First Week Fall 2022
Originally Published Sept 10th
We had a really great first week of the school year here at Fiddleheads. Our very soggy first day was a good intro into the variety of experiences that outdoor learning has to offer us, and the overall excitement of the day carried us through it all pretty gracefully. This week we focused on getting to know each other, exploring the school grounds and classroom, and starting to get familiar with routine. We played in the sand, climbed the trees and enjoyed the swings. We explored the inside toys and the dress up chest.
We visited the garden, the chickens and played in the barn. We had circle time, ate snack, and listened to stories. We went to the forest and jumped in puddles and popped jewel weed seeds along the way. We talked about noticing and the ways that we can sense the world around us.
On Thursday we talked about the letters in our names and made letter sugar cookies and discovered our names in secret crayon resist watercolor paintings, (the names were in white crayon on white paper and only became visible as the children painted watercolor over the paper.) It was all a lot of fun!
Next week we will continue to work on relationships, routine, and on honing our powers of observation. We will also begin to talk about squirrels and chipmunks and the changing of the seasons. (We need acorns! Lots of acorn activities coming up. If you have some acorns in your yard, please collect some this weekend and bring a bag in to share at school.)
During the first few weeks of school it is normal for children to be very tired and overwhelmed by the end of the day. Especially if your child attends school for the full week and stays for after care, please try to keep after school and evening activities to a minimum, particularly later in the week when your child will be most tired, and make sure to have lots of down time and quiet time outside of school. If your child doesn't get enough rest and down time, it affects his or her ability to have successful social interactions and learning experiences, so creating this space for rest is really important. Their stamina will improve as the year goes on, but it's a lot to get used to at first.
It is also normal at first for children to be distracted and not finish their food at school. We always make children sit for snack and meal times and remind them to pay attention to their bodies and fill them up with lots of food to give themselves energy. As they get used to the routine they will feel more comfortable spending more time on their lunches.