We had a FANTASTIC weekend!!! We began our move-in officially on Monday when Ikea and Discount School Supplies each brought a truck load of supplies. Tuesday, December 22nd Two Men and a Truck moved all of the things from all SIX of our storage lockers over to one of the empty buildings at the school. It took them 12 hours to move all of our things. It was amazing.
On Tuesday night we bought and transported over 200 baskets to the school- that was a site to see for sure! On Thursday and Friday we emptied a very large bonus room and two garages into the school. On Saturday and Sunday we emptied three classrooms from the current Little School and thinned some of the surplus from what will be the half day classrooms, throwing away many very loved, and very tired items.
As of this evening, Sunday night, we are probably 85% done putting it all away. The classrooms are so beautiful and different. The teachers have brought their individual personalities and points of view to their classroom compositions. It is just incredible to see it all come together.
The remainder of the flooring was also installed over the weekend.
The week of December 28-December 31:
Monday: We will have all of our final inspections AND HAVE OUR WATER METER INSTALLED AND WATER TURNED ON!!! We will also have the first load of mulch installed. A total of 5 tractor trailer loads of mulch will be delivered and spread this week. The mulch is going to absolutely transform the campus.
Tuesday: Any remaining site inspections (if something has to be fixed in order for us to pass our final inspection) will be completed. We will be putting away all of the office, art room, and dining room furniture. We will also be making all of our last minute classroom changes prior to our North Carolina Division of Child Development licensing inspection on Wednesday morning. If all goes as planned we will have our temporary license on Wednesday! At worst case scenario we will have them return on Thursday the 31st.
We are hoping to rest on New Year's Day.
NEEDS: WE NEED TO ASK THAT PARENTS DO NOT VISIT THE SITE BEFORE 5:00 AS OSHA REGULATIONS FORBID VISITS DURING CONTRACTOR WORK HOURS. PLEASE DO NOT WANDER THE SITE ALONE. ANY VIOLATION COULD CAUSE OUR OPENING TO BE DELAYED.
We are really, really, REALLY excited now. We are beginning to imagine what it is going to be like to see the children arrive on the 4th. What an exciting time!
Please write Christa at christaniven@thelittleschool.net with any questions. No one will be answering the Little School phone this week. Thanks and we can't wait to see you soon.
REMINDER: Our ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled from 3:00-4:00 on Sunday, January 3, 2010. Please be sure to join us for that exciting event.
Showing posts with label Building Permit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Building Permit. Show all posts
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
It's the Little Things In Life...
See more construction progress in the slideshow below!It was a week of little, but important, things. We spent a great deal of time on the site and made choices and changes. Here is a brief, but incomplete list:
1. We chose the paint colors- it is a surprise, but we think that you will love the finished product.
2. We chose the hardware - who knew there were so many doorknob choices??.
3. We figured out the "key map." That is a complicated task when you think about five buildings.
4. We worked out the "electrical map." That means things like outlets and switches.
5. We realized that one building only has windows on one side overlooking the dumpster. So... we added some windows and moved some others.
6. We added some more windows in the Middler Building.
7. We rerouted a part of the fence.
8. We chose the roofing tiles.
We hope that you have had a chance to visit the site. What you are seeing is the Administration Building closest to the road that is roofed and sided. The big building in back is the Preschool Building. Between those two buildings is the location of the Kitchen and Gross Motor Room. The Kitchen Building will begin to be framed this week. On the left side of the campus as you look at it from the road is the Middler Building. Still missing is the future Infant Building. It will be right in the middle close to the road. It will be the last to be completed.
We had a long conversation with the builders about our timing and they are saying that we can begin to landscape in October. We should receive what is called a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy, or a TCO in November. We can begin to load supplies into the building once we have our TCO. We are expecting a Certificate of Occupancy, or a CO in December.
Our plan is to have our currently enrolled children begin to move over to the new campus for "try outs" in December. We will open the new campus on Monday,
January 4,2010 to all new students.
WE WILL GIVE YOU A NOTICE OF OFFICIAL ENROLLMENT DATE AS SOON AS WE HAVE RECEIVED TCO. Please wait to receive that from us before you give notice. We don't want anyone to give notice at their current schools until we know 100% for sure that we are ontime.
UPCOMING EVENTS
September 27th – Back to School Night from 4 – 6pm. This is a parents only event. We will begin with a large group meeting to talk about the new building and the transition as well as discuss the children’s portfolios. Everyone, including families who have not yet joined us is welcome to come for this portion. After, our current parents will be meeting with their child’s teachers for a classroom activity.
October 23rd – Fall Festival and Bonfire The Fall Festival will begin at 3:30 and will be for our currently enrolled children. We would love for everyone, including new families, alumni, future families, neighbors to join us for the bonfire that night. We will begin gathering around 6pm down at the field.
December 5th- Open House We will open up the current school from 10:00-12:00 for a meet and greet. Our HOPE is that we are able to take everyone interested on a walking tour of the new campus from 12:00-1:00. We won't be able to confirm that until we are closer to the date. This is an open house for current families, friends, and future families. We can't wait to see you all there.
Glimpse: This week's glimpse is a look into the Little School. We were sitting on the floor in the Toddler Room with a group of six children and their group leader. One of the children is newer to us and she is still very shy. Another of the children is new to us, but she has been around the school since her birth and she is not only comfortable, but rarely shy anyway. We were handing out crackers and the shy child had retreated but was watching intently as the others all came to take their crackers. We were still watching when our not-shy child walked over to us and thrust her free hand out to us with the most serious look on her face. Stuck by the boldness of her physical assertion, we giggled and handed her another cracker. She toddled herself right across the room and very gently handed the shy child the cracker. She then placed her free arm on the other child. The smile from the shy child was immediate and broad. She ate her cracker in her corner and was so pleased. We were so moved by the simple and beautiful gesture that we just knew that it had to be this week's glimpse for you. What a wonderful way to spend the day.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Why Don't We Have Walls YET???
We wrote that exact sentence to our contractor this week. What he told us in response both makes us very excited AND very frustrated at the same time. This is his response to us:
We have completed underground electrical tie ins to the buildings and are now working on underground plumbing. Weather dependent, we should have the plumbing signed off in C and A building by early next week. The sheer footings are installed. Once we receive inspections, we will pour the slabs on C and A buildings. We still need final drawings on the B building.
Once we have slab on grade next week, we should begin framing right away.
Here are some lessons that we have learned:
1. Never build a building when you are the only project in town IF YOU HAVE A TIGHT TIMELINE. The reason: Because the inspectors have time to be on site every day inspecting daily what would normally be inspected monthly if at all. The inspections are ensuring that the new Little School building is the safest building that we can possibly build BUT it is also slowing everything way, way, way down.
2. Work with a local architect because they are familiar with the inspectors and their relationship will make the permitting and inspections process MUCH easier. This is particularly true in town and county-related code compliance issues. It does not seem like it should continue to be difficult to translate Hillsborough/Orange County codes into Durham County codes (our architect is in Durham County) and back again this late in the process but it truly is and it takes a tremendous amount of time to mobilize all of the architects and engineers to make changes that would be accounted for easily with a local architect.
3. Plan an extra six months into the time line. This is a DUH! but folks kept telling us that with things being as slow as they are in the building market that things would move very quickly. Refer to item #1 for an explanation of why that is not the case.
The truth is that our crew is moving as fast as they possibly can. We still have December 13th as our outside date and we are still being told that they want to bring it to a close earlier than that date. We really appreciate all of the hard work and dedication of our entire team- architects, engineers, builders, inspectors, and our wonderful project manager. These are incredible people who truly want the very best for this project and are going above and beyond in many instances to see that happen.
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
**The half day program is on schedule for a September opening. Please check back next week for more information.
Glimpse:
Our staff are our family, our friends, our people and we love them. We consider ourselves incredibly fortunate to be able to write that and mean it 100% when we do so. These people are incredibly precious to us and we want to do everything that we can to retain them. To that end, we have built a benefit package that we are very proud to offer them. The package currently includes health, life, dental and vision insurance benefits as well as paid leave, unpaid leave, paid holidays, and participation in several county and state staff-support programs.
In the year to come we are increasing all of our contributions to the insurance benefits as well as increasing the coverages offered to the staff. In addition, we are going to offer a cafeteria plan of additional coverages for the first time. We have contracted to offer flex spending accounts for all that are interested. Finally, we are
increasing our pay range for all positions at the new campus. Again, these are things that we are very proud of and we hope that these changes let our staff know that they are very important and beloved.
Having all of these things in place truly means that we have very little turn over in the staff and when we have an opening we tend to have dozens of applicants to choose from. When we post a job, we include a series of essay questions that we ask candidates to complete and submit along with their applications. We review answers as well as resumes at length before inviting anyone to visit the school. The candidate sees each of us and Mary for interviews on their first visit. If we all agree that we would like to see the candidate again we next have them complete a four hour meet and greet with the children in Mary's classroom. We then meet again to discuss the candidate. If we are still interested at that point we invite the candidate to return again for an eight hour in-class interview in the open classroom.
We have had candidates get all the way to that point who we have not
hired.
If at that point we are still confident in the candidate we offer a provisional offer of employment. We have them review our policies and complete their background and health paper work and hire them only after we have received those clearances AND supervised them in the classroom for 90 days. It is a LONG interview process. The reason is that we want to not only be sure that the person is right for us, but we want the candidate to be sure that we are right for them as well. This process is long but well worth the effort as the result is an incredibly cohesive group who truly enjoy working with children and with each other in our school.
We have completed underground electrical tie ins to the buildings and are now working on underground plumbing. Weather dependent, we should have the plumbing signed off in C and A building by early next week. The sheer footings are installed. Once we receive inspections, we will pour the slabs on C and A buildings. We still need final drawings on the B building.
Once we have slab on grade next week, we should begin framing right away.
Here are some lessons that we have learned:
1. Never build a building when you are the only project in town IF YOU HAVE A TIGHT TIMELINE. The reason: Because the inspectors have time to be on site every day inspecting daily what would normally be inspected monthly if at all. The inspections are ensuring that the new Little School building is the safest building that we can possibly build BUT it is also slowing everything way, way, way down.
2. Work with a local architect because they are familiar with the inspectors and their relationship will make the permitting and inspections process MUCH easier. This is particularly true in town and county-related code compliance issues. It does not seem like it should continue to be difficult to translate Hillsborough/Orange County codes into Durham County codes (our architect is in Durham County) and back again this late in the process but it truly is and it takes a tremendous amount of time to mobilize all of the architects and engineers to make changes that would be accounted for easily with a local architect.
3. Plan an extra six months into the time line. This is a DUH! but folks kept telling us that with things being as slow as they are in the building market that things would move very quickly. Refer to item #1 for an explanation of why that is not the case.
The truth is that our crew is moving as fast as they possibly can. We still have December 13th as our outside date and we are still being told that they want to bring it to a close earlier than that date. We really appreciate all of the hard work and dedication of our entire team- architects, engineers, builders, inspectors, and our wonderful project manager. These are incredible people who truly want the very best for this project and are going above and beyond in many instances to see that happen.
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
**The half day program is on schedule for a September opening. Please check back next week for more information.
Glimpse:
Our staff are our family, our friends, our people and we love them. We consider ourselves incredibly fortunate to be able to write that and mean it 100% when we do so. These people are incredibly precious to us and we want to do everything that we can to retain them. To that end, we have built a benefit package that we are very proud to offer them. The package currently includes health, life, dental and vision insurance benefits as well as paid leave, unpaid leave, paid holidays, and participation in several county and state staff-support programs.
In the year to come we are increasing all of our contributions to the insurance benefits as well as increasing the coverages offered to the staff. In addition, we are going to offer a cafeteria plan of additional coverages for the first time. We have contracted to offer flex spending accounts for all that are interested. Finally, we are
increasing our pay range for all positions at the new campus. Again, these are things that we are very proud of and we hope that these changes let our staff know that they are very important and beloved.
Having all of these things in place truly means that we have very little turn over in the staff and when we have an opening we tend to have dozens of applicants to choose from. When we post a job, we include a series of essay questions that we ask candidates to complete and submit along with their applications. We review answers as well as resumes at length before inviting anyone to visit the school. The candidate sees each of us and Mary for interviews on their first visit. If we all agree that we would like to see the candidate again we next have them complete a four hour meet and greet with the children in Mary's classroom. We then meet again to discuss the candidate. If we are still interested at that point we invite the candidate to return again for an eight hour in-class interview in the open classroom.
We have had candidates get all the way to that point who we have not
hired.
If at that point we are still confident in the candidate we offer a provisional offer of employment. We have them review our policies and complete their background and health paper work and hire them only after we have received those clearances AND supervised them in the classroom for 90 days. It is a LONG interview process. The reason is that we want to not only be sure that the person is right for us, but we want the candidate to be sure that we are right for them as well. This process is long but well worth the effort as the result is an incredibly cohesive group who truly enjoy working with children and with each other in our school.
Monday, July 6, 2009
We have all of our permits!
We received our last permit Thursday afternoon ten minutes before the close of business for the long holiday weekend at the county! That means that we are ready to begin building our buildings on Monday! If you have not been over to the site it is worth the trip. The land is cleared and flat. It has been tamped down and the building pads are ready to accept the concrete for the foundations. The retaining walls are completely finished. The retention pond is also finished. The footing locations have been identified and flagged. You can actually see where the buildings will be now.
In the coming weeks:
1) The footings will be poured and inspected.
2) The foundation will be poured and inspected.
3) The framing and trusses will be installed.
After that it is all finish work- siding, roofing, drywall, etc.
Thank you all for your incredible support these past (extremely stressful) weeks. We are so grateful for your care, concern, and encouragement.
Glimpse: We conducted an experiment in looping this past year. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, looping refers to the movement of teachers with children from classroom to classroom. We decided to move one of the teachers from each classroom last year. In theory, this teacher moves with the children as the expert on the children while the other teachers stay behind as the classroom experts. We read a fair amount of research on this subject and in the end decided that the only way to know if this would work would be to give it a try. This last movement was a large success. We have decided to continue to loop at least one of the teachers when the majority of the children move to the next classroom. This time, we asked the teachers who would like to make the move with the children. This is an excellent opportunity for our teachers to spread their wings and experience a different age group that they may consider working with in the new school. We began this process last month with teacher visits to their new classrooms. The teachers will officially be in their new classrooms beginning tomorrow.
In the future, we intend to continue to work with this system until we find a combination of movements that is unique and best suited to the Little School.
In the coming weeks:
1) The footings will be poured and inspected.
2) The foundation will be poured and inspected.
3) The framing and trusses will be installed.
After that it is all finish work- siding, roofing, drywall, etc.
Thank you all for your incredible support these past (extremely stressful) weeks. We are so grateful for your care, concern, and encouragement.
Glimpse: We conducted an experiment in looping this past year. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, looping refers to the movement of teachers with children from classroom to classroom. We decided to move one of the teachers from each classroom last year. In theory, this teacher moves with the children as the expert on the children while the other teachers stay behind as the classroom experts. We read a fair amount of research on this subject and in the end decided that the only way to know if this would work would be to give it a try. This last movement was a large success. We have decided to continue to loop at least one of the teachers when the majority of the children move to the next classroom. This time, we asked the teachers who would like to make the move with the children. This is an excellent opportunity for our teachers to spread their wings and experience a different age group that they may consider working with in the new school. We began this process last month with teacher visits to their new classrooms. The teachers will officially be in their new classrooms beginning tomorrow.
In the future, we intend to continue to work with this system until we find a combination of movements that is unique and best suited to the Little School.
Monday, June 29, 2009
A Much More Productive Week.
We had a chance to walk the whole site on Wednesday this week. It is certainly very flat! The retaining walls are all in and the building pads are down. The whole site sits expectantly waiting for the lumber to arrive. We chose the siding and a few other materials today so the order is in and should be arriving any moment.
The county has still not issued our permit but there is only one department left to approve the plans. We will meet with them on Monday to resolve any outstanding issues and HOPEFULLY pick up our permit.
We are not at a standstill as of this day. The utilities have begun to be installed and will take a couple of weeks to finish. The materials should all arrive during that time and then we should see the buildings go up very quickly. We are really getting excited now.
On the enrollment front, this was another very, very busy week of family tours and enrollment activity. Several rooms are now completely full for the new campus. Others are very nearly there. Please write to mary@thelittleschool.net if you have any questions about enrollment.
Glimpse:
We have begun collecting the materials and furniture that will used at the Waterstone Campus. We received a wonderful gift this week in a gymnasium full of preschool materials donated from one of our dearest community partners. With the addition of these new materials there are now several large storage lockers full of STUFF and another quickly filling. It is beginning to look like more than enough to fill our 14,440 square feet.
Many have asked us who decorated the Davis Road Campus. We always laugh because we did, but it was more playing than decorating that occurred. We have in common an ability to look at a thing and see it for something other than its intended purpose. When we began to put Davis together we put all of our materials in the Preschool classroom and then one at a time decided what to do with them. In the end, there are ducks with lily pads and puddles screwed to the ramp, crystal chandeliers in the foyer, clouds and bugs as lamps, puzzle pieces make up our staff bulletin board and our most noteworthy paint effect (in the office and Toddler Room with the clouds and the writing) is the result of running out of paint and needing to fill in the holes in our first coat.
We have collected really wonderful materials again and expect that the Waterstone Campus will have the same whimsical feel as the Davis Campus. Please feel invited to share some of your decorating suggestions with us. We are always open to suggestions- especially if they involve a completely new use for an everyday item.
The county has still not issued our permit but there is only one department left to approve the plans. We will meet with them on Monday to resolve any outstanding issues and HOPEFULLY pick up our permit.
We are not at a standstill as of this day. The utilities have begun to be installed and will take a couple of weeks to finish. The materials should all arrive during that time and then we should see the buildings go up very quickly. We are really getting excited now.
On the enrollment front, this was another very, very busy week of family tours and enrollment activity. Several rooms are now completely full for the new campus. Others are very nearly there. Please write to mary@thelittleschool.net if you have any questions about enrollment.
Glimpse:
We have begun collecting the materials and furniture that will used at the Waterstone Campus. We received a wonderful gift this week in a gymnasium full of preschool materials donated from one of our dearest community partners. With the addition of these new materials there are now several large storage lockers full of STUFF and another quickly filling. It is beginning to look like more than enough to fill our 14,440 square feet.
Many have asked us who decorated the Davis Road Campus. We always laugh because we did, but it was more playing than decorating that occurred. We have in common an ability to look at a thing and see it for something other than its intended purpose. When we began to put Davis together we put all of our materials in the Preschool classroom and then one at a time decided what to do with them. In the end, there are ducks with lily pads and puddles screwed to the ramp, crystal chandeliers in the foyer, clouds and bugs as lamps, puzzle pieces make up our staff bulletin board and our most noteworthy paint effect (in the office and Toddler Room with the clouds and the writing) is the result of running out of paint and needing to fill in the holes in our first coat.
We have collected really wonderful materials again and expect that the Waterstone Campus will have the same whimsical feel as the Davis Campus. Please feel invited to share some of your decorating suggestions with us. We are always open to suggestions- especially if they involve a completely new use for an everyday item.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Permits, Week 3
We have good news to report. We were finally able to navigate the confusion that is the permitting process. It is our understanding that our final revisions are acceptable to all involved agencies. Phew! We expect to receive our building permit sometime today or tomorrow.
This is great news as we were about to hit a stalling point on the project. As it is, we have been slowed significantly these past three weeks. According to our general contractor, they are ready to go straight into the next phase the moment the permit is in hand. Some things that you will see during this phase:
1. The retaining walls will be installed
2. The building footings will be installed for all five buildings
3. The building pads will be installed for all five buildings
4. The final site prep will be completed in preparation for framing and siding the buildings
That list should take us into July. We are, at this point anticipating a delay in our opening. We don't want to speculate at all about how long that delay will be. Our best case scenario at this point is October 1. Our VERY, VERY worst case scenario is December 1.
We are concerned about the delay at this point but remain very optimistic that we can still make an October opening. We need to remind everyone that our buildings are very simple one-story residential buildings. There are no steel girders or complex concrete layers.
Buildings just like ours are being constructed in neighborhoods all over our community and they are going up from step one to completion is fifty days. If we get our permit (as we expect to do), have drier weather (as NC usually experiences in the summertime), and have no further code-related delays (please pray for us), our buildings should be built by the end of August. Once the buildings are finished we will still need to paint, landscape and decorate (we love that part) so that we can pass day care licensing standards. Once the building is in our possession we PROMISE you all that we will work around the clock to get done as quickly as possible. In fact, we may call upon our community to help us with our final task of landscaping, painting and loading into the building. The more hands the better once we reach that phase.
Please check next week's blog for information about:
1. We are trying to secure additional classroom spaces at the Davis Road Campus to temporarily house the half-day program
2. Deposit information
*We are now enrolling the Davis Road Campus to the maximum capacity for the first time. If you are in dire straights for care in the fall we URGE you to contact Mary now at mary@thelittleschool.net so that we can work on planning for you for the fall.
Glimpse: A reassuring (we hope) glimpse into our past:
In 2005 when we decided to open the Little School we knew that we would need to more or less gut the building that is now our school. Our hope was that we would take possession of our building on July 1. In the end we took possession on August 1. We knew that we had to open on time for September 1, 2005.
We pooled our human resources and brought together a group of family, friends and even some students of Christa's and we moved into the school building. We worked from 8:00am until 2:00am many days so that we could open on time. In the end we completed plumbing, electricity, flooring, trim, new doors, alarm system installation, sod (what were we thinking!?), and painting during that month. The building was brand new when we were finished.
We were committed and we stuck with it.
We were then and we are now completely committed to doing everything that we can to bring our buildings together as quickly as possible.
This is great news as we were about to hit a stalling point on the project. As it is, we have been slowed significantly these past three weeks. According to our general contractor, they are ready to go straight into the next phase the moment the permit is in hand. Some things that you will see during this phase:
1. The retaining walls will be installed
2. The building footings will be installed for all five buildings
3. The building pads will be installed for all five buildings
4. The final site prep will be completed in preparation for framing and siding the buildings
That list should take us into July. We are, at this point anticipating a delay in our opening. We don't want to speculate at all about how long that delay will be. Our best case scenario at this point is October 1. Our VERY, VERY worst case scenario is December 1.
We are concerned about the delay at this point but remain very optimistic that we can still make an October opening. We need to remind everyone that our buildings are very simple one-story residential buildings. There are no steel girders or complex concrete layers.
Buildings just like ours are being constructed in neighborhoods all over our community and they are going up from step one to completion is fifty days. If we get our permit (as we expect to do), have drier weather (as NC usually experiences in the summertime), and have no further code-related delays (please pray for us), our buildings should be built by the end of August. Once the buildings are finished we will still need to paint, landscape and decorate (we love that part) so that we can pass day care licensing standards. Once the building is in our possession we PROMISE you all that we will work around the clock to get done as quickly as possible. In fact, we may call upon our community to help us with our final task of landscaping, painting and loading into the building. The more hands the better once we reach that phase.
Please check next week's blog for information about:
1. We are trying to secure additional classroom spaces at the Davis Road Campus to temporarily house the half-day program
2. Deposit information
*We are now enrolling the Davis Road Campus to the maximum capacity for the first time. If you are in dire straights for care in the fall we URGE you to contact Mary now at mary@thelittleschool.net so that we can work on planning for you for the fall.
Glimpse: A reassuring (we hope) glimpse into our past:
In 2005 when we decided to open the Little School we knew that we would need to more or less gut the building that is now our school. Our hope was that we would take possession of our building on July 1. In the end we took possession on August 1. We knew that we had to open on time for September 1, 2005.
We pooled our human resources and brought together a group of family, friends and even some students of Christa's and we moved into the school building. We worked from 8:00am until 2:00am many days so that we could open on time. In the end we completed plumbing, electricity, flooring, trim, new doors, alarm system installation, sod (what were we thinking!?), and painting during that month. The building was brand new when we were finished.
We were committed and we stuck with it.
We were then and we are now completely committed to doing everything that we can to bring our buildings together as quickly as possible.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Week 14: Another Frustrating Week.
We continue to struggle with our code compliance issue. Ugh! We have three agencies or governing bodies involved with this issue. One agency is saying that they require us to do something that another won't approve and a third would require us to immediately remove- even prior to opening. We are not quite sure how to resolve the issue and so we have asked for a meeting of all concerned parties hoping that we can find some common ground and get moving again. We are not completely stalled, but we will be very soon if we are not able to settle this issue. We wish that all the parties could observe how our preschoolers solve their conflicts. One states the problem, the other listens and then responds with kind words such as "What do you need to make it better?", they take turns talking it out until they come to a solution that benefits both children. It seems so simple!
And so this week begins with us again waiting for our final building permit!
If you visit the site this week you will see the builders installing our retaining walls. It should be fun to see the big trucks moving all of the concrete and stone into place. If you stopped by over the weekend you likely saw all of the materials on huge pallets waiting- looking expectant. With the beautiful blue sky and shining sun today the crew should be able to get a whole lot completed even today.
At the Davis Road Campus things are continuing to move along towards Preschool graduation. THE CEREMONY HAS BEEN MOVED TO FRIDAY, JUNE 19th AT 6:30. You are all welcome to join us in celebrating our graduates. We will be serving cake afterwards.
Glimpse: As our site work crew is clearing the land we are hand-selecting trees to be put aside for the playground. They called us recently to ask us how short we wanted them to cut the trees. We were so surprised. We asked what in the world they meant. They asked again how much we wanted them to cut off the top and bottom of the tree. "NOTHING!" was our enthusiastic response. We want the kids to be able to see the entire tree so they can learn how it works. "Even the rootball?" they asked. "ESPECIALLY THE ROOT BALL!" we answered. What a great teaching tool the root system is for us. They scratched their heads. We beamed from ear to ear. Of COURSE we want the whole tree. Who wouldn't???
And so this week begins with us again waiting for our final building permit!
If you visit the site this week you will see the builders installing our retaining walls. It should be fun to see the big trucks moving all of the concrete and stone into place. If you stopped by over the weekend you likely saw all of the materials on huge pallets waiting- looking expectant. With the beautiful blue sky and shining sun today the crew should be able to get a whole lot completed even today.
At the Davis Road Campus things are continuing to move along towards Preschool graduation. THE CEREMONY HAS BEEN MOVED TO FRIDAY, JUNE 19th AT 6:30. You are all welcome to join us in celebrating our graduates. We will be serving cake afterwards.
Glimpse: As our site work crew is clearing the land we are hand-selecting trees to be put aside for the playground. They called us recently to ask us how short we wanted them to cut the trees. We were so surprised. We asked what in the world they meant. They asked again how much we wanted them to cut off the top and bottom of the tree. "NOTHING!" was our enthusiastic response. We want the kids to be able to see the entire tree so they can learn how it works. "Even the rootball?" they asked. "ESPECIALLY THE ROOT BALL!" we answered. What a great teaching tool the root system is for us. They scratched their heads. We beamed from ear to ear. Of COURSE we want the whole tree. Who wouldn't???
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Week 7: We Received Our Permit!!!!!!
We received our permit and we are now ready to start. This is so very exciting. It is also another moment of immense gratitude. This week we want to tell you about some of the support that we have received along the way.
We are sure that it is true that most of the time when someone tells a story about any kind of construction project it will begin with a statement that sounds something like this: "It took us 10 years to get our permit. The folks at the county were impossible to deal with! There were a thousand mistakes made at the county level along the way and we received no assistance. If only the county could get itself together...."
We are so pleased to say that our experience was NOTHING like that. In fact, some of our greatest supporters along the way have been the town planners and managers, the county commissioners, the mayor, and the ever-so-wonderful planning director, Margaret Hauth. These folks have been there to answer questions, offer suggestions, commiserate when appropriate, and cheer us on the whole way. We have nothing but the most profound gratitude to offer to them for all of their efforts on our behalf. What a blessing to live and work in a county that is so committed to supporting its local business owners!
Glimpse: When we opened this center we made the decision to create the playground that we now have. We stood looking at it the days before we opened feeling very proud and anticipatory as we imagined all of the fun that the children would have. It was a huge surprise to us when the children arrived and the playground failed to really wow them. We quickly learned that the prepared materials were not nearly as important as the open-ended materials. Things like rocks and sand and mulch captured their imaginations and became "Mountains" and "Streams" and “Castles." The materials so carefully chosen and laid out for them became supporting materials for their incredible fantasy play and rarely were used in the manner intended by the manufacturer. It was a sweet failure for us but also an incredible lesson. Over time we have taken more and more of the prepared away and added as much of the open-ended as we can find. The children are happier and their play is so much more creative.
As we now think about the new playgrounds at the Waterstone Campus we are reconsidering our entire approach. First, we are not going to build "Playgrounds." Rather, we are going to install "Gardens." This subtle change causes a completely new vision to emerge. We are going to fill these areas with as many natural materials as we can and then observe the children's use of the materials. In the same way that we have asked the children to lead our curriculum we are going to ask them to create our gardens. We can't wait to see what they come up with.
Example: We thought it would be helpful for you to have a concrete example. See the photos below.
At our current school we acquired an additional garden about two years ago now. We filled it with boulders, and branches, and sticks of bamboo, and egg-shaped rocks. The children, being so very clever, quickly realized that their new garden area is part of a water run-off for the whole garden. Whenever it rains the water creates a natural "River" in the garden. This fascinated the children. They began to use the materials to outline the new waterway. They used the rocks to create the boundaries and the straw to damn it up. This one little area occupied MONTHS of their time as they played with their ideas and became little engineers as they created better and better methods to contain and capture their water. In the end, we asked some of the parents to donate some time to add concrete to the rock in order to create a permanent structure. When that was done they experimented with various ways to bring water to the area and in the end they asked some more parents to build a hand pump for them. Now, on any day, they are able to bring water to their garden, move it as they wish, and contain it when it better suits them. We think that this is the perfect example to share with you as it is exactly what we hope will happen with our new gardens. With the children in charge it has to be wonderful!
We are sure that it is true that most of the time when someone tells a story about any kind of construction project it will begin with a statement that sounds something like this: "It took us 10 years to get our permit. The folks at the county were impossible to deal with! There were a thousand mistakes made at the county level along the way and we received no assistance. If only the county could get itself together...."
We are so pleased to say that our experience was NOTHING like that. In fact, some of our greatest supporters along the way have been the town planners and managers, the county commissioners, the mayor, and the ever-so-wonderful planning director, Margaret Hauth. These folks have been there to answer questions, offer suggestions, commiserate when appropriate, and cheer us on the whole way. We have nothing but the most profound gratitude to offer to them for all of their efforts on our behalf. What a blessing to live and work in a county that is so committed to supporting its local business owners!
Glimpse: When we opened this center we made the decision to create the playground that we now have. We stood looking at it the days before we opened feeling very proud and anticipatory as we imagined all of the fun that the children would have. It was a huge surprise to us when the children arrived and the playground failed to really wow them. We quickly learned that the prepared materials were not nearly as important as the open-ended materials. Things like rocks and sand and mulch captured their imaginations and became "Mountains" and "Streams" and “Castles." The materials so carefully chosen and laid out for them became supporting materials for their incredible fantasy play and rarely were used in the manner intended by the manufacturer. It was a sweet failure for us but also an incredible lesson. Over time we have taken more and more of the prepared away and added as much of the open-ended as we can find. The children are happier and their play is so much more creative.
As we now think about the new playgrounds at the Waterstone Campus we are reconsidering our entire approach. First, we are not going to build "Playgrounds." Rather, we are going to install "Gardens." This subtle change causes a completely new vision to emerge. We are going to fill these areas with as many natural materials as we can and then observe the children's use of the materials. In the same way that we have asked the children to lead our curriculum we are going to ask them to create our gardens. We can't wait to see what they come up with.
Example: We thought it would be helpful for you to have a concrete example. See the photos below.
At our current school we acquired an additional garden about two years ago now. We filled it with boulders, and branches, and sticks of bamboo, and egg-shaped rocks. The children, being so very clever, quickly realized that their new garden area is part of a water run-off for the whole garden. Whenever it rains the water creates a natural "River" in the garden. This fascinated the children. They began to use the materials to outline the new waterway. They used the rocks to create the boundaries and the straw to damn it up. This one little area occupied MONTHS of their time as they played with their ideas and became little engineers as they created better and better methods to contain and capture their water. In the end, we asked some of the parents to donate some time to add concrete to the rock in order to create a permanent structure. When that was done they experimented with various ways to bring water to the area and in the end they asked some more parents to build a hand pump for them. Now, on any day, they are able to bring water to their garden, move it as they wish, and contain it when it better suits them. We think that this is the perfect example to share with you as it is exactly what we hope will happen with our new gardens. With the children in charge it has to be wonderful!
