I have recently been enchanted with books illustrated by Sonia Sanchez. She has a wild and irresistible style. My favorites, so far, include The Little Red Fort, about a younger sister in a family of four, who designs and builds her own fort because her three brothers are too busy and uninterested. In the end, they are full of admiration.
I also love Evelyn Del Ray is Moving Away, written by Meg Medina and illustrated by Sanchez. I have been reading it often with my almost two and a half year-old grandson, Jack, who has been my companion for two days every week since the pandemic broke out last March.
Jack will announce to his parents as we read, “Evelyn is moving to a new home!” And she is moving away from her best friend and neighbor. I now tear up every time I read it. I would anyway, I imagine. But now, Jack and his parents are moving away, at the end of May. Their year here has been an unexpected gift to Ashley and to me. Living in Vermont was never a part of their plan. But it happened. And now, we are closer than ever in every way.
In the fall, Jack will attend a Reggio inspired school in New Jersey. At the end of a recent visit, the director told Jack’s mother that my books were on his shelf. That makes me happy. After over a year of quarantine and being in a small pod with his parents and grandparents, Jack is ready for friends his own size! I will love visiting him at school and watching him grow and thrive. Though, just like Evelyn and her best friend, it will be very hard to say goodbye. “We have had such fun!” as Ashley’s mother used to say.
I have lots of photo images and notes about observations and adventures that we have had together…from the whole year. About a month ago, I decided to start composing “daily journal” pages about our days together. I heard that at Jack’s new school, there will be a daily newsletter. In most Reggio inspired schools, these are called daily journals. Daily journals are full of observations by teachers, quotes of children, photos of children at work, drawings and other student work. These pages show what the children are learning that from the teachers’ point of view….is unexpected, wonderfully intelligent, and creative. They feature “the teacher as researcher”…learning from and alongside the children.
In my case, in our case, it is a little different. We are one on one. I am one grandmother, and Jack is one grandchild. Jack is not part of a class of children and I am not his teacher. And, I have been in this business for a long time, I truly love it, and I am always learning. It has been and will continue to be a thrill to be an educator grandmother who has a passion for the “100 languages of children.” As Jack exclaims often, and now so do we all, with arms raised high above our heads,…“Gratitude!”
Jack visiting his pig friends at Blue Ledge Farm.