Next America: Early Childhood Project

News and Reminders: We are closed on Monday, June 12th for in-service. 


Next America: Early Childhood Project

Early childhood education is, as we all know, incredibly important and valuable. I know that all of you, parents and teachers, value quality care and education. Early childhood is a field that is struggling and needs more support. We are incredibly lucky to have such highly qualified teachers at MVS. I am personally grateful for them every day. The lack of support and recognition that we receive as a field is disheartening and frustrating. Advocating for early childhood is a huge part of my job. I talk about the need for more support, funding, and respect to anyone and everyone that will listen.

The Atlantic is working on the Next America: Early Childhood Project. They research and publish articles about the difficulties early childhood is facing in our country. This article, Is This as Good as Childcare Gets?, really struck me. We are at a critical point where something needs to change. If you're interested in learning more about the struggles we are facing, please take a look. There are also some really supportive articles about the return on investment in early childhood and what economists are saying about the benefits of investing early. The research is there, however, it's still going to take a big push for change.

Classroom Updates

Infant I
We have had a great first week with Sandra in the mornings. The children have warmed up to her quickly and enjoyed lots of singing and book reading. We have also been getting very muddy outside and seem to be endlessly fascinated by dirt, sticks, and water. Waving hello and goodbye has also become a popular activity, with even some of our younger crew trying to wave hello in the mornings and after naps. They love this method of interacting with friends, parents, and teachers.

Infant II
Our mornings have bene very calm with lots of book reading and structured activities. We have been working hard at staying with one activity or a few toys for a little while before switching to something new and when we are finished working on cleaning up and returning our materials. Due to the never-ending rain, we have enjoyed the rain and mud outside. We never seem to tire of the water and dirt. We worked on our fine motor skills this week peeling the backs of letters and sticking them to paper. It was a fun but challenging activity.

Toddlers
We had a nice week in our classroom. We all really enjoyed our new chalkboard and working with chalk. We are working on using the chalk on the easel and taking turns. We are also working on sharing space at the easel. We have really enjoyed the chalk and next week we are going to work on painting at the easel. Those big movements with our arms and hands are great for strengthening our growing muscles. Next week we will also encourage more independence and allow the children access to the art materials of their choice. As always, we will talk about respecting our materials and using them appropriately.

Preschool I
We used this week as an opportunity to "reset" and observe children's interests to see what we will pursue next. Shannon has also begun some more structured counting and literacy activities to collect documentation for our upcoming TSGold checkpoints. The children continue to show strong interest in counting and number recognition. We were also able to take the whole class for a walk up Thomas Lane to pick clover for the bunnies.

We are also working on rearranging our classroom. We are going to make a bigger dramatic play area with a specific focus on dress-up. If anyone has costumes that are specifically job-related (police officer, firefighter, etc.) that we can borrow please let us know.

Preschool II
We began a study of insect this week. We sang a bug version of "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes". We also spent time looking at snails that Jane brought in from home. The children were not shy about holding the snails and letting them move as they pleased on their hands and arms. They were very careful and gentle when handling these tiny, fragile creatures. We also spent a lot of time reading books about bugs and spiders. On the playground, we found all kinds of bugs that we invited into our temporary bug hotel to observe including worms, beetles, ants, spiders, and flies.

PreK
We've made it outside early almost every day for the past two weeks. It's been "Really fun! We get to run!" -B.StP. As always, we are really interested in the changing weather, the plants and how they grow, and the insects. Our trip tp the "shortcut hill" to pick clover for Huckel and Tibbet was a highlight of the week. We worked on our fine motor muscles using scissors to clip the clover. We practiced identifying some plans and found some that we could eat. This adventure sparked a great idea for our bunny clover hill here at school. Friday we played all morning in the side yard. We had circle, read sunflower stories, and noticed our sunflower house is just beginning to sprout!

They were discussing how to get the red ball back over the fence. 

They decided they needed a stick, a really long stick. 

Success! 

And then it got stuck in the fort. 

With some problem-solving skills and teamwork, they got the ball out of the fort. Then we played a game asking questions and rolling the ball to one another.