Looking to the Stars

Growing up in Vermont, like many of us who grew up in rural places, I have always been drawn to looking up at stars. There is just something about gazing up on a clear summer night and seeing a sky filled with sparkling stars that is universally appealing. Of course children love learning about the stars, imagine seeing them again for the very first time. They are pretty amazing. When I came across this book while looking for something else, I knew instantly that I was going to love it. I love Marla Frazee's illustrations and they go beautifully with Mary Lyn Ray’s story about stars of all kind.

I first read this book last year with my class of two and three year-olds before I moved up to teach in the preschool classroom. I was worried it would be a bit too wordy for them and while a few book-lovers really connected with it, I knew it was a bit better suited to preschoolers. This year, most of those little guys from my former classroom have moved up and joined me in preschool, and so I brought the story out again. It was a huge hit this time around, especially with the kids who remembered when I read it with them last year. Stars has been on our classroom book display for over a month now and we've featured it twice as our circle time story already, and the kids regularly ask us to read it with them again. Of course I am happy to oblige, I could read this book with them a thousand times and not tire of it. Each time we read it, a new conversation results from something the story and its illustrations conjured up.

When I brought this story out last month, my classroom was deep in the midst of an obsession with magic and fantasy. It made sense then, to go with the kids’ interest and follow up story-time, with a make-your-own-magic-wand activity. We had just featured King Arthur’s Very Great Grandson the week before and made paper crowns. This was one of our most popular activities to date and left the whole class playing royalty for the rest of the afternoon, so my co-teachers and I knew that a wand-making activity would be well received. We cut out a stack of paper stars, offered up some glitter to make them sparkle, helped the kids glue them to a stick and tied a few colorful ribbons around the top. Suddenly each child had an invitation to transform into something magical for the day. Just like with the paper crowns, it was beautiful to watch the creativity and depth of play that was born out of such a simple DIY accessory project.

The second time we read Stars at Circle Time, I chose to make small stars to keep in your pocket, “like your best rock,” (M. L. Ray) except that it was winter and good rocks were hard to come by. The laminated paper stars I went with were a bit of a flop compared to how I imagined the activity would have gone over, had we been able to head outdoors in search of the perfect rocks to paint and keep forever. Regardless of what activity you and your children come up with, this is a beautiful book to read together, with limitless potential for follow-up activities that could tie into any number of subjects, from outer space to emotions to fantasy fiction and more.  

Becoming a Birder

I have read Have You Heard the Nesting Bird, by Rita Gray, a few times now with my class and it has quickly become a favorite for all of us. The kids love it because they get to hear me make funny bird noises and they don’t have to sit quietly while I read it. The story is short and sweet, it has some rhyme and a lot of rhythm to it, and the illustrations are beautiful and interesting. This story led to a great conversation where each kid shared a few of their favorite or recent experiences with birds. And after only a few reads, the kids have learned the names and corresponding calls of a handful of common birds, many of which we’ve seen right out the windows of our classroom. We are lucky that our classroom has big windows and a patch of forest to look out on, so birds are a common sight. Since we started reading this story together, the kids in my class have taken a keen interest in the local wildlife and have finally started to regularly peruse and refer to the Maine Field Guide I brought in months ago.

The first time I read the Nesting Bird (which is a Robin), I offered a game of Bird Bingo as a follow up activity, and just like the book, the game has quickly become a favorite in our room. The illustrations are beautiful and since we've started playing, the kids have significantly expanded their naturalist vocabularies and can recognize a whole slew of new birds, many of which even I hadn’t known before being introduced to this game. Bingo is a great way for kids to practice important social skills like cooperation, organizing others, following the rules of a game, and turn taking. A specialty bingo game, like this one also provides a fantastic way for kids to connect with and deepen an interest they have developed. Back in Seattle, one of the boys in my preschool class was fascinated by dinosaurs and brought in his dinosaur bingo game. We offered it as an activity in our science area and there was one of the most popular choices at work time. After a few weeks of playing this game regularly, we all were able to name and classify tons of different kinds of dinosaurs, many of which again, I hadn’t been previously familiar with.

There are many different picture books featuring birds that would likely provoke similar interests in the subject of ornithology, such as Birds by Kevin Henkes, or Counting Is for the Birds by Frank Mazzola, Jr., to name a few. I happened to come across the Nesting Bird at my local library, completely by accident, and because I have a personal interest in birds, and I had been dying to find an opportunity to introduce our bird bingo game, I pulled it out one day after we spotted a bright Blue Jay out the window. Months ago I had set my Maine bird guide on the window sill near the science area with a pair of binoculars to accompany it, but the kids had taken little notice, only occasionally flipping through the book and usually using the binoculars for dramatic play games. After we read the Nesting Bird in our circle time meeting, I reintroduced the field guide and the kids finally started using it regularly, seeking out the birds they know, pointing out their favorites, and asking me to read the names and feeding/migration information provided on each bird’s profile page. So we can keep building on this growing interest in birds, I requested, and quickly received from our school's director, a bird feeder to hang outside our window. I can’t wait to get hung and see what kinds of visitors will provide us with the opportunity to catch a glimpse into their aerial world.

Yoga Time!

My first yoga student, Little K practicing Tree Pose in Hawaii

I started doing yoga with the two and three year olds in my class around Christmas time when the temperatures first began dropping below the point that we were able to take the kids outside. After being accustomed to at least an hour a day of running around and playing outside, it quickly became apparent that my co-teacher, Amy and I needed to come up with something active to keep our kids (and ourselves) from going insane, all cooped-up inside for the remainder of the cold season. We started with a few fun songs and dancing activities found on YouTube, many of which Amy had used at her previous school. The kids LOVED this and we found ourselves scrambling daily to come up with more songs to extend this new favorite time of day in our classroom. At the time, our "movement" time happened to fall right before our circle time meetings and we needed a way to bring the group back down to a place where they could calmly sit for our meeting. So at the end of our dancing and marching around the classroom, we all gathered together for some seated, yoga-like movements, ending in a little focused breathing. This worked marvelously and so began the incorporation of yoga into our daily routine.

A few of my favorite yoga resources for kids...

That weekend, I went to my local library on a mission to find a particular yoga book called You Are A Lion, I was introduced to back in Seattle through the library's book-mobile program. Not only did I find what I was looking for, but the librarian who assisted me, introduced me to a wealth of new books to explore. I promptly checked them out, some picture books and some reference, and brought them in to introduce to our class. My tried and true favorite was the perfect book to help the kids get engaged and take their introductory practice to a whole new level, learning the names of the poses and a handful of fun new ones that invited the kids to make animals sounds and incorporate their high energy and silliness into their practice rather than avoid it. I also brought in my personal set of yoga cards and let the kids and we went through a few of them each day, learning the names and even more new poses. They were so interested in our yoga activities that we started incorporating yoga practice into our regular work-time (aka free-play). I set the cards out as a special activity on the table, along with the children's reference books and picture books so that the kids could practice them and choose the poses they wanted me to demonstrate for them.

My pose cards we used before finding the Yoga Pretzel cards shown above

The more we practiced our yoga together (usually for 10-15 minutes at a time, once or twice daily), the more advanced the kids became. Now, three months later, our class has yet to lose interest in our yoga activities and now enjoy a more advanced, call-and-response practice where I say, "show me tree pose," and "show me mountain pose," rather than me leading with the pose first saying "now I'm going to stand tall and straight with my hands high above my like a mountain," the way I first did when introducing each pose. Each child has his and her favorite poses and they often request them, or point out the names of poses when they notice someone making a similar movement with their body. Not all the kids want to participate every time, but the large majority are eager to jump in whenever we start up with some yoga. The fail safe, however is called "Twinkle, Twinkle Yoga," and whenever I start up this yoga activity, every child joins in every time. I learned this one from Helen Garabedian's wonderful book Itsy Bitsy Yoga for Toddlers and Preschoolers, and it is so perfect in it's simplicity that any teacher or parent with zero knowledge or training in yoga can easily implement with their children. All you have to do is stand with your legs and arms apart, making a star with your body and rock back and forth from foot to foot, energetically "twinkling" your fingers and singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. It is so easy, the kids absolutely love it every time, and it does unspeakable wonders for getting the attention and focus of every single child in the room, bringing them to a place where they are ready to listen upon conclusion.

I personally love yoga, and although I rarely go to formal classes anymore, it is a part of my every day routine both at home and in my classroom. From reading Garabedian's book and from my own experience doing yoga with my young students, I cannot say enough about the benefits of incorporating even the smallest amount of yoga practice into your daily school curriculum, or routine at home. Here are just a few of the many reasons why I recommend adding a little yoga to your day with your little one(s):

Great reference book filled with pictures of kids doing poses

• Practicing yoga helps children develop balance, coordination, large motor control, focus, and concentration
• Regular yoga encourages healthy circulation and increases oxygen to the brain 
• Yoga can be a fantastic self-soothing exercise and a fun way to practice patience 
• The command over the body developed in yoga builds confidence in physical skills and can improve self-esteem
• Certain poses (those where weight is on shoulders, arms, and wrists) can help develop muscle strength needed for improving fine motor skills, particularly those needed for writing later on
• Yoga can help relax and calm children and adults, assuage stress and encourages mindfulness, especially good for before nap or bedtime for deeper sleep
• Doing yoga with children offers a fun bonding experience for everyone involved and can do wonders for relationship building.

So go on, pick up one of the books I've shown, do a little online reading and research, or just jump right in with Twinkle, Twinkle Yoga, you're bound to have a blast and your kids/students will love it even more!

Stone Soup

I have been teaching with this story for years, starting way back when I was first working as a summer camp and after-school counselor in high school and college. In fact, I can't even remember which group first introduced the story of Stone Soup to me, but whomever it was, I am grateful for the introduction. If you've never read this story, go pick it up and read it the next chance you get. It is a beautiful story about coming together as a community, opening your heart and working together for the common good. There are many versions of this classic tale, but I am partial to author and illustrator, Jon J. Muth's version, mostly because I think his gentle watercolor style so perfectly brings to life the feelings in the story. I personally just love all of his work, but Marcia Brown's version is also really great. Just before Christmas, I had the chance to share this story with my class and although they are just a bit young for it, I couldn't resist and at least a few of them really got into it and that's good enough for me. I asked the group at the end what they liked best and while some loved the illustrations, just as I do, many of them pointed out different veggies and ingredients featured in the soup as their favorite part. Since I am always looking for a chance to incorporate food into my curricula, I was naturally thrilled.

Whenever I share one of my favorite books with a class, I always pay attention to the bits and pieces they connect with the most and do whatever I can to bring those pieces to life, weaving them throughout the rest of the curriculum. With this story, I have often had each of the kids pick an ingredient to bring in and we've made stone soup together in a crock-pot as a class and enjoyed it for our lunch, which is always a huge hit. Cooking projects are one of my favorite ways to bring a story to life because they are so multi-sensory and therefore leave a much larger imprint on one's memory. With a story like this one, highlighting the strong messages of community and open-mindedness, I definitely want the memory to stick. I also love to cook with kids because they are usually fascinated by the process and eager to participate. Because I feel so gypped from not learning more (or much of anything) about food in school when I was young, I want to cultivate this interest as much as possible in my students. It baffles me that growing and preparing food, something so crucial to human culture and survival gets so neglected in most schools, but I suppose I'll save my feelings on the subject for another time because I could go on and on and I don't want to get off track from Stone Soup... If you are interested, however, check out my Kids in the Kitchen pinboard for more inspiration in food education.

Felt carrot, asparagus, and purple sweet potato I made for little K back in HI

Anyway, since my kiddos happened to be drawn to the ingredients involved in making stone soup, I thought, perhaps I will use this as an opportunity to finally develop a set of felt food for our play kitchen. Since not all of the kids were interested in this story, that tells me that instead of sharing it with the group as our circle-time read, I will next time offer to read it in the book nook with those who are interested, as a choice during our open work time. Most of the kids will wander over and listen at least for a little while each time I read it, while others will savor it again and again. Whatever their preference, all of them will inevitably be exposed to the ideas in the story as they work their way through the rest of the curriculum. By stocking our play kitchen with felt versions of the ingredients in the story, the kids will have the chance to incorporate Stone Soup into their play, and this has so many benefits from literacy development, to deepening their knowledge of food and the process of creating meals, to bringing the important message of community to the center stage, not to mention the exposure to different cultural groups in the mountains of the Himalayas. I think I'll take it one step further and capitalize on my class's budding interest in using scissors and invite them to practice cutting out pictures of food in magazines to glue down to a paper plate, making their own "stone soup" that they can take home. I swear, a few good stories can be a teachers best friend and savior, I don't know what I'd do without them.

A Very Busy Season

Now that I'm teaching full time again, I'm remembering how exhausted I get after spending all day in the classroom. While I may not have time to keep up with my posts as regularly as I would like, I still want to share what I've been working on, so until I can find the time to write more, I'll be sticking with more photo documentation. Here's a sneak peak at what we've been up to this holiday season...

We've started making a weekly batch of homemade play dough and the kids have really gotten into it. Perhaps it's because we skipped on the food coloring, but the kids have focused all of their play dough energy into baking. They started out right away pretending to be making pancakes describing to me all their favorite toppings for this beloved breakfast food including syrup, strawberries, blueberries, whipped cream, etc. I am always one to encourage a person's interest in food and cooking, as it happens to be a personal passion of mine, so I jumped at the chance to share one of my favorite Eric Carle stories with our group. It's a longer and more wordy story so instead of sharing it with the class as a whole during one of our circle time meetings, I offered it as one of the choices during our morning work time (aka free play) session. A few of my regular story kids chose to come join my in the book nook for a reading and liked it so much that I ended up reading the book more times than I can count throughout the day and following weeks. It was incredible to see how the story added volumes to their play dough creations, giving them the language to describe what they were making and the understanding of the process of making actual pancakes from scratch. As the holidays drew closer, I came across Amy Rosenthal's story and shared it with my kids, offering them holiday cookie cutters to their play dough tools and a bunch of nutmeg to the batch so it smelled like cookies. The last day before Christmas vacation started, we re-read the cookie book and made our own batch of moon shaped sugar cookies following the recipe printed at the end of the story. As we were mixing the cookie dough, the kids all crowding around and anxiously awaiting their turn to mix the dough, they noticed how similar it was to the process of making play dough. Next step to expanding their knowledge of the many uses for flour, fresh, hand-rolled pasta and a good old Strega Nona story.

Behind the playdough display, you'll notice my classroom's play kitchen. To further bring these stories to life, I plan to start working on some pasta and pancake felt food to add showcase in the kitchen, along with the appropriate play tools for making them, like a pot and colander and a frying pan and spatula. We also have a variety of different kinds of dried pasta in our sensory table currently for the kids to explore. You can check out my inspiration for projects on the Welcome to My Classroom pinboard, and find more inspiration for bringing food into focus in early education on my Kids in the Kitchen pinboard. While the kids were busy playing with playdough, I was working on some seasonal, simpler felt projects that I got out just in time for our very snowy Christmas season here in Maine. Hope all of your Holidays were as filled with enjoyment as ours were.

I cut and sewed together a handful of simple felt ornaments and offered them alonside a rather large felt tree which I set out as one of our daily table activities during the few weeks leading up to Christmas so that our little 2 and 3 year olds had a tree at school that they could decorate however they pleased. The project was a big hit and the kids loved watching me stitch up the ornaments and making suggestions on what I should make next for the tree. 

Here's the tree all decorated, the kids always insisted that the star go on top :)

The success of the felt Christmas tree inspired my co-teacher and I to set up a permanent felt board in our classroom. We put it in the story corner as an alternative quiet time activity, since not all of our kids are interested in looking at books all the time, and there are many times, like right after snack when we are cleaning up before transitioning into either getting dressed for outside, or an indoor session of group movement activities like yoga and dancing. So to start off our felt board, I threw together some basic shapes so the kids can build snowmen on the days its too cold or rainy to build them outside. A few of the girls in my group were interested in the activity while I was making it and were psyched when I asked for advice on what to make next. They asked me for "green feet" and "yellow arms" and hats and extra eyes, and lips. So far the snowman felt board has only been out for 2 days but it's been a big hit and I can't wait to get started on the next board themed, "Space & Sky."

Snowman Decorated Felt Board

Basket of Snowman Parts

New Use for an Old Favorite Story

This week's project, damaged book turned literary art work. 

Last week I mentioned that I have been reading We're Going on a Bear Hunt with my new class of two and three year olds. The kids love this book right now and each time I read it with them I look for new ways to create fun learning experiences for the classroom inspired by the story and its illustrations. I just love how a good story can weave its way throughout your life and so likewise I always try to have one classic story as the backbone of my preschool curriculum, the place from which so many projects, games, conversations and learning opportunities of all kinds emerge. Right now, this is the story on which I am building. This story is so well loved that it's pages were literally starting to fall apart from so much wear. This weekend I retired it and replaced it with the board book version we had in our school's collection. Despite it's sad condition, I couldn't bear to part with our beloved book so I decided, instead, to celebrate it by reconstructing the pages of the story into a piece of art to display in the library corner of our classroom.

found at this lovely blog

I can't take credit for this art project because like many ideas for my classrooms over the years, it was inspired by something I saw on Pinterest. Now that I am just about full time now in my new room at the school in Maine where I have been employed since we arrived in Portland back in September, I have been going back through many of the DIY Pins I have collected this year looking for inspiration. I stumbled upon this neat Cat in the Hat story art piece and immediately thought of the bear hunt book I knew was on its last days in the classroom. I don't have a canvas yet and I am not replicating it exactly, but what you see above is my progress as of last night. Hopefully by the end of the week I can report back with the final product and let you know what my kiddos think of it once I display it above the books in the story corner of our classroom. My hope is that not only will the story board draw attention to this part of the classroom, but it will also serve as a visual reminder of the children's favorite story. They love "reading" the story to me, using the illustrations to trigger their memory of the words which many have memorized almost entirely. This activity not only helps the kiddos to develop some important literary skills, like story telling, sequential ordering of events, vocabulary building, and word recall, it also serves as a way to connect with the story on a deeper level, to see the illustrations as the works of art that they are, and it helps document for the parents what we've been up to and what we are currently interested in as a class. Not to mention, it likely gives the parents a visual for a story they've likely heard all about.

Blocks found in this Etsy shop

In addition to all the literacy benefits of creating story art like this one, I believe that re-purposing something that could have easily ended up in the recycle bin provides the kids with a valuable lesson on DIY and creativity. If you've read any of my previous posts, you've probably gathered that I have quite an interest in creating handmade materials for the children in my lives. I'm hoping I have enough pictures left over from my story board project that I can attempt to put together a story block set like the one pictured on the left I stumbled across while browsing on Etsy one day. I'd love to get as much use out of our bear hunt book as possible and offer the kids as many ways as I can to dig deeper into one of their favorite stories. My interest in DIY is not simply a way to fulfill my need to create, but I love to use it as a way to inspire children and show them what they too can be capable of, which is why whenever possible I like to work on my projects either with the help of the children, or while in the classroom with them so that my projects serve as a provocation for them. In the past this has led to kids in my preschool class back in Seattle making their own books by stapling paper together and filling in the pages and learning to master the art of crown making for their dramatic play, and even creating origami critters that became the key characters in their small world play. When it comes to developing self-sufficiency and DIY skills, there is no better way to teach than by example and so I do my best to fill my classroom spaces with as many handmade items as I can, assuming the quality of my work is up to par with the rest of the materials in the classroom, which isn't always the case. But then again, moving on from failure and trying again is just as valuable a lesson and one which I am happy to pass on. Not all my projects meet the aesthetic qualifications for my classrooms but that will never stop me from continuing to work. 

Within the Walls of My Classroom

Though I have been at my new school just about two full months now, I am only just starting out in my new classroom after floating between the two toddler rooms in the program. As I start down this new path, teaching an amazing group of 14 kiddos transitioning from the infant/toddler wing to the preschool wing of the school, I figured it was a perfect opportunity to get back to blogging more regularly and share the trials and tribulations of teaching and learning with two and a half to three and a half year-olds. Even though I've only been in my new room part time for two short weeks, I am already overflowing with inspiration and projects and I'm ready to jump in and start settling into my new classroom space with my new friends and new routines. Starting a new chapter in my professional career, returning to a full-time teaching position is super exciting for me after over a year off so I can finally test out all the projects I've spent the past year or so researching and see what works and what doesn't. And I feel lucky to share my new classroom with such a great group of people.

These magnet-tile builders are currently a huge hit in our room 

My first order of business has been to jump right in and play with the kids, get to know them on a deeper level and gain some insight into their budding personalities, strengths, and affinities. At the same time I am in the process of assessing the classroom environment and observing how the kids use the space. By doing both of these I am getting a good sense of what already works well and where I can make improvements to better support the needs and interests of our group. To help me organize my thoughts, I spent this afternoon mapping out the classroom and making a list of the existing work stations in addition to the ones I want to improve upon or add. I am also making note of what materials are set up where, and how I might improve the functionality of each station by making little changes, like switching up the books, adding a few provocations and decorations here and there, swap out certain toys for others, and adjust the placement of the shelves and furniture to maximize each area as well as the general atmosphere of the classroom. The more I analyze the classroom environment the more I can tweak it and customize it to maximize the space and more fully engage the members of our classroom community and reflect the uniqueness of each member.

I am lucky that this classroom already comes fully equipped with a nice play kitchen which I updated a bit last week and plan to add an extra shelf on the back end filled with baskets of (my handmade) felt food to serve as a produce stand/market place. I'll be sure to document my progress as I go, but until I restock my craft supply and get my hands on some more felt and embroidery floss, I've been sticking to simpler (and cheaper) projects. Inspired by the adorable painted coffee filter/clothespin butterflies adorning the ceiling space in one of the toddler rooms, I started making origami paper cranes and experimenting with other animal patterns using this online instructional website. While I spent a week covering a teacher's vacation in the other toddler room, I strung up a paper crane mobile above the changing table to entertain the squirmy toddlers while getting a fresh diaper. This worked so well and added so much character to the space that I want to make another aerial display to hang above the story station to add a bit of whimsy to it.

This book is a favorite in our room right now

I already have a growing list of projects I can't wait to start in on, so to help me keep track of all my ideas I decided to start up a new PinBoard. In addition to my projects, this board serves as a wishlist for new materials I'd like to bring into the classroom and it reflects the current and developing interests of the members of my class. Right now we are rolling with the building interest in bears and this week I plan to decorate the walls with a variety of images of different kinds of bears, get my hands on some bear stuffed animals and figurines, and bring in a few more stories featuring bears including Jamberry, The Mitten, The Bear Who Shared, and Moon Game. I wonder if I can find a good pattern for an origami bear? There are so many ways to incorporate a study of bears into our play and so far we've had a blast making bear cave forts by draping blankets across the backs of chairs, growling and dancing like bears in our animal songs, and searching for the laminated pictures of bears that are hiding all over the classroom. As we dig further into our study on bears, I can't wait to begin exploring the concept of hibernation with the kiddos and see where it takes us. Stay tuned to find out and in the mean time, you can see what I'm up to with the kiddos in my class by following my new board on Pinterest called Within the Walls of My Classroom

Learning with the Littles

View of the city from Standpipe Park near my house in Portland's East End

So I haven't been the best at keeping up with my blogging lately, but in my defense I moved (again), and immediately started teaching full time  at a new school just outside of Portland, Maine. I've spent the past two months doing nothing but planning, packing, unpacking and trying to get acclimated to yet another new home and a new job. Luckily, this is the last time we will be moving for a long, long time. Bouncing around the country all year has been exciting and fun, but the nomadic lifestyle wore me out and I'm ready to settle into my new city, my new apartment, my new school and all the accompanying new routines. I find it deeply comforting to know that four months from now, I will not be packing up again, saying too many goodbyes, or pumping myself up for another set of introductions and unfamiliar faces. And Portland, I think, is going to be an authentic fit and a pretty amazing place for build Dylan and I to build our life together.

But onto the important stuff, the stuff that guides my writing, my thinking, and my professional life...the kiddos. I got lucky and landed a pretty great job at a pretty great little preschool in a coastal town near Portland, and when the wind blows right, we can smell the saltwater in the air on the back playground as the tide recedes. In a few more months, I'll be settling into my new Transitional Preschool Classroom filled with a wonderful group of fourteen 2.5-3.5 year olds and I could not be more excited to try and fill the shoes of the beloved teacher who is moving on to new things. In the meantime, I am bouncing around the younger, toddler classrooms getting to know the children who will eventually follow me up to the Transitional class. It's been a month so far and like any new job it takes time to learn the ropes, get used to the program and the many new routines, but it has been an especially difficult adjustment for me this time around after having gone through so much transition in my personal life this year already. Getting to know this special group of kiddos and their amazing teachers, however, is doing much to ease my anxiety and bring my feet back down to the ground, keep breathing, and smile more. 

Once again, I find myself making countless "leaf salads" and now sand cakes too

As you might already know, I have spent most of my career in education working with PK and school-aged children, so this toddler-intensive has been a month of eye-opening and thought-provoking experiences that have challenged me to step up my game and spend even more time in reflection than usual. I think it's important that I take a moment and send a virtual hug to little K back in Hawaii in thanks for introducing me to this age group in advance so that I could walk with some confidence into what would have otherwise been largely uncharted territory. Sure I spent time with the toddlers and infants at Bella Mente, but never in long enough chunks of time to get to know this period of development on a deeper level. If it wasn't for little K, I'd barely be able to keep my head above water with these two classrooms of ten toddlers each. Instead, I was able to dive right in and play with the best of them and so far, I've had a great time and have called upon my experience teaching K on a daily basis. 

Just ordered this favorite to reread

As I get to know the kids in my classes, their wants, needs, and interests, I'm reminded just how new the world is to them and how important it is to see our world from their perspective. As I both observe and join in on their play, I am finding that I need to slow myself way down and take things truly one at a time and go with the flow of their attention span, which often isn't very long. At this age, (about 15-28 months) children are struggling with the transition from baby to big kid and learning how to balance their budding independence with their still very real need for care and support. They are learning to do things for themselves but it's hard work, especially when their language skills are often lagging behind their thought process. It's hard to ask for help from a teacher, or space from a friend, when you don't yet have the words to articulate your needs. As a teacher, this means I spend a LOT more time talking than I usually do, though much of that is simply narrating the children's play and the routines of the day to help them acquire the words that are most relevant to their experiences at school. I also use my words to demonstrate how to communicate my needs to exemplify the process, and pointing out the effectiveness of articulating them when the kids give it a shot. If it wasn't for the nice long midday naps, I think I'd be completely wiped out by the end of the day. 

So after a month of swimming in the deep end, I feel like I am finally beginning to understand what I can do to best support the unique needs and interests of this group and I can't wait to share what I've learned. Here are a few pieces of the toddler puzzle I've put together so far:

What I would do to get that set of stairs with the tunnel bridge in our room

• First of all, it has quickly become clear just how important it is to teach by example. Though I always articulate what I am doing and why, many of these little ones are taking in what I do far more than what I say, particularly the more sensory learners. My actions speak louder than my words so that means I better be damn sure I practice what I preach. That means not simply taking things out of their hands without asking first, and then succinctly explaining why I need to do so if they won't give it up. Otherwise I contradict myself when I tell them not to take toys from their friends. 
• If all a kid wants to do is climb on everything in sight, I need to find a way to safely and regularly allow him or her to do so or I am signing up for a lot of unnecessary conflict while at the same time doing that child a disservice by preventing him or her from developing a skill that is clearly important. Find a way to turn "problematic behavior" into a learning opportunity and not only do you get to keep the peace (and your sanity) but you show that child that your role as a teacher is to help him grow and have fun, not get in the way of his learning. The Reggio-Inspired teacher is a co-learner after all, and that means we are in the business of constructing knowledge together. 
• Sometimes, an extra hug or a few minutes of snuggle time can solve all the problems in the world. In a group of 10 toddlers, most whom never have to compete for a hug at home, it is crucial to give each one of them as much of your undivided love and attention as possible every day. Some kids need more physical connection than others, just like some adults do. After a month of careful observation, I have begun to learn who and when to ask, do you need an extra hug right now? This simple question has saved a lot of tears and helped me teach the importance of articulating emotions and needs, not to mention it does wonders for the rapport I am working to build with these new munchkins. Back to my first point of teacher by example, these kids are now regularly offering hugs to one another, especially to friends who look sad. A little extra affection can work miracles, it seems.

The yellow leaves are always my favorite

Although I could spend hours writing down everything I've learned in the one short month since I started working with this group of toddlers, but so I don't overwhelm either one of us, I'll save the rest for future posts. In the meantime, I'll share one more experience that has made a huge impact on both myself and the kids with whom I've been spending my time. It is fall here in New England and having been far away for the previous few autumn seasons, I have been enamored with the foliage this year. All I want to do is look at the leaves, admire the colors, and breathe in the crisp fall air with all the peaceful feelings it brings me. It was hard for me to imagine incorporating nature into a traditional center-based toddler classroom after spending so many months with K where the farm was our primary learning space, but I've found the wealth of trees surrounding our back playground to be the perfect solution. 

Knowing that winter is looming in the distance, we've taken every opportunity to play outside in the sand yard and I have used much of that time to stay connected to the natural world myself by sharing this interest with the kiddos. We started watching the leaves "dancing" in the wind, pointing out the different colors, feeling the wind against our faces as is blows the leaves around us. I pick the kids up, one at a time, and we bond over our mutual fascination with the natural beauty around us. Together we spend our mornings and afternoons outside noticing patterns in the clouds, the contrast of the blue sky against the green and yellow leaves, and occasionally watch as a blue jay or chickadee or dragon fly flutters past. This is what a "science" curriculum for toddlers is all about, noticing the world around us, putting words to what we see, touching, seeing, feeling, smelling, and listening to it as much as possible. These moments of observation also serve as the perfect way to give the kids who need it a momentary break from the hustle and bustle of the playground and get a bit of peace of mind. Don't you just love solving two problems at once? And now that nature has their attention, I can start to parse out what aspects and concepts within their world each child is most drawn to, and build upward from there. Seeing the wonder in a child's eyes as he watches the rainbow of leaves dance in the wind on a beautiful fall day is the stuff I live for. It feels good to back, let's see what adventures next week brings...

Encouraging Future Scientists

Little C, transfixed by the movement of the water and colorful rocks beneath it

How do you get more kids interested in math and science? This was the question posed to me in a conversation this weekend about education after I made my claim that standardization and high stakes testing are boring students out of pursuing math and science careers. Being an introvert, I froze up on the spot and my response was pretty long winded and ended up as more of a general introduction to the Reggio Approach and the difference between what I do and how science is traditionally taught in schools. But I didn't really say much about my actual science curriculum and what it looks like in practice and I have been thinking about how to better answer the question all week. So today I flipped through all of my documentation folders for some good examples of how I "teach" science in my preschool classrooms and what I do to keep kids interested in these important subjects.

I spent one morning with a group of toddlers smelling, naming, touching, and looking at a rosemary bush in the back garden patch during outside time at Bella Mente. This impromptu lesson on plants was the result of little L's curiosity about this big green thing beside her, inspiring each of her classmates to have a smell. Engaging all of the senses is a great way to figure out how each of my students learns most effectively.

Back in Hawaii, K and I learned about the local farm flora by exploring the pigeon pea bush. She preferred a more hands on approach, working her fine motor skills by plucking the peas from their pods. We got in a great vocabulary lesson along with our science as K inquired about the name of each part of the plant and practiced saying leaf, pea, pod, bush, branch, and more as she pinched the pods carefully to get her pea.

Learning distance and landscape was something my buddy little E was particularly drawn to, he loved to look at maps and took great pride in his ability to name the places he recognized. Each time we brought out the world map he always showed me where Africa was, followed by England and Seattle. Here he's trying to find our school on a map of our neighborhood, West Seattle, Washington. He had a blast showing me all his favorite places as we looked over the streets together, naming them and putting his memories on the map.

Here is another example of a day when maps were one of the provocations set up on the science table but little E was onto something else and little M barely noticed the maps, fascinated instead by the magnetic sand boxes, first examining them, then manipulating the magnetic sand with a magnet wand. I always set up multiple materials and ways to explore them so there are options speaking to a number of different interests.

When the kids in my 4s class seemed a bit bored with our typical outdoor options one day, I pulled out a sensory table and filled it with birdseed  and these two practiced scooping, dumping, and measuring, and learning the physics of a water wheel. Later we observed from the other side of the window as the crows came to feast. I try to seek out activities with multiple dimensions because they tend to draw in more students and allow for more chances to inspire learning. Not everyone wanted to play with the birdseed when we were outside but many who didn't were thrilled to watch the birds gather to feed on it later on. 

The school age kids couldn't seem to get enough of math when we introduced the woodworking table where they also learned valuable lessons about the concepts of balance, weight, adhesive strengths, texture, and so much more. But best of all, they had so much fun stretching their imaginations and bringing their ideas to life. These kinds of hands on activities that engage multiple senses are a fantastic way to reach kids who just don't learn their best seated at a desk. They're learning the same concepts but their senses are awakened and engaged in all new ways from the smell and feel of the wood in their hands and the sounds of hammering and working with tools. Through the application of math and science concepts they understand their relevance.

On this particular day at the block table a few boys were experimenting with height, testing the impact of using the different shape blocks, trying to figure out which blocks or combination of blocks would make the tallest tower. They worked hard, challenged their patience, and experienced the thrill of discovery in the end. I asked, as I often do, to share their hypothesis, which blocks they thought would win out, I don't remember their specific response but through narrating their process I taught them the language of the scientific method.

There are so many ways for kids to learn scientific and mathematical concepts but most importantly I want them to learn how to think like scientists so whatever they don't learn from me or other teachers they will have the motivation and capability to resolve their queries for themselves. I've found that when I observe my kids carefully and play alongside them frequently they will show me exactly what they are most motivated to learn, making my job of curriculum planning a whole lot easier if I pay attention to their cues. Joining my buddy little N in observation of the tadpoles, we told each other what we liked about frogs and shared our ideas on why some of the tadpoles seemed to be growing faster than the others. Our conversation inspired research on what frogs eat and the details of their natural ecosystems. And in retrospect now I would have shared that interest with the class by reading a story like Mo Willems's City Dog, Country Frog, and  reach across disciplines again to paint a frog using water colors just like Jon J. Muth does in the illustrations. The possibilities for scientific exploration and discovery and are endless in any environment and once I got in the habit of looking for them, I started to wonder why anyone ever bothered with the traditional methods of lecture and test when this is so much more effective and a million times more fun for both my students and myself. Now that I've discovered the benefits of an emergent curriculum, I am in love and I will never go back.

We Teach Each Other

Have you ever read Peter Reynold's book, The Dot before? It is a fantastic story that I read many times with my former Bella Mente Kiddos and I recommended it to Heather for little K and the future farm preschool kiddos in Hawaii. I have always enjoyed reading this story with kids for its beautiful message but it wasn't until I read this story with my campers this summer that I fell in love with it. The library where our camp was housed had a pretty spotty picture book collection, being that it serves a K-8 program, so The Dot stood out as an obvious selection to read with my kiddos. Having stumbled across countless ideas and examples of art projects this story provoked, I decided to see how it would inspire this group of little ones. I was blown away by the volume and quality of work that resulted and I have been dying to share how it went for weeks.

All I said after reading this story was "I wonder what kind of art we could create in our class using just dots? Do you guys want to try it out?" The kids seemed to enjoy the story, many of them had read it before in school or at home with their parents, so I was hopeful that I could provoke their interest in testing out their skills. I had anticipated a lot of really big water color circles in a variety of colors like the ones in the story and like the images I've seen on Pinterest. Many students did do this, big circles, a bunch of polka dots in various colors, and then the dots kept getting smaller and began to take shape as larger, less abstract pictures. One boy decided that the dots reminded him of planets and stars so he made a solar system dot picture. Then another said the dot looked like the earth and made a big dot of blue and green. Then somehow the dots kept getting smaller and a handful of us, myself included were suddenly working on elaborate pointillism style dot pictures of trees.

The dot picture I started alongside my campers, inspired by theirs

I am not an artist by nature, most of my art work comes from my classrooms, but I have always enjoyed art. Painting and drawing have always come second to collage, photography and calligraphy for me because my perfectionist nature leaves me too frustrated most of the time with my own lack of skill. When I sat down to show the kids how to make art, one dot at a time, I was doing so for the first time and I had no idea how it would turn out. Well, it turned out to be the perfect form of drawing for me. One dot at a time allowed me to take my time and plan out my picture in smaller segments and adjust as I go so that I have more control over the final product. I started my dot picture with just a few brown dots representing the trunk of a tree and after many, many more dots I ended up with a big fluffy tree in a starry night sky. To my surprise, I seemed to be enjoying this art project as much as (and often, it seemed, even more than) my campers. The fact that I discovered this kind of art right along with them made it all the more exciting and enjoyable for all of us. The room was buzzing with inspiration and enthusiasm, the kind I as a teacher always hope for.

One of my campers got so into our dot projects that he spent the remainder of camp glued to the art table whenever we were in our classroom making more and more elaborate and detailed pictures. He didn't come back the next few weeks and without his lead, enthusiasm waned, even though we read the story again. I continued to work on my dot tree picture that I never ended up finishing that first week, making sure to park myself next to each week's new children and when the asked I got to explain to them about the project started in the first week. No one got quite so into the project, though plenty of new dot pictures emerged over the following few weeks. C-man, my dot picture partner in crime came back and immediately asked me if I ever finished. I hadn't yet but eagerly showed him the progress I had made. He excitedly asked if he could help fill in the final black dots of the night sky and so after adding his name to the trunk of the tree in bright orange dots, I handed it over to him. He finished it that afternoon and I sent our collaborative home with him to get framed in remembrance of the project of which he was such an integral piece.

The little artist's work in progress.

I already can't wait to read this book again with another group and see where else it takes us. It always amazes me what I can learn about myself and the world from the kids I get to share my time and learn with. This is why I teach. Children are amazing little people.

Hello from the Forest

find this story on Amazon.com here

A whole month has gone by since my last post... woops! Time flies in the summer time and this month has been a busy one. Lots of travel, lots of friends and families, a month-long art and nature summer camp, and a much needed respite from the daily routines that had started to wear me down. But, I'm am back refreshed and revitalized and ready to share lots of goodies and stories I've collected over the past few weeks. To start out, I'd like to share a book I stumbled across at the library one morning as I browsed for stories to share with my 4-6 year old campers. Although this powerful and important book is on the longer side, the story and illustrations held onto everyone's attention and the web-of-life concept kept most campers involved in a lively discussion long after I put it down.

The story starts with a young girl discovering that her cat had gone missing during the night and as she heads off into her beloved forest to investigate, she finds his collar and a few patches of fur on the ground. Suddenly, the girl is introduced to a side of wildlife she had not yet encountered and though it frightened and saddened her, she set out to understand it, and in turn the world, a little bit better. The author takes what could be a traumatizing and grim experience for a child and invites children to understand both sides of the predator-prey relationship.

Having the river in the forest as our playground made it easy for the kids to take what they learned in the classroom the world at large. Out here we came across a painted turtle, craw fish, wild mushrooms, and birds of all kinds to observe.

With my particular group, this story opened up conversation about losing pets and the emotions and rituals that surround dealing with death. It also invited children to share what they know about the food chain and what kinds of animals eat what. We talked about how although it seems mean that a mountain lion or wolf might have eaten the girl's cat, that each animal has a family to feed and are designed differently so that there is enough food for everyone. One child in my group suggested that if all animals ate grass there wouldn't be any grass left. Even though the children were sad for the girl and the loss of her feline friend, they were able to look beyond their sadness at the grander picture of life. These are important concepts that are often avoided with younger children because of their seriousness, but I have always found that children are never credited enough for their ability to both understand and work through even the most complicated emotions and concepts when guided and supported by loving adults and peers.

Depicting their new-found knowledge of birds via drawing

Following our reading and discussion, the children headed off to the art table to investigate and animal pictures in the National Geographic magazines I had brought in and many of them made collages of their favorite animals, pointing out the herbivores versus the carnivores. Other children gathered around the computer to watch episode three of this BBC documentary about birds, exploring how their beaks are uniquely shaped to suit their diet. Other children headed outside to do a bit of bird watching with the binoculars I had brought in while others grabbed one of the many non-fiction animal and nature book on display in our classroom. I also set out the story on the art table with some paper and markers for children as an art provocation and a few sat down to draw animals and forest scenes of their own. All in all, I was pleased with the fun and learning that was born out of this story and I can't wait to read it again with another group. If you have ever read this one with a child or class, I'd love to hear stories of the discussions, projects, and inquiry that resulted.