Photo Essay: Day in a Preschool

The kids, ranging from ages 3-5,  circle around their preschool teacher who gathers them together to discuss the weather and their weekend plans before releasing them for snack time. This preschool is Teens and Tots, which takes place in Tualatin High School with high school students as helpers.

This was taken from "The Loft," a fort that the kids can climb up on.  This shows the preschoolers and their buddies engaging in a wide range of activities in the time dedicated to play.

The little students are determined workers.  Once they set their minds to a project, they must finish it, or at least get in trouble trying.  This little boy, carrying an armful of blocks, decided to make a skyscraper out of blocks that ended up toppling on another boys project.

Lauren loved to get her picture taken.  During play time she would carry around her doll everywhere with her: a very dedicated mother.  Toting a doll around is especially popular among the girls.

Two boys found that they could put the cylinder building blocks over their arms and it would look like they had armor on.  They tried to hit each other and pretend to fight, but the teacher, who dislikes and kind of violence in the classroom, stopped them as soon as she saw.  This type of conflict happens regularly, as the kids push their limits.

These enthusiastic boys used their blocks as instruments during playtime.  They were bored with conventional uses, and took long colorful sticks and hit the boxes, making sort of a drum sound. They were so proud that they thought of it themselves, they kept asking, "Can you take pictures of this?" and "Are you getting this?".

Arielle chose connecting wooden blocks as her toy of choice during free time.  She showed me how to put them together and make a "rocket ship."  When she found out that her picture was taken, she asked to see it.  Upon looking at it, she exclaimed, "Look how cute I am!"

After the Teacher Karen announced that playtime was over, all of the kids started to push their toys back to their respective homes.  I asked this little girl, Naomi, how she felt about having to go home for the day.  She replied, "Kinda sad, but kinda happy because I got to play all day with my best friend."