For most of last week, our first week in session, we kept our outdoor adventures limited to our plot in the community garden and the open, grassy area of the Bremen St. Park.  In the classroom conversations, we differentiate between “the park,” which we had been visiting, and “the playground,” which we had not been visiting.  Peter and I wanted to practice the basics of leaving the school, such as walking in lines and safely crossing the street, before we encountered the adventures of the playground and other children.  On Friday, while The Tugboats (as we’ve begun to affectionately call Harbor City School students) had special guest teachers Meg and Kristy, the group ventured to the smaller playground at the end of the park near the YMCA.  Kristy and Meg proclaimed it such a success that Peter and I tried to replicate the adventure today.

The Tugboats did a fantastic job!  They walked in such a beautiful line, carefully listened for instructions before we entered the playground, and respectfully shared the space with the other children who were playing with us.  Several of today’s students enjoyed inviting new friends into their play.  They also had a wonderful time playing with each other.  Here you can see how much fun they had taking turns riding in and pushing the swing.  I think they had more fun pushing than they did swinging!

We enjoyed showing some of our new friends how well we listened and followed directions.  Some neighborhood parents planned to stop by later today and pick up an application!  As much as we love playing together, we look forward to inviting new friends into our school as well.  We have a variety of scheduling options available.  For more information, please contact Carissa: carissa@harborcitykids.org.

Well, two of the fish have names.

If you’ve visited our classroom, you’ve surely seen the beautiful fish tank we have featured in our science center.  The tank, as well as its bubble-breathing contents, were generously donated to HCS by the school’s dear friends, Patrick and Chloe.  We love our class pets!

We started our tank with several shrimp, who did a fantastic job of cleaning up the water.  They swim so fast!  Once the shrimp had adjusted, Patrick brought us some very interesting creatures: an orange fish, a fish with stripes, two silver fish with black fins, and a crawfish!  Many of our friends call the crawfish a lobster; we’re working on that one!

This morning, we decided to begin naming our fishy friends.  In order to save some of the fun for our friends who weren’t here today, we started with the two silver fish.  We couldn’t decide if they were twins or best friends, but they seem to do everything together!  We brainstormed several names, some more silly than others, and voted.  After the final tally, these two fish have been named:

Flower and Pen!

We later did wax-resist paintings of our aquarium, using crayons to color our fish and watercolor paint to represent the water.

Stop by sometime and meet Flower and Pen!

We have discovered the “Rockabye Baby” lullaby series and we absolutely love them!  You can check out this series of instrumental-only songs on their website.  This week, our friends have been rockin’ and restin’ to the tunes of The Beatles and Queen!

Harbor City preschoolers check YES for Rockabye Baby!

Oh my goodness!  How have we arrived at this week already???  It seems like only yesterday that our “first days of school” were just a glimmer in my eye, and here we are now.  The “first days of school” are now the spring in my step, the excitement in our voices and the coffee in my cup!

It’s been an adventurous few days at Harbor City School.  We’ve learned each other’s names and favorite colors.  We’ve practiced answering “Here!” at roll call and walking in lines to the park.  We’ve welcomed new animals into our tank, including shrimp, fish, and a crawfish.  We’ve harvested 1 watermelon and several winter beans.  We’ve even discovered a friendly monster, Gertrude, who lives under our snack table!

Take a stroll through some of my favorite pictures from these precious first few days.  We’ve still got plenty of space left for enrollment!  For more information or to schedule a tour, email me at carissa@harborcitykids.org.