I
What an eventful week we’ve had! The highlights were certainly our morning adventures to Campfire Forest, as well as sprouting chickpeas in the classroom. The children compared the sprouting seeds to a sprouted avocado pit, which was much larger and easier to observe the roots coming out. They began to make the connections that inside, the seeds were soaked in water that we had put in the bowl, but outside, the water to soak the seeds would come from the rain. The children also observed how the soaked and sprouted seeds were much larger than the dry seeds. They even began pointing out seeds on their own in their food, such as beans, corn, or seeds inside fruit and berries.

 Campfire Forest has been a rich source of vigorous play, and the children have really pushed themselves with what they feel comfortable with physically. They scramble up and down steep, rocky hillsides, clamber over fallen trees, and haul around branches that are sometimes much larger than they are themselves. They have requested to go back and play there every morning, so we will continue hiking there throughout next week.

The children have begun holding each other accountable for their actions, which can sometimes lead to heated arguments of, “Yes, you did!” and “No, I didn’t!!” They are also telling increasingly inventive stories, for example, one child had a very detailed story of the lion that had gotten loose in his grandmother’s house this past weekend. This is all healthy and necessary for becoming competent members of our society, but can lead to some frustration on both sides when it comes to “whodunit.” CG shared these articles about the emergence of less-than-truthful retellings of events, and Shannon E-F thought they would be helpful for families as well. Happy reading! https://www.babycenter.com/0_lying-why-it-happens-and-what-to-do-about-it-ages-3-to-4_65462.bc https://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/preschooler-lying-and-honesty#1

Preschool II by CG
The whiteboard in the classroom currently has our classroom routine, or “flow of the day,” and includes the zones that seem appropriate at the various times of day. In the classroom we strive to stay mostly in the green zone, with a touch of yellow when learning generates healthy amounts of frustration and excitement. Outside is a more appropriate place for play which escalates into yellow zone, as children experiment with hilarity, fear, danger, volume and so forth. Games and walks require some green-zone level energy outside. The children wondered why the red zone isn’t listed as a part of the day. My answer was that the red zone isn’t someplace we plan to be. It just happens sometimes. The red zone is where behavior gets out of control, and creates problems.

Pyschology tells us that practice with making decisions leads to more positive outcomes in the heat-of-the-moment. In the classroom, we have a 1-person chair in a cozy corner that is open at all times. Every child elects to visit it and use the special “1 person activity,” the calming bag from time to time in the course of the week. The bag contains a selection of 6 or 7 small items varying in texture - soft, firm, and wheeled items, packing wrap for popping, a tiny candle with an on-off switch, a ribbon-tie bag containing hearts, a pinwheel. They are simple manipulatives, interesting enough so that children want to spend time handling them, yet relatively unstimulating. The child chooses when the activity begins, and when it ends by the packing the items away. The calming bag is there for children to take a little break; to turn their focus onto what is immediately in front of them; and to make their own choices such as which items are favorites, what order to hold them in, and how to group or arrange the items. It gives practice at focusing within the chaos of the classroom.

The calming bag and other 1-person activities such as journaling, reading a book, or doing a puzzle can be helpful tools for children who are moving into the red zone, or have already landed there. By providing opportunities for kids to have enjoyable 1-person times in the flow of play, my hope is that they understand the value of alone time, and will have an easier time volunteering to take a break when they realize they are losing control.

PreK by Jen
Destinations this week included the Woof Trail, the basketball court, camp fire forest, and the big field behind SES. The older children have made impressive growth in their game playing abilities. Their commitment to following rules and the self regulation to do so along with the physical control over their own bodies improves daily– for example, the ability to stop short and freeze on "Red light!" Memory skills are also tested with the addition of various additions to the game (pink light = hop up and down in place, blue light = walk backwards, etc.).  We've been taking these games down into the side yard in the afternoon as well. Another fun afternoon activity this week has been dancing to movement songs on the CD player. During our rare indoor moments this week, we created some pinecone bird feeders (hanging on the trees in the backyard) to attract more birds to watch with our binoculars. Reading selections this week included The Magic Fish, The Greedy Python, and The Sorcerer's Apprentice– all books about wanting more than we need. We've been talking a little about the stories during meal times when it's hard not to reach more more delicious food even when we haven't finished what we already have. Speaking of food– we took our first class trip to Grow Compost to find out more about what happens to our leftover food scraps. We had a great trip and are looking forward to a second trip soon.