Friday's Tattler

This week has been a big swimming week. Lots of the children have been really engaged with learning to swim. This is a really interesting phenomena. There is the constant draw from the pool. It's a challenge, a game, a world of fun in the blue mystical water. It's a little dangerous, but the rules keep us safe, and the children are learning to follow directions, listen, and take advantage of the joy of a kind of education you're not not going to find in a book. It's an "I can do" that's really putting out their arms and drawing the kids in. They are finding the challenge real and exciting, and every one of them is maxing out their discovery.

This week several of the kids have gone from what we call "flounders" to what we call "sharks." It's a real migration. What used to be a pool filled with flounders is now a deeper sea filled with sharks. Even some of our three year olds are really swimming.

All this creates a real trust and therefore a bonding between students and teachers. This allows us to teach children anything. It makes the plays work because the children have learned to trust their teachers enough to believe the teachers when they say, "You can do this too."

Swimming is like the second gear on the engine of education. Now that we are well into second gear, the next step is a really good start to the school year...yeah!