We had a visitor here yesterday. As she walked in she said ” I can’t believe there are 16 children in here. It’s so quiet and calm.” Well.. yes, it is. In actuality there were only 14 children at the time but what are two more , right ? We have reached a peace in our classroom. It is amazing . Are they loud? Yes, they are — outside ! Today we had a pack of wolves for a long time running around on the yard howling at the moon.. I mean.. the sun. 🙂 Inside , the children are so engaged . They are making choices and pretending and working things out. They are learning life. We don’t have them in circle times pouring our knowledge into them — there’s plenty time for that. We don’t tell them when and where to play . Some things you will hear often is ” What is your plan ? ” or ” Oh, you are going somewhere else to play ? I need you to be responsible and clean up the area you are leaving. ” As teachers, we observe and intentionally weave ” the next step” into their play. Sometimes we are just entertained and it is pure magic. ( After trying and trying to upload videos here let me just say… See videos posted on FB.)
Today we did make a little ” thing ” for grandparents that visit us next Monday .