I think there are times when we all feel a bit overwhelmed by the news and current events these days, not to mention the goings-on in our community and in our individual families. Some days it seems like everything is happening all at once and it's nearly impossible for us process it all. And we are adults, with sophisticated executive functioning and self-regulation skills. What do you think it feels like for children?
We came across an article this week that discussed how children's mental health has been affected by the fast pace of the modern world. Rather than struggling to provide enough resources for their children, many parents these days need to resist providing too much: too many toys, too many activities, too much stimulation. The consequences of too much are rather alarming: "Normal personality quirks combined with the stress of 'too much' can propel children into the realm of disorder." The article advises parents to protect children from such consequences by intentionally limiting their exposure to the news, excessive consumption, and overstimulation, ensuring that they have time for free play, quiet time, and rest. A concept that I've learned from Pikler caregiving is "sheathing" the child in care, protection, and ultimately love–a sheath that expands and becomes more inclusive as the child gets older, but still acts as a sort of protective shield so that children are free to experience childhood as the intrinsically valuable time that it is. No matter what's going on in the outside world, we adults still have the ability to slow down and simplify children's day-to-day lives.
Thanks for reading,
Megan
News and Reminders
Thank you for supporting our in-service day on Monday, January 15th. Enjoy the long weekend!
There will be a Parent Collaboration Committee meeting this Wednesday, January 17th at 6:30pm upstairs in the PreK room. All parents are welcome to join.
Classroom Updates
Infant I
We had a great week and enjoyed lots more time outside. We always love to watch how our children who are newly mobile or barely walking engage with the variety of surfaces found outside, which included snow, ice, slush, and puddles this week. They really push themselves to travel and explore how each of those surfaces affects their movement. Our younger crew enjoyed a pretty peaceful and calm week. A clear container with a red metal top appeared in our room and everyone noticed; some children picked it up onto their bellies to turn it around and see it from all angles, while others simply gazed at it or watched others use it. It's amazing how a simple, novel object like that can attract so much focus and attention.
Infant II
We have had such a blast playing outside this week! The warmer temps and sunshine made it even more enjoyable. Climbing up, sliding down and playing on the hills was fun. One day we built a jump with the children's help. They loved being pulled over it in a sled. We also made three snowmen–two little ones and one big one. The children enjoyed helping us look for materials we could use for the nose, eyes, etc. They also liked tasting the snowmen. We worked as a class this week on keeping toys out of our mouths, thorough hand washing, and talking through difficult situations with peers.Toddlers
We had an active and lively week in the Toddler room. We had a lot of fun in our dramatic play area this week; we really enjoyed working with new pots, pans and dishes. The children created many new dishes including waffles and cake–yum! Our dramatic play costumes were also very popular this week with the older children helping the younger children learn how to put on the costumes; we loves to see this scaffolding during play. We also really enjoyed using chalk with chalkboards and primary paint colors with thick paper. We are very happy to be outside again in the fresh air. Please note: many of our extra MVS hats and boots are missing; please return them if you come across MVS gear at home. Thank you!
Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3–everyone, including teachers, is working hard on deep breaths, staying focused, and doing our jobs so that we can get back to the important stuff: play! The children are naming more shapes, even the "hexagon." They've also started sorting and categorizing by shape or color. Lacing is a new emergent interest, first with buttons, then with wooden lacing cards. We're also working hard on prioritizing during dressing–"What can you do yourself while waiting for help?" See you Tuesday the 16th!
This week in PS2, we read two different Mitten books for "M" week. The first was about a kind lady named Sarah, who knit mittens for the children on her street. The children didn't know who left the mittens on the tree for them, and Sarah didn't know who repaid her kindness by leaving her more yarn to knit more mittens. We have been working extra hard at filling our kindness jar so it will be full for "P" week, when we want to have a Pizza, Popsicle, Pajama day Party! Some friends even went as far as making a pact to be kind to each other and added it to our kindness jar. The second "M" book was The Mitten and the class really enjoyed acting out the story with stuffed animals from our rest basket to fill our mitten. Enjoy your long weekends and we'll see you all on Tuesday.
We love playing outside! We have been getting as much fresh air as possible this week on our MVS playground, at the Woof Trail, campfire forest, and a great sledding spot across the parking lot. Climbing up that big hill is tough, but sledding down is so much fun. Inside we continue to enjoy our large cardboard box and reading books like Not a Box. Interests this week included foxes and birds, spinning tops, and styrofoam necklaces the children strung themselves (thank you L.C. for the materials and the idea!). On Monday Tori started reading Stuart Little with PreK and we've read one or two chapters each day. We also re-read Bee-Bim Bop, a library story time book with a recipe that we hope to have for lunch when we return to school on Tuesday (thank you Amy F. for planning and providing the ingredients!).
Comments
Post a Comment