Love. Play. Learn

All summer long I've been grappling with the whole Mission Statement assignment I was given months ago. I've tried wordy ones, I've tried getting it to fit into one sentence, I've tried making a mind map, a list of meaningful words, etc. I've tried to boil down my passionate (& sometimes opinionated) beliefs related to my job into one comprehensive statement & found it frustratingly impossible. I was starting to feel like a failure.
Yesterday my hubby & I made a mini-road trip which involved getting stuck on the highway at a near standstill for over 1/2 hr due to a minor accident. Sitting in the car, alternating chatting, reading & staring out the window at the prairie scenery, I thought a lot about my work, my job, my attitude and many other deep & philosophical things. ;)
Finally three words rang in my brain & I couldn't shake them. I argued & struggled with how simple they sounded. Not very profound, not impressive or groundbreaking. Not earth shattering, & yet at the same time, I couldn't shake that it was everything to me.
Love.
Play.
Learn.
Whenever I asked myself what the MOST IMPORTANT thing I wanted to accomplish in each of my students' lives was, I only came up with one answer. Love.
I want them to know they are loved unconditionally by someone (me & other staff), I want them to know they are worthy of love, I want them to love themselves & learn by example how to love others.
The next thing was I want them to play. I read a quote the other day I loved so much: "It's called Preschool; not bootcamp for Kindergarten." Children learn best through play. Play IS their work. Play is the best (& only if you ask me) option for teaching children under 6. Let them PLAY!
Since play is the way a child learns, learn comes "last" in my mission statement. Let me explain the order of those three words in another way.
A child cannot learn well if their basic needs are not met, those needs are: safety (emotional & physical) & physical necessities (food, heat, water, etc.). They also cannot learn well if the "teaching" is done in a way that is not developmentally appropriate.
Therefore, a child cannot learn without love & play.
So there you (& I) have it: LOVE. PLAY. LEARN.