Our little community

Our classroom is no longer a collection of 6 individual children; it's a community.

This morning several of the children asked if C was coming back. We just had a three day weekend but they all easily remembered that one of their classmates had been sick the days before. I asked "Did you miss him?" They all answered in the affirmative and when C was spotted outside the door less than a minute later they all flocked over, chanting "C's back! Look it's C!"

Throughout the day I observed their usual little interactions. They helped each other with snaps and oil cloth rings. They offer to help wipe up spills and deliver forgotten dishes. They ask others to work with them and work together to clean up. They're becoming aware of the others beyond themselves.

S and W really demonstrated this especially today. They sat together with the reading mat for almost an hour, with S 'reading' to W from just about every book in the library. When they finished I suggested S take care of one of our plants that was looking pretty bad. W just kept wandering and I finally directed him to a shelf since it was too early for him to just be hanging out by me for the rest of the morning, an activity he enjoys doing a bit too often. He refused to participate though, so I chose an activity for him and set it at a table, wanting to keep him from wandering and distracting any of the others.

I feel bad but it was the other children who noticed he was crying first. They looked and asked me why and told them to go ask W. They flocked over and asked straight out why he was sad. "I want to go home! I want my daddy!" He blubbered out. They hovered around for a bit, telling him that he was ok and that it wasn't time to go home yet, but after the bead was on he could! I was so proud of their gentle words, some that I know I had said to them myself.

He quieted down and they drifted back to their work. But S wasn't done with him yet. She dutifully finished her work, cleaned it up, then went back to join W at his table. Together they played with the tanagrams (not exactly in a manner I liked, but....). Soon she had him giggling and chatting with her. Now that's something you can't force to happen- empathy with action!

Working together