Jacque Verrall writes about her “Dramatic Play Center in November”...

“Mine was a grocery store, the parents who organize this, had every child bring a small can or boxed grocery item, with the caveat that at the end, someone would take all the grocery items to the food bank (I really liked this idea). The parents brought two cash registers, fake credit cards, checks (they loved writing the checks! And I was surprised how knowledgeable they were about checks!), paper bags (small), grocery carts, etc. They have had a great time with it all.

Next week it will change to a space station. The other kindergarten teacher and I encourage our parents to trade set-ups, thereby getting double use of them.”

• There is always a parent who loves to provide art experiences for the children. I do my planning with her and then let her set up and supervise the new art activities.
• One parent helped us build birdhouses for the trees outside our classroom. We will be ready for our spring study of the uniqueness of birds.