I wanted to finish up all of the posts about our time in Minnesota before we moved away from there, but that didn't happen. (Worst blogger ever.) We're in a South Carolina state of mind now (more on that later), but I still want to get something of these last Minnesota posts down before moving on. Our Minnesota year was a really good one, overall, and I want some of these things recorded, if only briefly.
Anyway, one of the things that really anchored us in the year was Cora's weekly
Early Childhood/Family Education class. Our weeks would have their frustrations, but every Monday at lunchtime all three of us would leave ECFE in a good mood. Somehow one of my main memories is loading us all in the car afterward, either under a canopy of changing autumn leaves or amid piles and piles of snow, being careful not to smear Cora's still-wet art project of the week, still singing a little bit of the songs, and happily driving home to fix us all lunch.
Cora loved "school" and each Sunday we'd talk about how tomorrow was a school day and she'd be very excited, Hazel loved playing in the "sibling care" room, and I enjoyed the portion of the class I spent doing activities with Cora and also knowing that she was doing so well on her own for the portion of the class where the kids and parents were separated. I'm thrilled that Cora had such a positive first school experience.
These first pictures are from October, right at the beginning of the school year.
Finger painting:
Making a print of the finger painting:
Corn meal in the sensory table. Cora thought it was called "Cora meal." No way was I going to correct that--it's too cute!
And these pictures are from the final day of school, in the first week of May:
The sensory table would start out with clear water and a little cup of dark blue food-coloring water. Whoever got there first could release the color into the main tub.
Cora "planting" flowers with real dirt and fake flowers.
Even though it was May and she'd outgrown her winter clothes, she still needed long sleeves and leggings under her sun dress because of the weather.
A "birthday cake" of dough with lots of accessories to add to the top.
Song time. When each of these animals came up in the song, you had to hold up the proper puppet.
And this song involved doing various motions with these two sticks, including rolling them on the floor.
Here's Hazel in the sibling care room right next door to Cora's classroom. You could peek at the kids any time through the one-way glass. If you look carefully, she's standing behind the round table at the back of the room there.
ECFE was really the right thing at the right time for us.
3 comments:
I wish OR had something similar, does SC? Adele loved her ECFE classes, I wish I had as many pictures as you do of Cora.
No, I haven't found anything like it here. I think it's fair to say that MN is pretty near the top of the list for public education and SC is pretty near the bottom of the list. Though of course each child is an individual case in the end.
And notice most of the pictures are at awkward angles to avoid photographing the other kids. The one shot at the end has Cora's little friend Johanna that she still talks about, but I feel confident her dad wouldn't mind.
MN was not perfect ; but, it was close. Pun intended.
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