saying goodbye.

last week i was offered a position teaching in a head start classroom at a chicago public school.  because this has been my goal since i finished graduate school nearly three years ago, and because it is a school with a great reputation, and because i have been struggling to pay the bills on my old salary, i accepted the position.

it was heartbreaking to say goodbye to my co-teachers and my kids. the good news is that my new school is also in the chinatown neighborhood, so i will be able to come back and visit often.

and now- i have approximately 12 hours of time in my classroom between today and next monday- the first day of school. 12 hours to arrange the entire room and create a curriculum.


yikes.

woodworking with preschoolers

it's fun and exciting. and only a little bit scary.

happy spring. more details to come.

self portraits

these were done in december. i am eager to see the results next month, when we plan on asking the children to draw their second self portrait of the year.

dear japan, we love you.

"and this goes the water so scary."

we talked about japan today.





michelle said: "and this goes the water so scary. ms wendi, some people died. i see on the tv."



we demonstrated an earthquake at circle time, and we saw how shaking can make a house fall down.

we saw how shaking can make water move.



jian hao: "the people run, run, as fast as you can. the water coming."

we talked about how we don't have big earthquakes here in chicago, and we don't live near the ocean, so we can't have tsunamis. i thought it important to point this out. but when i asked how they would feel if they lived in japan and their house got broken or their family got lost, they knew. they could imagine.

"so sad. so scared."

we looked at photos from the newspaper and saw that everything, everything is broken.

and we decided. we have to help them.

how can we help?

"i want to make the airplane, and they can go to china, get food."

"i dont know what to say, i don't know how to speak japanese."

"we can help them make the houses."

"bob the builder can go there, make the houses."

"if our house get broken, the japan people help us."

i said "you know what? we can send money. then people can buy medicine, food, blankets."

"i can bring my money! i have money!"

"i have a quarter."

"i tell my mommy, daddy."

so we are going to bring the money we have, and put it all together, and send it to help japan.

thank you, new creation preschool friends!

WOW! we love our beautiful valentine! we were so excited to open it we couldn't make it to circle time, so we gathered on the rug a little bit early. as i unfolded the giant glittery valentine jian hao said "i LOVE THAT THING!" and angel pointed to the photos of the new creation kids and said "i want to kiss all of them!" then ms. guan went and got the camera so we could make a little video thank-you.