“Ah, but from where I am, among the great brains, I always know when magic is happening and am reminded to simply be delighted.” – Teacher Tom (teachertomsblog.blogspot.com)

Today’s big question was posed to the teachers: “What did you learn today?”

Lisa was inspired by the hour she spent with Kai (and Ada) identifying letters and counting and recording the numbers of like letters to the lyrics of “Hickory, Dickory, Dock”. She expressed that seeing how excited Kai was when he met success on his mission was incredible. She also made note that the confidence in which he approached this lesson inspired and encouraged her to keep challenging him.

Tami was delighted to have the opportunity to take time to observe and take pictures of our Wee Friends. She observed the close friendship that Umi and Alexandra are developing. Arleigh has stepped into a leadership role, organizing a group of friends to play “school”. She was “Mrs. Kelly” and Annie, Jane, Marta and Macy were her students. Mrs. Kelly instructed her class on how to write the letter “A”, upper case and lower case.

Tami saw Finn and Nate playing cooperatively with one another, as superheroes, over a long period of time.

When Elliott saw Finn feeding the dinosaur light table jewels, he shared the moment! That was after Tami observed him at the piano, plunking out notes and joyfully singing songs as he flipped through pages of music.

The last observation she wanted to share was the comfort Wee Friends feel snuggling up to Melinda when she reads stories.

During one of these snuggly moments, while reading to Jane, Melinda was reminded of the absolute specificity in which our friends notice and process information. Melinda expressed that, while reading Cinderella out loud, Jane asked that she be the stepmother and the Fairy Godmother. Melinda stated “I will be the stepmother, but couldn’t I be a grandma for the Fairy Godmother, since I am a grandma?” Jane said, “NO! It says GOD-MOTHER, not grandma!”.

Laurie worked with Simon and Ada at the workbench for a portion of the morning. These friends worked meticulously and patiently on the multiple step process of building planes. They verbalized what they were doing as they created. They made decisions about what size nail to use. Ada advised Stephen to be careful. They hammered and hammered and continued to hammer. They were not rushed. They positioned wings, bumpers with exactitude, renailing as needed. After the construction was complete, they painted their planes as the final step in their process. When they finished, Ada took a deep breath, put her glasses back on, and with a smile on her face, started a new creation. To sit with these two friends over this long period of concentration and creation was a gift to Laurie and a reminder to sit still, and observe and guide the children as their needs arise.

Our Wee Sprouts today are carrots and sweet peppers. Breakfast was oatmeal and bananas. For lunch, Tami served whole grain rice with chicken, asparagus vegetable medley and fruit salad. Snack will be pretzels and cheese.

Have a terrific day!

Parent/Child Conversation starters:

• I noticed you were wearing your Superhero cape! Does your Superhero have a name?
• Which songs did you sing today? Can we sing one together?
• There are glasses at the workbench? Who uses the glasses? Why do they use them?

Have a great day!

Laurie

ps: Don’t forget to take your child’s soap boat home!