APRIL 2022 Join us at Peachtree Family Festival for family fun and the Artisan Market! Saturday, April 30 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Rain or Shine 2022 Springtime at Peachtree Committee
The Coral Room, Three-year-old class | CeCe Stewart | Mixed Media on Paper
DEAR FAMILIES, Each day, I have the pleasure of observing the ongoing work in classrooms. It’s fascinating to see the curiosity of children who are so excited about learning through the daily experiences offered. There is a small window of opportunity early in a child’s life to impact a child’s development, and it is our obligation as educators to seize this opportunity to provide a rich environment that embraces their desire to play and learn. A growing body of research in neuroscience reveals that a child’s brain develops rapidly and that play is crucial to that development. Recent evidence from research at Stanford University on neuroscience has shown that real-world, 3-D play by young children is what best creates those synapses in their brains. Unfortunately, in some environments, play has been removed from the daily experiences of young children. This decline in play has been driven by technology and initiatives such as No Child Left Behind. At Peachtree, our faculty provides innovative environments and a much researched curriculum, the Reggio approach, to foster a child’s love of learning and curiosity about the world around them.
MISS JANE
Welcome22-23AUGUSTParties First24-25Days of School JUNEMAYAPRIL Calendar New27 Family Orientation, Kellett Chapel, 9:00 a.m. Mother’s5-6 Visiting Days New12 Family Orientation, Kellett Chapel, 9:00 a.m. 16 - 20 Last week of Peachtree Afterschool and Extended Classes 6Vacation10 Bible School 30 Peachtree Family Festival, 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., Peachtree Presby terian Church, rain or shine Chapel23 Service, 11:00 a.m., Sanctuary, Three-year-old and MWF Pre-K classes Chapel24 Service, 11:00 a.m., Sanctuary, Five/Six and M-F Pre-K classes 13 - 17 Camp Peaches - Week 1 24 Last Day of School for T/Th classes 25 Last Day of School for MWF, M-F classes 20 - 24 Camp Peaches - Week 2 Art11July-14Studio Camp (Session 1) 11FUNdamentals15 (Session 1) 18 - 21 Art Studio Camp (Session 2) 18FUNdamentals22 (Session 2) 18 - 22 Social Detectives Camp
From Parents’ Council: Spring is here! What a fun and exciting time at the Preschool as we gear up for a great end of the school year!
EmilyBest, Kaineg
APRIL BLESSING: Dear forThankGod,youbeingso good to us. Thank you for listening to our prayers. Thank you for the world we live in: the summer and the winter; the sunshine and the rain; the time for sowing seeds and the time to gather crops. Thank you for all the good things the world gives us.
-AmenFrom Psalm 65
Next up will be our awesome family fun day - Peachtree Family Festival. This event will take place on Saturday, Aptil 30, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. This event occurs only with the help of our wonderful parents! Sign-up for a volunteer spot, invite your friends and family to attend, and get excited for a great day! As I’ve mentioned before, we are starting to fill Parents’ Council spots for next year. Parents’ Council is a great way to get involved, and there are some positions that take very little time commitment. We would really love to have you! We are looking for committee chairs and welcome everyone who is interested. Also, if you have any suggestions for next year, we would love to hear new ideas. Please contact me at ekaineg@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you!
A HUGE thank you to all who gave so generously of their time and talents for Springtime at Peachtree! It was a huge success and so much fun!. The Preschool’s Inclusion Program will benefit greatly from the money raised at the event. Thank you especially to our Springtime at Peachtree Committee, and specifically the chairs, Colleen George and Erin Istanbulluoglu. The Committee worked tirelessly on this amazing event – from the “Celebrating Ten Years of Springtime” beautiful décor to the band and the once-in-a-lifetime auction items, Springtime was a hit!
The children discussed the webs they found around the school, home, in stories, and as the basis of their own narratives. The studio is a critical space for children’s research. Using multiple languages, drawing, clay, and found materials, push our scrutiny even further and find some answers to the questions we asked about the nature of things. “Some lines are up and down, and some are circles. I saw a spider web on my swing set. It got bigger and bigger. I think there is a spider in it. I’m going to check when I get home.”- Chance
Multiple Languages
Sky Room, Pre-K, Webs
At the beginning of the year, the teachers were curious about how children encounter nature, so they began exploring outside. The children noticed the vertical patterns found in many of the plants they encountered, contributing to a desire to look closely at lines. As the children searched for lines, they came across one of the most fascinating creations in nature- a spider web! Not wanting to lose the children’s enthusiasm, the teachers invited the children to use drawing to capture the intriguing web and as a way for the teachers to watch and listen to the children’s processes. Listening to a spider and its web means pausing to look, being receptive to its suggestions, questions that arise, the mysteries it holds, and the beauty that multiplies with each encounter.
“I saw a spider web at my house. It was drifting at night and climbing up on a tree in the day.”-Ryan “I see how it attached itself.” -Molly
The webs children encountered stretched from side to side and reached upwards too. At times they seem to defy gravity up among the branches. Perhaps the children were inspired to do something that seemed extraordinary in their drawing. “ I picture this web being like the one at my old neighbor’s house. Oh my gosh! We’re going to make this so long- all the way across the table.” -Thomas “Let’s connect them. The web is climbing all the way to our classroom. It’s like a path.”-Juliet
Extraordinary
Narrative “Tiger is a spider that Thomas befriended one morning before school. As the children call him, Tiger Spider has fueled much of our work in the sky room over the last few months. Our collaborative story continues to grow.” – Teachers in the Sky Room Like the webs that blow in the wind, the stories the children created during these encounters often went in different directions bringing to life the differences in the children’s thinking. At times these tales were disorienting to us and brought about more surprises, questions, and ponderings. Finally, we realized that the components of the stories were scattered among the multiple investigations and meetings, and the light quality of the web combined with the uniqueness of the spider gives life to children’s creative imaginings.
“Tiger Spider is from a story we wrote together. We love Tiger Spider!”- Juliet “Tiger Spider is special, and he is always in our room.” – Blakeleigh “Tiger Spider lives on a web. He likes to play with people. He is a medium-sized spider and a good artist.”- Locke
Throughout the experiences, the children encountered thresholds between the real and the imaginary. Sometimes the border was as thin as the silk web, and the children moved easily between the two worlds. Introducing new elements like the light tables and various surfaces opened up new possibilities. “I’m using the light so I can see our web.” -Chelsea “I saw a spider web at the side yard of my house. It made music by spinning his web. He’s spinning this web to a drum.”- E’Eazzen
Thresholds
We believe that the pleasure the entire class felt when we were researching was a source of focused attention, listening, creativity, discovery, learning, getting closer to each other, and making deeper connections with the natural world. As the year comes to an end and the children are getting ready to move to new classrooms and schools, the teachers wondered if they would like to create an installation for parents to come to view the work, and that could also serve as a provocation for the new children arriving in the 2022-2023 school year. The children eagerly picked up the invitation, and ideas began to spin in their hearts and minds.
Concepts 2Life/deathTransformationRelationshipBordersPatternDimensional/3 Dimensional BeautyDifferencesVariationStoryFriendshipVerticalityShapeMapping
New Possibilities
APRIL 30, 2022 10:00 A.M. – 1:00 P.M. (RAIN OR SHINE) PURCHASE TICKETS ONLINE TODAY The Peachtree Family Festival is a joyful day of carnival games, delicious food, an artisan market, and more! Enjoy old-fashioned games, pony rides, food trucks, a bake sale, bounce houses, petting zoo, music, dance performances, and photos with some beloved characters. In addition, we again will have an Artisan Market where local vendors will be showcasing their wares.
PEACHTREE PRESBYTERIAN GoJuneCHURCH6-10off-roadfor a Monumental adventure through the colorful canyons and sunbaked trails of the southwest. By exploring God’s awesomeness, kids form a rock-solid faith for the road ahead. We are Hiring! We are currently looking for innovative teachers to work with young children Experience in early childhood settings with a disposition to work collaboratively is required Familiarity with the Reggio Emilia Approach or willingness to learn is desired We offer a competitive salary, maternity pay, complimentary gym membership, and professional development experiences with Reggio inspired educators in Atlanta, North America, and Reggio Emilia, Italy Please email resume to: Jane Montgomery jmontgomery@peachtreepresbyterianpreschool.org
Parents’ Corner - Picture Taking
Ashleigh Byrne - Follow Ashleigh on Social Media @ashleighbyrne and her blog at www.ashleighbyrne.com Spring is here and that means that it's time to switch out Caroline and Charlie’s books. All of these books are wonderful for introducing gardening to your littles. I've also included some books that are perfect for exploring outside; whether it's on a hike or walking around the backyard. My kids are especially into birds, so I've included some bird books too. Happy reading! A Seed is Sleepy Birds, Nests & Eggs Tap the Magic Tree Caterpillars, Bugs, an Butterflies Plant the Tiny Seed We are the Gardeners Growing Vegetable Soup Up in the Garden and Down in the PlantingDirt a Rainbow Easy Peasy: Gardening for Kids
Parents’ Corner - Spring Book Picks for Kids
New Teacher Experience April 11, 2022
Project Infinity Whole Project Professional Development Day March Educators2022 from Grant Park Cooperative Preschool, First Baptist Day School, and Peachtree Presbyterian Preschool came together for an in-person professional development day focused on mark-making research and children’s narratives. It was a time for discussion, sharing work, and interacting with each other.
Approximately 20 new teachers from Project schools joined together for the second New Teacher Experience. Teachers from First Baptist Day School, St. Anne’s Day School, Grant Park Cooperative, and Peachtree Presbyterian Preschool met in person at First Baptist Day School in Greenville, South Carolina.
It was a time to celebrate coming together in person after living with COVID restrictions, which impacted our scheduled time together. The group convened to continue the conversation on “Observation, Documentation, and Interpretation,” introduced at the Project Infinity Summer Institute. The professional development included discussions of shared readings, presentations from Project schools, and a time for questioning.
Professional Development “Ongoing professional development is both the right and duty of each individual and of the group…” Indications, p. 13
