July Reflection
Our graduation to the heart of summer and transitioning for our elder graduate to other horizons has been a meaningful experience for not only us teachers but also the children.
When we walked hand-in-hand around that circle on Saturday the 23rd there were unseen shifts in all our dear children. Many have shown signs of seeking more advanced lengths of time in concentration, interest in imaginative play (for self and with others) and yearning for more responsibility in our class environment (washing windows, dusting shelves, offering help to the younger children).
August Topics
This being our last month together as an age blended class, we will be doing a lot of work together on nurturing connectedness. I will be initiated more "lessons" (a time of teacher introduction to new shelf works that are theme based and stimulate the child's development of concentration, creativity and exploration in the learning) with the elder children as well as blending a lesson between elder and younger students to instill that sense of connectedness and learning from one another.
For the elders, we will continue to use the names of their upcoming preschool teachers and preparing them for the change.
For the infant class, we will begin introducing the names of our new students who will be joining us in September.
The heart of summer means an abundance of local produce from our Island farms! With this as our community interest and observation, we as a class will begin to look more at farm life and what it means to be a local farmer (what we grow and how we harvest it). Farm fauna and flora will be the main point of exploration.
A fun suggestion this month would be to organize a time to take your child to one of our many farms on Vashon.
Reminders
Please return (by mail or handing in) your Autumn class contracts by the last week of August.
Donations for: Any board and paper books you do not want any longer!
Please check school calendar for school breaks (i.e. approaching break in August)
