You Sing a Song, and I'll Sing a Song

Well Juliann, I think I might need a ukulele.

To continue with the goodness that comes from Smithsonian Folkways, I bring you the fabulous Ella Jenkins. I was introduced to her music during my first year of teaching, when my classroom came with a collection of her CD's. That year, we just couldn't get enough of Play Your Instruments and Make a Pretty Sound. I have used that song with children year after year, trading in Ella's recorded version for my own with the guitar.

But Ella plays the baritone ukulele, and MAN do I want one!

This year, we keep coming back to what has realy become my favorite song of hers .

You sing a song, and I'll sing a song
And we'll sing a song together
You sing a song, and I'll sing a song
In warm or wintry weather

I especially love the whistling. I have one child who can whistle this year, but typically I play the guitar while twenty children make their lips into a small "o" shape and make a high-pitched "hoo hoo" sound. Priceless.

Ella Jenkins - You Sing a Song and I'll Sing a Song

And for your viewing pleasure...

Let them move, and they will succeed...

An article in yesterday's New York Times states the results of a study done with 11,000 eight- and nine- year olds:

"...play and down time may be as important to a child’s academic experience as reading, science and math, and that regular recess, fitness or nature time can influence behavior, [and] concentration..."

I think that teachers of young children know this first hand. We may not have graphs and collected data and numbers, but we know. If our schedule puts too many sedentary things in a row, we will not be doing well by the third or fourth activity. The children need to move. (I also don't think I'm crazy for saying that I also need to move.)

You can find the study from the journal Pediatrics here.

Two things came to mind for me when reading this. First, we do not use the word "recess" in my classroom -- we always call it outdoor play. Wikipedia defines recess as "a general term for a period of time in which a group of people is temporarily dismissed from its duties." In preschool, this is all but true. The physical and social "duties" that the children have when playing outdoors are crucial to their well being and development, and are at the core of our curriculum.

Second, the article was titled "School Recess and Group Classroom Behavior". I know that I am lucky to have a flexible curriculum without rigorous testing or Teachers' Manuals or worksheets. I'm thankful for that everyday. I oftentimes teach using the children's physical energy and excitement as a route for learning. Not only is this a good way to engage children in an activity, you are also giving children who learn through doing a new way to get and retain information. I think teachers would also see "better behavior" (whatever that means) by using active lessons on top of that outdoor playtime.

For example, we were learning about weaving for our sewing projects a few weeks ago, and the concept of over/under/over/under is not easy for everyone, especially when you get to the next line of paper and it is supposed to be under/over/under/over. Phew! So I made up a game to play before we wove: we went over and under everything we could in the classroom. Tables, chairs, my desk, the light table...we did it all. And for some of the children, this helped them understand those words in a concrete way. It also catered to the high-energy level that the children had at that time.

There are always times that things do not seem to be going the way I plan -- bringing up new topics during a story, everyone needing to go to the bathroom when we sit down for meeting -- and I need to remember to go with the flow.

How do you create an active learning environment?

Rock Island Line

I was thinking about my aversion for recorded children's music yesterday. I do not think it is harsh to say I can't stand The Wiggles, but when I look through my own collection of music, there is music intended for an audience of children.

So I thought I'd share another favorite from Smithsonian Folkways.

Lead Belly Sings For Children is a definite classic, and a genre that children might not be exposed to often these days. And with 28 tracks, everyone is bound to have a favorite! Throughout history, countless artists have been inspired by the classic folk and blues played by Lead Belly.

And my favorite : Rock Island Line.

Oh that Rock Island Line is a mighty good road,
Oh that Rock Island Line is that road to ride,
Oh that Rock Island Line is a mighty good road,
If you want to ride, you got to ride it like you find it,
Get your ticket at the station on the Rock Island Line.


Lead Belly - Rock Island Line

Enjoy!

Playtime!

It is officially the winter break, and, just two days into it, I am already satisfied. Making bread, watching Woody Allen movies, taking naps, and knowing that I do not have to wake up at 6 am on Monday morning -- all good things so far.

But thinking about education, and learning more about it, is inevitable. As soon as I switch on my computer, I'm looking for more. And, in the spirit of vacation, we should play games!

The Invention Playhouse at the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation is a neat spot from the Smithsonian Institute with a few interactive games.

After playing Cloud Dreamer for a little longer than I should have, I watched Does Play Matter?, a great piece on children's play and how important it is to development. This is always coming up in early childhood education, of course, but I feel like it has been really present for me lately. It may be the visit to the forest preschool that really set me off -- I'm not sure. But it really does matter, and I always love reading and seeing what other people have to say about it.

What do you have to say about play?

Don't You Push Me Down

I have quite a low tolerance for recorded children's music. I do not want to be within miles of an album recorded by The Wiggles, or one of their many DVDs, for that matter. Although there is always music in the background at choice time in this classroom, there is a big range of genres and styles for the children to hear and experience.


But if I had to choose one children's album to listen to, even during my personal free time, it would be Nursery Days by Woody Guthrie. The lyrics are completely relevant to children's lives -- he was really able to put himself into a child's shoes. I have so many favorite songs on this album, but for children, I really really love Don't You Push Me Down. It's an anthem for playing nice, using your words, sharing, and fairness!

Don't you push me, push me, push me,
Don't you push me down.
Don't you push me, push me, push me,
Don't you push me down.

You can play with me,
You can take my hand,
We can skip together
Down to the pretzel stand.
You can wear my mommy's shoes,
You can wear my daddy's hat,
You can even get mad at me,
But don't you push me down.

Don't you push me, push me, push me,
Don't you push me down.
Don't you push me, push me, push me,
Don't you push me down.

You can play with me,
We can build a house,
You can take my ball,
And bounce it up and down.
You can take my skates,
And ride them all around,
You can even get mad at me,
But don't you push me down.

Don't you push me, push me, push me,
Don't you push me down.
Don't you push me, push me, push me,
Don't you push me down.

You can play with me,
We can play all day,
You can use may use my dishes,
If you put them away.
You can feed me apples,
Oranges and plums,
You can even wash my face,
But don't you push me down.

Listen Here : Woody Guthrie: Don't You Push Me Down

Smithsonian Folkways is my mecca for music from other times, and from other places; and they have an amazing collection of Woody Guthrie's recordings.

I'll share more of my (and my students) favorites very soon.

Lately,

at choice time...

The Write Start

The other PreK teacher and I met today to organize some children's writing samples and write up some ideas about how to support children as emerging writers. I want to share more about that here, but I am home without my photos and scans. There is such an array of writing that is happening in any room of fours and fives, so I'll wait until I can show you what is happening!

But for now, I want to share someone else's thoughts and ideas on writing. Over at The Write Start, there is a four part tour of an at-home writer's workshop space. There are some really lovely ideas for supporting writing.

There are so many ways to scaffold young children as they learn to read and write, and those are just a few possibilities.

Uno

In an open-ended classroom, children are able to choose what they want to do with materials. Regular playing cards are popular here, and so are the Uno cards. The children are learning how to play the game using the "rules", but there is always room to make up our own games. The colors and numbers lend themselves to natural sorting!

Supporting Painting

I just read this post over at UNIFORM studio about supporting a child making a painting. She talks about fewer color choices, a large canvas, using neutral colors...

Four- and five-year-olds create amazing pieces of art, and for them it is simply part of their daily routine. In my classroom, we do not really do what I define as "crafts" -- where everyone ends up with the same product. Children are presented with materials to explore and use as they see fit. They also know that they can ask for something more to make their vision a reality.

Lately, one boy has been making mobiles and hanging them from the ceiling of our classroom; he also makes them for his classmates to take home. I especially like the fruit mobile that is hanging over the art table.

Their art, their writing, and their block structures are natural and authentic because they are creating for themselves. Oftentimes adults create with the intention of sharing their product. Children do no have that pressure. Some of the most amazing things I have seen in the classroom have been in the recycling bin, or I have just caught a glimpse before it was ceremoniously knocked over in a crash of unit blocks.

Authenticity! I should write that in BIG letters and put it above my desk.

Little Circus

I'm in love again, and this time it's LOCAL. In Brussels. Be still my heart!

Little Circus is a beautiful shop full of items, many handmade, for little ones.. They have very talented artists' work here -- I'm particularly fond of these, this, and this.

And this! It would really help the children to be more hands on during cooking activities. And to help write them, and read them.

Happy Weekend...

The Running Stitch

Right now, each child is preparing to make their own sewing project. I mentioned before that we were learning the running stitch. Everyone is doing quite well! I captured one girl in particular doing some practice sewing.



Their plans are going smoothly, and tomorrow, they will choose their fabrics; then Friday, they will make their patterns. They are all very excited about it...we do have a lot of work to do, though!

*The photo above is from my class in Seattle last year, when we were sewing on burlap.

I'm inspired by this work in the living classroom:



When we were in Paris in December, we went to the Musée d'Orsay and saw a beautiful exhibit from Le Chat Noir , which had a shadow puppet theatre. A rowdy one, though.

Musée d'Orsay photograph from jables80

Last year, all of my students enjoyed Peter and the Wolf, and we used our bodies to create the shadowed characters. The idea of shadow puppets as a means of expression, though...some children might really grasp on to that.

Have you ever used shadow puppets in your classroom?

Sandro Asatiani

I just read this post over at Book By Its Cover. It is always wonderful to see the books she finds for children -- there is always wonderful design and illustration in the ones she chooses.


But this book, by Sandro Asatiani is exceptionally beautiful to me. It is called Una Storia Incredible, and it is about a man and a woman who fall in love. The story and the drawings are simple and so beautiful. And I can see young children connecting to this story as well as adults - a must for books I share with children. I have one student in particular who is always writing books about people falling in love and "marrying". This book (and many of his others) have a universal, thoughtful message.

Browse Mr. Asatiani's books here and buy a few here.

Beatrice Alemagna

We have a wonderful school library, and I'd like to begin sharing some of my favorite children's books.

In English this book is called My Friend; it is by author and illustrator Beatrice Alemagna. The illustrations are textiles and stitches and buttons. It has been a nice tie in to our class talks about what we can make with fabric. We can illustrate a book!

This story follows a creature that is always being mistaken for a dog or a pigeon or a lion, and the reader never finds out if this creature is a certain animal; but it finds another special creature at the end - a friend.

Ms. Alemagna has a nice website that lists her books - I have yet to see any of her other books in English. But they are worth the search, I think. And "My Friend" is incredibly cheap on amazon.com right now...

Learning to Sew

We have begun exploring textiles and fabric. To manipulate them, we have done two things so far: sewing and painting. The children are learned the running stitch by using sewing cards, and then moving on to burlap, and then linen.
The painting on fabric is something I always like to do with children - it is a different sensory experience to drag a paintbrush across a round or smooth piece of fabric rather than a piece of paper. These large fabric squares are a velvet-like material. Another day, we painted on very small pieces of silk.

The initial exploration has been interesting - everyone enjoys it in their own way.

Forest Preschool / Experience

In December, I got the go ahead from my director to sign up for a workshop at the Secret Garden Outdoor Nursery in Fife, Scotland. The workshop was entitled "New Year, New Ideas", and it was a really eye-opening experience. I had seen photos of this school and other ones -- most inspirational for me were the ones I found when searching flickr for "waldkindergarten". Take a look at those ones here.

At the beginning of the day, we were given a few minutes to think of three things that we wanted from the day. In the cold and the quiet, and looking at the morning campfire, I decided on inspiration, beauty, and nature through the eyes of the young child.


One thing I found beautiful was the traces of children you could find all over the forest. Scraps of fabric were marking trees and bushes; dens that were carefully built by teachers and children together were hidden throughout the ten-acre forest. The children and staff gather in the morning outside of the forest, and they decide together where they will spend the morning. They refer to locations throughout the forest by landmarks, like the quarry, the yellow tarp, and the fire pit.

I could picture children in these dens -- I can't think of a better place for imaginary play and thinking. For the first time at a teacher workshop, I could picture my students there, moving sticks and branches and balancing them up against fallen trees. I have never gotten that kind of inspiration from a classroom I have visited.

Many people wanted to talk about health and safety - how do you handle those things at an outdoor school? First, the issues are vastly different from an indoor school. We worry about children going up the slide, they worry about children finding the 20 foot cliff. Outdoors, it is all about allowing children to take risks and learn from experience. Children know not to run at full speed towards a cliff. It is more likely that they will climb a little too high in a tree and fall out, get a bruise, and remember that the next time they climb that tree.

In one popular gathering spot, the yellow tarp, there is a space that looks like a natural ampitheatre. My mental picture was of read-alouds and acting out stories, but it is meant to be used how the children want to use it. But they have this rope, attached to a tree at the top of a five foot rock, for the children to support themselves as they climb up. I did not think I had the physical strength, but another woman did, and laughed the whole way up. The things we grown ups are missing out on...

{side note: This woman is a mother of two, and was at the workshop because she never thought she would be an anxious mother and she is. She was hoping to cure her paranoia. Rock on.}


So, these children are outdoors from 8:30 am until 5:00 pm, and the average child attends three days a week. That is quite a long time, especially in the cold and the snow and, in January, the darkness. I thought about that while I packed my long johns and wooly socks and sweaters and waterproof coat and wellies. But that seems so secondary to me now. Children all over the world spend their days outside learning. The mentality that the weather is bad when it is raining or snowing comes from the words and actions of adults who don't like rain.

I've never been interested in getting more plastic toys for my students, watching movies at school, coloring in photocopies, or choosing what children will do all day, every day. So this school made sense to me. I can see how I can implement ideas from this school into my own teaching.

Back to the forest we go!

Journaling

Each child has their own journal, and they are mostly used for drawing when the children feel like using them. We also use them to do observational drawings in the forest.

But what do you think of this? The children are using cameras, and this would be a wonderful way for them to choose a variety of papers; use their own photographs for the cover, and have more ownership over it.

from five and a half, via urban preschool

Moving along...

I cannot believe I was so lazy in December and January! But I'm back with the goal of posting every weekday during February. Some may be short, but there is still a lot that happened in and out of the classroom that I'm looking forward to sharing.

Come back for photos and ideas from my outdoor preschool visit.