Dinosaurs

I have to admit, I feel a bit dinosaurish myself this evening--long days make me want to growl and stomp, often in search of food. :)  Kids have this epic fascination with dinosaurs. One of my favorite activities this week was creating a volcano. We haven't done actual explosion yet (I'm going to go put vinegar where I'll remember it tomorrow). There was much more, I realized, as is common among people who begin to broach a subject of interest, to learn and it peaks my interest even more in this project approach. I have the idea of it lurking in my head, but I just don't know how to get it rolling. I just need to do some serious experimentation.

These are dinosaur eggs--sand, water, coffee grounds, salt, and flour that I hid something in and then hardened. I hid them around the room and then let the kids use tweezers (they were still pretty soft), to excavate.  

Camping

Singing around the campfire with Mr. Michael, a parent volunteer

 For the last few weeks of May there were a few kids who kept playing camping--they'd pack they're bags, load up the stroller and go set up camp in the play house. They would make fires and make s'mores (skewers with cotton balls on the end), take showers in the shower house, and go fishing. So we decided to take the play a bit further. We went on a field trip to a state park where we were able to go hiking, fishing (for real!), and make s'mores over a fire. Yumminess for all our senses!

Feeding the fish bread while waiting for a fishing pole to be baited

This is why we love fishing

Music group around the campfire with Ms. Jamie

Practicing writing

Superman warming himself at the fire

Hiking at Green Brier State Park

Swirling

I opened this blog with the intent to reflect on practice, particularly when it comes to guiding children in the social emotional development of their lives. I also want it to be a place where parents can come and peek into the window of our preschool days. I'm going to have to pop back and forth from sharing the fun activities we do and doing some reflection, which can get a little real and messy. Bear with me...

Wow, it's huge--this issue of social and emotional development. I wish I could just pop out wisdom with confidence and wit.  Mostly I just have all these questions swirling around in my head...

When do a child's violent actions (such as hitting, kicking, biting, choking, screaming, pushing) turn from social mistakes to intentional "mean-ness?"  
 It is so easy for adults to look at children's violent actions as being mean. Recently in life though, I've been presented with the idea that children are mostly just making mistakes. However, is there a point when they (preschoolers) make a conscious decision to do some they know will harm another? If so...
What should the consequences of social mistakes be?  What should the consequences of intentional "mean-ness" be? 
Time-outs? Redirection. Having something you want taken away from you? I try to make sure that consequences are natural ones....if you're hitting another child with a paper towel tube, the paper towel tube is removed. That's not always very easy though. Should we physically remove a resisting child from a situation?

Should "good" behavior be rewarded with tangible incentives (stickers, lollipops, etc.)?  How do such rewards affect a child's inner motivation? 
Traditionally, we've used sticker charts and rewards to get children to do what we want them to? And a lot of the time it works. Does that justify its use? What is the child's motivation to truly learn then? I would rather have children seek learning opportunities because they find it wonderful. Children wonder and marvel more than any adult I know. Is it really that difficult for me to just find things that they can find interesting enough to seek out?

How early in life should a child be expected to be a part of a group learning time? a.k.a. circle time.
Some early childhood professionals for whom I have the utmost respect suggest that circle times are should not be mandatory. This wrinkles the brow of many, many a preschool teacher. How will they learn to sit still for school? They'll miss so much. We have to be consistent. Most of us preschool teachers--me included--have a fetish for a circle of criss-cross applesauce-hands-in-your-lap-mouths shut! little boys and girls.   Then we can show them the glory of the world, of Eric Carle, dinosaur fossils, and how to recite a poem about shapes.  But, but, but....are they really ready, willing and able? Are we crushing a curiosity to explore? Is there harm in the desire to take a toy off the shelf and delve into a world of imagination? When do kids HAVE to listen to adults? Well, for sure when their safety is in danger. And will they not be able to do that if we've not been able to get them to sit and listen at circle time. How is my own curriculum and planning affecting their compliance?  
That's the question I'm going leave with this evening. 

Stroller-fixing, World-fixing

1. Child A donned a favorite superman cape and golden sparkly hat and set off pushing a stroller rapidly around the room. What great feats the were about to happen, we will never know.

2. Child B came from behind and tore the cape from Child A's shoulders.

3. Child A exploded into a whirlwind of frustration and anger. Words could not be formed, only a shriek. Then the stroller was lifted from the ground and banged onto the floor. The front wheel popped off. 

I watched it happen. Do I reprimand the breaking the stroller? What of Child B, running to the other side of the classroom...now being chased by Child A, who grabbed the cape and started yanking with great might?

4. I intervened.  "Child A, use your words to tell Child B that you are angry. That you would like the cape back."   He did so.

5. Child B bolted with the cape. 

6. I followed. Child B stomped off and started to quietly cry.

7. "Child B, you made Child A very sad." A short dialogue ensued, and eventually, somehow, Child B willingly took the cape to Child A.

8. Child B and I walked by the broken stroller. I explained about three times the events. You took the cape, Child A got angry and broke the stroller. Now we do not have a stroller.

9. I suggested to Child B that we fix the stroller. He got the toolbox and set to work. Soon, two other children joined him.

A happy, cooperative ending to a high stress situation... 

I find myself able to approach these sorts of situations, which are rather frequent in any place more than one child abides, with more calm these days.  It's not my job to make it right as quickly as possible. But I do need to give them some tools to deal with what happens, with those monsters that tear out when someone removes your super-hero powers from your shoulders. Or what to do with the monster that makes you want to grab it in the first place and then lingers behind, changing form when you see that you've actually made someone very, very upset.

I mean, how many adults have an appropriate reaction when someone comes and yanks away our "power"--real and imagined?  We kick and scream every time. It's just that most of us can keep it inside. We've learned to control ourselves. Kids are more real that way. And frankly, I think it's okay to keep the "real" part of it.  Emotions are real and so are problems...why not figure out ways to help kids deal with these?

About healing

About a month ago, I observed a few of the girls were walking around the room, pushing a stroller with a doll. I asked where they were going. "My baby has a one month check-up" was the reply. The two plopped down near the piano. Looking around the room, one of the girls simply stated, "Since there are no doctor things, I guess these will have to do." And she pulled a tool kit off the shelf and started "checking-up" on the baby. 

I decided at that point to get a play doctor's kit for the room. All of the children have used it thoroughly--on each other, their baby dolls, on the bunny, on any guest that may walk through our doors. They are fascinated by it. 

Wanting to build on this play, I asked a friend who is a nurse to come in to the classroom.

 She showed us a lot of the instruments she uses and talked about how children don't need to be afraid when they go to the hospital.  Only a few children were present that day, but they were definitely intrigued by her. We're planning to also have a doctor come by the room soon!

 

I suggested to the children that we set up a doctor's office. This is the sign that we made together.

Here's the waiting room. 

 And making sure the baby's are well-bandaged.

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!