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The second week of school flew by, and we are beginning to find a rhythm with the children gaining an understanding of how things flow at school.

This week had it's challenges with stormy weather, but the upside is that the children might have gained some perspective on how wonderful it is to be outside vs. stuck inside the classroom. The stormy day did, however, give us wonderful focused time to read, play a matching game, build with blocks, and research more about what the chicks will need when they emerge. A few of us started reading library books on the subject, and later we all sat down with our Big Book and returned to our question: "What do chickens need to be happy and healthy?" We talked about what 'doing research' means, and how we can use books, and sometimes a short video, to help us learn more (hint: lots of pausing and thinking and writing). Students helped gather a few more bits of info, like that it’s essential that chicks be kept warm and dry.

In other interests, the soapy water play continued this week. Thursday began with a giant container of soapy water and a cooler filled with ice. The play began to evolve just as we heard thunder and had to head inside. On Friday bubbles and soapy water returned with giant bubble play.

Later in the week, we discovered one of the creeks nearby. It was immediate magic with multiple animal tracks in the sand (opossum and deer), crayfish holes, a pink iridescent water worm and what looked to be a very small early stage salamander. There were exposed roots to climb and hang on, sand to dig in and rocks to climb over. Next time we'll wear our rain boots to explore the creek more fully.

You'll see photos in this week’s photo album of your children carrying their own backpacks with lunch, water bottle and sit pad inside! These are small steps towards independence and confidence as we build their nature explorer skills (and life skills).

Transitioning to school is no small feat. It depends on the child, but group settings can sometimes be stressful, even while they broaden and enrich the child's world. Some will be more stressed than others by the sensory overload, noise, difficulty of making their needs known to teachers and friends, competition for toys, necessity of adjusting their own needs to a new schedule, etc. This is partly why I designed a program where most days we are outdoors, where stimulation is plenty, but softer. The sounds of loud voices can travel further, buffered by the natural world, and so are less overwhelming. Without even trying, the natural world around us pulls our awareness into the moment and also into our bodies. Children playing and learning in nature is a balm to the more stressful parts of gathering with other children, and other normal stressors.

To end, here's a great quote on the immeasurable importance of play (from Peter Gray's book, Free to Learn):

When children play imaginative games together, they do more than exercise their imagination.  They enact roles, and in doing so they exercise their capacities to behave in accordance with shared conceptions of what is or is not appropriate. They also practice the art of negotiation… Getting along and making agreements with others are surely among the most valuable of human survival skills.

Perhaps play would be more respected if we called it something like “self-motivated practice of life skills,“ but that would remove the lightheartedness from it and thereby reduce its effectiveness. So we are stuck with the paradox. We must accept play’s triviality in order to realize its profundity. 

Three cheers for Play-based learning!