A Place For Wonder

My first grade teammate turned me onto a book by Georgia Heard that I didn't know about called A Place for Wonder.  Thanks, Karen! :)  Oh my. I've only read the first two chapters, and of course I'm already completely inspired and want to transform my room into a Reggio wonderland.  As if being in Reggio Emilia wasn't enough! 

This book and the dreams of my trip to Reggio Emilia couldn't come at a better time.  The pressures being put on teachers to assess our sweet babies is starting to spiral out of control.  If I followed the district curriculum as is, without making teacher judgment calls, I could feasibly test my first graders on SOMETHING every day of the week.  There are weekly tests for our new literacy adoption (which I don't give) plus daily "checks" for our math program (which I don't give) so technically a teacher could test her kids multiple times per day.  Um, no thank you. 6 and 7 year olds should NOT be filling in bubbles.  I saw this great sign on Facebook recently: I couldn't have said it better myself!

 

 

Stay tuned for more thoughts about A Place For Wonder, my new obsession.  I'm hosting a book club in my district on this book later this fall.  More to come...for now, we're heading outside to blow some bubbles. ;)