"I Have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (from his "I Have a Dream" speech)

January18, 2009

Dear OVCNS families, Hello, I hope this letter finds you all well and happy. I would like to take this opportunity to tell you what a wonderful job you are doing at school and at home. You are amazing parents and teachers. It is a pleasure to work with each of you. OVCNS is looking spectacular, thanks to all of the parents who helped at our all school clean up. Everywhere I look it is organized, clean and spruced up. With the arrival of this beautiful sunny weather the children have really been enjoying the newly prepared environment outside.

Every day to a child is a fresh new opportunity to experience, experiment and learn from the world around them. They learn from us and their environment what it is to be human. Maria Montessori observed that in the proper environment with the right influences children have compassion, kindness and peace. These are the great inner powers that children possess. They must be protected. She states that "if we want to influence the world at large we must start with the young child." (The absorbent Mind pg.49) I really believe this innate peace and love is possessed by children even at birth. In her book The Discovery of the Child she writes about the subject, "The most amazing mind is in the crib." Children from the time of birth are full of potentialities that are just waiting to be realized.

Children learn from their environment and us what it is to be human. They learn about love, comfort, fairness, peace and social justice from us. These sound like large concepts, but if we look at these topics from a child's point of view we see how relevant they are. If we behave comfortingly towards the children and speak softly to them we are directly influencing how they see the world in a positive way. Children learn to trust that their needs will be met in a fair way by having a caring adult really listen to them. This trust in the goodness of the world begins at a very young age. If a baby cries and her mother picks her up and comforts, holds and maybe even nurses her, she perceives the world around her as fair and good. All of her needs are being met at that moment.

When we help a child at school we are always thinking of how best to meet the needs of that child in a thoughtful and loving way. When we are at school we are all teachers. Here are some ideas of how the teacher helps the child:

1. Use a quiet, confident tone of voice when you speak to a child.

2. When speaking to a child our face should be at the childÕs level.

3. Give the child plenty of time.

4. Make suggestions, positive ones.

5. Interest the child in desirable behavior.

6. Encourage the child all you can to be independent in his actions and his play.

7. When several children are playing together, they need to be helped to like each other more rather than less.

8. Listen to what the child is saying.

Through careful consideration of the individual child's need within the group at school we can form a lasting impression on the child, which will help prepare her for the future. "The whole of our lives prepares us indirectly for the future." (Maria Montessori The Absorbent Mind)

In light of Martin Luther King Jr. day celebrations and remembrances coming up we might ask our children what it means to be fair and what do they think justice is. For younger children it may be understood as how to be a good friend or how to get along well with others. It has been my experience in the preschool that after they grasp the concept of fairness they revel in telling you what is not fair. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has delivered some of the most moving speeches I have ever heard and his dreams for equality, nonviolence, peace and love are continuing to be fostered by us through our children in our school and homes. With the presidential inauguration to be held on Tuesday for Barak Obama just one day after MLK Jr. day I am deeply affected just thinking about the magnitude of this momentous occasion and what it means to all of our children.

I will end this article with a quote by Dr. King: "For nonviolence not only calls upon its adherents to avoid external physical violence. It calls on them to engage in that something called love. When I say love at this point, I'm not talking about an affectionate sense. I'm talking about something much deeper. I'm talking about a sort of understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill for all men." (Address at the freedom rally)

Love, Jennifer Wing

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OVCNS BIRTHDAYS

If you would like to celebrate your child's birthday with his or her friends at school you are welcome to do just that. After outside time we will clean up a bit early (by 10:30) and go inside to our circle rug.

There we have the children sit around in a circle and have a little ceremony for your child. We ask the parent of the birthday child to make up a poster board with photos of each year beginning at birth with a newborn photo. We light a candle to represent the sun and place it in the middle of the circle. The birthday child will hold our small globe and walk around the candle slowly (as many times as he or she is old-as the earth goes around the sun yearly) as his or her parent tells about each year of the birthday child's life so far.

Muffins or sweet bread can be served to the children following the ceremony. We do have a few children with food allergies and hope you will try to include them too (Rainbow Bridge has a brownie mix with no wheat or dairy).

A birthday book can be given to the school in your child's name. Your child can pick it out and I can read it to the class.

If your child's birthday is not on a school day and you still want to celebrate it at school, just pick a day that is good for your family the week before or after