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I am looking forward to another year of learning and growing together. With great joy I will share with you the stories about what we have been working on in the classroom and provide ideas that you can do at home with your child. "The child who has felt a strong love for his surroundings and for all living creatures, who has discovered joy and enthusiasm in work, gives us reason to hope that humanity can develop in a new direction." Maria Montessori Agnes Woynarowskiagnes@traversechildrenshouse.org Room Parent Erin Gysbers |
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Classroom Highlights
April 15, 2025
Good Morning,
After our Spring Break, the children seem to be very settled and eager to work. Even our youngest Wren is choosing multi-step activities trying to accomplish their sequence.
We witnessed clothes washing and dishwashing. One of the children even dried the washed dishes with a towel and announced with pride: “All clean”! And as always there is a lot of baking happening in our community.
Emily introduced sewing work, which immediately became a popular activity among the oldest children. The set of material includes: metal blunt embroidery needle kept in wooden needle case, small needle cushion, scissors, thread, sewing card with pre-punched holes in diagonal line, and a jar for little bits of leftover thread. The child learns how to make stitches, cut the thread, thread the needle and make a knot. This activity requires a lot of concentration on a child’s side and provides the opportunity for developing eye and hand coordination, as well refines the fine motor skills. The other important aspect of the sewing activity is encouraging attention to the detail. The children cherish the finished sewing cards and with great pride pack them into their backpacks to show them to you when they get back home.
Last Wednesday Annika’s dad - Joe, played music for us. Joe brought his traveling bass and accompanied Emily, who played ukulele. We sang : “We Are the Dinosaurs”, “Baby Beluga”, “If All the Raindrops Were…”, and “You Are My Sunshine”. We had so much fun sharing the music. We hope Joe will come again and play for us.
March 17, 2025
Good Morning!
Both Emily and I enjoyed meeting with you and talking about your children. Thank you for all the great questions. One of the questions that recurs every time during the conferences is the question about setting the limits or guiding the child when we meet resistance on their side. In other words, when: no becomes your child’s favorite word and answer to every question.
A couple of years ago I found this short 20 minute webinar by Maren Schmidt, in which she gives us three techniques on how to help children better listen to our words.
Listening and comprehending is an acquired skill. Young children need to learn that the words are followed by actions and they have meaning.
The first technique of teaching children how to listen to our words introduced by Maren is: Talk Less. Listen More. Our words should be few and followed with actions. We often fall into a trap of reminders. According to Maren Schmidt, we should give verbal directions to a child only once and take the child by the hand and without the word walk them to the place we asked them to be.
Here is the example: your child is avoiding coming to dinner. If we say to our toddler that it’s time for dinner, we need to be prepared to lead the child by the hand to the dinner table. By connecting the words with actions we teach the child that the words require response or action on their part.
Sometimes children ignore us because they don’t want to stop what they are doing. Dinner can often be an interruption to their play.
When we meet with resistance from the child it is time to apply the second part of the technique: Listen more. First observe what is your child doing that prevents them from joining you for dinner. We ask questions and listen respectfully to try to understand our child’s actions.
- Say what you see: “I see by your face and tone of voice that you don’t want to come to dinner”
- Ask for clarification: “Can you tell me why you don’t want to come to dinner?”
- State what you understand: “Oh! You want to finish building your project”.
- Once you understand the reason for resistance, offer the solution. The child will show more cooperation when they have a choice. The choice can be: “Finish your project now and miss dinner” or “Eat dinner first and finish your project later” (we want to offer our favorite solution as the second choice).
- If we meet with the lack of cooperation we need to ask for clarification again: “Are you telling me that your choice is to finish your project and miss dinner? Your choice is to miss dinner and be hungry? If you don’t eat dinner now there is a long time to breakfast. Then restate the choices again. Offer the choices that you feel comfortable with. Think about the consequences of the choices in advance because it is important to follow through.
It takes time to put this method in practice. But when you start using it, you will find how effective it is. I found that for younger children taking them by the hand without words works well - it is a kind of redirection and re-focus on the meaning of our words. For older children, over two years old, who are most likely to challenge our expectations, asking questions, giving choices and using natural consequences instead of lecturing is the most effective.
Have a wonderful Spring Break!
February 20, 2025
Good Morning,
“All You Need Is Love” is spreading through the Dandelion community! We have been singing it in the coat room, in the bathroom, everywhere! We have two pictures books with the lyrics of The Beatles band: “All You Need is Love” and “ With the Little Help from My Friends” . Emily introduced both songs. The children listened to the original Beatles’ performance and sang their own version. Skidamarinky Dinky Dink is another favorite children's song that Emily introduced before Valentine’s Day.
Valentine’s Day was celebrated in our classroom with pink muffins in the shape of a heart, which were baked by Vienna. We used beet puree to add color to the batter. Boden made the strawberry - cream cheese frosting for the muffins.
We are learning about dogs. We have been visiting all the dogs at school. We look for Fonzie (Michele’s dog) every day, when we pass by her office from the morning carline. We learned that Fonzie likes to talk to us with a friendly growl and this is his way of saying hello. On Wednesday we visited Fisher, a golden retriever from Maple community. Fisher is very calm and likes to be patted. He loves milk bones treats. On Thursdays we have been going over to the Cedar community to interact with Annika’s dog named Cedar. Cedar performs the tricks and licks our hands. He also loves the milk bones that children bring for him.
Also Betsy’s guinea pig Fonzie is fed with carrots that children peel for her.
There are lots of real practical life activities happening in the classroom. The children help prepare morning snack, set up the tables, load the dishwasher with dirty dishes (this still needs a lot of involvement on the adult's side) and independently put dirty laundry in the washer. Toddlers love to help!
January 23, 2025
Good Afternoon,
Ava, Boden, Vienna, Olivia, and Piper became the oldest children in the classroom, after Mason joined the Fern community. They are feeling very old and sometimes want to take charge of the classroom, which is comical to watch. They also are very capable and are taking turns with preparing snacks for our meals. They make muffins, hummus, bread, waffles and oatmeal weekly. They also grasped the concept that sometimes in order to bake muffins, we need to grate carrots or apples a day before.
Wren Barnwell, our new friend, joined us this week. He is the youngest child in our classroom and it is sweet to witness how the children are taking care of him. Warm welcome to Barnwell’s family! I will send the classroom roster next week and you can see new faces in Dandelion’s community. There will be no more move-ups until September, when the oldest group will join primary classes.
The end of January and beginning of February brings more birthdays. Margo, William, and Alexis will soon turn two. We have been talking about cakes we will bake to celebrate their birthdays.
After winter break, Emily introduced the first Stereognostic Bag and it was an immediate hit with the children. Stereognostic Bag is a cloth drawstring bag containing various objects. The goal of this activity is to develop the stereognostic sense (known also as tactile gnosis) which is the ability to identify an object by touch, without the use of sight or sound. This is a very useful skill. A good example would be finding car keys in a bag full of other stuff (Agnes’ bag) or finding your alarm clock in a dark room without being able to see it.
In our bag, we have a plastic dog, snake, egg, miniature straw hat, and a shell. The child puts hand inside and feels the object with the hand, before naming it. Because the very young toddler is not very good at giving us answers to “What is it? What did you find?”, we help them by giving them a task: “Please, find the snake…” You can play this game at home with various objects found around the house.
Enjoy!
Agnes
December 18, 2024
Good Morning,
We have been busy making gifts for you! Each child made an ornament and cut out sugar cookies, which they decorated with colored sugars. We used an eggless recipe so everyone could enjoy them safely. The children will be bringing them home in the next couple of days.
We celebrated Olivia and Piper’s birthday, said “Good bye” to Adrian who joined the Fern community and welcomed Anna Marvin and Eve Queene from Nido. Mason started his visit to the Fern room and William became a big brother to his sister Harper, who was born on Snow Day - December 12. Congratulations to the Tenney Family!
I promised to share ideas about how you can support your child at home, in other words, what you can do with your child at home. I really like the blog written by Nido’s guide: Jeanette who explains how you can involve your child in the daily routine of your family. Here is the link to Jeanette’s post: Practical life at home.
We do not need expensive toys and gadgets to support our child’s development and sometimes we may feel guilty of not investing enough in the child. But the truth is, the young children enjoy simple joys and when we share them together we can enjoy them too. Here are few ideas about things you can do with your toddler:
- Make a meal together on the day when you don’t need to rush and scramble. Pick up a simple recipe and prep it the day before so things are ready. I didn’t believe that we would be able to prepare a Harvest Feast with the children, but we pulled it together and it was delicious!
- Provide art materials, easily accessible for the child to reach independently. Remember that for the very young child art is a process, not a product. Focus on providing media: lots of paper, good quality color pencils and crayons, paints, tempera sticks, stickers, pictures for gluing and beads for threading, playdough, and kinetic sand.
- Read books to your child, look at interesting pictures and talk about what you see, tell a make-up story based in a real situation. Children like to hear stories about other children, themselves, animals, and everyday situations.
- Sing together, listen to music, explore different genres of music. Interlochen Public Radio plays a lot of classical music, especially on weekends. Make up songs - the best are with the directions and action words. Dance together, play instruments - you can make shakers and drums at home.
- Go for a walk, observe nature, fill the bird feeder, and watch who comes to feed on your treats.
- Go shopping with your toddler in a small grocery store. Oryana is the ideal store for children who can get easily overwhelmed, but I heard from a few parents that their children love weekly trips to Costco. Go to the library, post office, send a letter to grandparents, show your child how things work. Visit a fire station.
The common thread for all these ideas is that they will build and deepen strong relationships and great memories between you and your child. I hope that by sharing simple pleasures with your child you will soon discover how much you have in common and how much you enjoy each other's company.
Have a wonderful holiday and I hope that the New Year will bring you love and peace!
November 25, 2024
Good Morning,
Thank you for your generosity! We got so many great, new books for our classroom. I did not put all of them out yet, just the book about dog name Momo and a book about farm equipment. Those two are studied a lot!
I enjoyed talking with you about your children during the conferences. Many of you asked how you can support your child's development at home. I am going to write a document with simple ideas, which I share with you in next Classroom Highlights.
This year we took on the challenge of preparing the harvest feast in the classroom. And I cannot believe we did it! It took a bit of planning and all the oldest children were very involved in making our food. On Thursday Ava, Vienna, Boden, and Mason added ingredients into an electric pot and we cooked cranberry sauce. On Friday Vienna, Boden, and Adrian made cranberry-orange cake. I roasted carrots, Ava made focaccia, and Mason is going to mash potatoes. The fruit salad is put together and we will raise our cups of apple cider to cheer our loving community.
November in Dandelion’s community is a month of celebrations. Many of our friends turned two this month. We celebrated Ava’s, Boden’s, and Vienna’s birthday. After Thanksgiving break, we will celebrate Olivia’s and Piper’s birthdays. We follow very sweet birthday rituals. A day before their birthdays the children make a cake. It is usually cinnamon bundt cake or blueberry-lemon cake, or French Apple cake. On the day of the birthday, we gather around the LED candle and sing three times: “Fire’s burning”. This simple campsite round and the candle help children focus and find inner peace. We sing with the lights off and a little candle shining in the middle of our circle. At the end of the celebration we sing “Happy birthday”.
Before the birthday celebration you will be asked to send two pictures of your child: as a newborn and as one year old. Children love looking at their baby pictures.
And then it is time for cake, which is served during the morning snack. We had some leftovers of cakes from Ava’s and Boden’s birthday, which we froze and ate again last week with a dollop of yogurt. It brought some good memories among the children.
Adrian will soon leave us, and will start his new adventure in Fern primary classroom under Chelsea’s guidance. Mason will start his visits to the Fern classroom, right after Thanksgiving break. Little Anna from Nido, officially joined the Dandelion community and soon will be reunited with Eve. Ava, Boden, Vienna, Olivia, and Piper moved into the role of the oldest children in the classroom. It is a pleasure to watch them guide younger friends.
October 18, 2024
Good Afternoon,
Thank you for coming to our Picnic at Jacob’s Farm. We couldn’t ask for a more gorgeous weather. We are grateful for the extension of the summer but this week really feels like Fall! However, everyone came to school prepared. Thank you for sending hats and mittens. Please, label them. Mittens and hats often get left behind at the playground and it is easier to find the owner if they have a name or initials on.
For those of you who are interested in winter gear recommendations please check this link, created by Annie Botsford.
With Halloween approaching we have been having conversations about Halloween decorations, costumes and other symbols that the children may come across during this holiday. We have some simple books about Halloween and language cards with images representing Halloween.
This holiday can be scary for a young child. Seeing a person in a costume or in a mask may upset their sense of order or they might not understand that the costume is not real. Sometimes your child may protest against putting a Halloween costume on, because of sensory reasons. The costume may feel too fuzzy, too ticklish, too scratchy or too bulky. Your child may not have enough words to express that they don’t like something and the outcome of it can be screaming for help that looks like a tantrum.
It became our Dandelion tradition that every year children try on the Ladybug or the Wolf costumes. We started with the Ladybug and it took a few days to find a volunteer willing to try it on.
Alexis was the first brave child who was eager to try the costume, which encouraged Ava and Adrian to dress as ladybugs. Today there was another volunteer who put on the wolf costume and an octopus hat.
In the classroom we will celebrate Pumpkin Fun Day during the week proceeding to Halloween. We will carve Jack - O - Lanterns and prepare many delicious snacks with pumpkin: smoothies, muffins, and even a dip.
Please, continue sending me family photos.
And lastly, on Thursday October 24, I would like to invite you to join us for a discussion around the school life of toddlers and parenting. The childcare for this event is available if you register before Monday, October 21.
September 16, 2024
The new school year started very smoothly for all of us. Children were happy to be back with their friends. Jett, TJ, Peyton, and Sloan have settled into their new primary classrooms and greet us with smiles and hugs.
Margo, Alexis, and Annika are our new friends who joined the Dandelion Community. Warm welcome to their families!
I have a privilege to be supported by a great, “seasoned” team. Each of them brings their own talents and experiences into our Dandelion Community. It is hard to fill Shea’s shoes, who is still mentioned by children in conversations, but Emily became accepted. She took on the task of leading the group time and taught the children many new songs and dance movements. Friday is “ukulele day” in our classroom. First Emily played few songs and then each of the children took turns and played their favorite song. We heard: “Twinkle, twinkle little star” , “Old McDonald”, “Baby Beluga” and even “I Like To Move It”.
Anna has been pouring her artistic talents into capturing beautiful moments of children's day in her photos. I have been sharing these pictures with you through Transparent Classroom. I am new to it so please be patient with me.
Brian brings his positive energy, wisdom and patience. Children love to play with him at the playground and spend time in his care at Friends Club.
Through the last two weeks, we have been witnessing lots of learning, maturing, and new friendships emerging.
I hope to see you at our classroom picnic this Thursday, at Jacob’s Farm @ 5:00pm.
Please, send me your family photo, which we will print and place on our language shelf, hoping to have many conversations about our families.