what a crazy night it was.

“deer caught in headlights” is the expression that can be seen on a lot of faces.  i get it. it was crowded and hot and loud.

i struggle with wanting to gather my preschoolers in and close the rest of the world out but wanting their families with us too.  i opt for the latter.  many of these preschoolers aren’t ready to separate and that moment will come soon enough.

so we talk a little louder, fan ourselves with a stack of papers, make funny faces, act bored, try to figure out what we’re supposed to do next, and wait for the quiet of the school day to arrive.

thank you, families, for being there!

yippee!

the school year has started.  this room has been graced with over 30 little bodies and minds.

our circle time has been moved to a corner, mirrors are around us and over us.  fabric strips from last year’s graduation celebration soften the walls and add color.  children are allowed to look at books at any point in the day on the purple rug or any other cozy spot in the classroom (we have rocking chairs, lots of pillows and a couch as well).

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each child has a cubby (open locker) to use during the school day.  children also have a mailbox where we put notes intended for grown ups.

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our dear preschool families and church families have donated enough supplies to last a long time.  it felt like christmas to sort through the bags and bags of goodies.  i’m grateful (and so is our budget).

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our project shelf is stocked.  in these first days of school, it is kept simple with tape, paper, scissors, stickers and crayons.

(i found these vintage crayons on the bottom shelf of our main street office supply store.  score.)

starting next week, we’re getting messy.

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snack time is an important time.  many children find this a soothing time of day.  families have already signed up and we’ve enjoyed bowlfuls of berries.

in order to cut down on our amount of trash, we’re using (bpa free) cups.  today there was help washing the cups (though we do a final wash/rinse) and then spontaneous baby doll washing.

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our puzzle corner and block corner are towards the back of the room where it is often quieter.

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(“hungry baby spiders who can’t nurse”)

a wash line was added to our family corner.  good thing the sun always shines.

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there are memories of past years all over the room.  children are asking for ms. carol and learning who we are.  there are 19 new children this year. blessed, blessed be.

i am filled with hopes and prayers and good intentions as i watch children move in this space.

if you put rubber-backed throw rugs on top of a picnic table, tie a rope from a tree to a hook in a building, clip a sheet to the rope, nail the sheet to the edge of the picnic table…

you have a perfect stage for dancing.

i’m pretty sure “dancing queen” was the song playing here.

this was at my house, but i think a version for preschool is sure to come.

my eliza in her last days as a preschooler asked if we could draw the longest picture in the world.

her inspiration came from just seeing the ramona and beezus movie.

we used crayons, pencils, markers, paint all on frustratingly thin newsprint (the dog hair, sand and dust on the wood floor didn’t help either).  it was a several day activity.

we recalled our summer from way back at harvest time to buying a new car to painting the house to visiting the mountains and chicago to school supply shopping to back yard fires to the very recent pvc sprinkler construction.

it was therapeutic to relive the memories together.

i don’t know how long this will adorn our dining room…maybe until we’re ready to leave the past a memory only in our minds.

one thing we started last year was inviting families to write a special note or picture in their child’s journal.  the preschooler didn’t know this was happening, so when the note was found during a school day, there were certainly smiles.

i can imagine doing this in different ways too:  a note that is given on a birthday, a card left in the child’s cubby, etc.