A Peaceful Classroom

8/23/2012

Our Primary class phase-in continued this week, bringing our newest friends to school the last two days, allowing them to get acquainted with the environment before we are all together as a whole class.

Our day began yesterday with introducing the children to one another with the help of one of our favorite songs. We did a tour of the room and then moved right on to some of the preliminary lessons--the ones that are essential to an easy transition into the classroom environment-- such as rolling/unrolling rugs, opening and closing doors (without making a sound), folding cloths, carrying a chair/tucking it in when finished, pouring, carrying a tray, and so on.

And also learning how to easily clean up if something spills.

Since the new children are coming in, they have been receiving quite a few new lessons to give them a repertoire of materials to choose from on their own.

Easel painting in the garden is a new favorite!

Through activities aiding the children in learning to care for themselves and for the environment, Practical Life gives the children the opportunity to build a foundation in the necessary concentration and coordination to be successful in the later work in the sensorial, math and language areas of the environment.

Our new friends also discovered the caterpillars outside, and we have made sure to keep checking on them periodically throughout the morning. It's been fascinating to observe these caterpillars and notice how some are rather large (like the one photographed below) and others are very tiny. The tiny ones are definitely younger and it seems that they each move through periods of rest/non-movement, to eating both the leaves and stems of the parsley, to occasionally inching upwards to a new stem or leaf.