“I think they show you you’re almost there.”

Presenting here a series of vignettes, we wonder about a thread that seems to be bubbling in Studio Purple.

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“Is that a map?” -Miles

Caroline shares a drawing she has just made.  Miles’ question prompts her to return to her drawing for some added details before eagerly arriving back to us to share,

“I know! I can make a X marks the spot. That’s where my house is!  See, this is where my house is and this is deCordova.” -Caroline

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Soon after heading into the woods for our first nature walk of the year, the children notice a red circle attached to a tree.

“What’s that?” MILES

Other children see another in the distance.

“There’s another one!”  TRAVERS

“I see another one!” CHARLIE S.

“Look!  There’s one right there!” WES

On the way back from our nature walk, the children notice these red markers again.  

“I think they’re to show you you’re almost there.”  IAN

“No.  There are bears here.”  TRAVERS

“No.  I know what they’re for.  I know what they’re for. I don’t know.”  CASE

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While playing in the sand on the back play space, Rosalie, Ruthie, and Luca notice a child feeling sad about missing his mom.  He is crying and Mark is trying to comfort him while building a house in the sand. Rosalie is curious and eventually sits down right next to the two of them.  She begins drawing in the sand and tells them that she is drawing a path in the sand to the boy’s mom (in the house that Mark is building). Luca and Ruthie overhear this talk of trails leading to houses and both begin making pathways in the sand.  (It may be important to note that both Luca and Ruthie were missing their moms too.)

“This is the road.  This is the trees. This is the house.” LUCA

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While the children’s interest and curiosity around maps often seems to come up each year, we are struck with the unspoken parallel of it as the children journey from home to school in a figurative sense.  Maps can help us identify a course to travel, however never being detailed enough to guide each footstep.  Trail Markers come in handy as a valuable way to “read” whether we are on the right track or not.  We wonder as our new year begins to unfold, how the process of separating from home and finding our way with new dynamics and new peers informs some of the ways this thread seems to be making itself known and seems to be touching each of us as we “find our way.”