"Every day, in a hundred small ways, our children ask, 'Do you hear me? Do you see me? Do I matter?'" –L.R. Knost

As I'm sure you're all aware, young children have a lot going on! In the midst of all the diapers, nap times, emotional eruptions, peer relationships, and constant play, it can be easy to lose track of young children's main line of work, which is building their brains. Supporting healthy brain development is at the heart of just about all of our best practices as early childhood educators; we know that early experiences are critical in shaping children's ability to self-regulate their actions and emotions, develop resilience, and build executive function skills that will help them succeed in school and in life. One of my favorite resources for learning about the latest research in early brain development is Harvard University's Center on the Developing Child: https://developingchild.harvard.edu

A key concept that you may be familiar with is "serve and return" which refers to responsive interactions between children–particularly infants–and their caregivers. It means that when an infant cries, gestures, babbles, or coos, we respond by communicating through speech, touch, or even just eye contact, and such interactions are the foundation of all learning. This page includes a short video about how serve and return interactions shape early brain architecture: https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/

An anecdote from Friday: C was standing next to the soft toy bin, and N climbed into the bin with a book. Just as N sat down in the bin, he dropped the book on the ground and said, "Uh oh!" C babbled a sentence that I interpreted as "Don't worry, I can get it", picked up the book and handed it back to N, who sat back down to "read", satisfied. And from the other side of the room I felt thrilled to have seen such a supportive interaction between children.

Thanks for reading!
Megan

News and Reminders
We will have a family picnic on Saturday, October 14 at 3:30pm at the Stowe Elementary School playground! Please bring blankets, lawn chairs, and a dish to share, as well as your own dishes and silverware. Rain date will be the following Saturday, October 21.

Classroom Updates
Infant I
What a great rainy week–you wouldn't believe how excited our children get about putting on their rain suits! Our older crew is now participating a lot in dressing routines: sitting in the right spot to pull on a Tuffo, finding sleeves and pushing their arms all the way through, and picking up feet so they're ready for socks and boots. We've also been focusing on our transition routine from inside to out and vice versa, making sure that we sit on the bench to take boots off before we go into the room. Our multiple copies of Brown Bear, Brown Bear have been very popular this week. The children love flipping through them to find their favorite animals. We also have a new crawler, a very ambitious roller, and a new child who has fallen right into his groove.

Infant II
Our class was all about water this week. Our children enjoyed the rainy weather and had a blast playing and splashing in the puddles and containers. They also loved singing rain songs. Inside we got super clean with tons of bubbles and sponges in our sensory table. We have been working with our class as a whole on being gentle with each other and using our words, independence skills, and trying new foods at meal times.

Toddlers
We've spent a lot of time playing outside in the rain this week. The children have really enjoyed finding rain water that has collected in different areas of the playground and then moving it to other areas. On Wednesday they used brushes to paint with muddy water and food coloring on the wall outside, which they really enjoyed. On Tuesday we washed the plastic baby dolls with scrubbers and soapy water. This week we have worked really hard with the children on regulating their emotions, calming down when upset and having kind, gentle interactions with peers. Parent note: Could you all lease label your child's sheets and blankets? We want to make sure they go home with the right child at the end of the week. Thanks.

Preschool I
We began September with muddy hands, shrugging our shoulders and saying, "I'll just wipe them on my Tuffo!" We helped find homes for the fresh worms on the playground and noticed all the different sizes of those worms, commenting, "This one's a baby worm!" or, "This worm is longer than that one." Shannon T introduced a "days of the week" song for our calendar and we read "A Wonderful Week" which features a pig and a mouse walking us through their routine for each day of the week (ex.: Monday is for making a fresh start). Congratulations to Shannon E! We look forward to having her back on Monday. Don't forget to bring in a current family photo and picture of your house by the 11th for September's "Who am I?" study. Thanks!

Preschool II
Our short week was filled full of new adventures, erupting "Birthday 'canos", wet and wild water slides, and fun art projects. One of our new adventures was following a trail from our parking lot that led us past the new Chainsaw Woods and down a bike trail where we found an open area to explore.  Many of us dream of taking a field trip to the Jay Peak water slide, but on Monday the next best thing happened when a rainy day gave us the slides at SES all to ourselves. Volcanos have been an interest for many of us and this week we made our own. Some with paint, glue, and paper and one with baking soda and vinegar that really erupted after we sang "Happy Birthday" to our newest four-year-old, H!

PreK
In lieu of a weekly update, here are some snapshots of a morning by the tree:

Setting up the ice cream shop

Lawn maintenance

Placing an order

New employee at the shop: "I'll be the dollar one-er, you be the ice cream one-er."

Customers! With an interest in climbing the tree

Compromise reached