The Garden School Tattler

We had an interesting day today. It was rainy, so we stayed indoors for breakfast, and after breakfast, we put the kindergarten and first grades together and played a new bingo game with words. I made the bingo game with the words we have been studying in my class. There were about 40 words in blocks on a page. Every child got an 11 x 14 sheet and a handfull of pennies.

I called out the words one by one, and the children scrambled to find the word on the page and put down their penny. Then they turned to their neighbor to see if they could help. I was excited to see Jackie Snyder get up every word and show the preschool children at the next table where they could find the word. Not one teacher suggested that anyone help another, but several children including Ty acted with such social awareness, I was thrilled.

One of the big day cares is closing in EVV. We've already gotten some calls. It's hard to explain to people exactly what we do and why. Today's activity with the word bingo would have been an excellent explanation. We're a cohesive group that cares about the next guy.

With all the studies, the comments, the cries for 4-K across the nation, it always stuns me that the same old day care plan is the only thing that can be discussed. When nearly forty places on the map can easily be identified by the children, when four year olds can do addition, can find words on the page, when they can learn a foreign language, the same old day care plan seems really fraudulent - almost like theft.

What are parents paying for when the learning is non existent? Miss Kelly told me that in her former teaching gig, she was told not to teach the children anything, that teaching and learning were not "age appropriate" and that learning was for kindergarten. This is from the best childcare in EVV.

Teaching and learning is for everyone. We all read Jabberwocky the other day, and Miss Jana and Miss Kelly laughed as they slowly managed Lewis Carroll's words. I laughed too and gave my own rendition of a few lines that sounded different from the others, but then I'm on the other side of the great vowel shift, so my pronunciation is slightly different. Just then, Mrs. St. Louis came from the kitchen with the whole thing memorized and trilling off her lips like a rosary prayer. It was really a funny occasion, and all the teachers learned while the children watched. This is what they should see, this is what learning means. It was great exchange.

There are so many occasions when we learn from one another and the children should be part of that, so how do you explain all that to new people?