Where they're going

Today I want to devote some blog space to the other classroom community in our school: the elementary. Currently the elementary class has 44 students. Yes, 44 as opposed to the 32 in our room. Granted there's less need for physical help, but it's still a busy room. 99% of the children in that class have moved up from the Children's house and it's incredible to see where they go, both socially and academically as they get older.

Unfortunately I don't get to see much of the actual classroom work, but I do get to see the end products. Beautiful posters on a huge variety of topics, a multitude of salt dough sculptures, numerous handiwork crafts, and (strangely) a desire to get a jump on that work in morning daycare....

The main thing I get to see is the social community that's built by having children who basically grow up in a community where they're not just stuck with other children their own age, but have a mix of older mentors to look up to and younger children to mentor themselves. This is especially apparent in the children who come for before and after school care. Most of them have had the same schedule for years and so have spent a lot of time together. They know how to work together...and push each other's buttons.

The foundations of talking out problems peacefully in Children's house can be seen when this group argues. They police each other, stand up for those who need it, and are so great about including others. Not that they're perfect. They're still elementary students and trying out different social roles, including some not so savory ones. Regardless, how they end up working together can be staggering.

Case in point: The snow fort on the playground.

Every winter the elementary playground turns into a plethora of snow forts. The four corners where the snowbanks are the highest command the most attention. Usually there ends up being a lot of small forts but this year one excavation site has become the property of nearly half the elementary class. The older children have been instrumental in the overall design of the fort but they've allowed the younger ones to help with tasks more within their abilities.

The end result? A snow fort with three rooms dug nearly down the pavement (FYI this snowbank is about 7 or 8 feet tall!) including solid stairs to crawl in and out of them, outer walls that extend for about 30 feet, belly sliding hills with carved stairs to get back up, an 'office' to check in (via snow computer since we are in the 21st century), and a newly added snowball mine with a block about 3 feet in diameter currently under excavation.

Remember these children are 12 and under. Not only have they built this impressive fort over the past two months, but they've done it by engaging about half their class in the project in one way or another. Our younger kids aren't quite up to  a social challenge like this yet, one or two friends working together is about all they can handle, but I hope they'll get there some day.