In our recent walks to the park and around the school the children have begun to notice the leaves that blanket the sidewalks and their beautiful colors. We asked children and families to collect leaves over the weekend in addition to some we had brought in from the surrounding neighborhood. In small groups in the TinkerLab we worked with the children to sort the leaves. As we anticipated, their sorting notion was to group the leaves by color. We talked about the various shades of the leaves, noticing the difference between dark brown and light brown. We used color mats to help discern where each leaf best fit. Using the mats as a background against a leaf, it was easier for the children to decide if a leaf fit best in the yellow or brown group. We found leaves that could fit in multiple categories and discussed in small groups where the best choice for the leaf was, working to come to a group decision. To keep the leaves soft and malleable enough to adhere to the color mats, we preserved them in a solution of water and glycerin. Children took turns to use measuring cups, droppers, and spoons to measure, stir, and pour the solution. The leaves have been soaking in the solution for five days. During the week, we also observed students taking interest in mixing paint colors of yellow, green, and orange to make the color brown. Testing various hypotheses they found the correct combination and created brown paint. Next week, based on the intersection of these two projects, students will glue the leaves to the corresponding color mats, and through the process of mixing paint, create their own unique fall color.
0 Comments
Bows, Bows, Bows! Over the past few weeks, we began noticing some children had taken a liking to creating paper bows during Indoor Exploration time. This bow making consisted of a two step process; first folding or crumpling the paper in the center, making two triangular sides, and second, securing the center with a pipe cleaner or tape. In the Reggio mindset of respect for the children’s creations and ideas, we thought about ways to continue and enhance this avenue of design for the children. Thanks to some wonderful DIY tutorials on Pinterest and YouTube, we found a simple, yet somewhat challenging method of creating ribbon bows. Using two dowel rods and some scrap wood, we easily assembled a bow maker. Working in groups of 3 in the TinkerLab, we explored how to use the bow maker by threading ribbon through the rods and continuing a pattern of looping the ribbon back and forth. We used marked inches on the wood to help us measure if we wanted a bow with long loops or shorter loops. Similar to the paper bows, when this step was complete, students chose a pipe cleaner to secure the bow in the center. While this process was more challenging in regards to the fine motor techniques and focus required, the challenge seemed to lure our students in more. They were intentional in their choice of ribbon as well as choosing a coordinating color for the pipe cleaner. When we had a large pile of both ribbon and paper bows, one child suggested we display them on the wall of the TinkerLab, so we did just that. We have now set up a bow making shelf in the classroom for those who are interested to continue this skill. Mas Leche Por Favor! Ms. Harpole has been visiting our classroom each day, often during Snack, Indoor or Outdoor Exploration. During Snack she works with the community shoppers to pass out the snack using Spanish words. We have learned that the graham cracker bunnies we love so well are called “conejos” and when we would like more water, we ask our neighbors for, “Mas agua, por favor!” See below for some Spanish vocabulary and pronunciations that we have been using in the classroom. SPANISH VOCABULARY BASIC COURTESIES por favor (pohr fah-BOR) = pleasegracias (GRAH-see-ahss) = thank you de nada (deh NAH-dah) = you're welcome yo quiero (yoh kee-YER-o) = I want (to/it) tú quieres (too kee-YER-es) = You want (to/it) (can be a question also) SNACK-TIME PREP el vaso (BAH-soh) = glass el plato (PLAH-toh) = plate la cesta (SEHS-tah) = basket la servilleta (sehr-vee-YET-ah) = napkin FOOD/DRINK el agua (AH-wah) = water la leche (LEH-cheh) = milk la piña (PEEN-yah) = pineapple la naranja (nah-RAHN-ha) = orange la galleta (gah-YEH-tah) = cracker/cookie el batido (bah-TEE-doh) = milkshake/smoothie el queso (KEH-soh) = cheese el melón (meh-LOHN) = melon Fulton River Park Fridays!
We visited Fulton River Park again this Friday with the JK and SK classes. We are excited to announce that each Friday after our All School Morning Meeting and Snack, the entire school will head to Fulton River Park together for some great outdoor time. A few friends took on the roles of pusher and swinger at the park on Friday. Anticipating the correct amount of wait time and rhythm needed to keep a steady swing builds visual spatial skills as well as our large upper motor muscles. Over the last two weeks, our PK students have shown a great interest in the popular children’s story, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. What began with an oral storytelling at the park, progressed into multiple tellings and retellings of the children’s classic, re-enactments in the classroom as well as story sequencing with visuals. When the children continued to bring up the story when headed to Trio Park, we thought this was an excellent opportunity to create our own story, inspired by Rosen and Oxenbury’s classic. Rosen and Oxenbury’s story juxtaposes what the characters see around them with the sounds and movements that are created as they travel through each new setting. Going through the long wavy grass evokes a swishy, swashy, swishy swashy sound, while the swirling whirling snowstorm howls hooo wooo, hooo wooo! The children became fond of the rich vocabulary, repetition and pattern of the story and enjoyed retelling their own version at our bear hunt table in the classroom (see video below). Finally, it was time to create our own story. We prompted students on our daily walk to the park to observe some of the places and things that we pass along the way. We snapped photos along the way and began to discuss the sounds that were made. We later took children two at a time outside to document our path to the park. Students took their own photos and brainstormed what sounds could pair with our journey. Does Ms. Matsubara’s bike that we pass on our walk make the bell sound “bling, bling, bling, bling” or “ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling?” How would we describe that sound that we hear when we walk and jump on the sewer grate? We had to test it out! As the story evolved we were unsure what event would parallel the climactic ending of Rosen and Oxenbury’s story in which the family stumbles upon a large bear. Arriving at the park was definitely the subject of our book, but we needed an exciting ending. One item that continued to come up in our discussions of things we hear and see on our way to the park was the train that regularly passes behind Trio Park. All play and activity seamlessly stop at the passing of each train as our kiddos jump up and down shouting, “Train! Train!” When one student brought in a video of the Metra train that runs along Trio Park, we were enthralled with the sounds of the train whistle and crossing gate. This became the perfect ending to our tale. And we wonder, if it’s the beginning of a new investigation...
View our story, We're Going to Trio Park here One of the most important aspects of the first six weeks of preschool is the establishment of a classroom community. Building a classroom community requires listening, collaboration, awareness of self and others in space, care and use of shared materials. As educators, our role is to create routines, clear expectations, and opportunities for listening and sharing, as well as reflecting on socially acceptable behaviors in the classroom. This series of blogs is intended to provide families with strategies and ideas to support our work in the classroom. Over the next three weeks we will be posting blogs that focus on:
1) promoting communication and listening skills; 2) developing self regulation through consistent modeling; 3) responding to challenging behaviors. We encourage you to ask questions and keep an ongoing conversation with us during this important time. During early childhood, children are working overtime to manage the many emotions that arise throughout the course of the day. Some of these emotions are exhibited positively, such as that of joy through laughter or excitement through cheering. While others, can be exhibited in an undesirable way, such as frustration through hitting, or anger through tantrums. These more challenging emotions are so important for children to recognize and cope with, as doing so is the first step in developing self-regulation. According to Ellen Galinsky, President and Co-Founder of the Families and Work Institute and author of Mind in the Making, regulating ones thinking, emotions and behavior is critical to success in school, work, and life; and these essential regulatory skills develop during the first five years of life. Self regulation is the intentional process of controlling one’s impulses and desires and responding appropriately to the environment. This includes both the ability to stop doing something that the child wants to continue, such as taking a break from a toy to give a peer a turn, as well as the ability to start to do something, even if it is something that he/she may not want to do, such as cleaning up his/her toys. These two examples are regularly emphasized in our classroom community as children begin to understand their roles and responsibilities within the classroom setting. As parents and educators, trusted adults can support this critical skill of self-regulation, through consistent modeling and scaffolding. Scaffolding behavior refers to the process of setting a range of developmentally appropriate expectations for an individual child that are just challenging enough for them to meet with just the right amount of adult support. For example, our classroom morning meeting typically lasts 15 minutes, which is just slightly over the maximum amount of time a 3 year old preschooler can direct their attention to. However, we incorporate a movement activity into each meeting to break up the amount of time the children are sitting. This scaffold of support allows the children to have their physical needs met so that they can continue to regulate their attention and impulses during this group time. Modeling the appropriate behavior is essential for children to learn how to engage effectively with their environment. Hitting another child or adult is not a socially desirable or acceptable behavior. However, for a frustrated preschooler, it is not an automatic regulatory function to first identify the emotion of frustration and use language to communicate a need to another person. As adults, we must consistently model this through our own language with the children, as well as intervening when a physical conflict arises to scaffold the language needed. For example, in the classroom, we often use the language of, “It bugs me when …., I wish you would…” As teachers we even use this phrase around the children when something is bugging us. Letting a child know that, “It bugs me when you pull on my sleeve to get my attention, I wish you would say my name to get my attention,” informs the child of what they should be doing, as well as models appropriate language to use to solve a problem. Modeling can also be done in other contexts, such as when reading with a child. Identifying a character’s emotions and discussing possible solutions can help children transfer these behaviors over to their own lives. Providing hints or reminders, is another important piece of scaffolding. Simply stating a reminder can benefit a child who does not yet automatically regulate his/her behavior. For example, “Can you use your strong preschool voice to tell me how you feel?” reminds a child that whining is not an appropriate behavior, however, you are interested in what he/she has to say. Building self-regulation in preschoolers requires a trusting adult who themselves has the self-regulation and motivation to respond with patience and consistency. It’s not always easy or convenient to take the time to model the appropriate behavior, but a child’s development of self-regulation is arguably the most important skill of the preschool years. In our final post in the upcoming weeks, we will address responding to challenging behavior in developmentally appropriate ways. We are now going to the park on a regular basis! Each day after snack, we prepare to head outside to exercise our bodies and enjoy the fresh air! This week, preschoolers have greatly enjoyed pulling each other in the wagon around the circular path at Trio Park. We take turns being the puller, a passenger, or running alongside the wagon with our friends; but we have to make sure to slow down when we see the traffic guard! On Monday’s walk to the park, we noticed that the stop sign we use to help us cross the street is just like the stop sign that we pass on our walk. We compared the letters, shapes, and colors and agreed that the signs were very similar. After this interest was struck, children thought it would be great to use the hand held stop sign along the path as the wagon was driving through. Most wagon drivers have respected the rules of the road, while those who have not have been warned of a written ticket by their peer traffic guard!
The wagon has provided a great opportunity for children to engage in natural problem solving and conflict resolution. The various roles that can be had around the context of the wagon allow for children to take turns by asking each other to rotate spots. When the wagon puller is going too fast, his or her peers are quick to remind him/her to slow down. If a friend is pushing the wagon from behind, the puller must communicate the correct speed so that the wagon doesn't move faster than the puller. The passengers remain watchful of the road and traffic signs. As we work together in various situations each day, we continue to build our communicative and collaborative skills as well as our relationships with one another. One of the most important aspects of the first six weeks of preschool is the establishment of a classroom community. Building a classroom community requires listening, collaboration, awareness of self and others in space, care and use of shared materials. As educators, our work is in creating routines, clear expectations, and opportunities for listening and sharing, as well as reflecting on socially acceptable behaviors in the classroom. This series of blogs is intended to provide families with strategies and ideas to support our work in the classroom. Over the next three weeks we will be posting blogs that focus on:
1) promoting communication and listening skills; 2) developing self regulation through consistent modeling; 3) responding to challenging behaviors. We encourage you to ask questions and keep an ongoing conversation with us during this important time. During the preschool years your child’s language is developing at a rapid rate. Even prior to preschool, a child’s receptive language, the language they can understand, soars hundreds of words ahead of their expressive language, the words they can say. While expressive language grows vastly during preschool, this fact continues to be true. This contributes to why preschoolers often cry, hit, or grab to communicate their wants. While this type of communication is developmentally expected in the early stages of preschool, this is also the time that children begin to understand that these types of behaviors are not appropriate or acceptable. It is through adult communication and modeling that children will begin to understand this. When your child uses her emotions rather than words to communicate her feelings, you must ask her to use her words. It will take time for your child to understand that using language is better than crying, whining, or hitting. But with consistent responses such as “please, use your words,” “I can’t understand what you want or need when you whine,” and “take a deep breath, and tell me with your words,” they will begin to change this behavior and understand that whining, hitting, or crying are not appropriate ways to handle a situation. Language and reasoning are the key tools that parents and educators use to teach preschoolers the essential and emerging skill of self-control. This is not an easy task. It is often easier to control children with direct commands rather than teach them how to control themselves. While effective and convenient, this will not teach your child how to make good decisions on his own. The first step to help children understand reasoning is to build good listening skills. While preschoolers often appear to not be listening, sometimes this is unintentional, as they are so engrossed in their activity that they simply don’t hear you. The first step in building this skill is to model good listening skills. Here are some helpful hints on how you can build these skills outside of school, that will support the strategies we are using in the classroom:
Once you establish the importance of listening, your child will understand why they need to listen. This doesn’t mean that your child will always listen to you. You will need to remind her often. Get down to your child’s level and say, “Stop what you’re doing. Look at me. I need you to listen. Can you repeat what I want you to do?” With consistency and firmness, your child will begin to develop better listening skills. Keep in mind that this will not always work. There are times when your child may be choosing to ignore you. When your child is not listening and refuses to do so, you will need to use redirection. Our upcoming posts will focus on how to consistently respond to misbehavior with redirection. Organization of Materials This week was an important introduction to design and the paint medium of watercolors. Last week, the provocation of a bicycle wheel prompted the children to want to hang large beaded strands from the wheel. We responded to this by setting up a table with intricate glass beads and fishing line, eager to see what the children would produce. The first day, beads were not organized in any particular way. Various shapes, colors, and sizes shared the same container. The outcome: strands of beads with various shapes, sizes and colors. We began to wonder what would happen if we organized the beads simply by color. Would the outcome be the same? Would the children be more intentional in their choices? The table was set with clear containers of beads grouped by color palette: a jar of red beads, a jar of golden beads, a jar of blue beads, etc. Children were eager to exercise their fine motor skills and focus as they sat down to thread those tiny beads onto the that tiny fishing line. The outcome: strands of yellow and golden beads; strands of blues, turquoise, and clear beads. It appeared that organization of materials, specifically color, impacted the design process for our children. We became more intrigued. As we continue to introduce new art materials, how can our organization and manner in which we set up a provocation, help the children to design and create with intent?
What a great first week of school! In just four short days, we have become more comfortable in the classroom environment, as well as begun to develop budding relationships with one another. The first few weeks of school will focus greatly on classroom routine. Understanding routine does not only involve remembering to wash our hands and put on our school shoes, but also understanding how to engage with classroom materials, how to transition along with the group, and how to participate in clean up. Once the foundation of classroom routine is set, the possibility of experiences are endless. Take for example, Indoor Exploration time. This is a time for children to explore the classroom environment, build in the construction area, investigate new materials on the light table, explore the impact of water on sand, take on the role of mother in the dramatic play, and more. This is also a time for us as teachers to work with children in smaller groups, and capture their understanding of the materials they engage in. For example, this week, children took to the dramatic play environment to begin cooking meals for one another. As an observer, I was able to question where the children were eating. This led to the idea of a restaurant, which led to multiple roles of chef, server, and customers. Our server used mock handwriting to imitate an adult’s writing and two children had the notion to create signs for the restaurant. A few girls were intrigued by beadwork this week and were eager to create necklaces and bracelets. When it was time to leave for the day, they decided the necklaces needed to be kept in a safe spot to return to the following day. A proposal was made to hang the necklaces from the bike wheel that hangs from the ceiling. The children have embraced the provocation to create a classroom chandelier. We will follow up this inquiry next week by providing the children more intricate beadwork. It is through these types of play and observation that we will capture our children’s developmental progress. Another important routine that was focused on this week is Morning Meeting. Once everyone arrives, we gather at the carpet to begin each day. We believe that beginnings matter, therefore, setting the tone for the day is an important value in our morning routine. This is why we take the time to greet each child by name. This week, we sang a song that required keeping a rhythm and saying our name when it was our turn to do so. This required attention, active listening, and the important self regulatory skill of waiting. As children become more confident in our greetings, they will individually greet each other by name, possibly with a handshake or high five. Ask your child to share the name song with you from this week. Next week, we will learn a new greeting, as well as introduce new materials that will be available during Indoor Exploration time. |
Archives
June 2015
AuthorsMeg Fitzgerald is the lead teacher and Madeline Wadington is the Apprentice teacher in the PK classroom at Bennett Day School in Chicago, IL. Categories
All
|