News from the Red Foxes

2012-2013 Preschool

2/15/2013

Project-based Learning: “It’s Showtime! Once Upon A Stage…”

This week we added more animals and shapes to our tree. We traced stencils onto our Eric Carle papers and cut out the pictures. We even made some beautiful snowflakes out of coffee filters that we painted with water color paints last week. On Thursday, we started making a long caterpillar that winds its way up to the top of the tree. Our tree is very interesting and beautiful, and we are proud of all the work we have done. Stay tuned for more costume making and set design next week.

Farm & Garden

On Monday we used our muscles and natural bounciness to make butter. We shook up jars filled with cream. It was hard work! On Wednesday, we celebrated “Love Your Garden” day and ate a delicious lunch of homemade chicken soup and garlic bread, made from the butter we made and the flour we ground last week. Yum!

Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day! Thank you for all the time you put in with your children to help them prepare Valentine’s notes and cards for friends. They were so excited to share their love for each other and proudly put their messages in everyone’s big envelope. We spent our morning sponge painting with bright holiday colors, making Valentines in the studio, and having a few special snacks. Opening our Valentines was the highlight of the day of course. Just look at all those smiling faces! We made sure to say thank you to our friends, give each other hugs, and have a few little pieces of candy. At closing meeting, we talked about the people we love and our special friends. Friendship is incredibly important, and this day helps us adults to remember that. Please take a minute to read your child’s Valentines together and celebrate their friendships. Here is what your children had to say at closing meeting when we asked them, “Who do you love?” Don’t worry if they didn’t say “Mom and Dad” because they ALWAYS love you. Loving friends is a different feeling and very important too. Who do you love?

Kate and Ellie (Cora K.)

Cora K. (Kate)

Daddy (Carly)

Carly (Lily)

Daddy, my sister, Frannie & Mr. Naughty (Crosby)

Mommy, daddy, my little sister, myself, Owen, & Kai (Murphy)

Mom and Dad and Will (Dylan)

Lincoln, Dylan, & Aidan (Nico)

My brother, mom and dad, my kitten Thumper (Jemima)

Riley, Owen, and Mom (Cora M.)

Cora and Nico (Riley)

Daddy and Mommy, Owen, & Dylan (Lyle)

Lyle, Dylan, Carly, Lily, & Erin (Owen)

Mommy (Ellie S.)

Cam (Kai)

Leo & Henry (Bennett)

Kai (Cash)

All my friends (Willa)

All my friends (Abigail)

Henry, Murphy, & Bennett (Leo)

Crosby, because we both have swords (Laila)

Mommy, Daddy, him, her, him, her, her, her, her, him, him, him, her, him and Tyson, who moved away. (Rudi)

Bennett & Kai (Tucker)

Take a look at our special celebration! Painting, Making Valentines, Delivering Treats and Messages…

Opening Our Valentines…

Eating Yummy Snacks…

Insights

Throughout the year, we would like to use this newsletter to share some information about the philosophy of education we are using in our classroom. We hope this will foster dialogue throughout the year about the preschool program and how students are learning.

This Week…Friendship in Preschool

How many times have you heard the comments, “I am not going to be your friend anymore”

and “you are my best friend” all in the same fifteen minutes of play between two young friends? In preschool, we hear this on a daily basis. This conversation between children can seem cruel and devastating yet most children are resilient and use the comments of their peers to make appropriate changes to their behavior. Michael Thompson, Ph.D states in his book Best Friends, Worst Enemies: Understanding the Social Lives of Children, that as long as an individual has one true friend they can handle life’s social struggles. As adults, we often worry about friendship and whether or not a child has friends or if they are too attached to one person. Dr. Thompson says it is important to expose children to social situations so that they can gain experience in the social world. Adults must support this process and model appropriate behavior for the child. An adult must eventually step back and allow the social negotiations between friends to happen naturally and be prepared to support the child and his or her feelings about the situation during a private moment. Adults are responsible for providing children with multiple experiences of one-on-one play, group play, organized activities, and encouraging children to take a risk and reach out to others that may not be their “best friend.” At TVCS, we encourage children to be self-confident and to take a risk in social situations. We model the words to use and engage the student in the conversation to enter a group of children at play. We support the student through social situations using restorative justice practices and teach them how to discuss feelings, take responsibility for their actions, and then make one another feel better so that the play and the relationship can continue. We support existing friendships and we understand the value of their relationship. However, we do set up experiences for students to step outside of his or her comfort zone to start a relationship with a new friend. We encourage students to work together and complete group projects by providing an interesting experience for them to share. The grouping happens naturally and the students then see others that hold the same interests leading to a new connection for a friendship. The beauty of preschool is that it is a safe place for this life-long skill to begin to emerge and for students to try

out new methods of communication, risk-taking, empathy, and most importantly FUN! There are always bumps along the road in life, and if we help children to have strong social skills and good friends, they can overcome just about anything. This week, we asked a few students to share with us how they show a friend that they love and care about them. We also asked them what to do when they are having a problem with a friend. Here are some of the responses: How can we show our friends we love them? What do we do if we have a problem with a friend?

Smile at them. No punching, no kicking, no fighting, no biting. Say, “I don’t like that” if someone does something that is not okay. When someone says mean things, we can ignore them. (Nico)

We can kiss them. Hug them. Say “please don’t” when someone does something you don’t like. (Dylan)

Take turns. Say please. (Kate)

Don’t hit. Walk away if someone does something that is not okay. (Cora K.)

I hug my friends. I tell them a joke to make them feel better. (Murphy)

Kiss them and hug them. I take alone time to calm down when I am upset with a friend. (Jemima)

Sharing. (Riley)

Important Reminders and Parent Information

Thank you to our parent volunteers for this week: Kasey Collins, Jen Fisher, Lisa Dyer, Tim & Denise Groth. Thank you all for your support and help!

Parent Helpers for next week, 2/18-22. Monday: NO SCHOOL Tuesday: Ferris Wednesday: McDonnell Thursday: McHargue Friday: Kirchner (Cora’s birthday)

Have a great weekend! Bonnie and Erin