West Richmond Preschool

As always there was great anticipation for our big buddy day. Prior to their coming, we revisited the Genius 15 topics to refresh their memories. I was very impressed that most of our preschoolers remembered their big buddies's names; even the ones who have two buddies! Our plan for Genius 15 this visit was for the groups to create a multi-dimensional representation of their topic. Our hope was that they could take the knowledge they have gathered from their research and use it to create a piece of  art. We believe children 'speak' in many languages and it is our job to invite them to use these languages to express themselves. We collected various materials, everything from elastic bands to wire to foam to tape to fabric to cotton balls to boxes and on and on. As soon as the teams were paired up, they set to work. There was this intense and focused energy in the room as big and small buddies collected materials from the art table. Designs were discussed, debates over the ...

It was a most beautiful day to head to the farm- sunny, crisp air and no agenda. The only task we had was to harvest our rutabaga. While on the bus, I overheard one of the children say that we needed to look at 'our' apple tree. I was pleased that they remembered our investigations and initiated this interest on their own. The children could not get out of the bus fast enough to see the tree. One child thought that perhaps it had 're-grown' its apples. However, after close observation, they announced that in fact there were no apples, nor leaves. Instead of going to our own garden plot right away I invited them to explore the front gardens where we helped weed and turn soil with our big buddies. The pathways were frosty and loud crunching sounds echoed loudly. The children ran up and down,  enjoying their 'power' over the ice. They peered in through the window of the "Living Seat"that resides in the front gardens at Terra Nova. They ...