It was the first week of the new school year at Brooklyn Schoolhouse. New and returning friends explored each area of the yard with their grownups, teachers, and classmates.
Kids loved cooking in the water kitchen with pots, pans, whisks, and scoops. It was so fun to splash, pour, and stir while setting the table for tea parties.
The red rug is a fun place to read stories, like “Are You My Mother?” by Dr. Seuss and Eric Carle’s “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”. It’s also a great place to build things like rocket ships, houses, and magnifying glasses out of bristle blocks.
Friends used brushes and paint to make beautiful marks on brown paper. They got inside and on top of climbing blocks to play peekaboo with the friends around them.
Another exciting area of the yard has been the animal rug, where sea creatures, like whales, starfish, and lobsters, can swim with each other or migrate to other areas, like foam blocks or the rock garden.
Each day, we practiced routines that will be foundational to our year together. For example, everyone learned what a “dot” cushion is and how to sit on one for our morning meetings and story times. This week, we read a Brooklyn Schoolhouse favorite called “Owl Babies'“ by Martin Waddell, a story about a mother owl who left her three baby owls in their tree trunk nest to go get food. It was fun and comforting to recite our favorite lines together, like, “I miss my mommy!” or “All owls think a lot.”
We ended our week celebrating Jonas’s 4th birthday. His parents, Annie and Andrew, and younger sister, Remy, joined us to eat corn muffins and read “We’re Going On A Bear Hunt” by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. Happy Birthday Jonas!
It’s been so wonderful getting to know you and your children this week, and we are excited to continue next week when we merge our two half groups together. Please refer to your phase-in schedule for details about next week.
