Thursday, June 21, 2018

Last Blog Post

From a Preschooler's Perspective:


A preschooler recently told me, "My dad's a big boy, so he can wear ripped jeans!"

Another preschooler informed me that, "Heaven is higher than outer space!"

And yet another preschooler told Mrs. Becka, "If I had a time machine I'd go back to the '90s so that I could see the dinosaurs!"



Last Blog Post


What an incredible eleven years it has been in the Samuel Morey Preschool. I have been so very fortunate to be able to work closely with the most wonderful staff members, parents and families to support the growth and success of the students that have attended the program. And the truly great pleasure for me has been the extraordinary experience of spending my time with the preschool children. As I am writing this, I realize that (although I have certainly tried recently) I simply can not adequately put into words how important this work has been to me and how much I have deeply enjoyed it. From my first group of Samuel Morey preschoolers to the current group, it has been such a positive, life changing experience - and I am so grateful for having had this amazing opportunity.

I wish the very best to all of the children and families that I have worked with in the Samuel Morey School. I will never forget the time that I have been a part of your community and that you have spent with me in the preschool.

I will end this final post with a collection of recent photographs of this year's preschoolers. My hope, as always, is that the pictures reflect not only how very special the children are, but how much I love being with, connecting with, and teaching them.

Rob



Saturday, June 16, 2018

Really Big Friends


From a Preschooler's Perspective:


A preschooler recently told me, in no uncertain terms, "I'm going to be bigger than you when I'm 41!"






Really Big Friends


In the last two blog posts I stressed the importance of the strong ongoing connection between the preschool program and children in the rest of our school. This past week I had a surprise visit from some older (eighth grade) students that served as a reminder that the relationship between preschool graduates and the preschool can extend even further than the elementary grades.

Abbey, Savannah, Willow and Alex all left the preschool for kindergarten close to ten years ago. As you can see from the pictures below, they are still quite at home in their old preschool classroom. Of course, a major reason why this is so is that during all of their elementary years we continued to see them on a very regular basis (as described in my recent posts).

These frequent interactions over the years make it so that even when children cross the river to attend secondary school, they can still feel a close attachment to the place where their public school careers first began. And how awesome is it that so many years later these children still feel such a strong connection to the staff that first cared for them in preschool and that they can be so comfortable (and have so much fun) in the place where they first attended school when they were just 3 and 4 years old!


And here are Savannah, Alex, Willow and Abbey when they were in preschool :-)

 

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Big Friends

From a Preschooler's Perspective


Preschooler #1: "Can I bring my cell phone to school?"
Preschooler #2: "It's up to moms and dads."
Preschooler #3: "And husbands!"



Big Friends


Long after the preschoolers have "graduated" from our program and moved on to the elementary grades, they have still retained a special connection to the preschool where their first educational experiences in the Samuel Morey school began. There is a unique quality about the time that children spend in preschool and I have often heard our graduates fondly reminiscing about the "good old days" that they spent with us in our classroom. The fact that these older children have still retained a connection to the preschool, even after many years have gone by, has been very important to them (and to me). And this benefit has not only extended to our preschool grads. There have been many students that first arrived at the Samuel Morey School as older children (kindergarten and up) who have become very attracted to the preschool and have regularly dropped by to say hello or have gotten excited to see us when we were traveling down the hall to some destination in the school!

This ongoing connection between older students and the preschool has not only been clearly beneficial to the "big kids" but it has been very important to the current preschoolers as well. Most of our students begin preschool already having strong relationships with older children (who may be siblings, cousins, or just friends) in the building. For children who are just beginning their time in an educational setting outside the home, these connections can be a crucial component of their positive social-emotional development.

In addition to seeing them around the school and out on the playground, the older children offer a continually positive presence in the preschool classroom itself on a regular basis. They drop by to say hello, they come in to read us stories, and they bring us birthday treats on their birthdays. In the morning before school begins and in the afternoon when school has ended, preschoolers' siblings (and staff members' children) will also frequently be found in the preschool.

Following are some of the pictures that I have taken of our "big friends" throughout the course of the school year. You can see in these photos the strong positive connection that remains (or has been formed) between them and the preschool program. As the preschool teacher I have really appreciated and enjoyed having the opportunity to continue to be connected with my students for years after they have moved on from the preschool to the older grades!