Category Archives: kindergarten

Apr11

kinder-garden.

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jane

today the kinder saw the space where they will create their garden.

 

—

“why try to explain miracles to your children when you can have them plant a garden?”

-*janet kilburn phillips

*Janet is a gardener who found that she had to employ a growth mindset when she moved to the United States from England. She had previously been creating English cottage gardens but encountered challenges when she tried to grow them in a drastically different climate and in heavy clay soil. After experimenting with her gardens she created a CD called English Cottage Gardening — American Style. She adapted and persevered and found a new way to succeed at something that she loved.

 

 

Jul13

kinder-kat.

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What better place to learn your ABC’s and 123’s than inside of a giant building shaped like a cat?

The kids who attend Kindergarten in Karlsruhe, Germany, do so in a giant feline.

Constructed in 2011 and designed by artist, Tomi Ungerer and architect, Ayla Suzan Yöndel, the whimsical kindergarten is in a big white cat building that includes a door for a mouth below a whisker-lined nose, windows for eyes, and a classroom in its belly. For added fun, kids can even ride down its tail that doubles as a slide.

In terms of architecture that inspires a playful imagination, the Kindergarten Wolfartsweier is remarkable for its embrace of an alternative, animalistic design for what a school can be.

“design is where science and art break even.”

-robin mathew(s)

 

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source credits: Atlas Obscura, My Modern Met, Milk magazine, inthralled.com,

 

 

Feb4

guts.

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bandaids are the hot item in my classroom

after a number of kinder came up to me asking for one

pleading their case

(many with very old ‘wounds’)

we gathered together

as they each shared

their personal tale of woe:

i got scraped, the paper cut me, it’s red like blood,

you can’t see it, but it’s ouch-y, something poked me,

my sister, something in my pocket did it, nail polish came off of one nail,

bandaid from home is falling off….

we finally got to our last person, who stated:

“this happened to me on the next day after tomorrow.”

—

“life takes guts.” 

 -lucille ball

Jan13

under the rainbow.

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my classroom is chock full of

multi-age kinder (3s-young 5s)

who stay with us for two years.

one of the very best things

is watching the older kinder

who were the younger kinder

just one year before

as they quite naturally and organically grow

to become the leaders/teachers/helpers/mentors

to the new group of younger kinder

who were at home

just one year before.

what a joy it was to watch someone older

spend a very long time

finding all the special markers she needed

to create an easy to see linear rainbow

for someone younger

who wanted to create

her very own rainbow picture

in her very own style

using all the special colors.

judging by their faces

when she finished her very own rainbow

they were both equally proud of the results.

 

—

“nine tenths of education is encouragement.”

-anatole france

Jun8

a wish for my students on their last day.

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“there is nothing wrong with loving the crap out of everything.

negative people find their walls.

so never apologize for your enthusiasm.

never.ever.ever.

-ryan adams

 

may you all live like this forever. and ever. and ever.

love, your teacher

(who lives like this too)

Apr28

into the universe.

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heading out on a rainy day

to explore, discover things, and learn

in the much larger classroom of the universe. 

 

—

“the universe is a great university.”

-sai baba

Dec9

learning is creation.

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“what does our word say?!!”

(two kinder working together in my multi-age classroom, one older, one younger)

 

—

“learning is creation, not consumption. 

knowledge is not something a learner absorbs,

but something a learner creates.”

-george couros