All Kinds of Minds

An inspiring talk by Temple Grandin.  How can we support all kinds of minds?

New Friends

It is a cloudy, rainy, chilly day in Brussels - I won't make any judgements about this weather, though, because I'm trying to live by that mantra, "There is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing".  You can decide how you feel about cloudy, rainy, chilly days.

I'm glad that I put on my coat and went out in this weather, because I got to meet Lauren, and American teacher living and working in Lebanon.  She also writes the blog Voices, which is about her Reggio-Inspired classroom in Beiruit.  It's really wonderful to meet people face to face, have a warm drink and a croissant, and talk about Early Childhood Education and internet addictions.

So, I think I'd like to meet all of you - we may span the globe, but I'm sure there are times when people are in the same place. 

small spring

 

The spring issue of small magazine is out now.  I especially like the furniture from casa kids - I can picture some of those pieces in a toddler space.

Getting Ready

 

 

 

We are embarking on a new unit of inquiry.

Love and Flowers

We are in our storytelling phase of the year.  I always love when it starts!  Here's a little taste of what it looks and sounds like for us.

"The boy loves the girl.  And the door opens the flowers for to wake up the water to put the water in the flowers.  And the girl likes the boy, too.  But she wants to open the gate and open and open and open.  The end."

Art for Haiti

After the earthquake in Haiti, one of the Kindergarten teachers organized a fundraiser for our Early Childhood Center.  Children were asked to make a piece of art in the Haitian Naïf style, and the pieces were displayed and then purchased by donation by families at the school.

We spent a week on the project, starting by talking about were Haiti is, what an earthquake is, and what happened.  I chose not to show them images - some parents did at home - but I did not do that in the classroom.  The children talked about things falling down, and their initial reaction was to send glue and tape to fix the houses and the schools.  A part of me wishes that I could have supported their exploration of help and charity, but we were getting ready for the February break, and the project that was organized was a great way for them to get involved right away.  Perhaps we will be able to explore service learning later.

We looked at many paintings and talked about the themes and the colors, and then the children glued small copies of the paintings that they liked into their sketchbooks.  We used our sketchbooks all week as our place to get ready, and late in the week, the children chose a painting that they had liked all week and drew with black pen.  The idea was to help keep them on theme and have the artwork nearby, so we could talk about colors and objects and what, perhaps, to draw.  Every child's piece came out original, and reflected their personal style, with inspiration from the Haitian artwork.  I'm grateful that we were able to help in some way, and that the children were able to have this experience.

 

  

  

  

 

Potential

First, if you've been reading this blog for a year, thank you!  New readers are great, too - I preface this post to old readers because I'm making a connection.

Last April, we discovered our outdoor space.  The door opens right from the classroom onto this terrace, and ideally, it will allow children to choose an outdoor activity or an indoor activity.  Last year, most of our experiences on the terrace were unstructured - we dug in the dirt of old potted plants, we drew with sidewalk chalk, and we drew in our sketchbooks.

As the ground starts to thaw this year, I have gardening on my mind.  This is an ideal space for growing some flowers and perhaps a few very simple vegetables, depending on what the children have in mind.  Thanks to Jolayne, I just ordered a copy of Grow Great Grub: Organic Food from Small Spaces, which I think will be helpful on our journey.  We definitely have a small space, and it would be wonderful for it to produce some great food - any food, really.

There is more information on the book's website here.

The other PreK class also has a door to the terrace, and we could have a really nice collaboration between the two classes outdoors.  We have a free-flow work time between the two classrooms twice weekly, and incorporating outdoor activities would be interesting.  Hearing the children's ideas about the terrace will have to come into play also, obviously - this is a different group from the initial terrace explorers, and they may have some very new ideas.

The sun is shining, and even though it is cold, I'm looking forward to our outdoor work.

Chicken Cheeks

I seem unable to share anything except videos.  Chicken Cheeks looks cute, and Michael Ian Black clearly understands bottom-related humor that any preschooler would appreciate.  With pictures by Kevin Hawkes. Take a look...

On Food

Early Childhood Education and Food Education go hand in hand, don't you think?  Many teachers cook with their students, be it something to share for snack or an activity for children to do.  We make soup, bread, juice, pasta, hummus...because its fun and all of the children love to participate.

There are bigger reasons to cook with children.  I appreciated this TED talk by Jamie Oliver - it is a call for teachers to step up to this challenge.




And related..."Green Parenting" and creating healthy eaters from The New York Times.

You Were Once A Baby

Am I reading too much into this, or is it actually good advice?  I may be swayed by the fact that I watched this about 100 times as a child.  Enjoy!

Multi-Age

I'm feeling a new challenge in the classroom.  It is one that I am up for, I think, but one that I need to think about more.

We are now a multi-age classroom, rather than just PreK.  We are now a collection of three-, four-, and five-year-olds.  I taught multi-age at the beginning of my career, and it did not feel like this.  Perhaps I am blocking out some of my past experiences!

So much about our group is now on a larger spectrum:  interests, physical needs, emotional responses, social behaviors, attention span, and language.  Each part of the day needs to be thought about in a new light, I think.  I'm beginning to think about differentiation strategies - for ESL students, for younger students, for older students, as well as for different styles of learning.  Our classroom environment has to be re-evaluated.  Some of the topics that are on my mind right now are:

• The need for quiet spaces and the need for very active spaces
• The activities we can share as a whole class and the activities that need to be in smaller groups and one-on-one settings
• How our days is balanced - everything from choice time to transitions to rest time to outdoor play
• Our classroom community and how we welcome younger children into our established community
• Following the interests of the children as we enter our new unit of inquiry

The idea of including children of multiple ages together does have many benefits, I think.  Older children are able to share their knowledge and expertise with younger children, acting as mentors.  Partnering children in mixed groups like that can work very well in some situations.  We will also be able to differentiate to interest groups and to specific topics, such as reading different stories to different groups of children, and playing different math games with different groups of children.

I am trying to mentally prepare myself for the bumps in the road that will inevitably be there as we become a true multi-age classroom.  This has to be approached with open-mindedness, patience, and a lot of daily reflection.

Babies

This has been shared by others, but I have to put it here, too.  I am not ashamed to say that I cry when I watch the trailer.  I'm not sure why, but I do. It might be the Sufjan Stevens song.



I'm hoping this will be playing somewhere in Brussels...but it will at least be in the states in April.

Bambini Creativi

 

I am really excited about this story and project happening in Missouri.

Brianne was working at the Chicago Children's Museum, and was introduced to the Reggio Approach.  She met her husband, Enrico, who is from the Emilia Romagna region of Italy.  After getting married, they moved to Reggio Emilia and Brianne found herself learning Italian, and becoming a volunteer at the "Ray of Light" atelier at the Loris Malaguzzi International Centre.  She was in meetings with atelieristas and teachers from around the city - a dream!

AND it got better.  As she and her husband were making their plans to return to Kansas City, Brianne's Grandfather gifted her three acres of land with a church and a small house so that she would be able to make her dream of opening a school into a reality.  Now, Brianne is back in Kansas City, hoping that the school will be open in fall of this year.  In the meantime, she has put together a travelling exhibit, the Bambini Creativi Play Experience Exhibit, that is being showcased all around Kansas City.

Brianne sent over these images of the travelling project, and I have to say, I'm pretty jealous.  At some point, I hope I have her job!  If you are in the area, you should definitely see this work - it seems like a real showing of the open-ended "atelier" aspect of the Reggio Approach, as it works in the states.

Otherwise, you can check out the Bambini Creativi website and Facebook Page.

Sticky

 

  

  

  

Thanks to Teacher Tom and Alderwood House School for the inspiration (and the challenge...)!  We may be amateurs at the tape thing, but we're learning fast.  Some are also learning that you can cut your way out of a tape blocked area, which is causing some drama, but we'll see how Tuesday goes!