SOLSC #8 Where will you put that?

During the month of March, I am participating in
the Slice of Life Story Challenge.
All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day for thirty-one days. My slices will be primarily about teaching preschoolers.

Check out the Two Writing Teachers website for many more reflections on teaching.

It's not perfect, but I finally a created a display area for the 3-d work of my preschoolers. I found a bin of wire shelving in my basement, abandoned by my oldest son after his dorm years. This shelving wasn't quite enough for my 23 preschoolers, so I purchased some more. I am hoping it will be a semi-permanent part of my classroom, something that I can leave up every year. Now, every student has one 12" cube to display engineering, sculptures, and more. This is going to be perfect for our upcoming Learning Showcase! And a great way to keep my sanity as I work with children, because now I have a place to store their treasures. The children feel very special that they each have their own space - and everyone is working on the pre-literacy skill of reading their names, since that is how each cube is labeled.  :-)

SOLSC 2015 #18: How does it look?

Each day during March, I am participating in the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC). All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day for thirty-one days. My slices will be primarily about teaching preschoolers. Check out the Two Writing Teachers  website for lots more reflections on teaching. Thanks especially to Stacey, Tara, Anna, Beth, Dana, and Betsy for hosting this writing challenge. 

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Earlier this trimester, my Teaching Resident worked with the preschoolers to create the most wonderful "monster masks", using cardboard and found objects. We had to find a very special way to exhibit these for our Learning Showcase (tomorrow evening!). After much thought, I decided where and how they should be hung…an old teacher trick, using binder clips along the ceiling framing and dropping yarn from these. Am I right that this is almost a rite of passage with early childhood teachers, to hang things from these ceiling frames? 

My mind raced with everything else that needed doing before tomorrow night - yes, we were (are!) in crunch mode. I hardly took a breath after we finished hanging the masks, because there was so, so, so much more to do before tomorrow night's family event. (I won't bore you with my "to do" list!)

I arrived at school early this morning, with a few moments to myself. The first thing I saw was our monster mask display. Here's what I saw: 

It made me smile. 

I stood in front of it a moment and just stared.

Years ago, I remember reading a quote that was something to the effect of, 

and, I am making this up as I write, 

"Gardeners see what still needs doing, the weeds that remain, the soil that must be turned, the seeds that must be sown. Visitors see beauty."

My classroom is like this, I realize. 

I need to be less of a gardener in my perspective about it - and more of a visitor.

For a moment, just a moment, this morning,

I was a visitor.

“The master of the garden is the one who waters it, trims the branches, plants the seeds, and pulls the weeds. If you merely stroll through the garden, you are but an acolyte.” 

― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration