Monthly Update from Gabriela ~
March 2014
A Year in Review…
With no doubt, this school year has been one of the busiest years at GPCP, at least in terms of my
duties and agenda.
Summer time flew by as I focused on
the renovations at the GP campus. It
was exciting for me to be able to see
the transformation of the campus first
hand. This had been a long-term
dream for many of us and I am so
thankful to have had the opportunity
to see the transformation. The
renovation included all new floors, to
all new exterior windows, plus a
beautiful “spa like” changing room and bathroom for our youngest
children, a kitchenette in the Swans classroom and an interior window that connects the cats and
ladybug classes. This experience also took me back years, to the time when we completely
renovated the CT campus in 2006-07.
It seems like we did not have much time to “digest” and celebrate the
changes, before we found ourselves delving into the world of Farm to
School in preparation to a new school year with a huge undertaking:
preparing daily lunch for our children! The annual retreat spent away
with our educators focused solely on the Farm to School concept as we
planned to make this the focus for the school year. The time was spent
thinking together about strategies that would support our new task of
cooking lunch each day. I am so proud of our entire team for
embracing this complex, new task with excitement and vigor! It is also
important to point out that educators agreed to start the day 30 minutes
earlier in order to have time to prepare the lunch and as a new strategy
to support the children during early arrival. Educators welcome the
children each morning and together WITH children, they spend time
arranging spaces, setting up materials to prepare for the day, preparing lunch, caring for pets and
plants, and enjoying each other’s company.
Then, the school year begun and my job and daily duties
suddenly changed to accommodate being immersed in the GP
Cats class as Austin’s co-educator. This turned out to be an
excellent opportunity to offer mentoring and support to a new
educator, who was eager to learn. This is also one of the
aspects of my job that I am most passionate about: the role of
Pedagogista or Pedagogical Coordinator. What a fantastic
experience! I definitely gained so much insight on the
relationships that children and educators build. I now have a
special bond with the children in this class!
I was able to go back to my regular duties once we hired Ms. Belinda at the end of October. Time
flew between then and the Holiday breaks. After a brief time rotating between campuses and
assessing the situation with each class, it became apparent that I needed to focus my attention to
the Swans class, also at GP campus. With a completely brand new team of educators, my support
in this class was much needed. It has been a pleasure to work with a talented and open minded
group of educators who are truly invested in the work of the children and eager to learn more
about the unique and innovative ways we work with children at GPCP.
It is evident that I have spent the majority of the time at GP Campus this year and this clearly
represents a challenge in terms of my ability to make relationships with the new families at CT
campus. I have gotten to know the children and it is my goal to continue to find strategies to get to
know the new families better. Please join me for a cup of coffee and conversation on Wednesday,
April 2nd between 8:30 and 10:00am. I would like to get to know you better and to hear more about
your dreams and goals for GPCP!
Even though this has been a busy year, I can’t say that it has been that unique. It reminds me of the
years after opening the CT campus when I also had to focus the majority of my time and effort in
building a team of educators for the new campus. This makes me think of the relationship with my
own children, who I love equally, but I often need to focus on the child who needs the most support
at a time. It is clear now that the effort all those years ago has paid off at Cabbagetown. We now
have a solid and strong team of educators. Kudos to Gracie in her role of Atelierista AND Assistant
Director for holding the fort at CT Campus this year, and to the entire team for their strong
performance and commitment to the children and the work! Thank you!
Professional Development:
Another strong focus for me this year is the time spent
with the Exhibit in Greenville. The Pedagogical Team
and I planned to use the Exhibit as a tool for
professional development. One of the strategies we
came up with is to take small groups of educators for
an extended stay in Greenville (2 to 3 days at a time)
as an opportunity to study the work from our
colleagues in Reggio Emilia that is displayed
throughout the Exhibit. Our goal is to make
connections to our own work and use the time together and away from our daily routines, to
analyze our work and make projections for the remainder of the school year and even into the
following year. Educators from the multiage classes from both campuses will go next week. A
group of educators from the younger classes at both campuses went last month.
Here are some reflections from the educators:
“There was a quote that I came across by Carlina Rinaldi ‘I
observe you, and while I observe you, I ‘capture’ you, I
interpret you. But at the same time I also modify my own
knowledge. So observation is not only an individual action,
but also a reciprocal relationship. It is an action, a
relationship, a process that makes us aware of what is
happening around us.’ When I read this it made so much
sense to how I needed to move forward in my
understandings and how much I still need to practice. It was
an all-around wonderful experience and I am thankful for
being able to take part in it.” ~ Belinda Parra – GP Campus
co-educator
“One of my favorite quotes from the day was ‘acts of bravery are good!’ I have taken many steps
toward bravery this year especially with singing. I am not a singer and never thought I would be
singing. It’s something I do every day now and I had to learn to get over that I don't have the voice
to sing and just sing. No one has ever heard me sing so to start this year and having to sing in front of
children, parents and staff was definitely humbling and challenging. It is exciting to me that we as
educators are developing professionally alongside the children. There is something to learn every
day!” ~ Austin Howard – GP Cats Class co-educator
Save the Date: Free Family Day at the Exhibit in Greenville.
JOIN US in Greenville, on Saturday May 3rd. We will meet
at the Exhibit space at 10:30am. After visiting the Exhibit,
families and educators will enjoy a picnic lunch together
at a nearby park. Lunch will be provided by the schools
in project Infinity.
We will have materials for the children to interact and
play with at the Exhibit site, so parents will be able to
during the visit and we will provide lunch together with
our Project schools. You may also want to make a
weekend out of this. Greenville is a really great city to
explore with children! See how much fun the educators
had last month!
Adaptive Learning Center:
I am happy to share that GPCP has established a partnership with Adaptive Learning Center (ALC).
This partnership will support our school become more inclusive. ALC is a non-profit organization
committed to support children with “special rights” (borrowing the term from our colleagues in
Reggio Emilia use) in a full inclusion program. ALC works to educate parents and educators, in an
effort to affect change for children with challenges throughout the community.
http://www.adaptivelearningcenter.org
Last year, Gracie and I met with Charles Schoen, Executive Director of the program and Kelly
VanSant, program Supervisor, and begun conversations about the possibility of establishing a
partnership with them. They shared their desire to expand their program to more schools beyond
the northern part of the city and they were excited about the possibility of partnering with GPCP.
Charles also came to the school earlier in the school year to share information with our educators
and to answer their questions. As Charles said, this is a great way to enrich our community. The
children who experience diversity and compassion at an early age, do better in the long range.
Though ALC provides an educator for the classroom, there is no cost associated to GPCP in
establishing the partnership. The ALC families pay tuition directly to ALC, as well as to GPCP. It is
great to know that both organizations have scholarship money to support the families with this
expense.
We look forward to welcome our new ALC family in the fall!
CALENDAR
Saturday, March 22nd: GP Campus Workday
Monday, March 24th: New Family Summer Camp Registration begins – registration continues until
classes are full
Week of April 7th to the 11th: Spring Break – NO Regular School –
Mini Camp offered between 9:00am and 1:00pm (registration forms and
payment due by Wednesday, April 2nd!)
Thursday, April 15th, 7pm: Board Meeting
Save the date: Friday, May 16th
Graduation Ceremony (9:30am)
End of the Year Celebration: (11:00am)
@ Cabbagetown Park
This event is for all the families and children from both campuses