Hello, Friendly Foxes!
We have had a wonderful first week back to school! The children all seem to be so happy to be here and are getting along beautifully. They seem to be happily adjusting to our routines and eager to see what is new. We are very pleased with what a successful week we have had!
This week we have been gently taking our time introducing everyone to our routines, allowing for a balance between plenty of free play/discovery and guidance with noticing our schedule/flow of the day. We have been enjoying exploring our various play spaces and materials, learning about our large group and small group activities, and getting to know one another.
We read “The Kissing Hand” by Audrey Penn, a sweet story about a raccoon who was very nervous about his first day of school until his mother gave him a special way to always keep her kiss inside his hand for whenever he may need it. We made our own kissing hands to keep at school, and by now many of them have real mommy or daddy kisses planted on them so we always have a little bit of love from home when we need it. They can be found in the Love Bowl near our door if you would like to view them with your child (we will make sure everyone makes one if they haven’t already). We also read a few books about how special books and libraries are and are noticing how full our school library is of wonderful things to read! We introduced our special journals in which we will work every week, adding poems, songs, and illustrations as we go. These will stay at school all year, and you may always visit these with your child as well. We have already built structures together, loved using our imaginations, played in sensory bins, made beautiful paintings and other art, and thoroughly enjoyed playing outdoors!
Next week we will continue to settle in to our special school and make our classroom feel a little more like our own. We will create our sign-in pocket people, (which the children are already enjoying using), we will make our own self portraits to hang, and together we will make our own simple class agreement sign to help us to remember to always be kind and safe in our space. We will continue to explore all the wonderful things there are to do and learn about, and enjoy getting to know our friends better.
Thank you, parents, for being such wonderful partners in making your child’s first week at school such a success, and thank you for sharing them with us!
With gratitude,
Wynne, Nancy, Taulbee (and Christina, soon)
