Whoosh……did you see that? That was Week #2 flying by! We were busy, muddy, sweaty & happy!
This week the Oaks & the Acorns settled into routines. The natural progression of chaos to controlled chaos to calmness as the children become confident in the flow of our days together is a beautiful thing. The playground has been an active construction zone, complete with a break room to sit down; the job of foreman rotates through the crew. The children are doing real outdoor work digging trenches, moving dirt and setting up excavation sites. The slide has been a hot attraction; the children are learning about physics while using big muscles in a cooperative setting. The children invented their own games of chase with their own rules and the jump ropes were a hot commodity as those that can do it helped those who are learning. We explored beyond our playground and visited the glen and the mediation area. Some had a keen interest in exploring the creek. We celebrated two birthdays this week, too.
We spent a great deal of time last week discussing the rules of our school; both in terms of what the rules should be and why a rule may be important. This list evolved over the entire week as the children encountered various situations. Whittling down from our original list of 28 rules, we agreed that these five were the most important:
Be kind.
Be respectful.
Be safe.
Take care of ourselves.
Take care of our things.
Christine (lead teacher of the Acorns)