Peace Table
The peace table is an area set aside in each classroom intended for children to use when they either need a little time to themselves or to gather at with other students and the teacher to negotiate solutions to problems or express feelings. Items you may see at the peace table may be: mirrors, play dough (great for pounding out those frustrations, little trinkets and objects, small figures like statues or cuddly items for nurturing. The table may have a tablecloth and several chairs or be more cuddly with assorted pillows. Sometimes the class constitution is placed nearby.

Power Words
Any grown up knows that words are powerful communication tools. In our classrooms, we value certain words more than others and consider those words to be very special and "Powerful." We determine our Power words as a group and agree that the use of those words conotates a commitment to loyalty and trust within our community. Anyone using Power Words will be respected and their request honored. Typical power words may be: "Yes please", "no thank you", "please help me", "Give me space", "I don't like that", "stop."

Morning Meeting
Each morning all children in each room (twos and older) gather together at our circle time area with their teachers and make plans for the day. It's a structured time where each child is individually greeted, given an opportunity to speak and share and begin to process the planned adventures for the day. The teacher has some sort of gathering game, song or group activity planned to set the tone for the day and bridge the transition from home to school. Usually the morning activities are discussed as well as any review of concepts, rules and behavior expectations and the addition of any new "interest areas" or free play "centers" activities available for play. At Morning Meeting, you will also see calendar activities such as days of the week, weather and show and tell sorts of events but the main goal of Morning Meeting is to set the tone for the day. From time to time during the day the class may regather at the morning meeting area to regroup or review(perhaps Power Words or the Class Constitution)as necessary. Once the class is acclimated to the new structure of the day and the new teachers and classmates, regathering at carpet lessens. However we will always begin our day with a Morning Meeting. It's a little like a preschool morning cup of coffee"!

Cooking
We love, love, love to cook and bake. You'll see at least one cooking or baking project on the curriculum calendar each month as well as cooking and baking opportunities presented during snack and lunch. Our Pizza Patch and other garden plants are also utilized whenever possible. In general we have two goals for our cooking or baking projects:

1. to enhance the curriculum such as making pizza after reading pizza poems or creating a fun feast like the Very hungry Caterpillar ate in Eric Carle's children's classic
2. to promote healthy eating habits and to encourage children to try new foods and
3. to provide mathematical and scientific experiments as only cooking and baking can do! Of course it's all super fan and the anticipation of waiting for our finished product
   

Class Constitution
At the beginning of each year and whenever deemed necessary, we write/rewrite our class constitution as part of our group agreement to uphold school values. In general we encourage the children to brainstorm as a group about positive behavior they wish to see for their classroom. Usually the teacher guides the discussion somewhat, but you'd be surprised and please to hear many ideas children come up with on their own! We try to consolidate the ideas into easy to understand "rules" and write and decorate our constitution. It's a valuable document, after all! Then we all sign our names in our very best penmanship (or scribbles) :). The class constitution is hung in the classroom in a visible location for easy referral and as a reminder for those sometimes unruly moments. A typical class constitution will involve taking responsibility for ones' words and actions, the golden rule and use vocabulary appropriate for the age and stage of development.

Wish Lists
You'll see Wish Lists posted in our school and sent our via email regularly. There are several purposes for wish lists. First, it helps us obtain harder to locate materials that are frequently of the recycled nature. Second, its a great way to bridge home with school. Preschoolers love to be like big brother and sister and take things in to share with classmates. and last, it keeps our costs down and eliminates the need to store so many materials. We simply ask when the need arises. Thanks so much in advance for helping us out.