New School Year's Resolutions

1. To document children's explorations in a way that is relevant to teachers, families, and students
2. To find at least one authentic, child-initiated project
3. To use other teachers as resources more
4. To read and write about early childhood education

What are yours? Please share them in the comments or post them on your own page.

Farming + Returning

Wouldn't you love to take your class here?

I was reading about how the teachers and children are embracing Farm-to-Table eating over at Leaves & Branches, Trunk & Roots -- what a wonderful resource to have a farm next door! We will be doing more growing this year, but it will definitely be more in the container gardening realm.

This is a week of meet-the-teacher visits and shortened class sessions to make everyone feel comfortable. I've met all of the students, and tomorrow we'll start becoming a classroom community. I have a lot of ideas bubbling in my head...we'll see what comes to life first!

See you back here on Friday for our new school year's resolutions. Please join in!

The Wild Rumpus!

It's getting closer! And my husband just pointed me in the direction of the movie's website. Check out the featurette, in which Spike Jonze and Maurice Sendak praise each other's vision. Lovely!

New School Year's Resolutions

I am so glad to be in my classroom, getting ready for the start of the school year! I have a class list, and the children begin next Wednesday.

Getting back into my school routine includes reading -- and I've spent some time looking at blogs this week. I'm enjoying my regular favorites and discovering some wonderful new ones! I hope more and more early childhood educators document their teaching by sharing with a blog. There really seems to be a growing online community of educators ready and willing to share, contribute, and collaborate.

That said, I was thinking about my resolutions for the new school year, and getting them ready to share them here. But since this is a community, I want to know the resolutions of other teachers, too! So how about sharing them together?

Brainstorm and jot and think and wonder and reflect and look forward over the course of the next week. Then, next Friday, share your new school year's resolutions -- either in the comments here, or on your own blog. If you are directing a staff, perhaps you want to encourage them to do this, too. And a resolution can really be anything you dream up - from keeping the markers fresher to taking a workshop to cooking more with your students.

Let me know what you think today, and get ready for next Friday! I hope you participate.

Goodbye Summer

Well, summer is coming to a close. Later today we board a plane that takes us back to Brussels -- and I'm really looking forward to sleeping in the same bed for more than three nights! I'm also excited to write again.

But more than anything, what I'm really looking forward to is work. The students start in the last week of August - I'll be doing professional development next week. But I have visions of classroom rearrangements and new materials for the writing center and fresh flowers on the windowsills in my head, and as the new school year draws closer, my thoughts are occupied more and more.

Here are a few more images from China -- I guess you can call it "What I did on my summer vacation". I've always been a more visual person...







Happy weekend!

Tuesday's Photograph

photograph by lé, age 4

Songs about our Moms

By Na and Ca. I captured this on video and pulled the sound out for a "single" -- each child took the lead on one song, and they performed both together.

My Mom Never Ever Sung Quiet

My Mama Said

I'm really looking forward to getting back into the classroom!

la di da

I'm understanding how wonderful it is to have the summer off. For the first time in five years, I have the summer off as a teacher, and I am really appreciating the extended vacation.


We started in Belgium; went to China for two weeks; then we flew to Vancouver for a night (I'll tell you all about my visit to Alderwood House School soon!). My in-laws picked us up and we headed down to Seattle for a few days, then over to Yakima, and then down to the Oregon coast. And as if we hadn't done enough wonderful traveling, we headed to the family cabin by Mount Rainier and spent time with amazing friends. As I write, I'm at Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire with my parents and siblings, drinking a Vermont beer in the sunshine. Ahhh, summer.

A few photos from China are below - but I'm still relaxing, so I'm not quite back in early education mode. I'll be back in my classroom for an exciting revamp of the environment in less than two weeks, and I'll be sure to share that with all of you!


I hope you're all enjoying your summer, whether you're in or out of the classroom!

Making Music

Listen to this! Wow!

The music reminds me a little of the I Heart Huckabees soundtrack, which we have on in the background in the classroom quite often. I think all of these songs could be pretty inspriting for kids writing their own music -- simple sounds, creative "instruments". I've always wanted to do a music project with children...perhaps it will come around one day.

Come tomorrow for a song written and performed by two of my students!