Author: dorothysnot

Let it snow in Athens!

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Living in a hot Mediterranean city like Athens, snow is a rare  thing to see, downtown. But today, it was one of these days!

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Being unfamiliar with snowy weather, the Municipality of Athens advised all schools to remain closed. However, a brave play-based school like Dorothy Snot is not afraid of some snow flakes!

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The sure thing is our kids loved it. Being able to play with snow in the heart of the city is such an unusual experience down here. Not to mention that most of our 4 and 5 y.o. had not ever seen Athens in white!

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Play in life-derived conditions is always the most exciting thing for children. And we are dedicated to keep providing this kind of play!

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“Can we have one more party tomorrow, please?”

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Returning from Christmas Holidays, pre-Ks started describing how they spent Christmas time. Each one had a story to tell about relatives visiting his/her house or about a beautiful gathering at a friend’s home.

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So, they decided it would be a good idea to invite over the post-toddlers’ class, for the first tea party of the year!

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They wrote and distributed the invitation and prepared a welcome note!

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They got excited by their own creations (look below Anastasis and George astonished in front of the welcome note they wrote, hanging on the wall!!)

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They rearranged tables and chairs in such a way that we could all sit together! Children from both classes had lot of fun!!!

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Having finished the tea party and after cleaning the class, Rosa said: “I really loved that!  Can we have one more tomorrow, please?”

(by Spyridoula Patouna, teacher in Pre-K class, in Athens)

Risky Play

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Toddlers class (2-3 y.o.) is usually the point in time for children to start experimenting physically. They feel strong now and ready to take risks.

Here, risky play gets into the picture. Of course, we do not encourage children in school to jump out of the windows! But, on the other hand, we do not either overprotect them when  seem ready and confident to take the extra mile…

Watch Dimitris in the following video, to consciously explore how it feels to fell!

(video by Jenny Diamantopoulou, teacher in toddlers’ class in Athens)

Babies Christmas party in a play-based school

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In a play-based preschool, babies’ class runs on a continuous providing of sensory-type real life stimuli, assisting this way children to discover the world through their senses, while playing.

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This philosophy does not change even during party events! So, in Dorothy Snot, the annual ritual of Christmas Party for babies class (1-2 y.o), always goes as follows:

  1. It is held in school, while other classes party in some kind of large theaters. Babies need a stable and familiar environment
  2. It involves extensive parents’ participation, to boost the enthusiasm of the children and to ensure whole family celebrates kids’ first Christmas party ever!
  3. It is  based on a set of interactive play activities, connected to children recent school experiences, which lead to a festive ending (i.e. decorating our Christmas tree)
  4. It utilizes life-derived loose parts and lots of sensory play

So, please click on the following set of photos to get an idea of 2016 babies’ class Christmas party in Dorothy Snot preschool!

Babies Christmas Party 2016

Boxes everywhere!

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Suddenly, large and small boxes appeared in toddlers’ classroom. What could we do with them?

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We turned them into sofas, exactly like in the stories we read. We imagined sailing in the sea and boxes were transformed into boats!

We played “hide and seek” and we found unique ways to hide ourselves inside the boxes. We had fun, we played and we learned! We got familiar with special notions such us “in and out”. We practiced our gross and our fine motor skills.

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Last but not least, we learned to share and to wait for our turn! We became more sociable and friendly. We came closer and bonded more!

(by Evangelia Nteka, teacher in toddlers’ class in Athens)

Getting ready for Christmas

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He has a red, red coat
and a red, red hat.
His boots are black
and he carries a sack.
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He has a twinkle in his eye
and a friendly smile.
And his name is Santa Claus.

He has red red pants
And red gloves on his hands

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He has a twinkle in his eye
and a friendly smile.
And his name is Santa Claus.

(by Claire Hadjinikolaou, English teacher in Athens school)

Pop up basketball play in kindergarten

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“Let’s play basketball” someone said… And so, kindergarten kids just constructed a pop up basket from used tires!

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They arranged by themselves a shooting order and patiently waited for their turn. They were little puzzled about how to get the ball out of this basket and needed to come up with some original solutions.

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Through this spontaneous yard play, kindergarten children accomplished a bunch of educational milestones by themselves, just being based on pleasure and joy! Priceless….

(by Ioanna Eleftheriou & Stavroula Gaoutsi, teachers in our Athens kindergarten)