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.