Today we welcomed eight Kindergarten students to their first day of school. Like their peers on Tuesday, they practiced washing their hands, taking off their masks, and keeping personal space. We will continue to think about and practice how to be safe at school. Next week the children will work to develop their own rules around how we can be safe with our bodies and tools.
Children bravely found and circled their names on the morning message and helped me to host our Zoom greeting with their peers at home.
We read the book Mae's First Day of School and connected Mae's feelings to our own; feeling nervous, happy, excited, and worried- often at the same time! We talked about how Mae's feelings changed when she made a new friend and we noticed how our feelings changed, too.
It is important to learn about routines and develop expectations at the beginning of school and it is also important to connect in different ways.
In the morning, children connected during our hike, laughing and sharing stories with their new peers. At one point Emerson exclaimed, "Everyone- I think we're hiking to the middle of nowhere!"
In the afternoon, each child chose a material to play with outside. Zosia worked with chalk and created a detailed design for jumping. I invited Zosia to share her work. She explained that you jump from shape to shape. The children took turns trying out her game and many said that we should play Zosia's game again tomorrow!
While Zosia was busy designing her colorful jumping game, Reid used tools to pull weeds out from our old sandbox. He suggested we find a beach to borrow sand from. Austin built with outdoor blocks while peers drew on clipboards around her.
When asked about our first day, many children shared that they loved lunch, our hike, and playing outside. We will eat and play again tomorrow!
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