Spring... it's a treat! The Leapfrogs have felt that winter was here for too long. Some of the reasons we are excited for spring is because we can be outside more often, we can smell pretty flowers, and we don’t have to wear heavy snow boots. We introduced spring with a big bag of potting soil in...

Having a Ball! Who doesn’t love a good ball? We have a number of children who are just in love with sports! Balls can be a source of great joy to many Grasshoppers, but for the teachers, they at times can be a big challenge. The overwhelming desire for competition that accompanies ball play is often...

Singing Our Way to Science! Submitted by Starfish Assistant Teacher Kali Strand It all started when we noticed the Starfish spontaneously singing the Oscar-award winning song, Let It Go from the movie Frozen several times a day. We never imagined that what began as a catchy tune would end up in an...

Following a Path to Emergence Submitted by Roadrunner Assistant Teacher Angel Brice Who's the teacher here? The Roadrunners have not engaged in any of the activities we have prepared for them this morning. Instead they are beating on drums and tambourines, singing, running, and dancing! As a teacher...

Watch Us Grow! There is no question that a whole lot of growth happens in and around PIC! The obvious places to look for it are during transitions when children move from one classroom up to the next, when a PIC family adds a younger sibling to their clan and then to one of the infant rooms, or when...

Learning About Community Helpers Recently, the Leapfrogs helped decide what their next topic of learning would be. After the teachers offered some suggestions, we all took a vote and brainstormed together about community helpers that we all knew. The children showed great pride in their decision...

Helping Children Learn Through Play In the Fireflies, we kicked off the year by investigating the jobs that the children act out during free play. We began by talking about their fee play experiences during morning meeting. We made a graph together of jobs to learn about. As we were talking, we...

Outdoors All Year! As adults, we often see the work required of us in colder weather: the hats, coats, scarves, and mittens to name a few. For all the extra trouble though, teachers always wish for snow because of how stimulating it is for young children. As teachers, we know from experience that...

Having Expectations in Common Stated expectations are a common thread between PIC classrooms. In the Grasshopper classroom, we call these expectations our “classroom practices.” We chose this language to foster a sense of community, and our hope is that everyone—children, teachers and parents—will...

Conversation Starters As parents it is natural to want to know as much as possible about your child’s day at school. But sometimes it can feel like pulling teeth to get a couple of words about your child’s day! Getting children to talk about school is often harder than simply asking “how was your...