The first day of school: Alex's self-report.

[rivka]

(I'm leaving out the us-asking-questions part of the conversation.)

A teacher hugged me. I cried a little: "Wah wah." I cried: "Mama."

We read a book about trains.

All the kids sit at the table together. All the kids had shaving cream.

I talked to my teacher. I said: "I will have a turn." With the dough.

We had apple juice.

I made salad in the kitchen.

I played with shaving cream! I had a flower smock.

I have a cubby.

---

Her teacher reports that Alex cried every time the teacher checked her diaper, but that otherwise she was happy. She held back at first from playing with the shaving cream, but then she had a good time. She was happily coloring when we picked her up, but then fussed about everything: "I want two snacks. I want to stay at nursery school. Not tomorrow, nursery school right now! I want to go in the parish hall. I want to go to the kitchen and look for snacks." (Obviously, Alex is too well-socialized to the ways of churches for her own good.) "I want Mama and Papa. No! No! I don't want to go in the stroller. I want my sunglasses. Papa want to carry you." ...and so on. I think there was a lot of built-up tension that needed to be released once she knew we had really come back to get her.

Comments

[ailbhe]

Sounds good. My sister says shaving foam play is an essential part of the curriculum where she works - it's about textures.

Does Alex think it's enough fun to buy shaving foam for? I trust Alex:)

[rivka.livejournal.com]

She told me about the shaving cream a couple of different times, so I'd say that was an endorsement.

They do a LOT of sensory play at this school, which is great, because it means that Alex gets the experience without me having to clean up the mess. We did a lot of texture exploration with my preschool Religious Education class too, and the kids always responded beautifully.

Today, apparently, they set up a water table. Alex can't get enough of filling and pouring, so that was perfect for her.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

Cornstarch and water . . .. there are kids whose otherwise difficult behavior has been completely moderated, in my past, if they're allowed 30 minutes or so of cornstarch and water, partway into the morning, when things get hard.

I'd probably end up providing the shaving cream, for anyplace my kid went, so I could stand my kid's smell afterward. (Also, I have little doubt our kid would inherit our noses, neither deyo nor I can stand strong scents like that.) Where I have taught, I've insisted on the least scented creams (Barbasol for sensitive skin will do), or I simply can't use them. But they're a lot of fun, especially after otherwise messy activities (not sand, that textures the shaving cream)because it's really just soap, and provides good handwashing.

When our easel got dirty, I'd coat both sides with shaving cream and let the kids go crazy on it. That got it mostly clean. :)

[ailbhe]

It's *scented*? Wow.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

In the same way that other personal care products, like deodorant and soap, are scented. Some of them are probably awful, but this scent was very mild - at least, to the extent that it lingered on Alex.

[tea-dragon.livejournal.com]

Oooh- excellent easel cleaning method- I should try that!

Our preschool just had dry cornstarch and small porcupiny balls in the sensory table last week (no water though) and the kids LOVED it. Must be something about the slippery feel of it. They all ended up looking like ghosts though :)

What happens when you add water, something like playdough?

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

It's a bizarre, fabulous slime that runs between the fingers, can be balled up, then the balls "melt." They stir it with their hands, lift their hands and watch it run off their fingers. With younger kids, I mix it ahead of time (dump a box of cornstarch in a tub, and mix water in a cup or so at a time until it's slimy and fun), with older ones, I give them some colored water in another container -- just enough, which takes some time to determine -- and let them mix it in with droppers, spoons, cups, etc. It's fun two use two different primary colors (I like using liquid water colors from Discount School Supply) so that it ends up some variety of third color.

Ooooh.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

It's a delightful slime, very easy to clean up after it dries.

I mix it up ahead of time for younger kids, but usually let older ones dribble colored water (a couple of primary colors, I like to use a few drops of Discount School Supply's liquid water colors in larger containers to make a secondary color on their own) in gradually to make it slimy.

Here are some links illustrating the myriad cool of the slime:
http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/lab/cornstarch/index.htm
http://littleshop.physics.colostate.edu/Try%20At%20Home/goorecipeone.htm
http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000088
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH6-2UizHfI
http://cfcp.uchicago.edu/education/explorers/2003winter-YERKES/images/ywi2003-74_large.jpg
http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/video-walking-on-non-newtonian-fluid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2XQ97XHjVw

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

Whoops, I didn't realized I'd already hit enter on that previous one while I was off collecting links. But there you are. :D

[tea-dragon.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Walking on non-newtonian fluid was especially fun to watch :)

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

Another good keyword for the cornstarch-and-water mixture is "oobleck".