Authenticity and Gratitude

This past week Jen and I attended a training by Jeanine Fitzgerald, an inspirational early educator and mental health professional whose book I highly recommend. Her book is so central to how I teach that listening to her speak was sort of like listening to the voice inside my head, which was a bit strange but also amazing. I'll write more about her approach to temperament and character education next week, but today I want to focus on one little quote of hers from the training: "Do not praise children; notice them and thank them."

Our desire to praise children often seems driven by how we perceive self-esteem. We love them, so of course we want them to love themselves and hold themselves in high regard, too. As adults we think we can encourage this attitude by pointing out everything they do well, but the problem is that over time that type of praise drives children to be motivated by external rewards and feedback, rather than internal motivation and satisfaction. Jeanine said that living a life of authenticity is one of the roots of happiness, and that starts with knowing who you really are, then being known and valued by others for who you are. So to help raise children who are authentically themselves, maybe we can ditch the praise and instead work to objectively and honestly notice who they are, what motivates them, what scares them, what comforts them, and what they need. And since we're being so honest, our love for them will still come through, and they will know that they are loved for who they are rather than for what they do or for what image they present to others. Unconditional love for the authentic self is the healthiest form of self-esteem.

The second piece of Jeanine's advice– to thank children– also has positive effects for both adults and children. Gratitude is one of her four attitudes of wellness (the others are hope, forgiveness, and playfulness). To thank children for being who they are, doing what they do, and honestly engaging with us and with others (because we know they are honest!) helps develop gratitude in ourselves. It also models gratitude for children; we know that modeling is one of the most effective teaching methods. And the good news is that many MVS children are already developing an authentic sense of gratitude. I collect the laundry during nap time every day, and though I usually try not to engage with the children too much during this task so they can stay focused on resting, a couple weeks ago I encountered a PS1 child in the bathroom. As she watched me dumping their basket into our big hamper, she said, "Megan, thank you for taking our laundry." As the receiver of this token of gratitude, I can tell you that its authenticity made it very meaningful! So, you're welcome, MK, and thank you for noticing my little effort to help our school.

More gratitude coming your way: as always, thanks for reading! Have a great week.

Megan

News and Reminders

Our annual Summer Solstice Stroll is coming up on Thursday, June 21st. We will meet at the beginning of the bike path, behind Stowe Community Church at 5:30. From there we will stroll and sing, then return to our starting point for a picnic. Please plan to pack a picnic for your family. Ice cream will be served at the end.

PreK graduation is coming up soon at 5:00pm on Friday, June 29th. MVS will close at 4:00 on that day. After a short ceremony at school, we will head over to the SES playground for pizza and baked goods (by sign-up). Please bring your own child and adult beverages! If you'd like to help with graduation please email Sarah (sarah@mountainvillageschool.com); there will be a planning meeting about a week before the big day.

Kitchen Update

This week chefs Norm and Kait served up a lemon-y quinoa, bean, and cucumber salad, rice and lentils with tahini sauce, and egg and quinoa muffins. Fresh fruits and veggies included peppers of all colors, strawberries, bananas, oranges, and mango. We also enjoyed more school-made oat bars, carrot muffins, and biscuits.

Classroom Updates

Infant I by Megan

I'm not sure right now whether our children prefer sunny days or rainy ones; water play is a current favorite activity, and rain makes it available everywhere! Whatever the weather, they are loving to be outside, which they show by readily participating in outdoor dressing routines and crawling excitedly to the door, through Infant II, and across the hallway to the door outside. From our oldest child we hear, "Outside?" quite frequently. Everyone is more reluctant to come back in, but we've been encouraging them to independently crawl up the ramp and into the classroom by themselves. The children also showed great flexibility this week with Megan out two days; Stef and Dagan competently managed everyone's needs and enjoyed lots of play, inside and out.

Infant II by Hannah and Amanda

We tried some new activities this week. We painted with Q tips, which for some turned into painting their bodies and the baby dolls. We also painted outside using a tree for our painting surface. The children got creative and used natural materials on the playground to enhance their paintings. We also explored ice cubes of various shapes and sizes. The children were curious about what was inside the cubes, though it turned out to be just water. Finally we had a small friend visit us on the playground this week: a little toad. Everyone was curious but very gentle with it.

Toddlers by Carly

We had a fun week exploring all the new natural elements on the back playground. The numerous sticks, pieces of bark and thick mulch was extremely exciting and inviting to all the children. A new digging spot full of dirt and roots proved to be a sensory delight for little hands and fingers. This week, we unfortunately saw a lot of spitting in the classroom. We consistently redirect this behavior, remind the children that it spreads germs, and encourage alternatives like blowing a kiss. This week we also increased our small group work by working with the children in two groups. We explored the manipulation of play dough with hands and fingers and also worked with forming shapes and balls. This was especially fun because we all worked very hard on making the play dough ourselves last week. We also worked on a painting project that was very engaging. On a classroom note we are going to begin making our own Fruit Salad on Fridays! We are very excited to join this school-wide Friday morning activity. To this end, please begin sending in one piece of fruit on Fridays. Thank you!

Preschool I by Shannon T.

This week, Preschool I was introduced to a few pretend critters: a spider in a jar and a cricket in a small cage. We discussed how to handle these critters– if we handle them at all– and how to care for them. Using pretend critters to start this conversation helped us practice. For instance, we understand that taking them out could be scary for a critter, causing them to jump and get lost. We wouldn't want to lose any critters or scare them, so we practiced just observing them. Just like we would like to be treated with respect, we are treating our critters with the same respect. We've also discussed what types of food a critter might like to eat and what kind of habitat, or home, they need to live. On Monday, we'll be collecting items from our playground that would create an acceptable habitat for our critter. In the mean time, we continue to meet with ants, worms, and caterpillars on the playground to practice treating animals kindly.

Preschool II and PreK by Jen

We've been doing a lot of thinking about graduation and upcoming transitions. Emotions can run in a variety of directions during this time of year. Excitement, fear, and disappointment are all common not only for the transitioning Kindergartners, but also for those remaining behind. As we've begun to plan our graduation ceremony, we've created two groups to help clarify and ease some confusion for the younger children. Participants have been practicing for the ceremony while others practice being in the "audience." We hope you'll all be able to join us June 29th for the big day.