educational

today i took maya to preschool and what did we beehold? a bunch of kids swarming around the back window. sorry about that. anyway, a swarm of bees was resting on a wooden railing in the school's outside area. they had just appeared there. exciting. i guess this is not unheard of in these parts.

it was parent appreciation morning so i stayed a little while for the treats that had been provided for us bumbling parent folk. maya's teacher quickly dig through her bookcase and came up with a book about keeping bees and read it to the kids at morning circle. when i picked maya up after lunch the kids were all clustered at the back window again, watching the bee rescuer and learning how to capture a swarm of bees.

i love preschool because so much of it is incidental, wonderful teaching. how could you come up with a more interesting science lesson than a swarm of bees in the playground and a guest bee keeper removing them?

i wish this kind of teaching and learning could go on for many more years but reggio emilio is undervalued and (supposedly) harder to implement as the kids get bigger.

anyway, i was feeling a little sad about preschool coming to an end for my youngest. miles saved some allowance to pitch in to see kung fu panda 2, and it was raining, and i am a sucker, so we headed over to the 4 star theater on clement street after picking up maya. miles scored two free bags of popcorn from the concession stand after asking for it in mandarin, and we were the only people in our tiny movie theater. after the movie maya talked about china, and kung fu, and then dressed up like a kung fu lady when we got home and set up little kicking stations around the living room and then got a plastic stick and waved it around like a kung fu lady would and twirled around in circles and crashed into the couch a few times and made lots of hilarious kung fu sounds until she whacked her brother in the arm with the stick and then it was bedtime.

so, there is incidental learning going on all the time, whatever setting you are in. it is just so fabulous when things that are real and meaningful and interesting fall into your child's lap and there is a teacher waiting near her with the time and skills to go deep with it.