My Dream Preschool!

Bubbling With Excitement

Preschool is in full swing. Small class this year, big blessings.

Today for the Letter of the Week: "B," we made our own Bubbles.

We mixed:

• 2 cups of water 
• 1/2 cup of dishwashing detergent 
• 1 teaspoon on sugar.

We dipped the tip of plastic straws in the mixture. That was initially fun, but made very tiny bubbles.

Then we made wands with pipe cleaners. This made GIANT bubbles!!

We also dipped an old strawberry basket in the mixture. Those bubbles came out looking like clusters of grapes that floated off "to China," as one of my students exclaimed!

This is the Preschool That I Want to Go To!

The article below describes the kind of preschool I would love to go to.  We're a quarter of the way there! We spend a minimum of 1 hour outside each day!Always on the lookout for something new in nature that we never noticed before!

My hope is to pique the curiosity of my young friends so that long after they leave me, they'll continue exploring God's creation, have an enduring appreciation for the beauty of it and always remember with fondness the time they spent out in the woods!!

Local News Outdoor preschool takes root on Vashon Island Seattle Times Newspaper

In His Element-Day 4

Lots of changes in preschool recently.  Last week I said farewell to three of my TUES/THURS regulars. One moved to Florida; two brothers moved back to Oregon.  Parting mid-year is always sad for me. 

Welcoming new students mid-year is always a challenge.  Making new friends and learning new routines is as challenging for the children as getting to know a new student, teaching a them a new routine and getting them up to speed on our class habits is for the teacher.

Two weeks ago, I added a new student and another teacher added 2 more new students. Due to absences today, we had to combine my class with hers.  

By mid-year, my class is well-aqauinted with our Nature hikes, often bypassing the playgound going straight to the woods. 

As a mini-experiment, I took the two new students from the other class on their first Nature hike. I wanted to test their reaction.  Reticence, we would just walk in the grass.  But, no reticence so, we ventured inside the woods a few feet. 

They seemed to be in their element.  Intially, they held my hand, then walked independently at a safe distance from me. 

Curiously, they felt the tree trunks, stopped to look at a wild fern, picked up sticks and found a rock that was cold to the touch.  

They laughed and clapped when we "found our way out" then, ran to tell the other children and invite them BACK into the woods. 

They happily and quickly followed. Soon, all were climbing upon fallen trees pretending to be squirrels and spiders and birds. 

Pure Joy!

Being Out There-Day 3

Today at preschool we again spent nearly the entire day OUTSIDE!

Three more Tie-dyed T-shirts.

Some of the children, dressed up as Kings, Queens and Super-Heroes, came outside. Imaginations were running in high gear as the royal subjects pretended to fly about.

MUCH fun was had by all romping, rolling and running free about the backyard.

Later on, we went on a Shamrock hunt. The children discovered a whole hillside covered in tiny clover!!

And now I have a great, big, beautiful bouquet of Shamrocks on my window sill!

Be Out There - National Wildlife Federation

This is it!!! Be Out There Week. March 15-21. What a great way to welcome Spring!

Today in preschool, we spent 3 out of 4 hours outside.

First, we made Tied-Dyed T-shirts. We plan to wear our own artwork when we visit the Mint Museuem of Art in April.

Then, we took a nice long Nature Walk. Sniffing around, we realized the smell of the woods has changed. New life is growing!

We climbed trees, swung on a vine, dug in the sand by the stream and went fishing.

We read a story on the bridge about the Swaggering Crow, who made an appearance for us in our very own woods!!

While hiking back to school, we heard lots of birds, saw several Robins and spied one Downy Woodpecker right over our heads.

Today would've been a perfect picnic day, but we didn't have our lunches. No worries, we'll try it again next time!!

Be Out There - National Wildlife Federation

Never Be Within Doors When You Can Be Without!!!~~Charlotte Mason

I thought I'd share these websites I was introduced to this morning from one of my (many) yahoo groups.

They are all about the benefits of allowing kids to have unstructured play in nature. The Green Hearts Nature Preschools is exactly what we do at my preschool. We go outside for 60-90 minutes (longer if possible-but most of the kids aren’t used to that much time outside-we have to work up to it) and explore the woods and have a little time at the playground. Indoor activities are nature based as our yearlong theme is the Creation. Day One: light and dark, Day Two air, space and water, etc….

There is a lot of research on the Children and Nature Network website proving the benefits of outdoor play and the consequences of not getting enough time to roam freely in nature.

Check out the Parent Guide from Green Hearts. It has tons of ideas for creating a safe outdoor space kids in the safety of your own backyard. Oh the fun of a pile of dirt!

Even if your kids are too young to go out alone, you can still start now learning about these great benefits yourself and by taking the kids out now so that when they're older, it will be “second nature” to be outside!!

On the C&NN site they have a Nature Club toolkit. I may start my own with the nieghborhood kids. (Wonder how would weird that would be...a crazy old lady whose kids are all grown hosting a Nature Club for other people's kids?!?!)

I fully believe in the power of free, unstructured outdoor play and that is severely lacking in today’s childhood. I had one child last year afraid of the sunlight. He bravely tried so hard but never quite got over the shock of that first step into the great outdoors when a beam of sunlight first touched his skin. Sad, very sad!

OK, off my soapbox now, here’s the websites:

Children and Nature Network http://www.childrenandnature.org/

Green Hearts http://www.greenheartsinc.org/Parents__Guide_4MOL.html

I wonder if they've ever heard of Charlotte Mason. Her wisdom continues to hearken......

Never be with in doors when you can be with out!

Today we spent the entire day at the Park. It was a perfect day for an outing. Because the air was cool and crisp this morning, we had to dig out our jackets and sweaters for the first time of the season.

This was our first field trip of the year. For many of the sutdents and parents, it was their first nature walk aside from the ones we do around the school.

Everyone paired up with a buddy to hold hands with...

We viewed the lake first...

We found several leaves that had changed color and fallen already.There were many red and yellow silver maples, yellow elms, brown oaks (probably left over from last year). We compared the leaves we found to our nature book to learn the names!

Next, we spied a school of fish swimming back and forth along the shore.

We rubbed the bark of a pine tree which stretched way up high and touched the sky. We listened to the leaves clap their hands as the northerly wind blew through them.

Did we locate Peter Rabbit's hole?, or at least one of his relations.

We finished up the day with a picnic.....






and playing on the playground.

A good time was had by all. The children, parents and teachers enjoyed the sights and sounds of their first Nature Walk together.

First Day of Preschool was swell!

Our first day of preschool went so well. The children came in and played well. We had our morning devotions, sang a song (Jesus Loves Me, I signed along). Then we talked about the alphabet. We also sang the alphabet while jumping to release some energy.

Soon afterwards, we went outside for our first Nature Walk. Guess what! One of my new friends is scared of outside sounds & sights. He was leery of walking on the sidewalk hidden by maples and when a bumblebee buzzed by, he covered his face and ears! Oh no!, I thought. Has this little one never been introduced to the wonders of outdoor life? We did find a millipede, that look exactly like this one:


Initially, the child tried to stomp upon, then shied away from, but we did manage to observe it walking to and fro and decided he must be going home to find his children.

I was so happy to find the Handbook of Nature Study at Google Books which I'll be studying and sharing with my little friends and their parents. Hopefully by the end of the year, we'll all love to be outside more than inside!

At last, we played on the playground. It was hard to decide which activity to do first! Swings, slides, monkey bars, oh my!

We came in and ate a yummy lunch, tidied up the room and settled down for a read aloud. Attention span was pretty good, probably because it was at the end of the day and with full bellies, sleepiness was setting in.

All in all, everything went extremely well. This is the day that the Lord has made....

Looking forward to tomorrow!

So Much Going On....

... finding time to post here has not made it on my plate.

We hosted our Preschool Open House this week.. It was such a pleasure to see old friends, make new ones.

In between preparing for that, I've also been helping my mom pack, sort and move to the beach. We'll drive her down this weekend.

I've also been working on lesson plans and the new preschool newsletter. Here's the first CM Parent article of the new school year. I briefly explained CM to the parents at Open House. The newsletter articles, I'll use to go into further detail developing the Four Pillars over the course of the year. All this is in an effort to come alongside the parents and support them in their duty as parents and uphold their authority in the family. "The family is the unit of a nation."

The Essence of Charlotte Mason by Me

Charlotte Mason’s many ideas on education revolve around one central truth: Children Are Born Persons. She recognized that although, young and inexperienced, children, are created in the image of God,; therefore, worthy to be respected and reverenced. Our very Lord says: “Let the little children come to me, an do not hinder them. For such is the kingdom of heaven.” Miss Mason challenged the understanding of her day (and ours) that children are not mere possessions or cogs in a machine; nor, are they blank slates or empty vases to fill. No, she held fast that children should be loved not for who they may become, but, rather who they are now. Ms. Mason developed an effective educational philosophy that transcends time. Believing that education should be an instrument serving the child, she outlines her ideas in four pillars. First, Education is an Atmosphere. More than a learning environment, this is an atmosphere of love, truth, humility, security, and forgiveness where the child knows he is accepted just as he is: loved by God. Our children need to experience the daily reality of those living life in a relationship to our Living King (MacAulay, For The Children’s Sake, p.105). His mind must be respected so he may flourish in the energizing atmosphere of sharing truly worthwhile interests with people who like him as a person (70). Secondly, Education is a Discipline. We purposefully plan for the contact between child and truth not leaving it to mere chance (105). More than just rules of etiquette, we learn who God is and what He requires of us: To love Him and love others. Parents & educators are responsible for whether we teach helpful habits or non-helpful ones. “If we fail to ease life by laying down habits of right thinking and right acting, habits of wrong thinking and wrong acting fix themselves of their own accord” (CM. Vol. 6 p.101). Thirdly, Education is a Life. The life of the mind feeds upon ideas. Ideas are of spiritual nature and are conveyed “by word of mouth, written page, Scripture word, musical symphony; but we must sustain a child’s inner life with ideas as we sustain his body with food” (109) The apostle Paul instructs us in Philippians 4:8 to think on these things...“whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy….” Because of her great respect for the mind of a child, Miss Mason believed in giving children the best ideas from the best authors, artists, composers, poets, etc. Lastly, Education is a Science of Relations. Spreading a generous and rich curriculum before the child gives him opportunity to build relationships with a vast number of things and thought (MacAualy, p91). This relationship building occurs both in our out of school. Parents & educators open the doors to knowledge. The three sorts of knowledge proper to a child: Knowledge of God, of man and of the universe. “Of the three sorts of knowledge proper to a child…..—the knowledge of God ranks first in importance, is indispensable and most happy-making.” ( CM, Vol. 6, p. 158)
More to come regarding specifics of the Four Pillars throughout the year. Questions and comments welcome.