Mental Wellness

Throughout our days we are lucky enough to witness many very beautiful moments with the children.  This week there was an air of excitement as the children talked about their love for our classroom teddy, and how they could care for him.  He is greeted each morning by many different children.  Some take him to the play kitchen to give him breakfast, others ‘walk and talk’ as they share with him their feelings and news.  He is a very comforting member of our community and watches over them during our day from our sunlit window sill.

In this mentally stressful time he is a constant and has been a wonderful friend to them all.  This week they suddenly decided he needed a bed, cover, a wardrobe and books, and “Maybe some clothes!”

Learner Profile: Caring

Within our classroom we also try to have some nature to inspire the children to observe and ask questions, and to begin to build their own ecological identity.  When they were online we showed them a mystery object, and over the past six weeks have listened to their ideas about what it might be, predicted what it would grow into, and enjoyed the excitement of it finally blooming before our eyes.  These experiences are as important as the children learning learning math and literacy.  They are part of our holistic approach to education, where we are helping the children to be BALANCED, REFLECTIVE, PRINCIPLED, INQUIRERS, CARING AND KNOWLEDGEABLE in the world they live in.

Valentine’s Day

The excitement of preparing for Valentine’s Day was palpable, as we each picked a name from our classroom post box to make a Valentine card for.  It made it very special that they were creating for a friend, and they were very proud as they handed over their card on Valentine’s Day.  We talked about the history behind Valentine’s cards and how people in the past had shown kindness as they sent cards and letters to Valentine when he was in jail for his beliefs about love.  Our talks inspired the children to write other notes to their friends.  It is always so lovely to see how confident in their own abilities, and how independent and caring they are all becoming.

Black History Month

We have been enjoying listening to quotes from black leaders, and each day are reading about one from a beautiful book called, “Little Legends.  Exceptional men in black history.”  We have had some very powerful and insightful discussions from the children, and it has made us even more aware of how much we can learn from them.
“You should love everybody.”
“It makes me sad when I heard they weren’t nice to people.”
“It doesn’t matter what you look like.  Everybody is beautiful.”

-From the SK class (2021-2022)