!Escarabajos libres!

Today I had the pleasure of visiting the escuelita class of 2-3 year olds as they experienced a wonderfully integrated circle time and fall walk to Village Homes.  I soon realized how many things we do well at Peregrine School were integrated in this experience, so decided to describe it in this blog entry.  I hope it will serve as a snapshot for parents who are elsewhere and do not see what goes on, as well as for people interested in Peregrine School.

Twenty seven two and three year olds were gathered into a circle by Maestra Gaby, who begins with a song about “hojas”, or leaves.  Gaby captivates everyone’s attention by singing as she holds up some large, crispy, brown fall leaves and drops them from the air.  She then begins a game, in which she puts two leaves behind her back, one “grande” and one “pequeño”, and asks them to guess which is on which side.  When she reveals each leaf, the terms for large and small are reinforced.  To continue with this concept, the leaves are then sorted in the middle of the circle, with Gaby asking if each is “grande” or “pequeño”.  The leaves are then counted: uno, dos, trés…  Gaby then asks “Hay muchas hojas o pocas hojas?”  While all this goes on, two teachers support Gaby, holding children who need help sitting in circle, and two other teachers bring all children to the bathroom, so that when circle time is over, all children will be ready to go on a walk.

All of this is so smooth that it seems easy.  But think about all that is going on.  Every teacher is part of a team, backing up others so that children get what they need socially and physically while the “show” goes on without interruption.  In addition, several interrelated concepts that will resurface throughout the day and week are introduced.  Fall leaves, which have been discussed before, are featured, because the students will soon take a walk to collect more leaves.  The words “large” and “small” are also important parts of a unit on size, and sorting and counting them reinforces math skills as well.  And on top of it all, the whole circle time is a Spanish lesson, reinforced by songs, games and visuals. 

Next Gaby brings out a large Tupperware container in which beetles that metamorphosed from mealworms are living off of corn meal and rabbit chow.  The children have been watching this process for months, but now the beetles are adult and can go free.  A second purpose in the fall walk is to let them go to a new home in some mulch under a tree.  There the beetles will be able to make their own home, and lay their own eggs which will become worms and later beetles just like they did. Gaby explains this, bilingually, then says that we will miss these “escarabajos”, but that they will be free, “libre”.  Everyone chants “libre” several times, raising their hands in celebration about the liberation of the escarabajos.

Gaby explains that in the classroom we will now have a new insect pet- a plastic case full of ants- ornigas- which can make trails in a sugar filled container.  She then introduces the three body parts and six legs that the ants have, and how they carry around crystals of sugar to eat, and instructs the children that they will look with their eyes but not open up these new pets.

It is time to go to the park.  Everyone stands up and is led in a chant “ahorra vamos a marchar” which encourages the children to march in a line to the fence, and, after counting themselves, out the gate to their walk.  The walk is relaxed, because all five teachers and an intern guide the children, organized with partners, along the sidewalk and to Village Homes, where they are assembled in a grassy amphitheatre to eat their snack.  After the teachers hand out hand sanitizer and the snack of home-made vegan pumpkin muffins made by Chef Alison, pear slices, and water, Gaby reads a story about insect life stages, giving the students one last time to consider the cycle they experienced with their meal worms.

The day is beautiful, warm, fallish, and full of color.  Students gather leaves into large baskets  for future art activities, and those who choose to do so take out beetles one by one and let them free.  “Escarabajos libres”, we shout, hands in the air in celebration.  One cannot help but notice that the children too experience appropriate but celebratory freedom, as they feel the cool grass where they sit, pet a Village Homes cat and Rosie the dog, watch their beetles trundle off, and march about through piles of crunchy leaves.