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This is a Tuesday "Slice of Life" for Two Writing Teachers. Check out their website for lots more reflections on teaching.
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I have a snow day! My first snow day this year! I just got in from shoveling snow; the snow was light and dry, maybe 5 inches total. The sun is shining, the snow is no longer falling, and the shoveling was so easy. It is a beautiful day.
My husband and I just returned from Saco, Maine, visiting my parents (who are in a retirement home there), and my older brother and his family over the long weekend. There was a blizzard over the weekend…a storm that dropped some 12-15 inches of snow on top of an incredible amount that was already on the ground. Let me share a picture from my brother's dining room window - they have had several storms in succession, with unrelenting cold temperatures. Snow just keeps piling up!
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| (Window accents by a kindergartner party planner!) |
All that snow meant for lots of family togetherness. Not only did I spend time with my elderly parents but I played lots with three grand-nieces, girls who straddle the ages of my classroom of preschoolers - Emma, age 6 (in kindergarten), Olivia, age 18 months, and Everly, age 2 (in a couple of weeks). We had fun! Emma 'hired' me to help her make Valentine's Day party invites for a party she dreamed up on the spot…she worked hard on these, creating one for each adult, all with the same identical design - my only task was to color around the heart she drew on the front of the invite. (She was very particular about my work - inspecting each to be assured of its good quality.) She asked each of us to sign our invite, if we were planning to attend the party. (There was a blizzard outside - so, of course, this captive audience was 'going' to Emma's party!) When each invite was signed, Emma created a master list of all the attendees. Do you see the strong academic skills demonstrated in her play?
Emma took a short break from this project to read to me from a Frozen coloring book. For me, a teacher of preschoolers, fresh out of last week's pre-literacy conference, it was so so so awesome to listen to her read…to see how she recognized certain words, knew all of the letter sounds, and made reasonable guesses about unknown words using clues such as word length, starting letter, position in the sentence, and the pictures on the page of the book. What fun it must be to be a kindergarten teacher, seeing reading happen right before your eyes on a regular basis!
Olivia's main desire was to fill containers and dump them out. She worked alongside her big sister Emma, as Emma drew with markers, putting the markers into a bag and then - once all markers were inside - dumping them out and starting over. Full. Empty. Full. Empty. Full. Empty. Over and over. Everly had discovered the thrill of hiding things up her shirt, but could not figure out why they only stayed up momentarily and then fell out. She would quietly appear near to Olivia and Emma, her cousins, and slip a marker or two up her shirt, only to be caught red-handed when the markers fell to the floor. Then, there were many voices at once - Emma's clear "Hey! I'm using that!" and squawks from both Olivia and Everly, some approximating the word "Mine!" All three girls were very easy-going and any sharing issues were brief and momentary. They loved being together.
It was extra special to see my parents with these little ones - their great grandchildren. They gave kisses freely and brought various toys and books to their laps. My Mom, who has dementia, could not take her eyes off of the youngest two. Olivia and Everly seemed to bring an alertness to my mother - she asked their names over and over, and followed their movements with her eyes, frequently cautioning, "Oh, look, she's over there! Should she be there?," perhaps remembering the responsibility of little ones. Mom squealed with delight when the girls laughed - and they laughed lots!
How wonderful it would be if seniors had young children near them regularly!
We may have been snowbound, but we sure had a great time together.
I was in Saco that day, too....live not too awfully far from there.
ReplyDeleteIt is so special to get the generations together. I'm happy that you got that opportunity - and that you got to enjoy the snow!
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So excited to read your blog! Fun to think that a slicer was right nearby during that weekend trip.
DeleteThe power of play in its finest form. What a joy to see your mother more alert when the young girls were around! Love the impromptu party!
ReplyDeleteIt was so special to see her become so clear-headed and alert - however brief. She doesn't recognize any of us these days, but there was something so familiar to her about those small children. Delightful!
DeleteWhen I visited a friend's mom recently in a care center, they had a child care facility on site. What fun for the kids and the residents. I could just picture these darling girls from your beautiful descriptions. Love that pic of the snow, especially since we haven't had any this year.
ReplyDeleteCombining little ones with seniors seems to me to be an ideal scenario - both would get so much more love and attention!
DeleteYou give us so many of the wonderful details, whether family or classroom, Maureen. I loved hearing all about these little girls. When one grandmother was in a small 'resident' home. This was a local place in a little town. The head nurse became pregnant, had a baby & raised her there when at work in a playpen. She was named for my grandmother, special connections. But all the residents kept that sweet baby, later toddler entertained, & she them. You're right, babies should be around. When I took Ingrid to visit my husband all the residents loved visiting with her. I love hearing about your mom & her delight.
ReplyDeleteLove that line, "babies should be around." It is so simple and so life-giving!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading everything you wrote about here!
ReplyDeleteThat photo is amazing! Your slice reminds me of snow days when my girls were little, and there was so much to do inside and outside on days off from school. One of the things we used to do was bring snow inside and pour warm syrup over it to eat it. I think we got the idea from a Laura Ingalls Wilder book. How sweet that your mother enjoyed those girls, so full of life, laughter, creativity, and curiosity!
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