We're off to a great start on our year... I can't believe 2 months have gone by already!
I feel like I know most of this year's families already... but I'd still love to know more!
If you haven't already done so, please take the time to send Dayna your Family Profile and a family picture. Write whatever you want... just your names, or fill out Dayna's rockin' questionairre... whatever moves you.
These will be posted at the school, and the kids always love looking at each other's family pictures, and reading their family stories.
In the spirit of inspiring you all, I'll share our family profile, written last year:
Once upon a time, in a tiny village called Linden Hall, a Beautiful Lady named Kate and her Prince Charming, whose name is Tony,welcomed their baby daughter to the world. They named her Aubrey Emily Sanfilippo, because they liked the name, and because the Lady’s best friend was named Emily, too. They were very happy together, with their dog Benny and their cats Bill and Purple. Aubrey was a good baby with blue eyes and long legs. She was very smart and funny, and she loved to make music. But still, they felt their family was not yet complete. So a small time later, they welcomed another tiny daughter to the family. They named her JoAnn Evans Sanfilippo, after the Lady’s Grandma and Daddy. JoAnn was a good baby too, and her round cheeks and full lips made them all fall in love with her right away. JoAnn loved to make art and to sing, and she was also smart and funny (smart and funny seemed to be a family trait). Finally, they knew their family was complete. One day, the whole family came to visit a magical place called the Cooperative Playschool, and they knew right away that it was the perfect place for them to find more families to play, learn, and grow with. And they all lived happily ever after.
I am terribly remiss in not posting this news sooner.... sorry!
We are proud and pleased as punch to welcome Ms. Mindy to the Coop family as our new teacher of the "green team". We've only known her for a few weeks, but already she is family.
Here's a letter from Ms. Mindy introducing herself:
Dear Parents,
Hello and welcome to the three year old class! I am so excited to begin this school year with the Cooperative Playschool! My name is Mindy Miller and I am looking forward to working with your child this year!
I have been working with children for the past six years. In 2003, I entered Penn State as a returning adult student to pursue my dream of becoming a teacher. During this time, I began driving school bus while residing in Mifflin County.The job fit perfect into my busy school schedule and still allowed me time to spend with my son. Two years later I relocated to State College. I graduated from Penn State in the spring of 2007 with a B.S. in Elementary and Kindergarten Education.
During my years in college I worked in the infant through preschool rooms at Nittany Christian School. After graduation I began substituting at Nittany Christian, as well as State College & Bellefonte Area School Districts.I also spent a year employed as a long term substitute for the Central Intermediate Unit #10. I was a preschool developmental teacher working with children on the Autism spectrum.
I have two absolutely wonderful children. My son, Devin, is thirteen and began seventh grade last week. My daughter, Kinzley, just turned three in June!We have a home in Park Forest and love living in State College.
Please feel free to ask me any questions your may have.I can be reached at 814-(redacted) or you can email me at (redacted). I check my email every evening. Thank you for taking the time to read this.I look forward to getting to know you and your child this year!
This past May the Coop generously paid my tuition to attend a workshop with Bev Bos. Bev Bos was the mentor of Mrs. Nancy and came highly recommended as the ‘expert on play based programs’. I was not disappointed.She was a dynamic, enthusiastic, talented, insightful preschool teacher/director who left me inspired and motivated.Her departing advice was to “start with one or two areas and apply these ideas.”She is the author of several books which will be available on the Parent Lending Library Shelf. Please sign out these books for one week and learn what a brilliant child advocate can accomplish at her own play based school.
One of the biggest tenants of her program is to set up areas that encourage exploration and discovery. She has an amazing assortment of accoutrements in her block center that yield ramps, tunnels, marble runs, ping pong ball tracks and more. She asks that no toy be brought in front of the children with only one attribute. She decries the use of character toys because are locked into one identity and application.She refuses to let art be anything other than an exploration of materials.She made me cringe when she said “If there is an adult model of the project, then I question if it is really art.” While some ‘craft projects’ are acceptable, the bulk of her program focuses on developing creativity. Ileft the workshop vowing to create a clay play area, build a large sand pit and add on to their block building centers.
With the support and contagious enthusiasm of our Co-Chairs and Mrs. Lori we all took up her challenges and are doing our best to enrich your child’s experience here at Coop. Our first steps are to add a clay area and to have a large art exploration center using the bulletin board as an easel.Her book Please Don’t Move the Muffin Tins; A Hands Off Guide to Art for the Young Child has many ideas and examples of ways to rotate new materials and mediums in and around the art center. Please feel free to sign up to be the facilitator at this center as an activity.We will also be rotating the clay play area with the woodworking table to bring more exploration with a variety of materials.
Our challenge to provide open ended sand play gave rise to the construction of a large sand pit near the playground fence.Using a hose or filling the magic well with water and providing buckets gets these engineers inspired to build moats, lakes, waterfalls, and roadways.We hope to bring out the cars, shovels, sifters, shells, treasure box etc. to this area and use it as long as possible.Bev Boss has photos of children stripped down to their underwear in the cold November weather filling moats with water! This area will also become the site for our butterfly garden.If you have perennials that need dividing this fall that are insect friendly, please give us some plants. We are hoping to construct a shed with the children’s help to store our gardening and sand play equipment.If this inspires you please see the Co-Chairs or the Teachers and we will co-conspire to build a small lean-to shed together.Bev’s book Tumbling Over the Edge,A Rant for Children’s Play has many inspiring and creative outdoor and indoor ideas along these lines.
Lastly, we are hoping to have your cooperation as snack parents to help us make that a meaningful activity, rather than something done in the kitchen before the children arrive. We understand that some of you don’t have the time or inclination to cook with kids, and there will be times when a bag of pretzels and some grapes will be our snack option, but we hope to have many parents embrace our goal of making the snack preparation a chance for the children to learn and explore and make discoveries too. Some of our ideas are : husk corn and serve corn on the cob; make butter in a jar;make ice cream in a bag; bread baking in it’s many forms and incarnations (pretzels, bread, pita, doughnuts, fry bread,chapattis, tortillas) ; making nut butters; making applesauce; using the apple peeler/corer to prepare apples for snack; scrubbing potatoes and making mashed or broiled potatoes; simple soups using a few vegetables the kids wash and put through a food processor or hand slice; mixing up trail mix, making pasta, preparing pizza, baking a pie, no-bake cookies, healthy muffins etc. etc.The children will also be washing their own cloth napkins each week as part of our effort to cut down on disposables.Mrs. Kat will provide a hand wringer washer for this weekly ritual, as well as a child sized clothes hanger. We hope to make every part of our day meaningful and play-based to give your children the best experience possible.
Thanks to the 60 or so Co-op families and teachers, both past and present, who joined us for a festive kickoff to our Anniversary year. I saw lots of familiar faces, and met some new ones that I have heard about. Thanks to all who came by for the festivities. And thanks for the wonderful food! My, we are good cooks, aren't we?
Are you alum? Did you or your children attend our school in the past 60 years? We want to hear from you! I am trying to compile contact information from as many past parents and students as possible. If you have information for our database, please share it! Please contact the school through this website, or contact me, your humble webadministrator, at communications@cooperativeplayschool.com. Or mail it to the school. Or call. Whatever is easiest for you...
It's 9:00 a.m. and the three quiet rooms come alive as small voices fill the air and children become engaged in a variety of activities. On the blue rug, three children gather and work cooperatively putting a large floor puzzle together. At a table, a small group of children are working with plastic letters, spelling real words and creating make-believe words. Children are also busy stringing beads, investigating how magnets work and assembling puzzles at the manipulative table. The activity room is bustling with activity as it is transformed into a post office. Here the children explore with a variety of writing materials including paper, pencils, pens, envelopes and rubberstamps. In the green rug room, a tall block building is under construction. The dress up corner is host to active firefighters creating maps of their community and extinguishing pretend fires. In other areas of the school, children are actively engaged with painting, cutting, gluing, drawing, dancing, and creating.
This is just a glimpse of what goes on at the Co-op on a typical day. The children are playing and having fun, but they are also learning. It is through creative play that children learn about themselves, their peers and their world. The Co-op offers meaningful, age-appropriate experiences that encourage children to learn through play.
Perhaps it is easy to see how hopping, jumping, or dancing help build large motor coordination just as it is evident that stringing beads, cutting, drawing, or putting a puzzle together help children to develop small muscle dexterity and eye-hand coordination. However, this is just a small sample of the benefits of play.
Children playing in the post office are free to explore and discover different stages of writing. Some children are writing their names, names of family members, messages like, "I love you" or their street addresses. Other children are making straight lines and squiggles. Don't discount these marks as just scribbling. Just as babbling is a foundation for speaking, scribbling is a foundation for writing. Writing is a natural and gradual process. Whether it is random or controlled scribbling or writing mock letters and words, this is evidence of emergent literacy in young children.
Children playing in the dress up corner, the dollhouse or make-believe scenarios can create situations that they can deal with and control. Children may work out their fears or anxieties through make-believe.
Materials at the manipulative table, legos, or large wooden blocks provide children with many learning opportunities. These activities promote social growth, sharing, exploration of sizes, shapes, distances, proportions and weight, concepts such as "smaller than" or "bigger than", counting, one-to-one correspondence, classification, sorting and matching.
The variety of activities offered at the Co-op give children a feeling of satisfaction and joy. These positive feelings allow children to gain confidence in their skills and abilities, resulting in a strong self-concept. Playing also encourages children to think and create divergently. Play encourages many positive outcomes, so let's encourage play. Play is the work of children!
(Written by Julie Maxwell, former Cooperative Playschool teacher)
At the Cooperative Playschool children have the freedom to explore and discover through creative play a sense of what their world is all about. Activities and play areas are structured in ways that allow for social interaction, creative expression, and thoughtful investigations. One particular area of development that is enriched through play and teacher guidance is the children's emerging skill with writing.
Children become writers mostly through discovery. Learning to write is a gradual developmental process, much like learning to talk, during which children discover and then revise different strategies for producing print.
Research shows that when creative play areas are rich with print and when real-life props are provided for the children to use, children's awareness and use of print is enhanced. At the Co-op, play areas and various activities throughout the year provide opportunities for children to make discoveries about writing. The post office is supplied with paper and envelopes, rubber stamps and ink pads, pens, pencils, markers, mail slots, and a mail carrier's bag. If you are working at the Co-op on a day when the post office is open, notice the variety of activities that go on there. Children talk about what or to whom they are writing. They stamp, staple, fold, seal, and deliver important messages.
"The Cooperative Playschool is a celebration of children's development and growth."
"Children and parents alike grow in the self-confidence and trust as they interact with each other and the skillful, caring teachers."
"I gained a better understanding of my child as I watched him relate to other adults and to his peers."
"We loved the sense of involvement we got from the Cooperative Playschool."
"I look forward to the days I help out at the Co-op - it's my chance to be a kid again."
"The wisdom I gained from the teachers enhanced my own parenting skills and improved our family relationships."
"The Co-op provided us with a network for developing friendships with families who share similar interests and values."
"With my husband and myself invovled, my child enjoyed a more natural and secure first school experience."
"We met some of our best friends at the Co-op."
"I appreciated the non-competitive, creative learning that seemed to occur spontaneously with little effort, as I learned to listen and trust the wisdom of the children."
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At the Cooperative Playschool children have the freedom to explore and discover through creative play a sense of what their world is all about. Activities and play areas are structured in ways that allow for social interaction, creative expression, and thoughtful investigations. One particular area of development that is enriched through play and teacher guidance is the children's emerging skill with writing.
