Take Apart Project

Hi Families of The Children's School!

This week the Pre-K class is doing the take apart project. We are learning to use tools, how things get put together, and generally how amazing the inside of these items look!

We can use more old items that are no longer in use...corn poppers, phones, coffee makers, radios, toasters etc.

This is great fun with Teacher BJ and

Dad Josh(James and Gavin's )...thanks so much for all your time and encouragement with the take apart experience!

Teacher Cinda

The Chicken Report from Teacher Cinda's Flock

It has been blustery for us chickens lately. Wind has blown down a few branches and we like to hide in the bushes. This is a good place for us since sometimes an eagle has been seen in the neighborhood!

Hamburg(small black and white one) and Little Red Hen have each laid 5 eggs in the last 5 days.

Buff laid a pale pink egg today (first in a while for her).

Silverlace(big black and white) hasn't laid lately.

We like our yard, our food, and we like to keep our shells strong by eating crushed shell from the children's school! Thanks!

The Ladies

Spider Walk Mystery

Our Children's School Pre K Class enjoyed a lovely fall day at Discovery Park.

Walking along the forest path there were many webs set up. We learned about the orb, funnel, sheet, and dome webs. What type of web do you think this one is?

There were spiders in the trees and on the grassy field. With the docents help we were able to place two spiders on a sheet to see which would race the fastest across it.

Did you know that spiders eat their webs and rebuild them?

We also learned that Daddy Long Legs is not a spider.

Do you remember why?

Teacher Cinda

The Children's School Fall 2008

Here at The Children's School, our teachers are planning for the fall open houses. At your child's open house event, you will see your child's classroom, meet other children (and their parents) in the class and have a snack.
We will have games to play, puzzles to try, books to look at and new things to explore!

M-F Class
September 4
9:15 to 10:15
10:30 to 11:30

PreK Class
12:30 to 1:30
2:00 to 3:00

MWF Class
September 5
9:15 to10:15

Pre3 Classes
September 11
9:15 to 10:15
10:30 to 11:30
Monday, September 8 will be our first day of school.
The Lunch Bunch program will start on September 15th.

TUESDAY, JAN. 29TH - AND WE'RE OPEN!!

Don't touch that dial!! You're in the right spot!
January's weather has been unpredictable and confusing, has it not?!
All around us there is snow, and difficulty driving, but here in Seattle, we have bare streets and open schools! We are looking forward to seeing your children with us at The Children's School for class!

ALL THAT WE DO!!

The experience at The Children's School is vast and varied. I have several pictures to share here that may seem unrelated at best! But the common thread is that these experiences are child-driven, Montessori experiences, and the Staff of The Children's School wants to explore more of what this means with parents through an opportunity we are calling the Parent Lunch Bunch!


Our first Parent Lunch Bunch will be on Wed., November 14th from 11:45 am to 12:45pm. Our topic will be: The Magic of the Montessori Experience: What that means for our children, and how does that play into “kindergarten readiness!”


We hope you will join Mrs. Banks and Mrs. Jaques, and other parents as we explore this topic together. In the meantime - enjoy these pictures!!

The freedom to create - or not! Both options speak volumes to us!!

What a stunning idea to bring a little "Fall" inside! Lots of careful work displayed here!

Sometimes we prefer to work "solo." In some time alone, our friend Nikola created this zoo!

And here is an example of great cooperation - our friend, Dylan, in Miss Tierney's Pre-K class invited his friends to build a rocket ship, and later invited several to ride in it to the moon!!

And then there is always the completely unexpected! In this moment, our friend, Lina from Mrs. Banks' morning class was interested in watching Mrs. Banks create the Halloween invitations. So interested in fact, that she took her own clipboard and began to duplicate the invite on her own! There is no other word than "STUNNING!!"

This is just a small sampling of what our friends' imaginations, combined with the opportunities provided by our program, can lead to -- Pure Magic!!

The Magic of the Montessori Way!!

At first glance the task depicted in these pictures may not seem all that "magical," but you see, that's the beauty of it all!! It took me a little while to see it myself, actually, but now that I know what I'm privelaged to be watching, I watch with awe and admiration.

First, you take a fairly common, everday task, such as cutting bread, or in this case, bananas!

Then you invite a 3 or 4 year old to cut that banana, put it on a serving tray and then offer those morsels to his or her friends!


Sounds straightforward enough - but maybe you've had the experience of cutting a banana before, you know what it feels like to use a knife, to chase a slimy piece of banana with a toothpick, to arrange them on a plate, and even to carry that plate around without inadvertantly spilling banana to the floor.

Many of our friends in our M-F classrooms are new to these experiences, and are challenged by all those steps just named! How do you hold a knife so it can cut? Which way is up? How do you keep the banana from running away from you? How do you get the banana slices from tray to serving plate? How many pieces should you cut before serving? How do ask your friends if they would like a piece of banana - and not have it sound like it's directive?!

To be given the opportunity - the space, the quiet encourage-ment, the FREEDOM - to work this out for oneself, yet with the support of teachers, and even friends if you need it, is the quiet, everyday "magic" that happens here at the Children's School. It is each child's personal experience - journey, if you will - with even these simple everyday tasks that leads them down a road of discovery, success, self-confidence and joy!

In and amongst this kind of learning, there is also a great deal of just plain fun!! Laughing at a shared joke, playing castles with princesses and the ever-present "bad guys," singing and dancing, jumping and rolling! But always with a quiet acceptance of each child's gifts and skills, a gentle encouragement to try something new, a kind and loving word of all each child is willing to share with us! Oh, the magic, oh the joy, oh what a wonderful experience for all of us!!

Meet our friend, Mrs. Allen!

Every Wednesday our school is blessed with the quiet and focused presence of Mrs. (Bev) Allen, a Montessori "guru" of sorts. She shares her time with our 3 and 4 year-old classrooms. The picture above is very accurate in that it shows the environment you are most likely to find Mrs. Allen in: on the floor, with her Montessori "tools" (or games, as the kids know them), and a clipboard not far away! Very quietly, Mrs. Allen will take one, or maybe two children at a time out into the hall or to another room, and introduce them to a Montessori tool. The one above is a tool that works with colors, challenging the children to see the subtle differences between the color shades and put them in order of light to dark, for example. The children really look forward to this special, focused time, and using the very wonderful Montessori tools. (Many of these Montessori products are just fabulous to touch! Most are made of wood, and simply feel good in your hands!) They also look forward to all the wonderful games Mrs. Allen challenges them to play. As our friend Nikola so astutely pointed out today when he had his turn with Mrs. Allen, "I don't have these games at my house!" We hope you will say a friendly "hi" to Mrs. Allen when you see her! She is an important part of the magic we call "The Children's School Experience."

Is there a Doctor in the House??

Sitting in Lunch Bunch one day with some of our 3 and 4 year old friends, Mrs. Coleman sat on the rug and announced off-handedly that she had an owie. Of course, the response from several of these friends was, "Where??" and "Can I see? Can I see?" Now this was not a serious owie, and no blood was visible, but it was a very irritating paper cut that had been bothering Mrs. Coleman on and off all morning. She chose to share this small fact out loud, with the added invitation of "Would you guys like to help me fix it?"

Suddenly, it was Dr.'s Joe, Chae, Whit and Ailbhe to the rescue!!

The first problem our team of doctors had to overcome was locating the medical kit (pictured above). Here Dr. Whit stepped to the forefront, taking very few verbal clues from Mrs. Coleman and quickly locatiing and extracting the medical kit from its "home." Having procured the kit, the team quickly got it open to admire its contents. Dr. Ailbhe was quickly in charge of the bandaid, and set to releasing it from its packaging.

As Dr. Ailbhe was working on the bandaid, Mrs. Coleman asked if maybe this owie wasn't just serious enough to require the use of Neosporin, to which Dr. Joe (Dale) jumped in with "I can do that!!" and before you know it, had just the right amount of ointment carefully squeezed from the tube and deposited on Mrs. Coleman's cut!

Bandaid in place - and a Spiderman bandaid at that!! - Dr. Chae quietly asked "What can I be in charge of?" So we quickly went through all the steps again, and the "who had done what" list. Finding the kit? Check. (Dr. Whit); finding and subsequently putting on the bandaid? Check. (Dr. Alva); finding and putting on the ointment? Check. (Dr. Joe). Mrs. Coleman quickly identified that there had been no healing kiss placed on the injured digit, and asked Dr. Chae if she could be in charge of this particular step. Dr. Chae was kind enough to place the final, and maybe most important, medicinal treatment on the injury!

I think it's important to add here, before signing off, that no help whatsoever (other than the verbal clues mentioned above) was given to this team of friends. The help they gave to Mrs. Coleman was all their own doing. They are so capable when given the opportunities to show us what they know!! And when our friends were given this opportunity to "help," not once was there any arguement amongst our friends as to who was going to do what. There was instead a great example of cooperation.

Mrs. Coleman is extremely happy to report that the aforementioned papercut has healed stupendously - you can't even see where it was!! Thank you to this great team of friends!!

Hitting the Ground Running!!

Our Pre-K friends came to school with a great deal of enthusiam, and"Knowledge!!" They are all eager to help out, and show us what they know, and we here at The Children's School are all excited to let them do just that!! In Ms. Tierney's Pre-K classroom, working with apples and sunflowers has produced some extraordinary art for us all to enjoy! Aren't these beautiful!!

The Children's School wants to introduce something new and exciting for our parents and caregivers!!

Friendly Chats with Mrs. Banks!!
(aka Lunch Bunch for Grown-ups)

The Children's School wants to offer parents and caregivers an opportunity to get together with Mrs. Banks and other staff members to discuss a variety of what we trust will be useful topics.

Our first topic will be “Getting Ready for Kindergarten!” Our target date for this first session is late October or early November – giving us all a chance to settle into our new routines. It will be offered during our normal Lunch Bunch Program hour, starting at approximately 11:45 a.m. We will be inviting everyone who participates to bring a bag lunch. We are finalizing our plans for location, working to find a space that will be welcoming to adults in conversation, and also welcoming younger siblings who may also need a place to hang out during this hour.

We hope you find this new opportunity to be in conversation with Children’s School Staff Members as exciting as we do! To get started, keep an eye on our blog, and your child’s Take Home Box for our first announced “Chat Date.” We have several ideas for discussion topics, but we are also very interested in what it is that YOU want to discuss with each other and our very talented and knowledgeable staff members.

(Interested already?? Great! Drop a note or an email to Lisa Coleman at beanrhit@comcast.net. Knowing who’s interested will help us tremendously in our planning process. ©

We're Off To A Great Start!!

What a fabulous week we are having! We are singing and playing and learning! We are creating, writing, and cooperating!! Isn't it great to be back to school!
So on behalf of your Children's School staff, let me once more say "Thank You" for trusting us with your lovely, spirited, intelligent, caring, and always endearing children!
Oh! And did I mention how much we appreciate you getting back to us with your emergency packet information, profile sheets, contact information and immunizations (if you didn't get a chance to give those to us in the spring)! It's so nice to get paperwork out of the way!

WE HAVE OPENINGS!!

Do you have any friends looking for a last-minute preschool placement for their child? Perhaps you have a new neighbor who is looking for a great place for their child to start preschool and make some new friends?! Please let these folks (and others) know that The Children's School has multiple openings in our morning 3 & 4 year old classrooms, and in our afternoon Pre-K classrooms. It would be wonderful to add as many as 3 or 4 more children to each of these classrooms, so please help us spread the word! --Thank You.

What's Roofing Got To Do With It??

Our building is undergoing another structural improvement - a new roof!! This project started in late August, and is scheduled to last at least 3 months. You may have already "experienced" some of the impact this project has on The Children's School when you came to visit for your Open House. But just in case you didn't, let's take a minute and review some of the different ways this could impact your experience here at school:

• PARKING - always a "trick" at school, can be negatively impacted when the building has these big projects by the presence of additional workers' vehicles which ordinarily would not be taking up precious drop-off/pick-up parking spaces.
• NOISE - we in The Children's School are directly under some of the work being done, and can hear a great deal of pounding, etc. Most of the time, this drops into the "background" of other activity, but every once in a while, we have that extra loud drop or bang. If your child is sensitive to noise, PLEASE LET YOUR TEACHER KNOW! As the roofing company started on our end of the building, we are expecting their departure to the middle and south end of the building very soon!!
• Water - again, as we are directly under the roof, we have experienced a little unexpected water in our Rm. 340, and hallway. The roofers have been working very hard to find the source, and fix this problem. If you see garbage cans or towels in the hallway, please just walk around them. They should be gone very soon!
• Roofing Materials - One of the great things about our building management is their constant concern for their building users. Mr. Anderson has communicated to the roofers the presence of the 3 child-oriented programs in the building, and the importance of carefully disposing of roofing materials. This is particularly important in regards to their work around and over our playground. While this work continues, we ask that you be - as we at school will be - extra diligent in watching what your children are picking up off the grounds around our building.

Well, that should do it!! This should be over before we know it!!

Keep an Eye on our Blog!!

Check out the blog regularly! We are adding stuff all the time!!
There's an updated calendar for your convenience to check on dates for open houses, Lunch Bunch start date, teachers' meetings, school breaks, and SPS (Seattle Public School calendar adjustments).
We have started to add resource pages. Our first is one on good practices for saying goodbye to your preschooler. Look here for other useful information!

OPEN HOUSE SCHEDULE FOR 2007-08 YEAR

By now all of our 2007-08 families should have received a packet of information sent out in August. In that packet, each child enrolled in The Children's School starting Sept. 2007 would have received an invitation to their class' Open House. Please be aware that only 1/2 the class meets at a time. Check your invitation for your specific time! Note: There is NO PRE-3 OPEN HOUSE UNTIL THE WEEK OF Sept. 10th!
Here is the Schedue:

Mrs. Banks' M-F class has their Open House in Rm. 331 on Thurs. Sept. 6th!
1/2 at 9:00 a.m.
1/2 at 10:30 a.m.
Check for your time!!

Mrs. Jaques' M-F class has their Open House in Rm. 343 on Friday Sept. 7th!
1/2 at 9:00 a.m.
1/2 at 10:30 a.m.
Check for your time!

Ms. Tierney's Pre-K Class has their Open House in Rm. 341 on Thurs. Sept. 6th!
1/2 at 12:30 p.m.
1/2 at 2:00 p.m.
Check for your time!

Mrs. Jaques' Pre-K Class has their Open House in Rm. 343 on Thurs. Sept. 6th!
1/2 at 12:30 p.m.
1/2 at 2:00 p.m.
Check for your time!

It's Almost Picnic Time

Can you believe that we are almost at the very end of our year!!?? So much has happened, and so much is STILL happening. There was great painting with feet just today! There's been planting and singing, and worms, and airplanes and Open House, robots -- oh the places we go and the things we do here at The Children's School!!

Well, now we need to have one last great hurrah!! So mark your calendar for your class' picnic or field trip!

Here's the list:

M-W Pre-3s will picnic on Monday, June 4th at the Junior League Playground at the NW corner of Magnuson Park. Picnic Time is 10-11:30 am.

T-Th Pre-3's will picnic on Tuesday, June 5th at the Junior League Playground at the NW corner of Magnuson Park. Picnic Time is 10-11:30 am.

Mrs. Banks' M-F class will picnic on Monday, June 4th at the Matthew's Beach Playground.
PICNIC TIME IS 10-11:30 am.
Mrs. Jaques' MWF class will picnic on Monday, June 4th at the Matthew's Beach Playground.
PICNIC TIME IS 10-11:30 am.

The Pre-K Class is having their annual Field Trip to Discovery Park Beach on Wednesday, June 6th. This will be in lieu of a year-end picnic this year. Children, teachers and chaperones will meet at the Discovery Park Visitor's Center for an introduction to the Beach at 1:30 pm.

Have a fabulous summer. Keep your eyes on the blog for news and developments, and always for pictures!!

Our Hearts Doth Burst with Pride!!!

Do you recognize this tower?? This is the bell tower of our neighbor, University Presbyterian Church. If you stand in Room 341 (Mrs. Banks' snack room) near the painting easels, you will see this tower. That is exactly what our friend, Olivia, did one day. She looked out the window, and was inspired to paint this picture.....
Mighty accurate rendition, wouldn't you agree???

Kudos Olivia for your inspired work of art!

In another classroom down the hall, the T-Th Pre-3's were challenged to put together this foam puzzle of a rocket ship. Having put this puzzle together many times, our friend Gisela (2-1/2), painted this amazing picture of a pink rocketship!! Can you see it?! Genius I tell you!!

Welcoming a visitor!

To the delight of many, Mrs. Banks' brought a visitor, albeit somewhat uninivited, to her classroom today, via the bunch of flowers she had brought in for flower arranging.

Meet Sara Johnson, the baby slug!!

Why the name "Sara," you may ask? Because it sounded like a good name according to Annie, who took it upon herself to give our little visitor an identity. Naomi, who was right there when our guest was first discovered, was very concerned about Sara's survival, and overall happiness. Naomi wanted to set Sara free as soon as possible, but others in the class persuaded Naomi to let others see and experience Sara first before setting her out on her own in the great wide world of the playground! Naomi agreed to this, and Sara was given a temporary habitat, consisting of a blue tub, lined with papertowels, upon which Sara gifted us with a beautiful sluggie, slimy trail, and a jar lid of water. She was then toted to Mrs. Jaques classroom, where her habitiat was gifted with some leaves. After making the rounds of the morning classrooms, Sara was gently freed into the planter in the playground. She was a delightful distraction on this rainy day, and a thoroughly pleasant guest. May she live a long and productive life!

Thanks Puzzlemakers!!

Isn't this a beautiful wooden puzzle?

Making wooden puzzles from pictures that spoke to her was the brain child of Mrs. McArthur. After seeing some of the pictures that Mrs. McArthur had collected, and looking for a project that would engage her project-minded son, Mrs. Coleman created her own after-school program by combining these two needs. The following puzzle, and some others in the school, are the beautiful result.

After weeks of careful instruction and supervision, Philip has earned the privelege to "drive" the scroll saw, and help with the actual creation of these masterpieces. His instructor and supervisor (and creator of the correct sized puzzle patterns) is Philip's grandfather, John. We at the Children's School are very appreciative of these careful, dedicated artisans!