The meaning of what it means to be a friend has been explored, challenged, and pondered here at the Upper School. The Saplings are beginning to discover that friendship- a special bond between two people, or a group of people built with a foundation of companionship and trust- is more complex than they had imagined.

Many questions have arose in their interactions, invitations, and expressions in their art- How do we show a friend we appreciate them? What happens when one friend gets in a disagreement with another? Are we still friends with each other even if today I want to play with somebody else?

A Sapling approached us one morning, confused and frustrated at the new feelings that she could not give a name to. When we asked her if she wanted to express what was bothering her, she told us "I don't want to be her friend because I want to play with the boys now. And I'm scared that she will be mad." Smiling to myself, I replied, "Friend, if you choose to interact with another Sapling today, do you think that the friendship is over?" The Sapling's nose scrunched. "Well... it's not that I don't want to be her friend never again, I just don't want to be her friend right now." 

As new friendships are developed, many new ideas arise and are challenged. Friendship is celebrated in many ways, and sometimes friendship faces hardships. The Saplings are beginning to see that you can be a friend by giving a hug to someone that is not feeling well. That even if you are playing with someone else, your bond is connected with a strong, white string that can never be broken. And even if you get angry with that friend and say something that you don't mean, you can still find a solution to mend the pain and come together again. 

"Even when me and my best friend are gone, we are still best buddies. Because we're still friends, in our hearts." 

​

This month we are celebrating friendship. Who are your friends when you are a baby?

Everybody, it seems. That is the best part of being a baby. It is all about love and snuggles. Everything is new and there is so much hope--even on the dreariest days of winter, where you spend most of your time inside with very little light.

Our room feels even cozier this month, as all of our newest and littlest friends start to settle in and spend most of their days going in and out of the eat, sleep, and diaper cycle. The "waddlers" of the room like to check on the tinier ones, popping binkies back into baby's mouths, or handing out books and toys for them to explore.

We've added books on friendship to our library. I really enjoy the series of classical literature redone as children's board books. My favorite is the Huckleberry Finn board book, which is an almost a meditative recapturing of the story, full of pulled quotes about the more mundane parts of a typical day, written so poetically. 

We had fun making felt dress up dolls for our classroom, which are meant to be representations of us and the children, as we are all growing to be great friends. 

Our ongoing project is our friendship flag, comprised of the children's handprints on paper and fabric, sewn together. Our intention is to one day hang it in their 3-year-old classroom, as a reminder that we are all old friends. 

As we transitioned to our new space at the Upper School, we have found endless opportunities to discover and explore. And what an exploration indeed! As we rolled forward with our new start, we found it was most important to get to know each other, get to know ourselves, and get to know how each of us contributes to an important role in the classroom. 

In January, we delved deeper into ourselves, exploring the differences between the outside versus the inside (drawing outlines of ourselves before drawing the insides and outsides), the many differences between us, the different emotions we experience, (experimenting with colors of chalk on black paper) and the qualities of ourselves that we value and appreciate the most (creating identity panels with different parts of ourselves). 

"My favorite part is my belly, because it can hold ice cream!"  -Gabe K.

"My favorite part of me is my whole body. You know why? Because there's lots of parts of me on the inside, and outside. Like the digestive system; everything goes in to go out. And my brain, so I can think, think, think." -Geronimo

"My favorite part of myself is my eyes." -Joseph

"My favorite part is my bones, because I can walk and keep my body together." -Arlo

"Muscles, because without muscles I can't move!" -Emme​

We look forward to sharing more of our self discoveries and more about ourselves to the community during our Downtown field trips!