December Reflection
Welcome New Year 2011! We at Klahanie finished the year of 2010 with beautiful grace, kindness and extreme growth—physically, emotionally and absolutely mentally!
The children LOVED dancing and listening to the different holiday songs/music presented throughout class. The most beloved piece was the second act of the Nutcracker. Either dancing with scarves or hand-in-hand, all the children amazed me with his/her pull to the emotion of the music.
This month we made great leaps and bounds in the areas of acknowledgment and response to the requests I had regarding safety, patience and care of the environment. I began using the word “safety” and/or “safe-space” as a redirection phase instead of the easy but sometimes back-firing “no.” This has become a very effective for the children in understanding areas of the classroom as well as response to Kai's crawling and attempts to pull himself up. Each child has been increadibly aware of Kai's body safety and needs which has been a delight to witness.
Connected to safety is the patience each child shows as they find new (and repeated) ways of exploring connection with friends. The children attentively work to care for the environment as well as show signs of patience when listening and responding.
A delightful tribute to Divali and Winter Solstice has been the children’s appreciation of the lights in the house and classroom. We talked/sang a lot about the dark winter weather and the importance of shimmering light—stars, sun, moon, candles and home lights.
We continue to enjoy the wonders of outdoors--listening to the calls of winter birds and watching them find seeds in the garden. Each day we enjoy 20-30 minutes of outside play. Thank you for dressing your darling children so warm for this important exploration time!
January Topics
This is my favorite month for study!! As a preschool teacher I used this month to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day by also celebrating all the important past and present peacemakers and keepers of our world. Some figures we will have photos of and talk about (age appropriately) will be Mahatma Gandhi, Wangari Maathai of Nigeria, Dalai Lama, Present Obama, Michael Franti/Bob Marley and most importantly children. This month is a celebration of our practice of peace, calm and loving toward self, others and environment.
The poem we will use as a guide for each peacemaker will be:
Martin Luther King was (is) a mighty, mighty man (woman) and a mighty, mighty man was he.
He stood (stands) for peace, he stood for love, he stood for harmony.
I encourage families to find one picture of Dr. King to place in your home this month as well as using the words “peacemaker” and “peace-keeper,” even in reference to our own modest actions to illustrate the true meaning of peace. Our Klahanie children are the seeds for peaceful change—each kiss, hug and offer of food to a friend is his/her glorious method of showing us all that children are the most peaceful of the world. Cheers to them!!
Reminders
Please check the Klahanie 2011 calendar for snack schedules! Thank you!
