I hope you all had a fun, productive week. Ours was certainly busy, with lots of learning and collaboration happening throughout the week. Some really wonderful things happened. A few days ago, a group of older children were working together with the golden beads. As I was working with others, I could hear them getting louder and having a conversation about something that was not about the game, and it was getting a bit heated. As I tried to wrap up what I was doing because I felt I needed to intervene, one of the children stopped and said, "Let's get back to counting!" They all returned to the game at hand unaware that I had heard the discussion.

Another morning, children were working and having snacks. The snack placemat tray was empty. As a child placed hers back on the tray, three 3-year old children raced and pushed one another to get to it. We stopped the class and talked about how this was a problem that we needed to solve. The children were hungry, and they didn't know what else to do but get a placemat so they could have their snack. They needed something else to do other than racing to the shelf when they were ready for a snack but it wasn't available. I suggested that we have a waiting spot so if a person was very hungry, they could stand there and everyone would know they would get the next placemat available. The children happily agreed. I used tape and a child helped me make a square on the floor. Now we have a place for children to be and it appears to have solved the issue. If there is a problem with it in the future, we will come together again and decide on a different solution.

Instead of me creating this solution for them and telling them about it, we all decided together, which gave the children a sense of agency. This encourages their cooperation much more than if they had come into school that morning and I had just shown them the new system. 

Since the weather is changing, please consider sending in some warmer clothes for your child's box. Double check to make sure their name is in their jackets and any other outerwear. Encourage them to learn how to zip their jackets by themselves. Please do not send gloves. The children cannot put them on themselves and it's very difficult for us to help them. If you want your child to wear mittens, make sure their name is on both as they tend to get lost. Please help your child learn how to put on any boots or other cold-weather shoes so they can do it themselves at school.

Thank you for all of your support!

Have a great weekend,

Kate and Laura