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The beginning of school is one of the most exciting (and perhaps frightening)—for both children and teachers! As teachers, everything is unpredictable and we don’t know what to expect—tears, screams, rolling on the floor shouting “no,” laying frozen on a pillow and refusing to move–believe me, we’ve seen it all. Even for those returning, first days can be weepy as the uncertainty of new faces and the loss of old friends bears down. We also see children bravely waving goodby, making new friends, and joyfully shouting “see you tomorrow!” We get through it all, together as a community of beginners, beginning our new year.
Thanks to parents, we learned interesting details about our friends very quickly. Just ask any of them who in our class learned how to jump off the diving board this summer. They might even be able to demonstrate his technique. We know who catches fish THIS big, who to go to if you need a playmate, who loves his brother, who to ask if you are looking to play soccer, who to ask if you need to know about planets, who loves splashes from the lake, who loves superheroes, who loves pandas, who is funny, we know twins like some of the same things but also different things, we can hardly believe that a kid can make eggs by himself (well almost), who to talk to about nature (and boy can he you tell you all about it!), who are cousins and who misses James from last year (don’t we all?). While getting to know one another, we are also learning about our SELF—who we are, what we like, the ideas we have, the feelings we hold. Children are just at the beginning of self discovery. Imagine for a moment if you could start your self discovery over again from the very beginning—what would you see? When these small children look in the mirror they see their physical self, the physical traits that make them unique and beautiful. When they pick up the paint brush, sing their hearts out, dance and skip, they are discovering their internal qualities that make them who they really are and who they will become. We are a community of beginners, beginning school but also beginning life, self discovery, and exploring the larger world. Yes indeed an exciting time!
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Tricia Windschitl
5 day teacher |