tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86889481718154364382023-11-16T08:03:25.427-08:00The Arts and Early EducationGail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-29793689043047152842018-01-08T10:28:00.000-08:002018-01-08T10:28:36.197-08:00Stories to Teach about Life<div class="MsoNormal">
“Yes!” I thought,
reading<a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201410/one-more-really-big-reason-read-stories-children" target="_blank"> Peter Gray</a>’s blog post about the importance of stories for young
children. My mind traveled back to all of the stories I have read, and acted
out with, young children over the course of my career. Dr. Gray focused
specifically on reading to children; how this act has been singled out, with
good reason, to be more important to the future education of children than most
others. His excellent point is that there is more to story reading than cuddles
and close relationships, though these are essential for human growth and development,
not to mention human joy!<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Knowing how to deal with evil as well as love, how to
recognize others’ desires and needs, how to behave towards others so as to
retain their friendship, and how to earn the respect of the larger society
are among the most important skills we all must develop for a life.” These
skills are actually something we learn all through life, but giving children
stories to reflect on gives them a huge advantage, psychologically, as an early
start on braving human relationships, and fostering skillful interactions. Dare
I say, also, that stories help children learn to be wise rather than right, as
in, “right, not wrong”?<o:p></o:p></div>
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One book that, surprisingly, became a favorite with a group
of pre-k students, and demonstrated the difference between wisdom and “might
makes right”, was <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cloud-Spinner-Michael-Catchpool/dp/0375870113/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank"><i>The Cloud Spinner</i></a>, by Michael Catchpool and Alison Jay. This
entrancing story starts out, “There was once a boy who could weave cloth from
the clouds”. The boy sings as he works: “Enough is enough and not one stitch more”.
Immediately, Alison Jay’s illustrations captivated our children. The hills and
houses reflect the moods of the characters. Our children noticed this before I
did! Smiles on hills are made of trees, and sheep. Houses smile with windows
and doors. In the beginning, nature is in harmony because the boy with his
magical loom only makes what he needs. One day, the king notices the boy in a
crowd and madly desires clothing, of both himself and his family, made of the
clouds. He commands the boy to weave for him. The boy balks at first: “It would
not be wise to have (so much fabric) made from this cloth. Your majesty does
not need it.” The king is apoplectic, commanding the boy do his bidding. So he
does. He weaves, and the illustrations reflect the sadness of the task with darkening
color and forlorn hills. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>The Cloud Spinner</i> does not so much have a cheerful ending as
a wise and uplifting one. The children, absorbed in it, noticing details of the
varying shades of color that reflect the boy’s, and the King’s daughter’s moods
(She helps him to reverse the tragic disappearance of clouds that cause
drought, and discontent among the people). The King and his family are
astounded by the gratitude of the people after the clothing he ordered is
turned back into clouds, causing welcome rain. The boy and princess exult in
the restoration of a wise order in nature and among humans. The children,
sitting before me, sigh in contentment.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Our preschoolers learned about what greed was, some
demonstrating it by acting out the concept—“Mine! Mine!”, with gestures of
raking in loot! A teacher took up the phrase, “Enough is enough and not one
____ more” when children wanted ALL the blocks, or pizza. And, amazingly, this
story was one of the most requested during reading time, rivaling <i>Dragons Love Tacos</i>! <o:p></o:p></div>
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If children have a deep interest in this or any other story,
it is wise to follow their direction and see what they do with it. Our children
drew and painted clouds in an array of colors, and told stories with greedy
characters and children with magical powers. If you teach to standards, these activities
can be used to fulfill them—Language arts, social studies, even math and
science. Arts standards go without saying, and the text of the song can be set
to music. Ask any child! They will have a tune before you know it!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Children do need stories to make sense of feelings and wise
social interaction. They need myth, I dare say, to hold on to the important
values of society. As human interaction and social relationships are varied,
so, too, are the stories we read and tell. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-83981002225760203392016-11-13T09:04:00.000-08:002016-11-13T10:13:55.099-08:00The circle of play<h4 style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After weeks preparing for an arts experience by discussing
Matisse and Picasso, and by drawing or cutting out shapes, it was time for my
small group of eight to put together a “product”. This would be our
contribution to the school’s fund raising auction.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The children and I met around paper on a large table. I
asked each child to choose a shape from the bag of shapes they had cut, and to
place "their" shape on the paper. Then the negotiations began. My
job, as teacher/facilitator, was to have the children think as a group, to let
go of their attachment to their own shapes, and make some difficult group
decisions about where the shapes should go to make a more pleasing (to the
group) picture. I made changes and asked for a vote. I asked individuals to
make suggestions for improvements. It was a very enjoyable group effort, one
that pleased each child and myself. In the process some of the children caught
on that using white space as part of the picture was an artistic choice, and
not just for background. There were also lively and constructive discussions!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Arts integration means integrating both the formal ideas and
ideals of arts disciplines with the ideas and ideals of language, history,
mathematics, engineering, and science. <a href="http://www.erikson.edu/wp-content/uploads/arcd52004.pdf" target="_blank">Because
the arts are integrative in themselves, they entice and seduce our children
into learning.</a> During my own
research for this work, I discovered (teacher, teach thyself!) that the word
shape can be categorized as either geometric (that which we teach young
children to the point of obsession), or biomorphic (shapes children see
effortlessly, through their curiosity in exploring their world. These are the
shapes of nature, and include the human body). We explored these shapes through
the work of Matisse.<o:p></o:p></div>
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All process is a function of play. All humans play with materials, with ideas,
with words. Play is the precursor to invention, to innovation. In early
childhood, some play-based programs have it half right. Their children learn
through play, yes. But adults are often just furniture around which to play, or
people who only talk to each other while they “watch” children. Adults should
play a role, in school, to safeguard and encourage process, and they are
instrumental in reminding children of their most deeply held interests when
distractions prevail. If a child invents something, ruminates over it, takes time
and energy all alone, that is a play/process/learning experience. When a group
decides to make a trampoline out of old rubber mats and tires, it is a model of
group invention and innovation. This is process, but the children rejoice in
the product as well.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Using documentation (pictures, anecdotes, videos, of the
children's process) <a href="http://www.pz.harvard.edu/projects/making-learning-visible" target="_blank">makes their learning visible, as they say in Reggio.</a> It
allows children to see where they have been. There is nothing more interesting
and, dare I say, entertaining than to listen in on children's conversations as
they view their own art or photographs! Teachers of young children need the
insight they receive from children's own mouths to proceed in their work.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Now perhaps my children would have made a totally different
range of pictures, inspired by the book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Henris-Scissors-Jeanette-Winter/dp/1442464844/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1479055330&sr=1-1&keywords=henri%27s+scissors" target="_blank">Henri's </a>Scissors, which we read, had I just let them
go at it. And I believe that some wonderful works of art would have been the
result. In this case, this teacher didn't want to leave this to chance, considering
her deadline. All in all, it worked out, and we have all of that colored paper
for more art for the children.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-33663533254316083782016-10-30T08:23:00.001-07:002016-11-13T10:12:16.752-08:00Visual art as play: Integrating the arts into the curriculum.<br />
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We read <i>When <a href="https://www.amazon.com/When-Pigasso-Mootisse-Nina-Laden/dp/0811811212/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1477840155&sr=1-1&keywords=when+pigasso+met+mootisse" target="_blank">Pigasso Met Mootisse</a>, by Nina Laden,</i> again this year. Each class responds with intense interest and curiosity when I read this story to them. No one is indifferent! But this year, I continued with actual stories about the artists lives. I read, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Henris-Scissors-Jeanette-Winter/dp/1442464844/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1477838787&sr=1-1&keywords=henri%27s+scissors" target="_blank">Henri's Scissors</a>, </i>by Jeannette Winter, and <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Behave-Pablo-Picasso-Jonah-Winter/dp/0545132916/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1477838877&sr=1-1&keywords=behave+picasso" target="_blank">Just Behave, Picasso</a>!, </i>by Jonah Winter, and illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. These two books were labeled ages eight and up, so I was risking inattention and much silly behavior by reading them to a group of sixteen fours!<br />
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I was surprised and happy by their response to each book. The first book is a very true story about Matisse's shift to paper cutouts as his art. The theme included his old age and death. When I got to that part of the story there was a reverent hush among the children. "He died?", was a question. "Yes", I answered. "He was very old...", was one comment. The illustrator shows Matisse cutting out the stars in heaven, and the children accepted this premise.<br />
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The Picasso book emphasizes the wide expansiveness of self-expression in art, and how Picasso changed his art as his need to express himself changed. The children were mesmerized by the idea that, even though people said Picasso should "behave", he didn't. One boy said, "Your art is for you! Nobody else can tell you how to do your art". That was the meaning of the book for him. Others were interested in finding the representational meaning of cubist paintings.<br />
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The children have begun following their muses, now. Some are drawing with "shapes", their take on cubism. Others are cutting paper and gluing it down. Because we need a school auction project, we will see where this takes us. I have materials at the ready! My take away from this experience is that even preschool children are grabbed by "big ideas". I forget sometimes. Never underestimate their ability to absorb meaning from their reading. Nothing I did during these readings and activities were "cute". They didn't need to be.<br />
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Here are a few pictures of preliminary experimentation before the auction project begins...<br />
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"Shape drawing"</div>
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Cutting shapes for bigger work</div>
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<br />Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-12297113982287771712016-05-18T13:47:00.001-07:002016-05-18T13:47:56.689-07:00Professional Development for Teachers<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't usually advertise myself, but it seems that if one wants to continue to offer exciting, creative presentations for other teachers, one needs to toot one's own horn! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>My Horn</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have two dynamite workshops that have had rave reviews (really!). One is:</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Engaging Curriculum: The Indoor and Outdoor Classroom </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other is:</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Music Every Day</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are some of the nice things teachers said about the first workshop:</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I loved this class. I left with lots of notes. This class left me full of ideas."</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I really loved all of the info on outdoor learning and anything that Gail Multop does!" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I swear I did not make this up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are some nice things teachers said about the second workshop:</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"It was fabulous! She gave me so many ideas to incorporate music into the class." </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Love Ms. Gail and her workshop!! Highly passionate about what she does!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I didn't make this up, either.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Please contact me for more information about training and workshops. Email me at gmultop@gmail.com. </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>TOOT!</b></span></div>
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<br />Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-58402258245743330302016-04-16T08:47:00.001-07:002016-04-16T08:47:09.010-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_98hpkrsYCD3PeM-EVNMTLOU80m0n6EIMyG0JlAdOiHKis-dDQ7wjreOfchGmxMOZYJNX-iPw8hxQm_5nIjjyU8OiqwmUOO_yBxkzPp8_yjKbp6JAoX0z0SgCqZudxFKk-VT61ATui2g/s1600/lily.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_98hpkrsYCD3PeM-EVNMTLOU80m0n6EIMyG0JlAdOiHKis-dDQ7wjreOfchGmxMOZYJNX-iPw8hxQm_5nIjjyU8OiqwmUOO_yBxkzPp8_yjKbp6JAoX0z0SgCqZudxFKk-VT61ATui2g/s320/lily.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>“It’s necessary that we believe that the child is very intelligent, that the child is strong and beautiful and has very ambitious desires and requests. This is the image of the child that we need to hold. Those who have the image of the child as fragile, incomplete, weak, made of glass gain something from this belief only for themselves. We don’t need that as an image of children. Instead of always giving children protection, we need to give them the recognition of their rights and of their strengths.”</i> <a data-mce-href="https://reggioalliance.org/downloads/malaguzzi:ccie:1994.pdf" href="https://reggioalliance.org/downloads/malaguzzi:ccie:1994.pdf" style="color: #1b57b1; text-decoration: none;">Loris Malaguzzi.</a></div>
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Having worked in a Reggio-inspired program for four years, I endeavor to hold this idea in my mind as I teach young children, and as I teach adults. Young children are amazingly capable. They can learn anything at their level of development and as members of a larger culture. By providing support for what they are capable of, we honor their essential natures.</div>
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Recently, I have been thinking about DAP. What does developmentally appropriate practice mean to each of us? I think that, in spite of NAEYC’s very positive and specific guidance for us as Early Childhood Educators, schools and parents who want to honor DAP have differing images of children in their minds. I see so much that is good in the practices of my adult students, and among my ECE colleagues, but also I sense that many of us still tend to see young children as individuals who need protection, nurture, and <span style="font-size: 12.16px; line-height: 15.808px;">dare I say, sheltering. The image Loris Malaguzzi presents in the quote above certainly contradicts this image.</span></div>
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In the NAEYC literature, <a data-mce-href="http://www.naeyc.org/dap/12-principles-of-child-development" href="http://www.naeyc.org/dap/12-principles-of-child-development" style="color: #1b57b1; text-decoration: none;">12 Principles of Development and Learning,</a> the eleventh principle, “Development and learning are advanced when children are challenged” strikes me as particularly important. From self-help skills (pouring water, and counting out crackers at snack, to pulling up their own pants, with appropriate scaffolding) to project work (planning and creating a part of a project a child sees as needed, each contribution demonstrating not only skills, but ideas as well), young children are vastly more capable than we habitually see them. Perhaps, as Malaguzzi implies, we <i>want</i> to see them as needing more help, so that we can fulfil our own need to nurture (full-disclosure: sometimes guilty myself!). But we do not give them our best if we do things they can do themselves. Neither should we over-protect them.</div>
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Do you allow preschoolers shovels that actually dig a hole in dirt? Do you encourage them to climb trees, and hang upside down (yes, with an adult under them—licensing rules must apply after all)? Are they feeding and handling class lizards, or doing <i>meaningful </i>jobs (stacking chairs, sharpening colored pencils, sorting toys)? Are each of these activities enveloped in secure relationships with knowledgeable caregivers who are just as interested in what the children want to do as they are?</div>
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Here we have the path to a developmentally appropriate practice that allows children to go as far as they can because they want to; because they hold their caregivers’ esteem in high regard. No, “good job”, or star chart can make up for a lack of genuine involvement by adults and older children in what is important to young ones.</div>
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What inspired this blog post was a video of a <a data-mce-href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G9EFYmo21A" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G9EFYmo21A" style="color: #1b57b1; text-decoration: none;">three year old girl birthing a lamb.</a> You may have seen it. If not, I hope you will be as inspired as I was. As you watch, consider how the adult (perhaps mother) holds back from diving in to take over, and uses questions and encouragement to allow this child to complete her work. The sense of capability, accomplishment, and self-respect she must have felt dwarfs anything that has come from a teacher saying, “good job” to a piece of artwork. Please take a look, and let me know what your response is.</div>
Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-65940392241843574942016-04-03T13:40:00.002-07:002016-04-03T13:40:23.465-07:00Outdoor play and learning: Is this hard to understand?<div class="MsoNormal">
Outdoor play is gaining popularity in direct proportion, it
seems, to the rate of reduction of recess in schools. Those of us who played
outside as children see the disappearance of nature play as abhorrent. I don’t
need to cite all of the research that states that children need nature, and
outdoor play as much as they need food, water, and sleep, but I want to explain
my own view about such an important factor of working and playing with young
children.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/(https://www.nwf.org/pdf/Be%20Out%20There/Dirt_Report_2012.pdf)" target="_blank">Playing in dirt calms children down.</a> In my own experience,
there is no better cure for restless young children than taking them outdoors,
either to play in the mud, digging and creating streams with water, or to look for worms to populate a new garden. I have seen children put a bug on a leaf in water and
watch it float on its own “boat”. Children make homes and playgrounds for worms and ask probing questions about their lives. If an unexpected nature event happens, such as the baby mole finding its
way onto our playground, they are excited enough to burst. Attention
spans elongate outside. Children work purposefully, and they collaborate.<a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/files/attachments/1195/ajp-age-mixing-published.pdf" target="_blank"> In mixed-age groups, especially, children learn to model, teach and learn above their developmental levels.</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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Why do we insist on latching on to the latest technology for
children’s learning when there is such a wealth of rich experience outdoors?
And how can children relate to each other and to the natural world if we
establish narrow compartmentalization on their learning experiences? Technology
was made for people, not people for technology. Children use tools outdoors, and then can use the technological tools indoors to graph, draw, or write about their
learning. But these tools cannot be an end in themselves.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In multiple intelligence theory, Howard Gardner added<a href="http://www.niu.edu/facdev/resources/guide/learning/howard_gardner_theory_multiple_intelligences.pdf" target="_blank"> “naturalistic”</a>because it is a separate area of intelligence. To me, this means that learning
in nature allows that mode of intelligence to flourish, and to bridge to the
others. In my mind, inside and out must be extensions of each other. Giving
children twenty minutes on a paved playground isn’t my idea of outdoor play.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Many folk are advocating for children to be immersed in nature. I recently
heard about a school that has three twenty-minute recesses distributed
throughout the day to keep children’s minds humming. This is certainly a start, but exploring and thinking about natural environments means that more children can learn
and be successful. It is, after all, a goal on which we can all agree.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgss1UCNjZqNTuilS5iSCeWs4jVhz8zvJF1IixkXdk-4x2RJwbvd_cAZsLPOU5uZZbdGgW1_Dk8-1tmjwF4PhNYl48aPiSylXVHcuVovVVfLU9ZnyqWzvkY1W-3f2E5FrzeaP0jkAcKitw/s1600/art+outside+45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgss1UCNjZqNTuilS5iSCeWs4jVhz8zvJF1IixkXdk-4x2RJwbvd_cAZsLPOU5uZZbdGgW1_Dk8-1tmjwF4PhNYl48aPiSylXVHcuVovVVfLU9ZnyqWzvkY1W-3f2E5FrzeaP0jkAcKitw/s320/art+outside+45.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p>Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-27067779229641020012016-03-30T13:07:00.001-07:002016-03-30T13:16:11.282-07:00Is play a high form of thought?<div class="MsoNormal">
Since my last post I have been thinking more about play. Why
is it so hard to understand its importance? Then, two days ago, I went to visit
a friend who has made (“French”) horns all of his adult life. George wasn’t
trained as an engineer. He had drafting lessons in the Navy, and went on to be
chief engineer for a well-known brass instrument company. Finally, he set out
on his own to build horns by hand. His horns are played in symphonies all over
the world. He has so many patents he has lost count. George is 84 years old. He
still talks about horn making like a child with a new toy. He said something that
struck me as the essence of playful creativity during our lunch together: “People
say I should just order mouthpieces from Europe. It would be so much easier and
quicker. Why do I make my mouthpieces by hand? And I tell them, well, what fun
would THAT be?!”</div>
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What fun indeed?</div>
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This morning, my Pre-K students were all over the room solving
problems through play. When I say play, I mean not only playing with materials,
or playing games, or playing pretend scenarios, but playing with ideas as well.
Two boys worked together with Magna-tiles to make something that they
envisioned: A rocket within a space station. They worked for a long time to get
the surrounding “station” just right so that the separate rocket would fit
inside, but slide out easily for launching. Two girls challenged themselves to
make a ball go “up” a ramp. Through trial and error, they made two ramps
connect so that when a ball ran down the first ramp, it would, through
momentum, go up the second one, only to slide down again. Their image was that
of a skateboarder going up a ramp and coming back down, they said.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Is this <i>only</i> play?
If someone walked into our classroom they would see children playing with many
materials, including Magna-tiles, and ramps with balls. They would not see the
creative problem-solving, nor the give and take of conversation driving the
creative thought. They might think, “Oh, well, I want my child to <i>learn. </i>This is just <i>playing.”</i> How wrong they would be!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/08/14/how-einstein-thought-combinatorial-creativity/" target="_blank">Einstein</a> said that playing with images and thoughts was
crucial before actually thinking and speaking logically about a new idea. When
children play with toys, art materials, or socio-dramatic roles, they are
thinking, and playing with images in their minds. If we allow and even facilitate
this kind of thinking in play, we may just be nurturing an Einstein, or another
George. Can we afford to lose this opportunity? I sincerely think not.<o:p></o:p></div>
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To learn more about learning through play you might want to
read about<a href="http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v1n2/forman.html" target="_blank"> observing children at play</a> to see their thinking and learning.
School ultimately must prepare children for the future, so we must help them
learn to learn, and think about their thinking. Discovery is intrinsically
rewarding, as <a href="https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/10/01/jerome-bruner-act-of-discovery/" target="_blank">Jerome Bruner wrote</a>. Using one’s own faculties to discover new ways to do things makes
learning “fun”. It is what both children and grown-ups actually want, after
all.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-42695526912195080142016-03-18T18:01:00.000-07:002016-03-18T18:01:34.812-07:00Parents: Play is creative and cognitive!<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I was so excited listening to Rae Pica’s program,” <a href="http://www.bamradionetwork.com/student-centric-strategies/" target="_blank">How PlaySupports Brain Development”. </a>Her two guests, both experts in the field of early
learning, emphasized how play is not an option for children. Children’s brains
need play like a thirsty runner needs water! Children’s brains run on play. So
why would parents worry if their children play in preschool or kindergarten?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I suspect there are many reasons, including that many
parents’ early memories of school include academic instruction, and perhaps their
struggles with it. Parents don’t want their children to struggle and they
acquire the mistaken notion that doing worksheets and flashcards will give
their children an edge. They want to see their kids buckle down and learn, darn
it! Play looks too, well, uh…fun. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Another reason, I suspect, is that when they shop for
preschools, they run into some programs that say they are play-based, but do
now know how to make play the center of learning for the children. The teachers
do not have the training to scaffold children’s skills to go deeply into their
interests, to pursue and develop their ideas in play. The play these parents see
is not high quality play. It is not avid, creative learning. It is just, well,
let’s be frank—goofing around. Flitting from activity to activity. I know this from what my college students tell
me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The most important fact, in my mind, is that mature,
high-quality play is creative. Creativity is an innate part of cognition. Once
I had a pre-K student who noticed that birds seemed to poop all over the
playground picnic tables. He developed a hypothesis that if he made a bird
toilet, our picnic table would be cleaner. In the classroom, working for over a
week, he used constructive materials (boxes, tubes, and magazine pictures) to
create his bird toilet. On the seat, he glued a picture of worms to attract the
birds so that they would be motivated to use the facility rather than our
picnic table. In the process, he explained his contraption (oral language;
cognitive development), asked others to find materials for him (social
development), and through trial and error, created his invention. He tested his
hypothesis outdoors. Now I would love to tell you that the birds flocked (no
pun intended) to his creation, but of course, this didn’t happen. What did
happen is that other children began forming ideas of inventions they thought
might be needed and began creating them. The bird toilet itself was used on the
playground for imaginative, if bathroom oriented, play by many children!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This boy could not have made his invention, nor could other
children have taken up the idea of creating inventions, if the program had been
either an academic program, or a traditional program that claimed it was
play-based, but did not scaffold inventive, creative learning opportunities. In
the school where I taught, teaching staff applauded and encouraged the boy’s
work. They brought in, and asked parents for, boxes, tubes, tape and other
materials to give the children what they needed to pursue their interests. They
began reading books about birds, and bird recognition. We found nests in trees
to keep an eye on. We rode the wave of creative play. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All of this was documented in picture and text in the halls.
Our parents learned the benefits of these types of projects because teachers
and administrators put it up where parents could see them. In Rae’s program,
one of the guests mentioned using documentation to illustrate the learning
taking place in children’s play. For me, this is a deal-breaker. Connect those
standards to the documentation. Explain, in text on pictures, or narration in
videos, how the play allows children to learn across all domains, and in all
content areas. Keep at it. And make sure the right people (administrators,
parents) have it in their faces day and night. The effort is more than worth it
if more children get the opportunities to learn through the language of play.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-37003399888464207952016-03-16T12:21:00.001-07:002016-03-16T12:25:36.499-07:00The Gift of Water, and Adult Tools<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxx6Cu5OUshX-OdKO3p0kE-hTAtBcLQPl9VWzlOiw53i6lYhIfLq-YYB0SguZdlS96Y8XSSdfeZATsvPJZhkj3KgD6ltBTSKTKrIGvaAQj6xVRCUDr_nlOgcJQkyvdKaEF46pi88JKkVc/s1600/water+playy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxx6Cu5OUshX-OdKO3p0kE-hTAtBcLQPl9VWzlOiw53i6lYhIfLq-YYB0SguZdlS96Y8XSSdfeZATsvPJZhkj3KgD6ltBTSKTKrIGvaAQj6xVRCUDr_nlOgcJQkyvdKaEF46pi88JKkVc/s400/water+playy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Why buy toys when you can get the real thing?</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If I've learned anything, children respect adult tools. Clear rubber tubing and PVC pipes from the hardware store, along with funnels, extend engaging activities far longer than the same old toys year in, year out. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"It's a water fountain!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Did it come out?"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Let's take turns."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Let's try two funnels, one tube."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"If you have the funnel in one side you can let the water out the other side".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">These are some comments I heard while the girls experimented with the tubing, funnels, pipes and water yesterday. Children investigating, forming hypotheses, and cooperating are all part of preschool science. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj57F3UdU8zyzSGTJ6C5iVkIX63ZuFzu3sajPiKg4vCWk93shihYBNML44F3pg9ZYSRnh6In8l5eIUfSWetkejYmpAjRkzL8w_mmzzZc2KiqTv5JtbBAYIOg8ktvQxGhoVUlHpXmDOOzwk/s1600/wat+er+play.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj57F3UdU8zyzSGTJ6C5iVkIX63ZuFzu3sajPiKg4vCWk93shihYBNML44F3pg9ZYSRnh6In8l5eIUfSWetkejYmpAjRkzL8w_mmzzZc2KiqTv5JtbBAYIOg8ktvQxGhoVUlHpXmDOOzwk/s400/wat+er+play.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Prompted by the first two girls and their excitement, a few boys came to share the fun. What happens if you pour water into a funnel while it is facing down? How many ways can we fill a measuring cup?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The water table was getting crowded!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">These are only a few tools that make water play challenging, exciting, and filled with learning. Pair this with <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Water-Frank-Asch/dp/0152023488/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1458155697&sr=1-1&keywords=water+childrens+book" target="_blank">Water</a></i>, by Frank Asch,or <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Water-Down-Around-Amazing-Science/dp/140480336X/ref=pd_cp_14_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=13HT8XWAPWFX90PB61WT" target="_blank">Water up, down and all around</a>, </i>by Natalie Rosinsky. This is the season to explore the gift of water with young children.</span></div>
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<br />Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-39928398962747487322016-03-07T12:57:00.002-08:002016-03-07T12:59:29.578-08:00Space Shuttle or Millenium Falcon?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwayNSz2Bx10XoMvbh2DdK_5OrNwN_QM-ira3e8OJB0xb3VYxrdINEUzoPkkQY0LSWb7iitjXx93uaa8fhziW-BHqhRQc8joxvYd5JVLWB_6DEgWvQeJd0YE_XyEiRFTCcvIjcRRZJVBw/s1600/blog+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwayNSz2Bx10XoMvbh2DdK_5OrNwN_QM-ira3e8OJB0xb3VYxrdINEUzoPkkQY0LSWb7iitjXx93uaa8fhziW-BHqhRQc8joxvYd5JVLWB_6DEgWvQeJd0YE_XyEiRFTCcvIjcRRZJVBw/s400/blog+3.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
They are making the control panel for our space shuttle! So far we have colorful<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Farberware-Color-Straws-Mixed-Colors/dp/B005GT01CC" target="_blank"> straws</a> and buttons for the buttons and levers. The control panel will be placed under the table, and seats will be added.<br />
Straws can be cut easily, and attached. Buttons benefit from <a href="http://www6.discountschoolsupply.com/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?product=3354&es=237530000ESC&kpid=TACKY&gclid=Cj0KEQiA6vS2BRDH8dq06YDHz_IBEiQAzNdBmZf5qIbI_6ySKputOQ_H-Tr5QqBjgqxFSaXKm5oJ000aArnh8P8HAQ&v56sidl=32&v56zipl=0&v56keycodel=0" target="_blank">Tacky Glue</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH3KbvN5cIyGxxTc58XRaXONqUE6XEGYS3yILUdTojknUeLrZmhwRw5SpYnfGZJV17nfQBa5T6Z_4XMxVGnwyqveq0XX8sJIxNuVgV43yaqG7ayJKmx3GhcPCO7lcnLAKn9g3M27xEcvU/s1600/blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH3KbvN5cIyGxxTc58XRaXONqUE6XEGYS3yILUdTojknUeLrZmhwRw5SpYnfGZJV17nfQBa5T6Z_4XMxVGnwyqveq0XX8sJIxNuVgV43yaqG7ayJKmx3GhcPCO7lcnLAKn9g3M27xEcvU/s400/blog.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Under the table, engineers attach more controls to the soon-to-be rocket engine. We are asked, repeatedly, if they need to create guns. "Like Star Wars", they say. "The Space Shuttle doesn't need guns", we insist. "It is to bring astronauts to and from the International Space Station." This does not compute, in these young minds. No guns!? "Okay, then they're boosters", they decide. Boosters make noise, and have fire. Perhaps that will satisfy the need for firepower.<br />
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My Dad was a NASA engineer. I regale them with stories of space flight and design. "Design?".<br />
"Yes," I reply. You need to draw what you want to build. So they do, somewhat after the fact, and rather hurriedly.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeUQg_2l8F-OuFi9nPn9saWo9eNnwxdjof46B-hJIE9bNpr59A2FOJaInoNBIbhCrYBDRg9VpG279e1Ni29X8hOPKyD_1gdohj4auKcaMosnZij6BRV76-oiAUfdZtothsGdvTJStPAe4/s1600/blog+5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeUQg_2l8F-OuFi9nPn9saWo9eNnwxdjof46B-hJIE9bNpr59A2FOJaInoNBIbhCrYBDRg9VpG279e1Ni29X8hOPKyD_1gdohj4auKcaMosnZij6BRV76-oiAUfdZtothsGdvTJStPAe4/s400/blog+5.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
"That's the idea", I say. Now let's get building!<br />
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Perhaps we can blot the Millenium Falcon out of their minds for a time. At snack today, someone says, "Let's talk about Star Wars". Others moan. "We always do that. How about that Air and Space Museum?"<br />
I smile.Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-71608981929522974622016-03-06T06:28:00.001-08:002016-03-06T06:29:36.530-08:00Preschool: Marshmallows and Toothpicks Offer 3-D Building OpportunitiesWe gave the children the materials to see what they would build. Mini-marshmallows, large marshmallows, and toothpicks created an open-ended opportunity to build, something our class loves to do!<br />
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Everything from a "one-legged ostrich" to "New York City"emerged from this activity. The beauty of open-ended, choice-driven activities in centers is that the children can work as long as they like, and make whatever they choose. Teachers are on hand to have powerful interactions with each child. </div>
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The results are immensely satisfying to the individual child, and gives them a sense of accomplishment, nurturing self-esteem.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheTNDrq9SXik_34Dh9PY6lFbD_Ndl81Vzo8VZDcSjh0HTMQLE-zcXgzdX1Y1od35QXTI0XTlU-w3o-j6_0PaQfRoS9bS-LpIsaVJ6pqia-gp-y4MJa0bh0gnJ2saQA2bsrBmJfW7F1Fn8/s1600/marshmallow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheTNDrq9SXik_34Dh9PY6lFbD_Ndl81Vzo8VZDcSjh0HTMQLE-zcXgzdX1Y1od35QXTI0XTlU-w3o-j6_0PaQfRoS9bS-LpIsaVJ6pqia-gp-y4MJa0bh0gnJ2saQA2bsrBmJfW7F1Fn8/s640/marshmallow.jpg" width="542" /></a></div>
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While older children are building atoms or scaffolding, our preschoolers are building what comes to mind. They deserve and need preschool to offer them time to imagine. This is one way.Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-18794928589619001172016-02-13T08:18:00.001-08:002016-04-06T14:39:17.303-07:00Play: What are we losing it to?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Facebook is awash with fantastic memes about the necessity of play in early childhood. I adore seeing them. I also feel some anxiousness because I have noticed that, in a play-based program, five- year old children aren't playing like five-year old children anymore. More of them are playing like three's and four's than I used to see. This has made me anxious and uncomfortable, and grasping for explanations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While I was looking for an article about Vygotsky for the Infant and Toddler course I teach for my community college, I found <a href="http://www.du.edu/marsicoinstitute/pressroom/6-1-article-play-and-self-regulation.pdf" target="_blank">this article</a> about play and self-regulation. Self-regulation is the fancy, early childhood development term for self-control. Self-regulation skills are developmental. You wouldn't expect to see a two-year old play by planning the role she would take with another two, then verbalizing what she wanted to do, consulting with her friend. You laugh, if you know two's! They just go in there and do what they do. Self-regulation is a complex of skills that children develop. An infant develops the skill of self-soothing. She is managing her feelings--something she couldn't do at birth. A two can be taught about feelings and how to identify them so that they gradually (some teachers might say hopefully) learn to identify them on their own and, as their verbal skills mature, express them. Adults facilitate this process and work to give the child choices that validate her feelings and problem-solving abilities. This is partly how self-regulation develops.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The authors that sparked my thinking articulate that Vygotsky and his students noticed fours and fives maturing through imaginary play. That play developed increasingly complex interactions, and that these interactions motivated children to inhibit impulsiveness in order to continue to play with their friends. They validated my observations by writing that today's play studies show children are playing at a less mature level than they once did. Imaginary play does not develop. It becomes repetitive, stereotyped, and stunted. The authors speculate briefly that perhaps academic preschool and kindergarten, with their narrowly focused curricula, have created this phenomenon, but their focus is on assessing play, not coming up with theories about how it has degenerated into more primitive skills. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Years ago, there were justifiable concerns that videos of movies reduced children's play to verbatim retellings, with no variation. Many of my colleagues have noticed this. Ninja Turtles can only do what Ninja Turtles do. Ad nauseum. Disney "princesses" can only do what they do in movies. Frozen--Oy!--Frozen characters are cast in the stone of their plot. A girl asked me to be Elsa, recently. I playfully asked her, "Who's Elsa?" She walked away. I didn't know the plot. Could media be the culprit?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I don't know why preschool pretend play has lost it's maturity. I don't know why children often don't plan scenarios, talk about their roles, or come up with alternative story arcs. I do know that what the authors ultimately conclude is that adult involvement--setting up dramatic play areas that aren't always the same, involving themselves in the play, skillfully developing children's ideas and adding what will help them progress--has been lost. Teachers think that "providing materials", or "setting up play spaces" is enough."Look at what they are doing! They are playing!" For children who are on iPads at home, who watch Star Wars, and play scenes from the movies, more is needed. My bent leads me to conclude that the Reggio way of observing children, documenting their learning, providing "provocations" for more discoveries, and validating their trains of thought makes actual mature play and thererfore learning through play possible. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Children learn through play when adults involve themselves as both actors, and behind-the scenes facilitators. Teachers take note!</span><br />
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Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-43117950357919531872016-01-10T09:05:00.002-08:002016-01-12T11:35:29.609-08:00Art OutsideI have written before about outdoor music, and I present workshops on this topic. I am a musician, not a visual artist. But outdoor visual art embraces so many of the values we early childhood educators hold dear. We value creative partnerships between children and teachers. We value the outdoor environment for the health and welfare of children (and teachers!). Children need nature more than many folk realize. Just digging in the dirt <a href="http://www.nwf.org/What-We-Do/Kids-and-Nature/Why-Get-Kids-Outside/Dirt-is-Great.aspx" target="_blank">enhances children's immunity</a>, It increases feelings of well-being as well (did someone really have to study this to find out?). Whole community organizations are advancing the idea that learning outdoors is <a href="http://www.novaoutside.org/" target="_blank">inherently crucial to the development of healthy children. </a> So why not do art outside? Isn't this a no-brainer?<br />
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Painting on a sheet with spray bottles is an oldie but goodie. Liquid water color works well, and children can investigate the way color sinks into or runs down fabric, provoking questions for discussion. Pumping a spray bottle brings up scientific inquiry (how does it work?). Children will most certainly come up with other techniques and ideas. Teachers need to be flexible. If a girl asks to use a brush, then those brushes must come out! Should we say no to mixing color with mud and smearing it on the fabric? No! Everything is food for thought and fun.<br />
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Using <a href="http://www.childcarequarterly.com/pdf/winter14_parts.pdf" target="_blank">"loose parts" </a> is another way to include visual art outside. Use loose parts from nature, such as stones, logs,and "tree cookies". Include manufactured items such as tires. These entice children to create. It is more productive when teachers consciously prepare children with stories, pictures, and anecdotes inside the classroom. A child's imagination needs to be fed something beyond Ninja Turtles and Princesses! Feed their imaginations with stories about outdoor creations. The work of <a href="http://visualmelt.com/Andy-Goldsworthy" target="_blank">Andy Goldsworthy </a>inspires all ages. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sandys-Circus-Story-Alexander-Calder/dp/0670062685" target="_blank">Alexander Calder</a>'s early life demonstrates what children can do with found objects and scraps.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOPr6T5qBnglhCFLnWS-Km1OnOCXYFqbXBOnmGkT5SP9W17JsihTSXnhXXSDa47Mwh7C342yr2cEX1UsdZTt5V15Z2UlkRTPIltMx7pK43Z3I8E90kl-XkrN-PpbYDm2UaOcCLbORm0IQ/s1600/art+outside+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOPr6T5qBnglhCFLnWS-Km1OnOCXYFqbXBOnmGkT5SP9W17JsihTSXnhXXSDa47Mwh7C342yr2cEX1UsdZTt5V15Z2UlkRTPIltMx7pK43Z3I8E90kl-XkrN-PpbYDm2UaOcCLbORm0IQ/s320/art+outside+4.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Finally, taking children to see outdoor art installations that adults have created legitimatizes this work. They need to know that what they are doing isn't just something adults have them do to fill time! Children need to see that what they are asked to do is meaningful in the adult world. Investigate your community's cultural resources. Not every town has a<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Gallery_of_Art_Sculpture_Garden" target="_blank"> National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden</a>, but even<a href="http://www.npr.org/2012/08/02/156980469/marfa-texas-an-unlikely-art-oasis-in-a-desert-town" target="_blank"> Marfa, Texas has outdoor art</a>!</div>
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I hope this post has given some teachers and parents not only ideas, but reasons for doing art outside with children. I can't think of a greater gift to give.</div>
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Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-6634979667806068192015-11-08T13:01:00.001-08:002015-11-08T14:19:18.175-08:00"Once there was a baby tree..."<div style="text-align: center;">
"Once upon a time there was a baby tree who was lost in a big, dark woods. She couldn't see her home because it was too dark. She asked a leaf, "Where's my home? Have you seen it?" The leaf said, "I saw a brown tree like you!". "Thanks," said the baby tree. "I see something brown and straight", said the tree, "That must be my home!" And it was. THE END.</div>
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This was one of the many stories my friend, Opal, told in our woods. Other children are joining us. I've resorted to using my iPhone recorder rather than writing, as I would in the classroom. Taking dictation is better, because the storyteller sees the progression of the words from left to right, and has to slow down to make sure you are getting all of her/his words down. They patiently repeat what you don't get the first go 'round, which is immensely humbling. But in the woods, writing is awkward. Maybe you could do it. I am using technology. </div>
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In any case, as difficult as it sometimes is to record stories and watch other children in the woods--I am supposed to be supervising, after all--I am delighted to accommodate the storytellers. Their faces shine with the light of discovering that their own imagination can create something very much like the stories they read in picture books. </div>
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The story Opal told also demonstrates that children's stories reveal universal themes of being lost, found, searching for home, and wanting to be with one's own kind. Vivian Paley wrote about this very thing in her amazing books. This video<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYZoStetJoI" target="_blank"> link </a>shows how seriously she took children's words. "Cute" wasn't a part of her vocabulary. A child's words were important to her. And so I will continue to listen to their stories as long as they want to tell them. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie3eaGao-9o" target="_blank">Ms. Paley</a> would approve, I'm sure.</div>
Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-80548102697501453232015-10-29T12:51:00.000-07:002016-03-14T15:28:06.302-07:00Stories in the Woods<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Hbj86gGFISidm45NjZvzS0OWIQQ195gyWfDrSiA7An6KNOR-mBduWLqh5OJinSoNK2fHo9G9KPKQZIzod70v1_zRa639FXy90jKgSCqbvg2iCcg1uqdTyprYwTwKUazRzBzIvafO8rM/s1600/Playground.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Hbj86gGFISidm45NjZvzS0OWIQQ195gyWfDrSiA7An6KNOR-mBduWLqh5OJinSoNK2fHo9G9KPKQZIzod70v1_zRa639FXy90jKgSCqbvg2iCcg1uqdTyprYwTwKUazRzBzIvafO8rM/s400/Playground.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
Anyone who knows me knows I worship<a href="http://www.learninglandscapes.ca/images/documents/ll-no13/paley.pdf" target="_blank"> Vivian Paley</a>. I have asked children to tell me their stories for over 25 years, and we have acted them out in the classroom.<br />
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This school year I have a new job teaching young children half days where the playground includes a wooded area that provides children with the opportunity to do what children love to do in the woods. Running through, staying still, gathering natural items in their hands and pretending these items are supplies for soup or ice cream, they are free to do what I loved to do as a child. They are free to be children. So how does this relate to stories?<br />
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I have a new friend I will call Opal. Inexplicably, Opal has adopted me and made me a member of her group of friends who gather in the woods and tell stories. Much of the time the stories are more like newspaper headlines such as, "Do you know what wonderful thing I am going to do? I am going to Disney on Ice!". Today Opal found me on the playground and asked me to come into the woods and tell her and her friend, Annie, "scary Halloween stories". So I went. We sat in our usual place, a crossroads of tree roots, covered with fallen leaves. Here I began recounting the story, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Little-Lady-Afraid-Anything/dp/0064431835" target="_blank">The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything</a>. Opal and Annie didn't know the story, so they were trying to "help" me by including monsters and ghosts, then, when they understood the nature of the benign evil in the story, underwear that walked on its own. I offered that maybe they would like to tell a story of their own. "I can't tell stories", Opal wailed. "We don't do that in my class". So I started a story about one of the many children who had come over to us to see what the fuss was. Soon each child was adding part of the story, and even more interestingly, an item from the woods. Children came and gently laid bark, berries, sticks, and leaves in my open palm as if conferring a sacrament. With each item we named the next character of the story.<br />
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I couldn't write it down, and with so many children coming and going with pieces of nature in their palms I don't think I'll ever remember what we said. But we left the items in the "story circle" for another time. The next time I'll come with paper and pen.<br />
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Story offerings</div>
Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-54082155454433047892015-06-13T08:39:00.000-07:002015-06-13T09:12:22.799-07:00Dramatic Play: How it can hold everything together.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Children were building castles in the block corner, explaining the different areas by using terms such as "great room", and "battlements" (we had been reading castle books to them). My small group had just finished a long project on bridges, and drawbridges came up in conversation. For teachers who believe in emergent, project-oriented learning, these facts were like a blinking neon sign that said, </span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hint...Hint...Hint!!!</span></h2>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Coincidentally, the Dramatic Play area was due for a changeover. I have been giving workshops called "Projects and Provocations", which were heavily influenced by the<a href="http://reggioalliance.org/" target="_blank"> Reggio </a>approach. Some teachers from other preschools dropped their jaws when I told them that dramatic play needn't always be a house corner, or that it could be changed over when their students' interest lagged. I thought of them when Carrie (a gifted teacher at our center) and I changed the area into the Great Room of a castle. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigzN2A9HgnBdce8zsOeVdNnd4DG1dtxmdugxS4yLKZKiPkh6jp_hCttMvNGxmMRCmRI7djrnsVaEXl_9lgtvokn7lCkok9GRI1UA84ujnDbgfrOeSzRuTiP0p-46zvaXCOU2NzbyahZuk/s1600/castle+10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigzN2A9HgnBdce8zsOeVdNnd4DG1dtxmdugxS4yLKZKiPkh6jp_hCttMvNGxmMRCmRI7djrnsVaEXl_9lgtvokn7lCkok9GRI1UA84ujnDbgfrOeSzRuTiP0p-46zvaXCOU2NzbyahZuk/s320/castle+10.jpg" width="197" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Fireplace in Great Room</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fireplace was especially fun. While we created the mantel and chimney, the children used various artistic media to create a stone-like surface. I brought in electric candles for the table, and found that Carrie's group had decided, when I had been on the playground, to put them in the fireplace for a more authentic effect.</span></span></div>
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The morning "question of the day" for parents with their incoming children was this one:</div>
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<i>Question of the Day</i></div>
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Having had multiple time-travel stories about Medieval times read to them, children were very clear about what they liked and disliked about the idea of living then. </div>
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<i>Battlements best. No cannons worst!</i></div>
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For one girl, the worst was "war". Seige was a part of every story about castles.</div>
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In the writing center we left rolled up pieces of paper for "scrolls". When children wrote on them and brought them to a teacher to "read", hilarity ensued. "By this proclamation, all teachers will leave and go to Starbucks. Children are in charge of the school!" Many invitations to "balls" were issued:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh69xChY3aEFfvUdw6zAxtBhhbkOgL4PzV86zo7wnilT61Q6OAl6Wpruvo7UVAnaUCV9oQCT41DxrtbsfAC-3aObjpGehdnzICo3ryjDJhw_GrxwfMyQUOhydP43pwdS018tqDUdqJyu-I/s1600/castle4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh69xChY3aEFfvUdw6zAxtBhhbkOgL4PzV86zo7wnilT61Q6OAl6Wpruvo7UVAnaUCV9oQCT41DxrtbsfAC-3aObjpGehdnzICo3ryjDJhw_GrxwfMyQUOhydP43pwdS018tqDUdqJyu-I/s320/castle4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Queen Ball Room</i></div>
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Musicians were in the castle books, too, so I downloaded music from iTunes appropriate to the era. The children brought drums to the great room, and I played the music for them. </div>
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<i>Girls drumming to "Music of the Crusades"</i></div>
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Then one morning, a boy spoke words dear to my heart: "Let's make our own castle, Gail". So my small group began working on a castle model, made of corrugated cardboard, tubes, and pieces of shoeboxes. We are still working on it, because one thing led to another, as is the way of projects. They made a moat (and we had learned that moats were NOT clean!), battlements, a dungeon, a kitchen with a fireplace and chimney cut through the roof ("Gail, we need a hole in the roof for the smoke to get out"). A "keep" was created by including another shoebox. </div>
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<i>Castle with moat, drawbridge, and Keep.</i></div>
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Of course the children wanted to create little knights and princesses. I pointed out that those lovely people were not the most important people in the castle. Without the cooks, farmers, and others who produced food, the royalty would have starved. Immediately one boy created a cook for the kitchen.</div>
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I have been so pleased with the depth of learning that has taken place throughout this project, aka. "unit". The children have been fascinated by the topic, we integrated science, social studies, math, and language arts easily <i>without</i> doing rote practice drills. This is the beauty of integrated teaching and learning. I wish it for every child.</div>
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Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-18684975131802424702015-05-10T10:30:00.000-07:002016-02-16T06:55:30.646-08:00Parents: If you aren't angry, you aren't paying attention!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFe0q9Wh71CQ9M4legQ0KvQeyKAZnxtNtmkkyGOsDrd211KhW1dkdQE2WxVXV6Zwoy2to1SIDWWhDNajXRNNxCcPeMTxzWAS3OMzurcnDmAWz8hFDi4QrF-LvzBLQkmqGmJ4LQ2dzbKLo/s1600/ladybug-craft.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFe0q9Wh71CQ9M4legQ0KvQeyKAZnxtNtmkkyGOsDrd211KhW1dkdQE2WxVXV6Zwoy2to1SIDWWhDNajXRNNxCcPeMTxzWAS3OMzurcnDmAWz8hFDi4QrF-LvzBLQkmqGmJ4LQ2dzbKLo/s320/ladybug-craft.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the left is an example of an "arts" activity in any classroom for young children. If you find your child is bringing home these pre-cut, adult-directed gems you should bring them back to school with this question: What the heck is this teaching my child?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The teacher might say that the class is studying bugs. She/he might say she is teaching the skill of "following directions". She might also say, "I've been doing this activity for fifty-eigh</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">t years and it has always been a success. Kids love it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Where do I begin?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I recently finished teaching a course called Art, Music and Movement for Young Children. My emphasis is on integrated curriculum: Teaching the arts and teaching content in a kind of beautiful soup of connectivity. There is so much to learn. Art forms, techniques, terminology, standards in both the arts and the content areas. The students need to learn the stages of children's creative development. and the stages of social play, so that they can plan appropriate activities and units for each age. I find that I fall short every semester. I know I could have done more to communicate all that needs to be learned.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The final course project is two activities that teach math, science, social studies or language arts through and with the arts fields of music, drama, movement, and visual art. Each activity needs to emphasize an arts field and a content area. It is a hard assignment. I look for the ability of the children involved to make intelligent choices. According to many of my adult students, who seldom have seen the arts as anything other than a frill, their view radically changes (or they say it does) about teaching through the arts. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Why do I begin with the example above? A student changed this idea to "make it more creative" by giving children pre-cut circles <i>of differing colors.</i> They had a <i>choice, </i>then. The children still had to conform to a model, and couldn't try out different ideas of how to demonstrate their knowledge of bugs (ladybugs are not the only bugs on the planet--I have child students who like ants quite a bunch). Why not look at bugs in paintings? Why not give them different materials, and ask them which bug they are choosing to create? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Why not? Aww, but look at that ladybug! It's so <i>cute!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Don't fall for it, parents! It's a trap made of decades of busywork cuteness in preschools across the country. It is lazy teaching. Tell the teacher that you will be assessing your child's knowledge, and looking for real creative projects. Tell her/him that you value creativity and honest intellectual inquiry from now on. Take charge of your child's learning.</span>Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-59811787340340457142015-03-07T07:42:00.000-08:002015-03-07T07:49:35.552-08:00Integrating Curriculum: Sometimes Learning is Messy!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a display of our Imaginary Land Project. It grew out of several strands from previous weeks. My small group (The Star Moon Drummers!--Great name for a rock band, no?) was fascinated by bridges and bridge building. The Drummers (four girls, four boys) built bridges from cardboard, huge wooden blocks, small wooden blocks, and their own bodies. They created stories about their bridges, and associated their understandings with actual bridges they knew or had heard about. One boy was so entranced that he became the expert on suspension bridges, and, with his scientist father, built them in his own basement, sharing pictures with the other children.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Out of a curricular strand on maps that we shared with the other Pre-K small group (The Runaway Missing Names--it's a long story...) came an interest in the ubiquitous world maps we teachers brought in from Doctors Without Borders (bless 'em). I cut the maps I had into quarters and gave each child a piece. I asked them to outline the countries, and as we did, we discussed them, and the children's knowledge of them ("John is from Australia! Senka is from India! Remember Irini from Greece?"). They knew that, on a map, white equaled ice and snow, and blue indicated water, so their interest was piqued by the colors of the continents and countries they outlined. Next, they glued their maps to larger paper and created art by coloring areas with <a href="http://www.amazon.com/ALEX-Toys-Artist-Studio-Crayons/dp/B00IC1B1HK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425739385&sr=8-1&keywords=creamy+crayons" target="_blank">Creamy Crayons</a>. As they colored I asked them to imagine their own country, or "land". I recorded their ideas on my trusty phone, and later typed them up for display. The children sounded out the names of their lands and wrote them on their maps. But that wasn't the end.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Children are most comfortable realizing their vision in three dimensions. This is why so many learning materials in preschool are blocks, math manipulatives, and clay. Just emerging from the sensory-motor stage of development, and not yet at ease with two-D representation, children think, and represent in 3-D. Using bodies in movement is another 3-D, kinesthetic route for cognitive growth. Yes, movement is a form of thought.<a href="http://www.tecweb.org/styles/gardner.html" target="_blank"> Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences</a> has been around for years, yet schools still seem to push 2-D thinking as the gold standard. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How could we represent our imaginary lands in three dimensions? With ice, dirt, greenery, and desert? First the children painted huge cardboard, scavenged from old boxes, in blues and greens. This was the water their lands would inhabit. Then they made their own clay from a recipe in Mudworks, a book I have used for centuries (well..a long time, anyway). They enjoyed the clay-making, because children love messes, and this is a messy activity! They created paper outlines of the land they wanted to create, and chose either one continent or several islands to portray. They laid out the outlines on their clay and cut around them with plastic knives. The land masses were glued to their cardboard oceans with <a href="http://www.michaels.com/aleenes-original-tacky-glue/M10614859.html" target="_blank">Tacky Glue</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next was painting the land according to their own ideas of where in the world their land was. Was it near the equator, or perhaps in temperate zones? Was it near one of the poles? We used a globe to imagine this. Being fours and fives, though, they wanted some of each, so many of their land masses were a combination of brown, green, and white. Their ideas of their lands altered as they created their three-dimensional displays. Ice came into their stories that had none before.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We caucused about what they wanted to build, and with what. My suspension bridge boy had heard of building with sugar cubes and there was no doubt after that what the building medium would be! The children built bridges across water, and buildings on land with sugar cubes, tiny sticks and Tacky Glue. The last step was painting buildings and bridges. Voila! They were done. I asked if they wanted to make sugar people, and to my disappointment, they did not. C'est la vie. The project was theirs, not mine!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Within a group of eight children ages 4 1/2 through 5 1/4 there are many differing talents and abilities. One child might build like an engineer and another tell a fabulous story. Each child needs a different level of support throughout the process. This whole project took several weeks, and at various stages I had another well-trained adult working with us. Children cried at times with frustration because their ability didn't match their vision. We worked with them to come as close as possible. The children were proud of their work, and eager to take their creations home. I took pictures for my 2-D wall display. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is indicative of emergent, project-based teaching that boundaries between what is art, language arts, social studies, science, math and other subjects get blurry. That's why parents and some teachers may see an integrated curriculum as just too messy for "real" school. But every child gets individual attention and validation for their thinking and efforts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is one imaginary land story for you to enjoy: "Once upon a time there was a Color Man. He makes crayons and colors. He gives them out to people. He goes on the line (map boundary) to take colors to everyone. He goes to different countries to give colors out."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a land I would love to visit. Wouldn't you?</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiriss850YinEB9pzpJuIX5-fSmLYGCeSkJRIMdpmrIO2sFPHfMSGhIz8MW_xnYXtTTI4XCua4jkqe_wi_5TiFf1e1_AF2Y_aZ6xxbN5wGFX6LizqNUtEI9V5JOR0eq2ooh1eTAq0oinC8/s1600/Imaginary+Land+Project,+Ben.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiriss850YinEB9pzpJuIX5-fSmLYGCeSkJRIMdpmrIO2sFPHfMSGhIz8MW_xnYXtTTI4XCua4jkqe_wi_5TiFf1e1_AF2Y_aZ6xxbN5wGFX6LizqNUtEI9V5JOR0eq2ooh1eTAq0oinC8/s1600/Imaginary+Land+Project,+Ben.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-9088513744110154542015-01-25T08:10:00.000-08:002015-03-01T12:21:03.733-08:00Play: Learning in Motion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I read in the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-pushed-my-pre-k-students-toward-reading-and-i-feel-guilty-about-it/2015/01/23/a78561d0-a0b5-11e4-903f-9f2faf7cd9fe_story.html" target="_blank">Washington Post today</a> about a preschool classroom in Arlington. In the column, the teacher, Launa Hall, describes her struggles to teach reading skills to preschoolers while feeling guilty about not being able to allow them to play. The Pre-K standards she uses are doable in a play environment, but the mandated curriculum in which they are delivered, as we say in the trade, are not developmentally appropriate. The joy of childhood is a secondary characteristic, not a primary one, in public Pre-K programs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In our program, children are given multiple opportunities to construct their own knowledge. During our early morning, late afternoon, and outside times, when we set the environment for learning, they do just that! </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWwR8J8OCaRVz5pz9piOoeoFUOtuY_WJXoG2s1v9V-n2Q5bCx9857F7XRroE9Ii94O4LWn2_KKMZ9wj9qTtFUHt3xq91VMkgw4gzc1U8QPjYglOTzEGsCiZOYi5ovple65cLuq6tOXMZs/s1600/NY.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWwR8J8OCaRVz5pz9piOoeoFUOtuY_WJXoG2s1v9V-n2Q5bCx9857F7XRroE9Ii94O4LWn2_KKMZ9wj9qTtFUHt3xq91VMkgw4gzc1U8QPjYglOTzEGsCiZOYi5ovple65cLuq6tOXMZs/s1600/NY.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New York City</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The picture above is New York City. Several children have been to New York recently, and, have parents who talk WITH their children, rather than down TO them. They come back to school with a fund of knowledge that flashcards and lesson books can't teach. If you look hard enough, you will see the <a href="http://www.panynj.gov/" target="_blank">Port Authority,</a> and the <a href="http://www.esbnyc.com/" target="_blank">Empire State Building</a>. The builders were inspired by each other, and as an impromptu small group demonstrated their knowledge in the block corner. This whole enterprise was preceded by a flurry of drafting in the drawing/writing center. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ5eBYY_4gw1mmYXP2q5qb9VTfeZkdmugVo7U12iunLisxZH-ucZeXQ4A8wFy6qJfk2ghXFv8Zli2t0koVv1wNe53lHA7x1fVqF_l85Jz4B6h2lOTYg2CpqKYQxEDna5hPYC1D7aB7UCc/s1600/designing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ5eBYY_4gw1mmYXP2q5qb9VTfeZkdmugVo7U12iunLisxZH-ucZeXQ4A8wFy6qJfk2ghXFv8Zli2t0koVv1wNe53lHA7x1fVqF_l85Jz4B6h2lOTYg2CpqKYQxEDna5hPYC1D7aB7UCc/s1600/designing.jpg" height="160" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Design Team </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our modeling of drawing, planning, and building all year contributed to this project, but the children did it on their own.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6XaQi3ykvq0Fetvgg73SxbSQaQeOHchfARvymy8UQKBX87CtwBivvHkFCWLmhMQLbdZrwfwgHgziNMZI6n4ce-Z2tA3Sw3tze2PuaskWjhZYfjEMN0TJS3cYemp-vLUvr_1-wqIWbgco/s1600/hayride.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6XaQi3ykvq0Fetvgg73SxbSQaQeOHchfARvymy8UQKBX87CtwBivvHkFCWLmhMQLbdZrwfwgHgziNMZI6n4ce-Z2tA3Sw3tze2PuaskWjhZYfjEMN0TJS3cYemp-vLUvr_1-wqIWbgco/s1600/hayride.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We went on a hayride in October but children are still conspiring to create their own. These girls asked me for rope, but I didn't have any. I was at a loss on how to help them, but one of them "got an idea" and organized a committee to create a "hayride" out of a wagon, scooter and tricycle. They did it themselves, based on their own past experience playing on our playground, and interacting with us and other children.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the snow, children wanted to create "plows". Here is a picture of their idea:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbdzS8eIzngjbxI8htW_owPpHegrQtAqlvv3cXByaUSUSQ21X_aTUtZ45eNOOgsUXiPkev8I8jeYe2Cfaw2RD4Ojw2J3Rh1E8k-sGxEvs_tktWHyzOJDaEgg7cipfewYi9sIErSJBYXgI/s1600/plow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbdzS8eIzngjbxI8htW_owPpHegrQtAqlvv3cXByaUSUSQ21X_aTUtZ45eNOOgsUXiPkev8I8jeYe2Cfaw2RD4Ojw2J3Rh1E8k-sGxEvs_tktWHyzOJDaEgg7cipfewYi9sIErSJBYXgI/s1600/plow.jpg" height="253" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Snow Plows</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The boy on the left has worked out that a Tonka truck with a tire and a seat on it, pushing a shovel, makes an admirable snow plow. The boy on the right is using his friend's idea to make his own plow. Children learn from each other, as well as from adults. <a href="http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/social-development.html" target="_blank">Vygotsky</a> explained this many years ago. The children learn within a social network. That network includes each other as well as their teachers! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our program is alive with discovery and design. </span><a href="http://www.powerfulinteractions.com/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Interactions with adults are frequent, and powerful</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">,but not coercive.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We "teach" through setting the stage, following the learners and enabling their ideas with materials and methods. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A program for preschoolers needs to be rich in materials, ideas, and loving interactions with knowledgeable adults.Those adults must, daily, discuss among themselves where and how the children are going with their learning, knowing that math, language and science are inherent in children's interests. T</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">he children are on their own developmental train riding into the future. We need to climb aboard. </span></div>
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Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-34453959476358367842015-01-11T15:05:00.000-08:002015-01-11T15:08:13.217-08:00The Newsroom: A dramatic play center for literacyWe continue to encourage the children to interview staff, and other children for our newspaper. How utterly dear it is that they continue to be passionate about gathering news and stories. Before the holidays, parents presented our Pre-K children with real pens and notebooks. They carry them to assignments with pride!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsd-h12X0bZdRZwUxZCrUv9in78mQIPpyN-woAVNXfpBw1kTlSpJCOhPz7mJv-s5PAIkD0YKJB_4_ObkrEAJ7D2jZXTtTiH5wTQPFlxos7-nqf3vLhPRmaX0I7dBucuoBK2JS4GVr7yuU/s1600/boys+going+to+an+assignment.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsd-h12X0bZdRZwUxZCrUv9in78mQIPpyN-woAVNXfpBw1kTlSpJCOhPz7mJv-s5PAIkD0YKJB_4_ObkrEAJ7D2jZXTtTiH5wTQPFlxos7-nqf3vLhPRmaX0I7dBucuoBK2JS4GVr7yuU/s1600/boys+going+to+an+assignment.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Young boys going to an assignment</div>
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Taking their new notebooks and pens, John and Phillip (not their real names) proceed down the stairs to interview one of the teachers of the twos, Sarah. They talk to one another on the way down, trying to decide what questions they will ask her about her job. They enter the classroom, welcomed by the twos teachers, and sit on the floor, ready to write. Here are some of the questions:</div>
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Where do you work? </div>
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What's your schedule?</div>
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What days do you work?</div>
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When do you go to work?</div>
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Why do you work?</div>
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and lastly,</div>
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What time do you go to bed?</div>
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These questions are simple, and maybe even obvious, but Sarah treats the children with respect, appearing to contemplate her answers before she gives them. She explains that she works at our center, that her schedule varies each day,and that she works <i>every</i> weekday. She pauses at the question, Why? How do you explain the reasons for working to small children? She makes the answer seem totally obvious! "I work because I love children, and I need money to buy food". One of the boys admits that his parents work to earn money as well. Sarah decides to say that she goes to bed at ten every night; something the boys understand--they also have a set bedtime! </div>
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During the interview John and Phillip write down the answers, asking Sarah for spelling when they feel unsure of their developmental writing skills.</div>
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The next step is to format this edition of our paper, inserting the interview, with pictures taken by myself. Parents will read the stories on the walls of the school, and other children will get to interview our Director. Some stories have been about the new marble run in Creation Station, or about a mother's visit to tell about her newspaper job at the Washington Post. </div>
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Organically, we integrate developmental spelling, drawing, speaking and listening skills into a whole. The whole is more than the sum of its parts. Not only are we integrating literacy and social studies, but we continually nurture connections within the community. Teachers, parents, children are all linked in a learning journey. In a Pre-K program, nurturing relationships between and among all members of the community makes for excellence in education. This is how it should be.</div>
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Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-32146553270539553082015-01-02T07:24:00.001-08:002015-01-02T07:36:49.916-08:00Numbers, numbers, who has those numbers?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBKKMOOf3lUkJiCX830GPUHIvTvpL8MTBvrgozCeaLeiODwaNKxi3nMo42xv9d8csLryY1Neng38a5NTawKeLYwlOt-l-FMKRyYaNx6yp4yVKE3BOt7U2P9NMpR0F880d3yr-xGGCjALQ/s1600/jan+brett+number.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBKKMOOf3lUkJiCX830GPUHIvTvpL8MTBvrgozCeaLeiODwaNKxi3nMo42xv9d8csLryY1Neng38a5NTawKeLYwlOt-l-FMKRyYaNx6yp4yVKE3BOt7U2P9NMpR0F880d3yr-xGGCjALQ/s1600/jan+brett+number.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I received a comment from a professor about my second last post. "Those numbers are a great idea! Where did you get them?" Well, I got the <i>idea </i>from a long-ago workshop about behavior management for children with sensory issues. In the workshop, the trainer (I do not remember her name. Mea Culpa.) explained a system where the children had numbers beneath their names and corresponding numbers on the floor so that every day they would know exactly where to go. This technique taught numbers, number order, and personal space. A neat, efficient way to give children their own spots on the floor or rug. If there were arguments, they weren't about favoritism. They were about who had what number. <i>That </i>kind of argument is constructive. We <i>want</i> children to argue constructively; it nurtures verbal and cognitive skills. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I got the <i>numbers themselves </i>from <a href="http://www.janbrett.com/numbers/main_page.htm" target="_blank">Jan Brett</a>. As you can see by clicking on the link (no, she isn't paying me for this referral! I wish!), the numbers come in different sizes, and the larger ones are those I use for the floor. The smaller ones are push-pinned under the names of the children, which are posted all year in alphabetical order. (So the children learn alphabet awareness, also.) As you can also see, there are little pictures from Ms. Brett's books to correspond to the number displayed. So if a child does not yet recognize numbers, that child can practice counting the little hedgehogs on his or her very own number. An elegant example of integrated, differentiated curriculum! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Putting the numbers on the floor is easier on tile. My assistant, Mary Kehoe, and I put them on tile by simply using clear contact paper over them (or, rather, Mary did this, and I cheered her on. I'm not handy with contact paper.). This was at another center. On our rug at Clarendon, we have used colored duct tape, carpet tape, masking tape, and other ideas. They aren't as stable on a carpet but that is what we have. Budget time for repairs!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Young children in a group tend to get a bit panicky about someone else getting their spot, chair, toy, etc. Wouldn't you? Giving them a spot of their own every day for lining or sitting (with Mary, we used the numbers for circle as well) provides some sense of security. They understand that, if numbers are rotated, they will always get a chance to be number one. </span><br />
<br />Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-86685859382805666612014-12-14T08:17:00.002-08:002014-12-14T08:18:43.698-08:00Badges? Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKJIQPHF13DWi6WSog9Yko6z9img_7QO685yRK5grqxgCahrCn8kCznHwzy0hvUrtawEUleVwBaYWcdFv4TA-djr5clju29S8Rg5ms5met-qyE8JZ8-s_pVgoi5pHqwj9ocwjROPt4nMM/s1600/Trenton-Police-Badge1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKJIQPHF13DWi6WSog9Yko6z9img_7QO685yRK5grqxgCahrCn8kCznHwzy0hvUrtawEUleVwBaYWcdFv4TA-djr5clju29S8Rg5ms5met-qyE8JZ8-s_pVgoi5pHqwj9ocwjROPt4nMM/s1600/Trenton-Police-Badge1.png" /></a></div>
On the left is a picture of a powerful symbol. I am not talking about police in the news, here. I am talking about a symbol of power to a four year old boy.<br />
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In a preschool classroom there might be one or more boys obsessed with superheros, police, firefighters, and the like. These same boys, these days, are also obsessed with guns, firepower, and other armaments. Boys will make a gun out of <i>anything</i>. The hardcore <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badge" target="_blank">badge</a>-and-gun aficionado will make badges out of paper and stick them to themselves. They will be listening for any mention of law enforcement, or the use of it, in any conversation or story. Was Goldilocks arrested for breaking and entering? If you (teacher) died, would they call the police?<br />
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I want to report on the marvelous path we have taken in our classroom to derail the guns/badges obsession, at least for a while. We are producing a newspaper. One early morning (between 7 am and 9 am) my teaching partner set several children up with clipboards and pens. She asked them to be reporters, to question other children about what they were doing, and to write "stories" (enter pretend <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursive" target="_blank">cursive</a> scribbling, here). The children, both boys and girls, ran around "covering" stories. "What are you doing under the loft? Who is there with you?"Certain children wanted to know if reporters had badges. We talked about press passes. Close enough!<br />
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A school mom, who works for The Post, came to share about her job. This is how we include families in our emergent curricular process, and it is a powerful tool. Her visit energized the children for the process of creating a newspaper.<br />
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I have always taught the elements of story as "who, what, when, where, why". I applied these questions to fairy tales, and asked children to write their own with creative results. How easily these questions, the basis of a good news story, fit our newest project. Granted,<a href="http://newspaperdeathwatch.com/" target="_blank"> newspapers</a> themselves are dying, to my grief, but enough of the children have parents who read either print or online Washington Post articles. When I brought in a bagful of them, they were attracted like moths to a flame. The children investigated how newspapers were laid out, how there were various type sizes and fonts, and that there were such a thing as <i>comics</i>! They cut out their favorite images, words, and, yes, comics, and pasted them to construction paper in imitation of layout. We had read about the various aspects of making a newspaper by reading the book, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Furry-News-Newspaper-Reading/dp/0823407934" target="_blank">The Furry News.</a> </i>I had used this book several years ago at another school to make a newsroom out of the dramatic play area. Soon, with help, they began using developmental spelling to write headlines. Sue typed the first story, along with a child's headline. We plan to add stories, pictures, and headlines next week.<br />
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The badge/gun aficionados? They have been converted. They run for a clipboard and pen when they come into the classroom, instead of making paper badges. We hope to be in this for the long haul. Can you think of a better way to make reading and writing exciting?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5nXW1BPP6-CwjC3JeBxP43yFUb3QKmG46nwlEmcHOIH-Io4Qrn-E0MAPBx3bAIZUqtskVl8E7LwEj64h1m3vbM1ea0q40Y143HF3g-p7d_hMwexkpG3Cq2f5APcOjIIy4wNjKXsE4p-o/s1600/writing.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5nXW1BPP6-CwjC3JeBxP43yFUb3QKmG46nwlEmcHOIH-Io4Qrn-E0MAPBx3bAIZUqtskVl8E7LwEj64h1m3vbM1ea0q40Y143HF3g-p7d_hMwexkpG3Cq2f5APcOjIIy4wNjKXsE4p-o/s1600/writing.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<br />Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-20813195159148730472014-12-07T12:56:00.000-08:002015-01-11T14:36:40.588-08:00Is it for a girl or a boy? Does it really matter?<dl style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.2em;"><dd style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Are_Little_Boys_Made_Of%3F" target="_blank">What are little boys made of?</a></dd><dd style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Are_Little_Boys_Made_Of%3F" style="line-height: 1.6;" target="_blank">What are little boys made of?</a></div>
<dl style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.2em;"><dd style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Are_Little_Boys_Made_Of%3F" target="_blank">Snips and snails</a></dd><dd style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Are_Little_Boys_Made_Of%3F" target="_blank">And puppy-dogs' tails,</a></dd></dl>
</dd><dd style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Are_Little_Boys_Made_Of%3F" target="_blank">That's what little boys are made of.</a></dd></dl>
<dl style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.2em;"><dd style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Are_Little_Boys_Made_Of%3F" target="_blank">What are little girls made of?</a></dd><dd style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Are_Little_Boys_Made_Of%3F" style="line-height: 1.6;" target="_blank">What are little girls made of?</a></div>
<dl style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.2em;"><dd style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Are_Little_Boys_Made_Of%3F" target="_blank">Sugar and spice</a></dd><dd style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Are_Little_Boys_Made_Of%3F" target="_blank">And everything nice,</a></dd></dl>
</dd><dd style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Are_Little_Boys_Made_Of%3F" target="_blank">That's what little girls are made of.</a></dd></dl>
<dl style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.2em;"><dd style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6;"><br /></span></dd><dd style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;"><div style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I was a little girl, this doggerel was very popular. I heard it sung (imagine!) on many variety shows during network TV's Nauseatingly Sentimental Christmas Special Season (NSCSS).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6;">I was confused. I remember thinking that sugar and spice </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6;">were </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6;">nice, but, I was not "everything nice". I was out-spoken, to say the least, not a valued quality in a girl of the 1950's. My brother, Bob, wasn't into snails either. When we were given medical kits, Bob got a doctor's kit and I a nurse's kit. I asked my mother why I hadn't received a doctor's kit and she patiently but firmly explained that girls were nurses, not doctors. Little did </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6;">she </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6;">know, I learned later! The first woman doctor, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Blackwell" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6;" target="_blank">Elizabeth Blackwell, </a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6;"> died in 1910! </span></dd></dl>
<dl style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.2em;"><dd style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></dd><dd style="line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So when I became a mother, and then a teacher, the issue of gender in toy marketing became pretty important to me. Here is a flow-chart that appeared on Facebook, recently, that pretty much summed up the issue:</span></dd><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: sans-serif; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdDolWhUtKVzC67nakVf1fsDdiNbxgiAkEpz2u9H3Z4Hk8Nb4KtjiW-Jdx0U5vJ4k_nhkctytBAArSFKWATSXACGhPXvaQ88oliM4ssFirbX69EAPem1PJ7rhy1Zhs-6gpsEtSDB3IOmM/s1600/about+toys.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdDolWhUtKVzC67nakVf1fsDdiNbxgiAkEpz2u9H3Z4Hk8Nb4KtjiW-Jdx0U5vJ4k_nhkctytBAArSFKWATSXACGhPXvaQ88oliM4ssFirbX69EAPem1PJ7rhy1Zhs-6gpsEtSDB3IOmM/s1600/about+toys.JPG" height="333" width="400" /></a></div>
<dd style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;"><br /></dd><dd style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">Hysterical, I thought. But it over-simplifies the issue. The masculine and feminine ideals come from mythology, not biology. Children consume the myths of our culture without critical thought. If their parents and teachers supply toys that convey these myths of masculinity and femininity, they simply become part of their children's ideas of who they should be! Television, computer games, and all of the other usual culprits, massively generated by a toy industry run amok, feed children's identification with stereotypes. Putting girls into a straight-jacket of prettiness (my dear mother's favorite compliment for a girl, next to "sweet") steers them away from active pursuit of more robust skills. Four year old boys who aren't comfortable with aggression have a difficult time becoming part of boys' play groups in preschool. We see these situations all the time.</dd><dd style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;"><br /></dd><dd style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">NAEYC (The National Association for the Education of Young Children) validates our center's approach to play materials. Toys that are rated by researchers as either gender-neutral, or<a href="http://www.naeyc.org/content/what-research-says-gender-typed-toys" target="_blank"> "moderately masculine"</a>, are more likely to "encourage children's physical, cognitive, academic,musical and artistic skills" than those that are considered feminine. Here is what some girls and boys constructed with our large wooden blocks recently:</dd><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: sans-serif; text-align: center;">
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<dd style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;"><br /></dd><dd style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">This structure has inside spaces for hiding, and pretend play. We had our "hollow blocks" open for four weeks to accommodate the children's passionate interest in building, and we limited the number of children to four, for better behavior management. We intentionally created a team of two boys and two girls each day to ensure that the girls could freely choose blocks. If we only ask for volunteers, the boys raise their hands ("me!! me!!") and the girls mysteriously disappear into the dramatic play area. </dd><dd style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;"><br /></dd><dd style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 1.6;">Because our professional field supports our practice, we can makes these choices. But parents are at the mercy of the rampant culture of consumerism. Their own favorite toys may have been G.I. Joe, or Barbie. Grandparents send these toys as gifts. Their own children lobby for what they see on TV, and what their friends already own.They passionately campaign for the newest girl/flirt or boy/warrior commodity, and the parents, unprepared for this onslaught, cave. How can parents fight back?</span></dd><dd style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;"><br /></dd><dd style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">No Gender December is a campaign promoted by an Australian group called<a href="http://www.playunlimited.org.au/" target="_blank"> "Play Unlimited: Every Toy for Every Body"</a>. They have a Facebook page (who doesn't?) and are calling on parents to boycott toys saturated with gender stereotypes. NAEYC gives parents<a href="http://www.naeyc.org/toys" target="_blank"> ideas about what toys are good for children</a>. Maybe if I'd been given a doctor kit, I might have considered medicine. Or maybe not, but I would have had this empowering idea in my mind, not the limiting one left by the gender stereotyping of toys.</dd><dd style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;"><br /></dd><dd style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">Do our boys and girls deserve to view themselves as fully human people who happen to be boys or girls? Or should we leave them to be raised by those who seek to gain wealth by creating boy and girl segregated toy aisles? We must decide.</dd></dl>
Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-1287813910162222892014-11-23T11:52:00.000-08:002014-11-23T11:55:59.702-08:00The Challenge of Behavior: When it is Out of Bounds<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdq7dhAb-XQ1vtoypMh-1m17gwQiFlECTeDlERwJwPH7c5bolpiBUIHHOcCKgk8FODLavNt_5xcmuKdIULwgU2rmWs-fEdVPyydbPEY5BJXs79yaZtgsHYj3lAGrnNZ_FOAFz2CdwP2cI/s1600/angrygirls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdq7dhAb-XQ1vtoypMh-1m17gwQiFlECTeDlERwJwPH7c5bolpiBUIHHOcCKgk8FODLavNt_5xcmuKdIULwgU2rmWs-fEdVPyydbPEY5BJXs79yaZtgsHYj3lAGrnNZ_FOAFz2CdwP2cI/s1600/angrygirls.jpg" /></a></div>
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I write about how the arts enhance early learning, and in fact, must be central to it. That's my thing and I don't mean to veer from that theme. But there is a huge issue in early care that trumps all others: Challenging Behavior. In an arts-based, project-oriented center or classroom there should be ample opportunity for children to be wholly engaged in learning to the point that they themselves can be authors of the curriculum.<a href="http://www.letthechildrenplay.net/2013/03/be-reggio-inspired-learning-experiences.html" target="_blank"> In Reggio-inspired centers</a>, the children know they are protagonists in the theater of learning. They are welcome to contribute ideas, and to even critique teacher decisions. This happens where I teach. It certainly keeps the teachers on their toes. No overused, tired themes and units for us! Our children are invested in everything that goes on in our little world.</div>
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Challenging behavior happens everywhere, even in the best of programs and centers. Defining it isn't really hard. Behavior that is annoying to teachers but developmentally appropriate and is even a welcome sign of maturing isn't what I'm talking about here. <a href="http://www.ccsfl.org/clientimages/43404/websiteagesandstagesfinalgesell_2_.pdf" target="_blank">All fours are silly, potty-mouthed little beings. All fours are physically exuberant.</a> If you as a teacher expect perfect behavior your are in the wrong profession. But there are children who go beyond the "norm". Those children who hinder the rest of the learners, and themselves by attention-seeking, even violent behavior that seems unpredictable and dangerous. <a href="http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/32-2_Perry.pdf?docID=12901" target="_blank">These children are the ones who, still, are the most expelled individuals in education.</a> </div>
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In a center that prides itself on never expelling a child, such a ours, it is imperative to have both a uniform expectation for children's prosocial behavior, and the means to teach this behavior. Teachers meet to discuss learning progress and social-emotional issues, as well as evolving curriculum, every day. Planned, continuing observations inform discussions about what strategies to use to manage behavior, and to teach self-management, without the use of external rewards such as stickers and other non-relevant rewards. These rewards backfire when children cease to be interested in stickers, or up the ante by demanding better rewards, in order for them to be interested in prosocial behavior! If a chart is used, the child must be a part of the planning for the way it is used, and what the achievement will be when the chart is filled with his or her own check marks. "Rewards" must be meaningful to the child. </div>
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The next step is referral. In the<a href="http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/32-2_Perry.pdf?docID=12901" target="_blank"> article cited above</a>, mental health referrals are recommended. After you document behavior over time, parents need to be given choices for referrals. Presumably, you have already conferenced quite a bit about their child's learning, and its interruption by anti-social behavior (but don't call it that!). Child Find is also a good resource, if you believe that some developmental delay is involved. It's free, too. Make sure that your center submits a referral in conjunction with the parents, so that the experts don't assume that the parents aren't cognizant of behavior that is age-appropriate. It is also important for the center or school to refer so that the behavior isn't minimized, as parents so often say things like, "Well, she hardly ever does that at home...".</div>
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I didn't start this post thinking I was going to write a "how-to refer" piece! What I wanted to especially mention is that childcare centers, even the best of them, can be difficult places for many children. Walking in line, at any age, is purely for the convenience of the school or center. When do adults walk in a line? We "get good" at it in school, if we are lucky, then never use the skill again, unless we join the armed services. When I am at my best I sing us along the way. I try to give the children a sense of communal belonging and shared intent. We do "silly walks", or play "follow the leader". During transitions, when children are waiting to go outside with their coats and hats on, we read or play games until the last child is ready. Our newest intellectual game has been integrating the lines: </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju3lTZPVaQjRVvMVlS-gWVViQlID3hhScyGDz7wcbGsRaErNCPrys04tgfq8Nd3g8EAc_2W3IofEMnd_aqNzWM6o9guwkr7Fbs9sYbgAOLec9tKcaUarKLEs9CLHJcc7dIMQOIijzi5y0/s1600/preschool+numbers.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju3lTZPVaQjRVvMVlS-gWVViQlID3hhScyGDz7wcbGsRaErNCPrys04tgfq8Nd3g8EAc_2W3IofEMnd_aqNzWM6o9guwkr7Fbs9sYbgAOLec9tKcaUarKLEs9CLHJcc7dIMQOIijzi5y0/s1600/preschool+numbers.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Children line up in two lines, one odd, the other even. We go down the stairs in two lines and then the children integrate themselves into one line, number order, all by themselves. We have a list of names and numbers in case someone forgets (they do, of course). This exercise gives them ownership of the process, they each have their own place in the line, which changes every day. The first thing the children do when either Sue or I come in is ask, "Did you change the numbers?". They are fully invested. This is integrated curriculum. Math skills play alongside social skills and give each child his or her own place to "own". I recommend it for Pre-K and over.</span></h4>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">But for the "out of bound" child, more is needed. Special strategies are a must, and referrals are necessary. For this you need experienced, well-trained teachers, and an administration that is committed to keeping all of the "friends" in the group. Let me know what you think about this issue.</span></h3>
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Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688948171815436438.post-23379970729690945852014-11-08T06:21:00.000-08:002014-11-08T06:23:35.597-08:00Integration of Curriculum Outside<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKonrq6RsThEuq9Lcg5pMHLdJ1DYqa6nF5av5Mpc-3EaqFBwHqMoqv9f5Y6vLbZ8Pq3PD97PihBZKhDQ04Wv6lmgI55bBOQC88lcq-SJRSHTZPqsB9SqYcDnKoIfB5Geu-OghgykJsJCY/s1600/drumming+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKonrq6RsThEuq9Lcg5pMHLdJ1DYqa6nF5av5Mpc-3EaqFBwHqMoqv9f5Y6vLbZ8Pq3PD97PihBZKhDQ04Wv6lmgI55bBOQC88lcq-SJRSHTZPqsB9SqYcDnKoIfB5Geu-OghgykJsJCY/s1600/drumming+2.jpg" height="274" width="320" /></a></div>
We didn't put the trash can and dry wall buckets out for drumming around the tree yesterday. Drumming wasn't set up, but cooking was. We have laundry baskets full of plastic dishes, and metal cookie sheets, muffin tins, and bowls, along with plastic and wooden spoons. All are adult sized (why use children's expensive toys when the children themselves prefer what adults use?). Somehow, while my back was turned, these items were purposefully laid out all around the bench that envelopes our tree. And the children were making music.<br />
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The four and a half year old girl on the left drummed a pattern, quarter note, quarter note, half, over and over. She told me it was a "<a href="http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/mathematics/2009/stds_mathk.pdf" target="_blank">pattern</a>".<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1GUEWmDl9wshtWmxit8a5YXOF3C2eSxqNV4kOaSt-Rx5cEwo9K2jQXApX7rvvS32pssUk9GUq4tZDO3PkFaEy2BoQHYELeYYxZR5nkdU3Bs088KSRFj5oj0ms99sqriyVQEzI0E511VQ/s1600/drumming.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1GUEWmDl9wshtWmxit8a5YXOF3C2eSxqNV4kOaSt-Rx5cEwo9K2jQXApX7rvvS32pssUk9GUq4tZDO3PkFaEy2BoQHYELeYYxZR5nkdU3Bs088KSRFj5oj0ms99sqriyVQEzI0E511VQ/s1600/drumming.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Another boy found a bowl that sounded like a bell when he struck it. He was<a href="http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/science/2010/k-6/stds_scienceK.pdf" target="_blank"> experimenting </a>with the different sounds it could make, and comparing it to another item. His face was lit with joy as he struggled to find words to describe his discovery. My job, and the job of all teachers of young children, is to assist him in <a href="http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/english/stdsk-8/stds_englishK.pdf" target="_blank">finding the words he seeks.</a> (Kindergarten SOL's are cited here, to show that these preschoolers are on the way!)<br />
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Why did these little ones make music around our tree?<br />
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Because we had set the environment time after time for the pleasure of outdoor music making. With our hammock-like xylophone, our trash can and dry-wall buckets, our drum-sticks and shovels, we modeled the pleasure of rhythmic expression. Dancing and singing happen spontaneously.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4tv3NX3me5c_802rPSNnCGWhpWGb0Z0jwalsRpGdJOmw60F5zi0D94XaA9wNKGKQaYCXbDC-MOOrfiQbKoCjlWUKom5IOb0l5WRWStZWmBWWFNgE5xGqqYxeBpJvkfjgQpMifr51CIhc/s1600/playground+8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4tv3NX3me5c_802rPSNnCGWhpWGb0Z0jwalsRpGdJOmw60F5zi0D94XaA9wNKGKQaYCXbDC-MOOrfiQbKoCjlWUKom5IOb0l5WRWStZWmBWWFNgE5xGqqYxeBpJvkfjgQpMifr51CIhc/s1600/playground+8.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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Our playground is set up for such activities. The tree (shown before the bench was enlarged to allow tree growth), is a focal point for music, shows, hide and seek, and ball-hiding (in the crook of the tree), and other adventures invented by the children. The playhouses were constructed with cob (see earlier post) for the children to enjoy (and drag everything from toy trucks to old tires to dolls inside).<br />
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We talk about integrated curriculum constantly, now. Mostly it is discussed in the form of activities designed to teach certain skills and content areas. Some even integrate the arts. But children learn naturally by integration, and the job of the teaching staff is to scaffold (guide, then stand back) learning, including the learning of language and social skills. On our playground science, math, language arts, music and movement, and dramatic play all co-exist and intermingle through a carefully set variety of materials, with whole-hearted adult involvement. Children move at the speed of light (it sure seems that way sometimes) so adults need to think at that speed. Keeping ahead of their needs isn't easy (especially for a teacher of my age!), but to do otherwise is a disservice to the children.</div>
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I hear from my adult students about directors who do not allow materials that we use routinely because of safety concerns. I hear of teachers talking to each other teachers almost exclusively, occasionally shouting out admonishment to the children on my students' own playgrounds. I hear of my students' frustration when they want to try an idea from one of my courses <a href="http://www.nvcc.edu/index.html" target="_blank">(Northern Virginia Community College--Early Childhood)</a> and then are shot down by an administration that prefers static playground equipment, with indoor worksheets and flashcards (inappropriate for<a href="http://www.naeyc.org/publications" target="_blank"> early childhood</a>). What a tragedy for children! Integration doesn't mean sticking two things together! It means that what is being done for children allows them to integrate organically! What better place to integrate curriculum than outdoors where the environment beckons? </div>
Gail Multophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07441014949786989608noreply@blogger.com0