Learning To Find Community

Playing with scarves at a sing-along with the seniors

As a preschool teacher at All Seasons, part of my job is to foster connections between the seniors and the children. I provide opportunities for connection by organizing activities, taking spontaneous visits upstairs, and, perhaps most importantly, modeling what connection looks like. This means that, even if I feel a bit insecure about it at first, I must make my best effort to connect with the seniors. What I’m noticing happening over these four years of teaching is that by being the teacher I want to be, I am becoming the person I want to be. As I model and encourage connection with the seniors, I see the positive reaction of both seniors and preschoolers, and, in this supportive environment, soon a self-sustaining cycle is established. With just a bit of scaffolding from teachers, event support from Joanne and Jen, and making the commitment to show up wholeheartedly with the seniors, we all begin feeling more comfortable connecting.

It was my birthday when Grandma Rosalie made her first visit to read to the Winter Room. We had big plans; we were eating peaches with whipped cream and were just about to start reading one of my favorite childhood books for my birthday when we heard Jen announce on the walkie talkie, “Grandma Rosalie is here to read to the preschoolers!” Abbie and I looked at each other. “Uh oh,” we thought. We quickly shifted and had a pleasant story time with Grandma Rosalie, but the sudden change in our plans made us realize we might have come across as less welcoming than we would’ve liked. Abbie and I talked about this afterwards and made a plan to intentionally grow our connection with Rosalie.

Fortunately, and unbeknownst to her, a preschooler stepped in later that week to help us achieve this goal. One of the preschoolers in the Winter Room came in wearing a dress with roses on it. “I have roses, just like Grandma Rosalie!” she excitedly repeated. When she was persistent and mentioned the connection again later that day, I realized this might be our opportunity to connect deeper with Rosalie. “Let’s take a picture and send it to Rosalie!” I said. The child seemed excited, so that’s what we did.

Once we created our letter with a short note, a picture, and wrote Grandma Rosalie and the child’s name, a group of Winter Room students went upstairs to deliver it. We planned to set the note by her door, but we knocked, just in case she was in. She was! Rosalie was very excited to see us, and she invited us in. The children were overjoyed to see Rosalie’s room. She showed us her precious items and played a little bit of piano for us. The children even got to try the piano! We looked out on the playground to see what her view of the playground was, and we noticed the garland of fall leaves around her deck railing.

Delivering the letter 

Now, the children look up at the building from the playground, trying to find Rosalie’s apartment. They point it out to their friends. Rosalie shows up at our events in the community room. She remembers the letter we wrote to her, and the children often mention our special visit. When Grandma Rosalie read for us most recently, she invited us up to her apartment again. We feel like a special connection is forming.

With online interactions so prevalent, I recognize that younger generations (like mine) have fewer skills and more hesitancy when it comes to connecting with people in person. Older generations have naturally developed ways of connecting with those around them. It feels important that their skills and attitudes about connection are passed on to younger generations, like me and the preschoolers.

As a single young adult living alone in the Twin Cities, it can be difficult for me to find community. It often takes courage to go out and meet new people. I never dreamed that my work here at All Seasons could help me grow my confidence in creating community, as well as giving me a sense of belonging.

A spontaneous visit