Step by step...drooling included

I've spent the past four months or so drooling over pictures of Reggio Emilia-inspired classrooms.  I've been pulled into international blogging community of people who are totally passionate about giving children the best early education possible--whether at home or in a center.  The blog list on the side bar are the ones I follow most closely though there are scads of others out there as one discovers when reading these blogs. 
Our pastor once said that our passion is tied in with a sense of duty. While this is not the way we usually think about passions, I have understood this to be true when it comes to this job and to the classroom space.  I thoroughly enjoy my job and have deep interest in many, many aspects of early childhood education, and particularly in making the environment a third teacher. My passion goes beyond just what is enjoyable though to the point where the I feel bound to this space, wanting it to truly be all that it can be--yet bound by lack of time and resources, and my own inability to make ideas become reality.  They're so easy to have, ideas.  I feel like I'm just getting the sense of what Reggio Emilia schools mean by having the environment as a teacher--but am far from putting this into practice.  However, step by step I think we'll get somewhere. 
Our teaching team spent hours over this spring break making changes to the room--some huge and some small tweaks. 

We brought in a tree that the children's theater has used in several plays! Yea! It's as cool as it looks, we're hoping to use it for puppetry as you can climb in it and stick puppets out the hole. Meanwhile, our class mascot, Mr. Funnyguy is hanging out in the hole.

Doreen made these ingenious book slings. Just get a double curtain rod bracket, pick our favorite fabric, sew a hem and slide a dowel through.

Really any time you have Doreen around to paint a monster you can't go wrong in making the space more playable. We got a bunny cage too and Jaime has agreed to let us borrow the bunnies she bought at the livestock auction until the one my brother offered us is weaned.

The space under the piano got way more attractive when we added a few pillows and rugs. I'd love to had a few more soft things here and all around the room.

It made the children laugh and play

Our Little Lamb (Elliot) didn't necessarily follow us to school on his own volition, but I don't think he minded getting a ride to school.  Naturally, the our curiosity was high when Elliot arrived and we all very willingly broke out in various renditions of Mary Had a Little Lamb and Baa, Baa Black Sheep.  Those fears that I talked about in a previous post accompanied the fascination of the lamb. I think it's natural to be a bit hesitant to touch a living thing that one's not familiar with. One of the preschool mother's passed on an article addressing the fears of two-year-olds--don't discount the fear it said, just reassure that things are okay, that they are safe. It's a reminder to me again that while children learn thousands of things in their first three years of life, there are still a lot of things they just have not experienced yet. They just need to learn.

Spin art. Inspired by the awesome book Jazz Baby I broke out the record player. It worked but we need speakers so we decided to make some spinning art instead.

Our public debut show at the mall. Who wouldn't want to send their child to a school where she can wear a ladybug costume?  No worries, we have boy costumes too!

spring contentedness

 It is very hard for me to be grumpy on a spring morning of 75 degrees a breeze that makes the willow tree dance. I took both the morning and afternoon classes to the park around the corner on Monday. And I could not help but just breathe deep and smile.  I think it's the same for children--the young love being outdoors. LOVE it. I have no research to base this on, but I truly think that children (and grown-ups) just feel more peaceful outside. Not that this solves emotional turmoil instantly or even prevents any conflict from happening. But there is a contentedness felt outside (particularly in weather from in the 65-75 degree range) that is rarely replicated elsewhere. There is a movement in the preschool world to get kids outside more. See my blog list on the sidebar--seriously awesome educators and parents who all understand the importance of getting kids outside.

Our wet, chilly spring has kept us mostly indoors--which has been fine since we have ample space to run and jump and climb and slide indoors. But I'm anxious for the fenced in space we'll get next week. And I'm pumped about creating a space outdoors where the children are free to still be creative, to exert physical energy, to learn, and of course, to just be content.

We colored eggs with crayons immediately after taking them out of the boiling water. I just put them in an egg-holder cut out from the egg carton and held the egg there. Melted crayon has to be one of the greatest art mediums ever. We got brilliant colors and a marbled look when colors mixed. It was pretty mess-free (not that we're afraid of messes or anything..).