The Magic of Engaging

Last Thursday was a magical morning. At one point, I looked around, and EVERYONE was engaged in something beautiful. There were a group of kids making water color paintings and another using tools to explore an old printer. In the preschool room, a small child was "reading" a book to her classmates. A few children were taking turns playing with a pulley, and a few kids were finishing up work that they missed the day before. All of this was happening, in different nooks around the school, at the same time!

Rachel's PreK Reflections

This week at preschool, many of the kids were eager to demonstrate the skills and knowledge they’ve acquired this school year. As I worked on assessing some of the students’ growth, many of the children wanted to keep working even after I was done “asking them questions,” and a group of them decided to “play teacher” and ask each other questions instead. It was so sweet to see them help each other along with pre-reading skills, math skills, and games they made up that are similar to how I assess their progress.

The help and support that the children show to one another is always an incredible and special thing to watch. Their empathy was demonstrated in a very strong way later in the week when one of the students was feeling a bit down. Different children kept checking on her throughout the morning, but one of her friends decided he would just stay with her and sit with her until she was feeling happy again. No pressuring her to play or to interact, no demands that she perk up. She was simply accepted as she was, and he sat quietly with her and then later made “cozy spots” for both of them next to each other under blankets. It was such a beautiful display of compassion to watch, and sure enough, everyone was back to playing and participating as normal before long.

Our Theme: China

In theme time, we are continuing our studies of China. We told the story of how the Chinese zodiac came to be, and we talked about the importance of the zodiac in Chinese culture. We then, of course, helped the kids figure out which animal they were. The kids then wrote about if they agreed or disagreed with the traits that they were assigned by the Zodiac.