Change, change, and more change! It’s been a great changing week. Personally, I love change. I love that growth that change can bring. I also love the challenges that changes can test us with. It’s a good time for change; it’s lent.

The children, who have not been able to be out because of ice and freezing temps, have had a lot of fun with all our changes. Some of them have helped with the changes and that helps them grow up thinking that they are a part of the changes.

There are always new rules with change and if teachers keep rules simple, and the children see the result of the new rules making play even more fun, then we’ve all learned something.

The hardest part of the changes has been with teachers who find change difficult. Some people respond to change well and some don’t. But change is the growth spurt to life. Without constant good change, life just seems to dwindle away. When life begins to depend on the status quo, there is no place to go up. At the same time, constant change means a lot of hard work. But as I see it, hard work is the key to living well. The harder you work, the more life will bring to you.

It’s been a very hard working, hard changing time in my own personal life these days. I find the loss of my mother a bit hard to realize with all the implications of losing a life. The adjustment, the thinking, the feel of that loss has been really hard, and of course one thinks about one’s own mortality. Saying goodbye for the last time was hard. Being in a room and watching someone take a final breath was hard, especially when that someone is your mother. I’ve tried to squeeze Miss Molly’s Robbie as often as I can because I think squeezing a small child is a great remedy to sadness. It helps with the separation.

Miss Amy has noticed some real changes in her life as well. She is happily teaching music and singing some happy songs as she has moved all the music equipment into her room and into a nice arrangement for playing, singing and learning. It sure has been a great week for UP!

Miss Kelly is not freezing in the cold room anymore. She loves the sunshine that pours into her room and is enjoying the warmth and privacy a K-1 room should have. She even kept some of the plants!!!

Mr. Tom has moved into the kitchen a little. I bought him a juicer and have put him in charge of ice cream. He’s going to take over afternoon snack creations. He is contemplating the garden and is going to build a compost bin. We are going to move the strawberry bed and put in a few new things. It’s all very exciting and very child involving, because his first comment was, “I can get the kids out in the garden to work; they will love that.”

Parents will see more changes out in the playroom with new play areas and new configurations. What I’m looking for is the ability to make changes in play spaces asap as we add new things and rest some older things. That’s the goal. So that in the morning, the toys can be rotated for new and creative play. We have lots of toys stored that never seem to come out. By leaving play spaces open and toys in roll-able crates, we can change, change, change and the children can play, play, play!

And school work? Any little breather or recess actually helps schoolwork solidify. Children don’t forget what they have really learned. With new experiences like moving and change, they seem to see what they have learned in new lights with new angles and new ideas.

Next week we begin play practice. Another time for up. This is the fun play, and with the new playroom, we have a lot of new ideas about producing it.

There’s a storm nearing us. We may be calling again today.