How do you spell "adorable"?

While there are seven AppleTree Early Learning Public Charter Schools around Washington, DC, AppleTree's central offices are not actually located at any of the schools. Rather, our offices are in northeast DC next to Catholic University, so (unfortunately) I see priests more often than our adorable preschoolers. Thus, I was thrilled last week to be able to join a tour of three of the school campuses. We started at our Columbia Heights campus, which has been open for several years, and then took a bus to brand new sites in southeast and northeast DC that opened in the middle of August.

The classrooms were so beautifully decorated, and it was evident that the students were excited to be there (as were the teachers). At first glance, it might seem like separate "learn" and "play" times were distinct aspects of the day. In reality, the students are both constantly learning and having fun. In one classroom, a teacher was guiding students through a picture book about adding vegetables to soup; students took turns raising their hands to enthusiastically say that they were adding carrots or potatoes (or as one student broadly labeled it, "food!") to the bowl. In another classroom, students were prompted to draw healthy foods and were eager to share with us and each other their crayon portraits. The clarity of their language when talking to us was amazing; it was easy to forget that the girl talking about her three dogs or the boy who insisted on drawing a picture of me was only 3 or 4 years old. It made me wish learning and having fun were more closely intertwined even after pre-k and kindergarten (and apparently, the MIT Media Lab believes they can be).

The best part of the day, though, occurred when a 3-year-old girl, whom I had yet to visit at her table, walked up to me and gave me a big hug around my knees. My heart melted right there. All in all, it was an inspiring day that I hope to repeat soon!