Goodbye to Arturo

Dear Families,

It has been another fun week in the Owl classroom, as we have continued our study of bread. We have baked two more kinds of bread: crumpets and pretzels. Our crumpet recipe uses a lot of baking powder and gets very puffy! This was a great way for the children to see how baking powder reacts in baked goods, creating bubbles and air. The children also enjoyed sculpting their own pretzels into various shapes. They feel a great sense of pride in being able to create something “real.” As four- and five-year-olds grow and build new skills, they often develop a renewed interest in doing things independently. Allowing children to do “real work,” such as cooking, setting a table, or working with real tools, can nurture this independence.

The children are very curious about yeast, and we have read several non-fiction books about how bread is made and sold. On Wednesday, we began an experiment with the yeasted pretzel dough. We measured it during our project time, and discovered that it was two inches high. We are curious about how big it will be when we come to school on Thursday! The children are learning that an experiment is “what we do when we want to learn about something.” They have each made a hypothesis about what they think will happen. Some of the children thought the dough would grow to be four inches, and others thought it might become a million inches high!

The children continue to enjoy playing in the “bakery” that we have set up in dramatic play. This week, we added a new set of toy cupcakes that the children can decorate with wipe-off markers. These have been quite a hit! We decided to name the bakery, and the children generated a few ideas based on places that they had been. We wrote down all of the ideas and then voted. The winner was “The Cheesecake Factory.” The children then collaborated on a sign to hang up in the dramatic play area. Collaborative art opportunities help children to learn how to cooperate on a task. They also nurture the way that young children learn from each other. For example, one child might experiment with a particular technique using glitter glue, and another might learn from this experiment through verbal interactions as well as imitation.

We have also added change purses with pennies in them to the dramatic play area, so that the children can pretend to pay for things at the bakery. Learning about money is one of the Massachusetts state standards for math education in prekindergarten. Introducing it during dramatic play was a fun way for the children to learn to recognize a coin and to practice their counting. We also played a matching game one morning using photocopied images of coins and real coins. The children selected dimes, nickels, and pennies, and tried to match them to their image on a piece of paper. This helped the children to notice the different sizes of the coins as well as the different images on each coin. Finally, a new favorite game to play at Circle Time or Morning Meeting is a visit to “Morah Larissa’s World Famous Bread Bakery.” The children are individually invited to sit in the middle of the circle, and to select one or two kinds of toy bread. They are then told the price, such as “five cents.” When they select two kinds of bread, they need to add together the price of each kind of bread to arrive at the total. This has been much fun for everyone, as the children enjoy an opportunity to pretend. It has also been a great way to challenge the children by trying out some simple addition!

We have continued to learn new ways to “calm down” at school. During Morning Meeting and Circle Time, the children take turns picking a card out of the “calm down” bag. We have introduced a few different techniques, such as a chart that tells them to count slowly and calmly, a series of pictures that show them how to take deep breaths, and muscle relaxation techniques. Using a “calm down card” before a group time helps the children to transition to a quieter time of the day. They learn to become aware and mindful of their bodies. These cards also teach them routines that they can use throughout the day. Four- and five-year-olds can often become too active (running or moving too fast) or too loud at school, and when this happens we invite them to take a break. Teaching a variety of “calm down” techniques teaches the children self-regulation. In many ways, children’s ability to calm down and regulate their activity level is more important than knowledge of concepts in terms of kindergarten readiness.

We were very sad to say good-bye to Arturo this Wednesday. We gave him a book filled with photographs of his time at the Trust Center and pictures created by the children. We have told the children that he is not going to come back this year, and that we are all sad about that. Additionally, we told them that we would all always remember the nice times that we had with him, and that he would always be our friend. We had a great time reminiscing over some of our favorite times with Arturo. He and his family will be missed, and we wish them the best as they settle back into life in Italy.

We wish you the best for the vacation. Happy 2011!

-Morah Larissa and Morah Kate