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!
