Some family involvement projects we have going on in my classroom are star of the week, book bag and a weekly alphabet activity. So far we have had great response with it from our parents. I have found that these types of family involvement really get the whole family involved. It’s very beneficial for parents, like Jan, who don’t have the opportunity to step into the classroom. This way they can still be in the know of what is happening in school and feel included. We just had a boy who did his star of the week poster and when he presented it to the class, his mom sat in and watch and she told us how she made it a whole family project, where the dad printed pictures, his sister cut things out, the boy colored the poster and the mom organized the whole pictures. We have had a lot of success with these family involvement projects.

I really enjoyed reading the Exchange everyday article which questions if schools kill creativity? In the article Ken Robinson states, “The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up. I believe this passionately: that we don't grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out if it.” I agree with him that schools do educate the creativity out of us. I think there is a possibility that it starts as early as preschool. We also think we are letting children grow and nourish at our programs but at the same time, we are getting children “school ready.” I think most times it’s an unconscious thing we are doing by telling children, that’s not the right way of doing things. For example, some art projects I see children doing, where if they don’t do it the right way it doesn’t turn out, in other words, craft projects and not open ended activities. Parents like to see finished completed projects and teachers feel pressured to produce it for the parents. I am constantly reminding myself when having conversations with children to keep an open mind about everything. I, myself, am already ridged in my way of life and theories on how things work that when a child has what seems like a total random idea, I just need to tell myself to and roll with it.

When reading the chapters and articles about environment in the classroom, I always get inspired on changing my classroom. My goal for my center is to add more organic and natural things to the setting. I strongly feel that children can learn the most from the world around them. I want my classroom to fell more homey and less like a classroom, by using natural light, reducing the use of plastic and making materials found in our environment. It’s so tempting to just buy the educational toys especially after seeing the Lakeshore, Discovery toys, and Kaplan booths at the conference. Yet I try to see what those materials are teaching the children and see how we can make it ourselves to make it even more meaningful – and a lot cheaper.