First Day 20-21
I don’t think anyone was more excited for the first day of school than I was. I hardly slept at all last night. Randy said probably due to excitement. I am a creature of habit and I love routine . Lately I have mourned what our normal life used to be. I miss so much of pre-Covid life. When I received the “Ready for Learning” packet from the Arkansas better chance program outlining what they would like for us to do to “ keep children safe” I was sick to my stomach and knew it was time to say “enough”. It’s one thing to be cautious but it’s another to actually remove the materials and structures we have in place to promote healthy development of children. Sure, I’m not being dumb and I have made some allowances for safety.
Each child has their own art basket with their materials in them.
I removed all of the plastic food that children tend to put in their mouth and put and added
plates Modge podged with pictures of food in their place.
I bought hand wash timers to help children remember the length of time they should lather bubbles on their hands to kill germs.
I am doing extra cleaning and sanitizing. I even have my woo woo wand.
But at the end of the day I want my children to feel like they belong here. I want them to feel like this is their home. I want them to feel safe. I want them to have choices. I want them to explore and to take risks and to sing and dance.
When I chose my theme for our back to school season “making lemonade from lemons” seemed like the perfect choice. Rarely does life throw anything my way that I can’t take a positive spin on it. I am grateful for the different funding streams that are available so my families I already committed to could stay .
It really was a good day. The children sold lemonade all morning.
They reconnected with friends they have missed.
We added new friends to our group.
We mostly played and enjoyed just being here today but we did go over a few structures that help our day go by easier
We talked about how to wash our hands correctly. First the children get their hands wet, then they get soap, then they press the button on our new timer that goes for 20 seconds and lather. When the light turns red they rinse and then dry .
I introduced our Peg people for I wish you well area . They are precious.
I also introduced the art baskets that I’ve already mentioned and taught the children how to fold their blankets and their mat. Allowing children to do things that help is not only important for the working of our school family but for each individual child it grows confidence and independence. Who can’t use more of that ?
It’s been a great day and if I was a betting woman I would say the whole year will be fabulous. Thanks for sharing your littles with me.
Sounds like you had a wonderful day 💚🐿💚