Today was held two very exciting firsts for us.  To begin, today was our first day with Xavi’s dad, Pete, as our parent teacher and what a treat it was!  Pete has quite a bit of teaching experience and it showed in the classroom.  The children loved his vivid story-telling and the grown-ups loved his ease and comfort in helping with classroom management.  More than anything, Xavi loved sharing his entire morning with his dad.  The only thing better than one Peter in the classroom is two, that’s for sure!

Today also marked the first day of our new music program, led by Zoe’s mom, Jessica!  Like Pete, Jessica has a wealth of teaching experience and we are thrilled to be able to supplement our curriculum with her weekly classes.  Music education has been proven through countless studies to positively impact students’ performance in all core academic areas, but especially in math and science.  It also helps provide a very necessary and healthy way for children to express both their physical and vocal energies.  It’s not news that the Tugboats love to sing and dance and it’s such a treat to be able to offer them a more structured program through Jessica’s expertise.  We enjoyed playing a variety of percussion instruments, chanting poems, practicing finger plays, singing group songs, and dancing with scarves!

The Tugboats enjoyed a perfect palate of p-projects today!  We had popcorn for snack, paraded around the block in search of p-words (including the new poles being placed in the pit down the block!), and worked together to solve puzzles during free play.  During project time, however, we may have outdone ourselves.  We made pizza!

We divided the children into 3 groups and each table made their own pizza with the help of a grown-up.  They began by rolling out a ball of pizza dough onto a floured baking sheet.  Everyone took turns rolling across the dough 5 times, spreading the dough into a nice pizza shape.  After a few rounds, we determined that the best way to get the crust we were looking for was to unleash Fists of Fury!  We pounded and pummeled until the crust was just right, then added spoonfuls of sauce.  The children noted that spreading the sauce was a lot like painting.  We used the spoon as a brush and if we were too vigorous with the spoon, we made a huge mess!  After the sauce, we sprinkled tiny handfuls of cheese, imagining that it was the snow we just haven’t gotten enough of yet!  We had a few optional toppings, including pineapple and olives.  The Tugboats who wanted toppings applied them to their section of pizza, while others left their section plain.  Kristy, our chef in shining armor, scooped up our finished products, rushed home to bake them and returned them looking golden and delicious!  We sent slices home with our half-day friends and the rest of us will enjoy our slices at afternoon snack.  What a treat!

One of my favorite benefits to being a small, independently-run school is having the flexibility to change the plans as needed.  Several of us Tugboats were having an off morning and there was only one solution:  trains!

We revived our old favorite, the train set, which has been “resting” in storage for a couple of months.  As we listened to Thomas music, the children worked together to design an elaborate track that covered most of the floor.  Not only did the project offer a soothing element, but it also provided an opportunity for some really amazing teamwork and sharing!

Speaking of teamwork, Peter developed a fun an innovative group project this morning involving almost entirely recycled materials.  He presented the children with a stack of old boxes, some of which had been painted last week, along with a few styrofoam cubes leftover from the Hammer and Nail project during H week, and lots and lots of glue and tape.  Working together, the children assembled a massive piece of abstract sculpture, capped off by the addition of colorful bits of paper from the scrap bin.  This project is a fantastic example of the “process over product” style of art project that is the cornerstone of emergent curriculum.

It turns out, both are acceptable ways to pluralize “octopus,” and pluralize we did today at project time!  The Tugboats enjoyed a project designed by one of our curriculum developers, Kristy, in which they practiced math and fine motor skills.  Each child made his or her own octopus!  Everyone was given a half-circle (half of an O, perhaps?) as well as a page with squiggly lines dividing the page into 8 tentacles.  Armed with a pair of scissors, they set to work cutting out their tentacles.  Some of the children are already experts as scissor use and breezed through this step.  Others needed much more one-on-one help, which was easy to accommodate with our parent teacher, Liz, in the classroom.  For the younger children, today’s project was much more about process than product; as they begin to master using scissors, they tend to annihilate their practice materials.  Kristy was well-prepared for those children and provided extra pre-cut tentacles so that they would still have a project to complete.  Once the cutting was finished, the children counted 8 tentacles each and began to glue them on their half-circles.  For the final step, they selected googley eyes from an assorted collection and their octopi were complete!

The Tugboats were excited to see Sophia’s mom, Lena in the classroom as our parent teacher today.  Lena often brings special curriculum elements from Ukraine and Russia to share with the children, much of which is brand new information.  The last time Lena was with us, we read The Enormous Potato and she noted that the story strongly resembled a traditional Russian folk tale that involved a turnip.  Today, she brought her books to share with us!  In addition to the tale of the giant turnip, she also shared a folk tale about a singing ball of bread that was similar to The Gingerbread Man, complete with a silly song and a sly fox.  Lena translated the stories and told them aloud in English, pointing out the similarities and differences in the plots.  As we progress through our alphabet curriculum, the Tugboats were eager to investigate the Russian alphabet in which Lena’s books were printed.  Myles pointed out that Japanese also uses a different alphabet from the one we are studying at school.  Myles’ and Sophia’s experiences demonstrate the value the co-op program holds for all children.  Both Sophia and Myles were able to connect over the fact that they  speak languages in addition to English at home, both using a different alphabet.  Their classmates benefit from this exposure to language and cultures different from those they may experience at home.

We also hosted our first school-day Open House this morning!  From 9:30-11:30, prospective families were welcome to drop-in and see the school in action, as well as ask questions of parents of currently enrolled students.  Three families, two from East Boston and one from the North Shore, popped in to observe Circle Time, Snack, and project.  A couple of our new friends even joined us on our trip to the playground!  Prospective families had an opportunity to peruse the classroom a bit, which is especially helpful for children who may be a bit shy or take their time warming up to new situations.  It’s also beneficial for parents to see how their children will interact with new toys in a new environment.  For more information on our next Open House or to schedule a tour, please email carissa at harbor city kids dot org.