Our Grandparents and Special Guests Day was rich in charm and beauty. As I watched the children happily greeting, settling, and then showing their guests a few of their many investigations and accomplishments, the word that kept coming to my mind was “engagement.” Each day in school, the children engage. They fully involve themselves with materials, with practice, with wonder. On Friday, the guests’ faces took on the same absorbed expressions of concentration. As they focused in on the work the students were showing them, they found themselves, as many expressed to me, caught up in the learning anew, drawn into forming, all over again, their own understanding.

At the same time, there was powerful engagement between children and their guests. What a privilege to witness the pride and love in those relationships, to behold the gifts of time and devotion the children were receiving. The special guests went beyond looking at the products of the children’s work, and actually joined them in the flow of the work. The memories of Grandparents and Special Guests Day that the children will carry will undoubtedly nourish them as they grow.