A Visit To School

I love Nathan's school! They use the Reggio Emilia approach, which is basically play-based discovery in a supportive and enriching environment based on the interests of the children through a self-guided curriculum. It is so fun to hear him talk about what he is learning and it's amazing how his vocabulary grows with each new theme. Some recently learned words include: Eiffel Tower, Paris, sushi, cactus, veteranarian, Texas, jaguar, cherry blossoms and the list goes on. Everything is is hands-on and Nathan, along with his classmates, eats it up!

So with that in mind, February's theme was "Pet Rescue". Nathan's teachers invited our puppy, Bear, to come visit the class. It was a great event and Nathan was super-duper proud to have us come. It was slightly nerve-racking since Bear is a complete spaz! And for those of you who have personally met Bear, you know what I mean. So in my head I was imagining Bear with 13 excited 4 year olds...not a calming thought. However, things went over smoothly and everyone got to watch Bear do his tricks, feed him a treat and pet him. It was good:)




Last month the theme was "Cherry Blossoms". At the end of the month the kids had a field trip to a BEAUTIFUL neighborhood called Kenwood in Maryland. The streets are lined with immaculate homes and cherry blossoms for blocks and blocks. It was breath-taking and I am so glad we went. It was far better than the famous cherry blossoms around the Thomas Jefferson Basin in DC and much less crowded. You can tell that the homes in the neighborhood fancy up for this time of year. All of the lawns were perfectly manicured. When we arrived Nathan's teachers handed out clipboard to each of the kids and they "observed" what they saw and took "notes". It was so cute to see them "observing". Afterwards, we walked a couple of blocks to a park. The wind had picked up and it was FREEZING, but only the adults were affected by this. How is it that kids aren't phased by weather? We get wimpier as we get older:)