Spring Springs

The trees are bursting into bloom and the children are happy to shed their coats.

This is our busiest time of year. The children are working purposefully, joyfully and have achieved significant independence. The hive is buzzing away and each is engaged in singular or group activities to the point where we often look up with a start to find it is time for lunch.

With only five weeks of school to go, it is tempting as a teacher to give in to the sense of urgency for all the material left to cover but now more than ever, it is important to pause. Whether or not we finish all transformations in the constructive triangles box, parse a conjunctive clause or cover the second presentation on roots and stems is less significant than the fact that the children have found agency. They have their plans and are following them. So as their guides this is the time to dial it back a bit and wait for them to approach. If we have to rush out immediately and obtain samples of flowering buds to draw in our botany portfolios, that’s great. The best thing about this time of year is that we can to a large degree follow the children.