Fall 2020 Important Information
MSS Family Handbook

Need to Know
If your child will be absent, email [email protected].
Please copy the teachers:
[email protected], [email protected],
[email protected]
Or call the school number: 201.653.5548
For COVID-related concerns, email [email protected].

Exploring through Block Play

January 5, 2022 | Sossi Essajanian

Block play facilitates multifaceted learning experiences.

They are a time for children to:

explore topics or concepts
make independent choices
work with their hands
foster cooperative play (practice social skills by designing and building with others)
use dramatic or imaginative play
experiment with shape, part/whole, symmetry, proportion, balance
plan and problem-solve

When children learn about each block, they “meet” them. Each block has its own name and this develops a common language between the children so they can work together and discuss their ideas without the help of an adult.

As children meet each block and learn the names, they explore the block’s characteristics and relationship to one another.

For instance…

two Units are the same as a Double

two Doubles is the same as one Quad.

Or… half of a unit could equal two squares, two pillars or two triangles.

This early work in blocks will facilitate beautiful structures later in the year; reinforces mathematical concepts learned elsewhere; and requires children to work well on a team.

Sossi Essajanian

Teacher, Sky Class

Sossi Essajanian is excited to continue her teaching and learning journey at the Mustard Seed School. She began teaching at the United Nations International School where she worked with children and colleagues from around the world. This inspired her to take a primary teaching position abroad in Nicosia, Cyprus, where she lived and worked for two years.

Ms. Essajanian has a passion for supporting children’s social/emotional skills and learning through a loving and caring classroom community. These are built on creating shared understandings and opportunities for children to identify and express their feelings and of those around them. She believes in creating experiences through pair and group work where learning blossoms through social experiences.

Ms. Essajanian also enjoys reading and talking about books and continues to pursue her second passion: editing. She’s worked in various editorial capacities in newspapers, magazines, and books. She was recently excited to serve as the development editor of a children’s book about engineering and is looking forward to leading some tinkering investigations of her own with her students!

In her free time Ms. Essajanian runs, swims laps, and likes to take long walks to explore the world around her.

Exploring through Block Play

Block play facilitates multifaceted learning experiences.

Sossi Essajanian

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