A Snug White Quilt

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...snow?! Yes indeed, it's still October and we've experienced our first snowfall of the season. The school grounds are covered in a beautiful blanket of fresh, powdery, perfect snowball-packing snow...and more is falling.

We are grateful for the shelter of our classroom spaces when needed, but also for our amazing CNS parents for sending their children to school prepared to PLAY in the elements.

This first snow of the year brought smiles, snow angels, and rosy cheeks to boot.

CNS children try out their tree stump gathering area. A bit colder than usual, but functional nonetheless!

New perspectives and natural elements invite exploration and risk-taking. Children climb, hop, jump, dive, roll, balance, and frolic to stay warm.

Test driving the jiggly bus! Still as jiggly as ever, even in the snow.

What a delightful, unexpected gift from nature. Our CNS outdoor program continues to surprise and inspire us every day.

"I wonder if the snow loves the trees and the fields that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, 'go to sleep, darlings, 'til the summer comes again."

[Lewis Carroll]

Gold In Your Pocket

Fall in New England is marvelous. Knees in the dirt, hands outstretched towards the sky...at CNS, we feel immeasurably fortunate for the opportunity to embrace this connection to nature on a daily basis.

Children are innately talented at engaging this connection. Grown-ups facilitate and support these explorations, but it is the children who lead them. Following, we invite you to take a tiny peek into the magical world of Community Nursery School under the backdrop of Autumn...

[A child's acorn collection brought in from home engages classmates with line & shape studies.]

[Fine motor muscles are strengthened and curiosity is piqued by hammering golf tees into an oversized pumpkin.]

[Leaves displayed the top of at the easel inspire creative masterpieces derived from fall's color palette.]

[Natural loose parts and cardboard circles set out as an invitation to create: fall pizza, anyone?!]

[An unassuming critter makes ten eager new friends in the garden studio. A bug house is promptly built to "keep him safe."]

["Leaf People" come to life via group foraging on the nature trail, sorting the found natural materials, sketching a plan, and, finally, constructing a representation.]

"Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons." [Jim Bishop]

Everybody Needs a Rock

One of the silver linings of the COVID-19 Pandemic has been the reimagining of CNS to a mostly outdoor program. As a school, we have always gained plentiful inspiration and curriculum from the natural world, but now we truly live it. In the Red Door room (younger 4's), the teachers challenged themselves to create as many curricular opportunities as possible that incorporate materials and elements found on our own expansive school grounds. Led by that intention, and driven by the excitement of the children in the group, "Everybody Needs a Rock" came to life.

The curriculum launched with children and teachers leading rock hunts together. Children foraged and collected a variety of stones, pebbles, and rocks from all over the playground.

Over the course of several days, curricular elements were introduced slowly and intentionally. Washing rocks, sorting rocks, painting rocks, classifying rocks, building with rocks...

Children learn to care for their rocks and analyze the identifying attributes of rocks. What makes a rock special? What can a rock be used for?

In the Reggio Emilia approach, it is common practice for each member of the classroom community to have a fabric pattern representing them. This fabric is used in a myriad of ways to foster identity and become incorporated into ongoing curriculum components. One of the ways the Red Door group utilizes fabrics is through attendance stones. Each child's individual fabric is affixed onto a rock of their choosing and then used as part of the daily morning routine. These fabric rocks may also be used as story-telling props in dramatic play.

Throughout this rock study, teachers and children share many books and stories together. They participate in group conversations where the exchange of ideas often leads to the emergence of more curriculum.

Rocks have become a key element of their collective classroom identity. The whole class contributed to a collaborative art piece with each child's name encircled in a rock shape. This art now hangs in the outdoor classroom tent.

Where will the rock curriculum lead next? With the intrinsic curiosity of the children, the possibilities are endless!