Newsletter - Construction Update

Construction Update

It has been a long road but I think we are finally coming to the end of the journey to our renovated space!

Construction is now in the final stages and they are finally “reassembling” our school. The contractor has given us a finish during the week of April 11^th.

We are all very excited about moving back to our little school house.

Moving Information New Location April 18th

We will be moving over the weekend of April 16^th and 17^th. Therefore both the Toddler and Children’s House classes will be held in the school house at 798 Scottsdale Dr. as of April 18^th.

Children’s House Class PD Day April 19th

As a result of the move and licensing inspections we will be having an unusual PD Day for the Children’s House class ONLY on Tuesday April 19^th, 2011. Although we understand that this unscheduled and may cause some planning issues we feel this approach will result in the least possible disturbance related to the move. Please let me know if you have additional concerns.

Toddler Class Normal Class Beginning April 18th

The Toddler Class will be held at the 798 Scottsdale Drive location as of Monday April 18^th, 2011 and will continue at that location from that day forward.

If they love to build...

From

As the year progresses it is interesting to see how the interest of the children has changed and been influenced by past experiences. After our trip to the ROM many of the children would use the Pink Tower in conjunction with the Broad Stairs to “build” the Museum. The building has a very geometric entrance area that drew a lot of attention while we were there.

Building on their interest in architecture we have introduced a set of cards, each with a picture of a famous structure. These include but are not limited to Big Ben, Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Water Cube, the Bird’s Nest, the CN Tower and the Eiffel Tower.

At first we looked at the photographs and discussed the names of the buildings, which quickly led to where they are located in the world and what are their uses. Due to high interest it was a mere day or so before they could all identify each of the buildings by name.

With little encouragement I suggested that they use the materials available in the classroom to “build” these structures. The challenge was one they took up with a vengeance. One of the youngest members of our classroom got out his mat and carefully chose the card with the CN tower. He sat for a few minutes examining the sensorial shelf before selecting the Broad Stairs. Standing each of the prisms on their end he built a structure using the broadest until just as high as he could reach. He then sat down and took the card in his hand. Looking at his card and then to the structure he’d built several times before he looked to me confused. I stepped in and asked if he had a problem. Pointing to the rounded part of the CN tower he said “We don’t have anything that makes that shape”. I assured him that there had to be “something” we could find. Within moments another child who had overheard the conversation made a couple of suggestions. The young architect took both and tried them on the top of his structure, in the end he did use one of the suggestions, a rounded heavier lid from another piece of work. With that problem solved he sat down again and examined the photo. Declaring to no one in particular “Now I just need this part here” as he pointed to the top most point of the photograph. Carrying his card with him he did another tour of the class before exclaiming “Hey one of these would work, look it’s got an end on it” showing me as he walked back to his mat. Standing on his tippy toes he reached up and placed the tall thin cylinder from the cylinder block on the top. Once again he referred to his card and then his structure, satisfied that he was finished he asked if I could look at his building. He was proud of his work because he’d made the choices, solved the problems and had succeeded in completing his work.

Editorial on Schools

Slate has an interesting discussion over formalizing education. It dovetails nicely with the approach Echo works towards in terms of spontaneous learning and exploration of a child's environment.

http://www.slate.com/id/2288402/