The First of Many Weeks to Come

There will never be another first week of our first year. We had this thought the week before school began and once it was said, this idea took on a life force of its own. It became our mantra for the week, weaving though every moment of every day. We wanted to cherish these new beginnings. New beginnings in our relationships with each other, our children, our parents and our land. And, I believe we all did just that! Each day brought gifts- smiles and laughter from children, important conversations with parents, reflective dialogues amongst our staff and a found owl feather (thanks Mr Lai).

We all had so many questions. And, by all, I mean teachers, children and parents. How would the day flow? What will the children enjoy doing? How will our space work? How much should we plan and how much should we leave to spontaneous interest? Each day brought some answers and even more questions.

Our focus was on building relationships: with trust, care and respect, we can all do great things together! We can explore and learn about our world but only once we have established our own relationship to each other. This next week will be more of the same- deepening our friendships.

We kept the week simple so we could just ‘be’- no huge expectations or demands. Here are some moments from our first week.

Harvesting our giant zucchini.

Amelia and Anna love to look, smell and touch flowers.

Another gardener planted a special spot. The sign reads “Scarlet Runner Bean Teepee for all to enjoy”

An impromptu activity picking up pine cones that have fallen from what the children have now labelled as the ‘pine cone tree”.They are slowly making references and maps for themselves.

The Eagle Class worked with students from the Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver, harvesting vegetables to make a soup for the grand opening of the Terra Nova Adventure Park.