PreKandKSharing

LEAPing In! Encouraging Children to be ACTIVE!

2012-02-29T05:00:00.000-05:00

Hula Hoops and Parachutes are GREAT for promoting children to be active!

If you remember, last month I had the wonderful opportunity to share with you exactly how much WE LOVE PAINT! AND, with 128 link ups it is quite clear that you all LOVE PAINT too! Hop on over to my blog to see some of my favorites, or check out this great Pinterest Board I made from the link up!

This month, I'm LEAPing in! I usually post on the 30th of each month, but being that there is no 30th of February and a spot opened up.... I hopped right on over! I'm always trying to figure out how to add more hours to my day and celebrating the act of multi-tasking. I'm super excited to be sharing this "EXTRA" time with you and talking about movement, motor development, and exercise!

How to you encourage gross motor development?

We dance.... A LOT!

We throw Snowballs!

We also throw them outside.
I like to provide children with targets- hula hoops work great!

We love to make our own games, and HOP, HOP, HOP!

We use "BIG" brushes and plungers when we paint

The bigger the brush or brush substitute, the more muscles we need to use.

Sometimes, it even requires us to use our whole bodies!

We run and play games like
tag and "What time is it, Mr. Fox?"

We CLIMB!

We RUN!!!

We sled down the hill and walk back up again!

Sometimes we sled in a swimming pool!

Working together to carry a pool up the hill not only
promotes large muscle development, but social skills too!

We dig, and dig, and dig..
and then we dig some more!

Sometimes we dig in the sand....

AND sometimes we dig in the snow!

We have BIG loose parts,

that sometimes require cooperation to move!

We go for walks

We splash in mud puddles!

Real mud is a fantastic sensory experience and jumping in and out of it can be challenge!

Playing with BIG blocks require us to use our muscles!

We climb UP the slide!

I'm always finding ways to say yes to children especially when it comes to being active. Many times adults make decisions for children to outlaw activities that are developmentally appropriate and that promote healthy risk assessment. I do my best to encourage the children to continue to learn and explore while helping them to alter "unsafe" activities to make them safe. (For example, providing targets to throw snowballs at instead of throwing them at each other. Helping children with their communication skills... I'm going up the slide right now, wait for me to get the top before you come down!" etc.)

Do you have a great post or idea on how you encourage children to exercise, be active,

and encourage gross motor development?

I'd love for you to link on up!!!!

The linky rules are simple...
The post much include an activity that promotes children to be ACTIVE!
AND
Adding our button to your post would be greatly appreciated!

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More About Amy

Amy Ahola is the owner/operator of Child Central Station, family home daycare and educational toy store in Marquette, Michigan. She has been running her own business since 2005. Prior to that time, Amy worked in a childcare center and public school. In addition to her childcare business, Amy also provides educational training sessions through the Great Start Regional Child Care Resource Center, 4C of the UP. Amy earned a Bachelors of Science in Psychology from Northern Michigan University and will soon graduate with an M.S. in Training, Development, and Performance Improvement. For more information about any of her programs, please visit Child Central Station or Find her on Facebook!

Creating Rainbows With Toy Cars

2012-02-28T05:30:00.000-05:00

Hi this is Melissa from The Chocolate Muffin Tree. We have been having fun with rainbows....hope you enjoy this post!

Rainbows have been buzzing in the blogosphere the past few weeks and we have caught the bug! We created Rainbows with toy cars this past week. Just the name sounds FUN...doesn't it? My daughter loved the idea of painting with cars right away.

To create your own rainbow with car tracks you'll need:

toy cars

tempera paint in all the rainbow colors

a plastic lid or paper plate for each color of paint

large paper (we used 12x18 size)

Before we started, I reminded my daughter of the rainbow color order and she remembered this video from last year: Roy G. Biv. You could bring the colors out in order if you want the finished rainbows to be correct....or not. My daughter dipped the car in the paint a few times to get the red to spread across the paper.

As you can see she continued on really well.....Beautiful.

Here is the finished rainbow. I think it looks AMAZING! Now she wasn't done yet...

My daughter had a blast creating car tracks without making a rainbow too. Actually she enjoyed this even more! Her cars were battling each other and there was all kinds of pretend play going on during this process focused painting.

She created at least 5 or 6 paintings with cars. A HUGE success and pretty rainbow too.

Be sure to check out our Styrofoam Rainbow Prints that we recently did too. More RAINBOW FUN!

Have you been creating rainbows with your children?

Melissa Jordan blogs over at The Chocolate Muffin Tree. She is a former Elementary Art Teacher who loves inspiring others with her ideas on her blog. Many of these activities she does with her 5 year old daughter.

A Look Thru Deanna Jump's World

2012-02-26T20:59:00.001-05:00

It's Debbie Clement, Master-of-Ceremonies here at PreK+K Sharing.

Today is our colleague Deanna Jump's contribution in our February issue.
She's up to her elbows right now in a myriad of exciting responsibilities and has been kind enough to agree to allow me to prowl through her blog and 'share' an over-view of my observations. Isn't she generous? Thank you Deanna!!!

The very first thing that stands out above all other as I look around, is the amazing 'quality' and 'maturity' of the student artwork created in Deanna's Kindergarten classroom. This is no doubt a testimony to many things: Deanna's own creativity, her guidance to the children, her presenting them with oodles of occasions to be creative and her immersing them in MANY opportunities to express themselves.

Here's a peek at their study of all things Americana, from earlier this month for President's Day. Those are absolutely amazing studies of the Statue of Liberty. You can see from the many examples around their anchor chart that all of the children in the room are reaching a sense of accomplishment. Deanna is teaching her students to FILL THE PAGE, one of the great delights of Art teachers everywhere.

As a picture book author and illustrator myself, one of my favorite things on earth is to see how teachers 'extend' the picture book into their classroom and into the hearts of their students. So of course I couldn't resist sharing a recent project unfolding in Deanna's room. They are studying Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are."

It's delightful to see the many ways that they are interacting with the concepts and artforms from the book.

The anchor chart is obviously a creation of the children's responses to the open-ended statement,

"When I feel WILD_________________"

It's awesome that their personal Wild Thing creatures are holding their wild writing assignments!!!!

I LUV several of their insightful comments: I stomp my feet. I swing really high. Favorites!

Now take a look at this variation on their Sendak Study. Yet more learning and lessons.

While everyone is provided a template to fill,

each child creates their own unique creature:

shapes + colors of their own design.

I could spend days prowling thru Deanna's blog.

Thanks for the opportunity to share!

Deanna invites all of our friends here to visit her at her blog and go on your own investigation of her journal of sharing going on there at Mrs. Jump's Class. I know this year she is really opening her planning + organization to viewers the world over.

She also has a store at Teacher's Pay Teachers. I know that she is too shy to toot her own horn here. So I'll report the facts on her behalf. The truth is, she is the Number One selling contributor to the TPT site. As a result of her dedication to the field Deanna will be presenting this summer at the "I Teach K" National Conference in Las Vegas!!!

Celebrating Dr. Seuss round-up

2012-02-26T09:00:00.000-05:00

By Laura Eldredge

We are quickly approaching March 2nd ... and as teachers, many of us know that to be the birthday of the one and only Theodor Seuss Geisel (aka "Dr. Seuss")! It's not surprising that the National Education Association (NEA) has chosen this date to celebrate Read Across America Day. Read Across America Day is a day when many schools, libraries and community groups across the country celebrate with read-alouds and literacy activities for children of all ages.

Will you be celebrating this day at your school, child care center, library or home? Need some fun preK-K activities to go along with the reading of your favorite Dr. Seuss books? I've compiled a list of a few of my favorite stories, paired along with activities, that I've seen from around the web.

The Cat in the Hat

A true classic! There are so many things you can do to extend the learning with this book, like making cat in the hat "hats" (patterning), rhyming activities and discussions on teamwork and putting things away (oh those messy "things"!).

Here are a few great activities to go along with this book:

Dr. Seuss on the loose - painting striped hats, rhyming activities (from Little Illuminations)

Cat in the Hat fruit snack (from Muffin Tin Mom)

Parade of "Things" (from Joyfully Weary)

"Thing" popsicle stick puppets (from Toddler Approved)

Cat in the Hat "hats" from TP rolls (from Stuff by Ash)

Green Eggs and Ham

One of my favorite Dr. Seuss stories!

Here are a few great activities to go along with this book:

Green Eggs & Ham craft (from Teach Preschool)
Green Eggs & Ham activity box (from Teach Preschool)
Making and eating Green Eggs & Ham (from Teach Preschool)
Green Eggs & Ham song and pj day (from Little Illuminations)
Green Eggs & Ham placemat (from education.com)

And, check out this FUN video clip of "Mr. David" as he puts a playful hip-hop spin on "Green Eggs and Ham"!

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Great for counting, rhyming and color recognition (all wrapped up into one)!

Here are a few great activities to go along with this book:

One fish, two fish graphing (from Oopsey Daisy)

One fish, two fish math activities (from Living Montessori Now - here on preK+K blog)

One fish, two fish snack (from Simple Girl)

Colorful bowl of fish (from Toddler Approved)

PreK + K sharing SUESS-ical roundup!

Want more of Dr. Seuss? Here are a couple of other Dr. Seuss-inspired posts from our preK + K sharing blog:

Dress for the occasion in early childhood (Ayn makes "green eggs and ham" in her pjs!)

Fun books for PreK and K (featuring a few Seuss titles)

Also check out:

Dr. Seuss Pinterest board (The SEEDS Network)
Seussville.com
Printable Seuss bookmarks (from Michaels)
Links to free Dr. Seuss-style fonts (from Coolest family on the block)

Laura Eldredge is a teacher and curriculum coordinator at a NAEYC accredited early childhood program in Connecticut. She also co-founded the website The SEEDS Network, as a way to provide early childhood professionals with ideas and resources that support them in their quest to provide quality care and education to our youngest learners. She blogs at www.theseedsblog.com.

We're adding our round up to a GRAND Linky Party with Kid's Network Bloggers around the World!
This blog hop is being hosted by the following blogs.
Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas
Ready. Set. Read!
Reading Confetti
Montessori Tidbits
Make, Do & Friend
Putti Prapancha
Kitchen Counter Chronicles
Living at the Whitehead's Zoo
Mama Mia's Heart2Heart
Living Montessori Now
Kindergarten for Teachers and Parents
Toddler Approved
RainbowsWithinReach

Cultivating a Creative Mind

2012-02-25T06:00:00.004-05:00

If you were given a box, a wooden spoon, tape and muffin liners what could you create?

This is one of many activities you could do in the classroom and at home to inspire creativity with your children. In a recent IBM poll, 1500 CEO’s identified creativity as the single most important trait for leaders in the future.

I don’t know about you, but as a teacher and mother this fact is exciting to me. Although it is exhilarating, it also means we as educators have a great responsibility to cultivate creativity in young minds. How do we go about completing this titanic sized task? Well, let’s start with inspiration.

To encourage creativity you must first be inspired and passionate. Your passion will be contagious and grow! Take cues from kids! In a Montessori Class we follow children carefully and observe their interests and activities. Plan a unit based on their enthusiasm. Kids who develop an interest in a particular subject tend to be more innovative.

I like to plan my lessons based on theme units. Don’t forget the importance of open ended play based learning. When you are teaching on a particular theme be sure to have ample props, creative sensory tables, low tech toys, and dramatic play items out to develop and extend the artistic process.

Rotate the art center materials often. Plan creative thinking projects. One project idea would be to say here is a paper plate, a paper towel tube and a piece of tissue paper. What can you create? Be sure to display their masterpieces.

Open ended art center, I change the materials in my art center every 2 weeks

Gingerbread Play dough center, We have different themed play dough activities and new scented play dough out every month

Another way to cultivate creativity is through music and movement. Provide quality musical instruments and cds such as Debbie Clement http://www.rainbowswithinreach.com/, Dr. Jean http://drjean.org/, Jack Hartmann http://www.jackhartmann.com/, greg and steve http://www.gregandsteve.com/. Set up a music center where kids are free to explore instruments and dancing items. When planning activities make room for plenty of movement! A body that is movin means the brain is movin!

Music and movement activity to make ice cream

Cultivating creative kids requires you to be creative however, don’t over plan so much that is squelches your ingenuity! Mix it up, wear a goofy hat, talk in a fake accent all day, do a progressive story hunt throughout the school and yard. Tell a story and let the kids create their own ending to act out.

Most of all don’t forget to show kids how to have fun! Creating + Learning = Fun! Inspire, cultivate, create!!

A little bit about me! My name is Rachel Supalla and I am first and foremost a wife and a mom! I married my high school sweetheart who is still my best friend! I have 4 sweet kids ages 3-9 2 boys and 2 girls. They are my inspiration every day. I was a teacher before I was a mom but I believe they have made me a better one. I have taught preschool and Kindergarten for 15 years. I am Montessori certified but I wouldn’t consider myself a Montessori purist. I have done a great deal of research along with trial and error and have combined the best of a few different methods in my school.

I own, direct and teach at Discovery Kidzone Montessori School I started my school 3 years ago and it is my passion. Teaching kids to read at an early age brings me joy beyond belief! I just recently started homeschooling my daughter who is in 2^nd grade because she has ADHD and does much better in a progressive, creative environment.

I started Discovery Kidzone Montessori Adventures Blog to blog about our educational, Montessori and homeschooling journey. I used to be a children’s event planner and I will begin blogging about that soon. I am constantly researching and experimenting with new creative learning ideas. I strongly believe that you can make everything you learn FUN and in the process you will retain the information better. My school slogan is CREATING+LEARNING=FUN! I try to live by that motto every day. You can find me pinning new creative ideas on http://pinterest.com/kidzoneteacher/ or come chat with me on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/KidzoneTeachermama

Bring Back the Rhymes (and a freebie, too)!

2012-02-24T04:47:00.005-05:00

No, nursery rhymes are not just for babies. In fact, lots of babies aren't even hearing them anymore. Let's bring back the rhymes and engage children in meaningful rhyme and story. My kindergarten students LOVE to read (and reread and reread) nursery rhymes and they also love to take them apart, put them back together and change them around. It's no secret that children love anything personalized with their name or their picture, so let't take that idea and run with it right??
We recently did the nursery rhyme Three Little Kittens. Perfect, right? It's cold, the children wear mittens and are always losing their mittens and getting their moms all frantic, so they can really relate. There are so many skills and concepts found hidden in this rhyme:

My favorite is using intonnation when you read and really "reading" the punctuation that is there. The kids get how upset the kittens will be to tell mama cat that they've lost their mittens, so how will they say it? They also get how upset mama will be when she knows they've lost their mittens. How will she respond? Try reading it without any expression and see how they react. This is how they begin to learn about intonnation in their own reading and how it can change the whole meaning of a story or change the excitement of the audience anyway.
I always introduce the concept of mystery through this rhyme. Where did those mittens go anyway? Some of the ideas that these childdren have will simply amaze you. It generates amazing writing and excitement.
Math: I always coincide this with skip counting by twos. Mittens do come in pairs, right?? And, of course those silly kittens lost both mittens to help us find pairs.
Phonics and reading skills: rhyming, of course! Finding words we know in words we don't (example it is found in little and mittens and kittens). But, also, there are copious amounts of chunks to be found and located in this rhyme as evidence shows below (I have my students "butter" the chunks and words we know in the poems with "sticks of butter" a.k.a highlighters--keep it fun, people!). When children see all they know in excerpts they are going to read, it makes them realize, "Wow, I really can read this!":

Check out the amazing art that is generated from this personalized rhyme where the student becomes the angry person who the kittens reveal that they've lost their mittens to.

Please hop on over to my blog if you are interested in getting a 3 Little Kitten packet to use with your students!

Unusual Items in the Blocks Center

2012-02-23T00:30:00.000-05:00

Hi! It's Scott from Brick by Brick. I love to repurpose materials—use materials in ways different from their intended use. My kids love to build things and I've been looking for ways to expand those activities. So I've been experimenting with using unusual and different items in the blocks center. Here are some items that have been repurposed for construction.

Food Containers - Last month on this blog, I mentioned using food containers in the blocks center.

Colander and Chenille Stems (Pipe Cleaners) - The kids discovered several ways to use the chenille stems with the blocks. The colander became a dome for the "bird house."

See more pictures.

Colored Straws - For a while the kids just played with the straws. Then, the straws became a part of the construction.

See more pictures.

Rocks, Plastic Grass, and Paper - I thought the kids would create nature scenes. They created yards for their building. They began to tear the paper to create more "grass." Not what I had in mind but still a fun experiment.

See more pictures.

Fabric - I put fabric pieces in the center. My thinking was to create tents but the kids found lots of uses for the fabric.

See more pictures.

Rope Light - I really was excited about this activity, adding rope light to the blocks center. I'd seen it on a few other blogs. My kids tried it a little but really just ignored it. We will be trying this again.

See more pictures.

Wood Objects - I gathered some wooden objects from the craft store. Kids had fun experimenting with using the objects on their block constructions and building with the objects only.

See more pictures.

Kitchen Items - My most recent experiment was using kitchen items in the blocks center. Kids built with the blocks and pans...and tried building with just the pans themselves.

See more pictures.

My best advice in using unusual items in the blocks center—just put the items in the center and let the kids experiment. Don't offer any particular ideas or the kids may just do what you suggest. I've found that I need to tell kids, "You can use these things if you want." (Sometimes kids ignore or avoid the items without my "permission" to use them.)

What unusual things have you used in the blocks center? (I'll post more ideas on Brick by Brick today.)

My name is Scott, though most call me Mr. Scott. I love teaching preschoolers and kindergartners. I have been working with kids for over 25 years. I've been a teacher, preschool center director, volunteer, curriculum writer and editor, and workshop and conference leader. I blog at Brick by Brick.

Giving our Children WINGS! Flying and Home Base

2012-02-22T06:00:00.000-05:00

Dear Debbie and Our Family of Friends of Our Children,

A few of you have asked if Dan Brodsky Chenfeld, skydiver, author of the new book, "ABOVE ALL ELSE" (available at Amazon ) is related to me. Yes, dear ones, he is my youngest child and sharing this news with you connects to vitally important themes in our sacred calling of Early Childhood Education.

You guessed it, ours was a most permissive , encouraging family. Follow your passions. Follow your dreams. Courage! Don't worry about what others say. Do what is in your heart! No one is perfect! If you love something, stay with it. Keep trying. Process over product! The JOY of doing!

5 Year Old Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld 'Flying'

Well, our Danny always wanted to fly! He wanted to be a bird! Yours truly never ever even heard of such a "field" as skydiving but this flighty child fell in love with the closest thing to flying by himself and that was the beginning of his lifetime adventure. He's still up in the air!

Now, this earthbound mother and teacher wants to remind Deb's dear readers that not all of our children are encouraged and hallowed by family. Many of our children look to us --teachers -- for welcoming, honoring, listening, reassuring, celebrating- For so many of our young students, we are the ONLY people in their lives who offer such gifts in a safe and loving place. There is no real measurement to equal the importance of these relationships. I think of our work as Life Affirming! Teaching in the 'key of life.'

I was recently on our NPR radio call in show about creativity in education. A gentleman in his sixties called in to tell us that when he was a very young child, he had a wonderful teacher who constantly reassured him as he expressed anxiety and nervousness with so many projects. Her enthusiasm was contagious. Her support constant. He told us that to this day, music and art are part of his life because she helped him love the arts!

It was a beautiful phone call. Wherever you are, you are a city of refuge, home plate, an oasis for our children. Who knows? One of your little ones might be dreaming of flying right now?

Love and Peace,
Mimi Brodsky Chenfeld
Creative Experiences For Young Children (Heinemann)
Celebrating Young Children And Their Teachers (NAEYC and Redleaf)
Teaching By Heart (still available from Redleaf)

PLAY respected! Leeanne A

2012-02-21T00:00:00.015-05:00

I think we can all agree that play is the fundamental way in which children learn. We have heard the quote, “Play is the true work of childhood.” Children will thrive intellectually, physically, and socially through play. Simultaneously, communication skills are enhanced through play. During play children will explore, experiment, develop friendships and share on many different levels. So play is definitely the quintessential element in early childhood development.

So where should that play take place? Some advocate mainly outdoor play – while others may suggest both outdoor and indoor play in balance is essential for the children in our charge. It is my belief that neither is right nor wrong, but simply a preference. I am sure there are many strong opinions on this, which opens a can of worms; however I believe we all have the same goals in mind – the positive, forward development of the child.

So respecting the differences in how play is implemented should be recognized.

Some questions that need answering when providing a quality childcare program may be:

What is your preferred manner of implementing your program to ensure play takes place?

What if you had no choice in the matter; how would you ensure play takes place?

What portion of your program is dedicated to play?

It can be said that play is innate; however there are those children that need a little encouragement to venture forth. So it is our job to provide the tools to ensure play takes place. This means we have to be astute in laying out the path to affirmative play. I recognize that the majority of Early Childhood Educators are very creative and have their finger on the pulse of what children want and require for developing during play. Some of us do this through music and drama, some through outdoor exploration, some through art and creative activities….. The list goes on, due to the fact that we are all essentially unique in who we are, where we live and the experiences we have had. There is no right and wrong when it comes down to the fact that children are indeed playing. They are indeed thriving and developing into the fully evolved little people we want them to be. The children are flourishing, happy and show us that what we are doing for them is fostering growth.

So why speak of play and how we implement play? Well it goes back to the fact that we know play is essential – play is implemented in many different ways. As long as we are providing an outlet for play and play is taking place on a daily basis – we respect the manner of how play is implemented, our children will benefit.

DANCING THROUGHOUT THE DAY -- Part 1: A Greeting Dance

2012-02-20T06:00:00.000-05:00

DANCING THROUGHOUT THE DAY

Part 1: A Greeting Dance

Hello EC Community,

As a way to further my passion for offering many different dance opportunities to children, this blog entry begins a series of activities based on the daily routine of young children. They are easy and ready to use!

Children start the day moving from the moment they open their eyes. Offering a lively activity to children at the beginning of the classroom day is a wonderful way to channel their energy in a positive way. Try this greeting activity as is, then make up and add your own variations.

Let's Wave!

Step to the side and wave your hands down low,
Step to the other side and wave with your toe!

Step to the front and wave your elbows up high,
Step to the back and wave with your thigh!

Now stand in place and wave with your knee,
Wave to yourself, then wave to me!

Jump and hop and twist and bop,
Wave everything . . . 'til I say stop!

In the last stanza, with the words "Wave everything," encourage the children to wave many body parts all at once. Repeat the whole activity several times in a row.

Step to the front and wave your elbows up high!

Jump and hop and twist and bop, Wave everything . . . 'til I say stop!

Tips for expanding the activity:

*Tap along with the beat using a drum or tambourine

*Play an instrumental musical selection with a steady beat, and try this activity to music

*Ask the children to do a free dance to the music, using the ideas in the activity as well as new ones: What else can you wave? Your heel? Your head? Your hip? Your torso? Your ear? Your eyelids?

*Use the side to side movement in the first stanza to introduce the concept of right and left by changing the words slightly in the first stanza, as in this example:

Step to the right and wave your hands down low,
Step to the left side and wave with your toe!

Next up in the DANCING THROUGHOUT THE DAY series:

Part 2: A Circle Time Dance Activity

Keep on Dancin',

Connie

Process & Product... both work together!

2012-02-19T06:00:00.000-05:00

I know there has been much talk about process vs product lately. I just wanted to share my viewpoint on this wonderful topic. Wonderful topic you may ask? Yes! Art is so important to a child. Those scribbles in toddler years develop into lines, shapes and designs. I see it with my own children. How delightful it is to see little portraits develop from the circles over the last month.

PROCESS

In my classroom setting I always start with the process. Mostly, we start by taking paint and painting shades of colors on construction paper. This is our painted paper. Next, we dive into the scrap box of painted paper and add that to our projects.

In the project shown below students first painted the background. I just put out big paper, paints and brushes.

(I did let them know that their future projects would be added to this large painting.)

Various colors of paint are in the egg cartons. The students then have free choices on colors to use.
I gave them a subject to paint. "Flowers" that was it. I did not say what or how to paint. Children just have the tendency to take off, but a springboard idea is always helpful.

PRODUCT
The next photo is our product: I had students use painted paper that we created in the past (process) to make their Mexican Blankets. Cut strips, glue down and add lines and patterns (you know those fun scribbles from the toddler years) using oil pastels and paint. We used construction paper for the base to glue the strips onto.

Lastly, we glued down our Mexican blankets and guitars to create a Mexican Marketplace.

The students absolutely love seeing the progression of their work.

Never take the fun out of creating because that is where the learning begins!

Laura

Laura is a elementary art teacher who is the author of Painted Paper. She has presented her thematic units nationally at the National Art Education Association and Ohio Art Eduction Association Conferences. You can follow her updates on fun and creative projects for kids here

Stereotypes Have No Place Around Here!

2012-02-18T05:14:00.000-05:00

Hi, I'm Greg & I am an Early Childhood Teacher from Australia. I write a blog called Males in Early Childhood which you can find by clicking here.

Over at the Males blog I recently posted about breaking gender stereotypes in preschool. That post was more focused on the children. Here I want to focus my attention more on the stereotyping associated with those working with children. I try to encourage children to explore non typical experiences by providing resources that foster engaging in non-typical play experiences.

It helps immensely if there are examples available for the children to encounter, such as this puzzle depicting a male ironing.

Photos of people doing non-typical jobs such as male nurses or female mechanics. Children having access to books that involve characters engaged in such roles also encourages breaking these stereotypes. Examples of such books are Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch and William Wants a Doll by Charlotte Zolotow.

Who knows if we have a female engineer in our midst, or the next male hairdresser to the stars. There may even be a male preschool teacher or two among them. But even if there isn't, these children will have far richer encounters by having the choice to engage or not in such experiences. Broadening the range of experiences children engage in also provides more opportunities of incidental learning in a number of key developmental areas such as language and communication, social interaction, exploration and discovery, sense of self, and an acceptance for who they are.

So whether it's what the children do, what they choose to play with or how they choose to interact that ignores such stereotyping, or their appearance. Such as when I recently took some nail polish to work and painted the children nails a different colour each day. There is simply no good reason why children cannot have access to the same experiences as any other child, regardless of whether they possess a y chromosome or not.

Of course I always try to lead by example and therefore would never ask a child if they wanted their nails painted if I hadn't done so myself first. I think they looks simply divine. Besides, I'm a walking talking everyday example of a broken gender stereotype.

Interacting, Engaged & Happy Children = SUCCESS!!

2012-02-17T02:30:00.000-05:00

Although interactive white boards/SMART Boards have been around for quite some time (I used them in college nearly 10 years ago) it seems that they are as popular as ever right now. Nearly every school has at least one and many schools have one in every classroom. Sheesh...some classrooms have I-pads too!!! (in my dreams...but that is a whole other blog for another time!!) Our school is finally getting a SMART Board in nearly every classroom and everyone is pretty excited. This is my first full year with one and let me tell you...I don't know how I ever lived without it! It captivates the student's attention, it keeps them engaged and allows for them to come up and be a part of the lesson more than ever before!

Each morning my students come in and answer the question of the day: Are you at home or at school today? If they are present at school they will move their name from "at home" to "at school". At the beginning of the year, this gets them the practice that they need to used the SMART board for other activities. It doesn't take long until they are professionals at moving their names and objects on the SMART Board. At the beginning of the year students look for and move their first name. Then when the third quarter begins, I change it so they are looking for and moving their last names.

This is also the first slide in my calendar file, so we can revisit and do the math on how many students are actually at school that day! To see what else I do during my calendar time click on the pictures below. The one in white font (to the left) is what I start the year with. I left some of the writing and problems up so that you could see what we do on each page. The one with black font (to the right)is the one that I am currently using. You will notice that my calendar is not as full now as it was at the beginning of the year and that is because we use a lot of those other skills during our center work and during our actual Math time now. (Also please note: I do know that Abe Lincoln's birthday is also in February but when I uploaded my file, I hadn't taught about Abe quite yet...and they wanted to wait to put up his birthday :))

At our school, we use Jolly Phonics to teach letters and sounds. Our school has graciously purchased the Jolly Phonics Interactive Whiteboard software sight license for us as well. So I use my SMART board to teach my Jolly Phonics lessons daily. This software is awesome for initial instruction, for review AND for Literacy Centers! Below I have taken a couple of screen shots of the software in use...the screen shots I took are great for review or for centers!

Students write the words


Students sound out the word and slide the word up to the correct picture

I am adding one extra center idea...great practice for ABC order! Connect the letters in order to make a spider web! Just click HERE

These are just a few of the thousands of wonderful things that you can use your SMART board for! And don't fret...you don't have to make all of this stuff on your own! You can ask ME to help or...You can go to SMART Exchange and find all sorts or SMART lessons for FREE! You can download them and edit to make it how you want it or you can keep it the way it came!

Starting from scratch is fun too but you will need a lot of time to do that.

ALSO...Lakeshore has some really wonderful software for interactive white boards/SMART boards. A lot of their software would be great for your literacy centers!

For those links click on the words below!

Lakeshore

SMART Exchange

The Music Imperative

2012-02-16T05:00:00.000-05:00

Hello Everybody! Miss Carole's at it again!

Whew – all donewith the hearts and flowers, but Miss Carole’s still singing and dancing! WHY? Because musiclifts my mood, increases my energy and givesmy brain and body a workout!

Through my company, MACARONI SOUP, I sing, dance and learn withteachers, parents, librarians, performers, and CHILDREN on a daily basis. How lucky can a person get?!?

This month I’d like to talk a little about whatmakes a song or musical activity developmentally appropriate for EarlyChildhood students?

Isit FUN? It should be!
Doesit help a student DEVELOP SKILLS? I sure hope so!
Doesit ENCOURAGE APPROPRIATE SOCIAL INTERACTION AND SPATIAL AWARENESS? Darn tootin’!

In over 20 years of teaching music andmovement I’ve found that the most successful music encourages participation by using skillschildren have mastered, or allows them to practice skills they need to acquire orrefine. Such music usuallyincreases physical and/or intellectual “vocabulary” and taps into a child’simagination and sense of adventure.

Sounds like high expectations for singin'n'dancin'? NOT! In Early Childhood,music rarely stands alone. We can teach science, art, drama, math, PE andall theearly literacy skills while sharing a tune or doing a dance (following SEQUENCES and PATTERNS). Studies have shown that retention isincreased by 50% when a movement component is added to the learning sequence.

QUICK! WHAT’S THE LETTER BEFORE “G”?(hum Jeopardy tune here) Gotit? How’d you get it? Did your brain run the ABC Song quickly up toG and then you knew it was F? (you did get “F”, right?) Well,it works because that ABC song is hard-wired into our brain from an early age andwe can access it like that! – SNAP!

I CONSIDER THIS “THE MUSICIMPERATIVE!”

We must expose our children todevelopmentally appropriate music every day. Here’s a song to start with – “DOWN I FLOP!” It’s in a minor key, which is not as commonin EC music, and has lots of opportunity to practice self-control, gross-motorskills, and good social interaction and spatial awareness. AND IT’S FUN! You can hear it here - it was the Song of the Month in April 2011.

Lyrics: Clapping, clapping, see me clapping

Clapping, clapping, all day long!

Nobody knows I can clap so well

Nobody knows I can stand so still.

Clapping, clapping, see me clapping

When I am tired, down I flop!

Do some stamping, jumping, walking, running (yes, RUNNING!), tiptoeing - or whatever skill you want to work on! Make sure everyone stands VERY still on those lyrics (model the behavior), take a breath, and continue! It's a blast!

SEE ME JUMPING?!?!?

Yes, you can purchase my cd that this song

is on, "BALONEY!", or you can learn it and

sing it acapella with your kids. I always do it

first without the recording, then with - to allow

for changes in lyrics and tempo to fit the

children with whom I'm working.

DOWN I FLOP!

Now get flopping! ... and if you're in the Massachusetts area, come see me at the MassAEYC conference. OR in the Midwest - both days at the IL-ASCD -PreK and K Conference. Both conferences are in March. For details check my Events Calendar.

Yours for a Song!

"Miss Carole" (Peterson) Stephens

Montessori-Inspired One Fish, Two Fish Math Activities

2012-02-15T06:30:00.011-05:00

By Deb Chitwood from Living Montessori Now

Valentine's Day is over, and I'm already starting to think about Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss' birthday on March 2. Many Montessorians, especially eclectic Montessorians like me, like to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday.

Dr. Seuss books were always a favorite with my children, and I still love Dr. Seuss books even though my children are now adults. I was excited to find two free math printables that work well for creating hands-on math activities to go along with the fun Dr. Seuss book One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.

One Fish, Two Fish Addition Activity

The first printable is One Fish, Two Fish, Equals 3 Fish from Dual Kinder Teacher. This is a great printable for a hands-on addition activity for kindergarteners and preschoolers who are ready for a concrete introduction to addition.

Preparing a One Fish, Two Fish Addition Tray

Materials (and preparation tips):

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss. For an activity like this, I'll typically stand the book on the shelf next to the activity tray.
One Fish, Two Fish, Equals Three Fish printable
Materials for printing, cutting, and laminating printables (Thick glossy photo paper is fine to use for printing instead of laminating if you'll be using the activity at home and don't expect heavy use.)
8 Goldfish crackers for the activity
Container of Goldfish crackers for snack. I used whole-grain Goldfish to make them as nutritious as possible.
Activity tray. I found the inexpensive tray in the photo at the top of this post at my local supermarket last Easter.
A small container for 8 goldfish
You’ll need a low shelf or shelves for the activity trays in your classroom or home where the children can easily reach them, allowing for freedom of choice in their activities. Activity trays on shelves are wonderful ways to have activities available when children have an urge to repeat an activity or are drawn to an activity because of the needs of a sensitive period.
Especially if you have more than one child, it’s helpful if you have a few rugs in the room so a child can lay out the materials for an activity on a rug on the floor. The rug is helpful for defining the child’s workspace. Rugs can be rolled up and stored in a container in a corner of the room.

Presenting the Activity (One Idea)

If you’re presenting to a large group, go to the rug container, get a rug, and roll it out on the floor in front of you. For an individual child or small group, it’s helpful to use a rug if you’re presenting an activity on the floor.
I'd bring the book to the rug and read that first.
Go to the shelf where the activity tray is located, pick up the tray with both hands, and carry it to your rug or to a table.
For a large-group presentation in a preschool, generally the children will be seated in a circle. Present the activity facing toward the group. If you’re presenting to an individual child, have the child sit to your left if you’re right-handed so that you don’t block the child’s view with your arm.
Lay out the numerals 5-8 along the top of the rug or table, starting at the left and working to the right.
Lay out the addition fishbowls in mixed order below the larger numbered fishbowls.
Choose an addition fishbowl and read the equation.
Count out the correct number of Goldfish on each addend. When you have the sum, read the equation with the answer: "2+3=5."
Pour the Goldfish back into the blue container, and place the fishbowl equation under the correct answer.
In Montessori education, activities are presented slowly with precise movements. As few words as possible are used. In another preschool environment, you may want to adapt the presentation according to your own teaching style.
Often at this point in a group presentation, I’ll ask someone in the group if they’d like to put the Goldfish on another fishbowl. I might go around the group giving the children turns. With an individual child, I'll let the child join in when he or she feels ready.
There's a built-in control of error with this activity because there will be exactly 6 cards under each numbered fishbowl if the activity is completed correctly. You could tell the children there will be 6 cards under each numbered fishbowl at the end.
I would probably tell the children that they could take a specified number of Goldfish from a container on the shelf near the activity when they've completed their activity. I'd also have another container with Goldfish for snack. Again, I'd tell the children how many Goldfish they could each take. You could have the specified number on each container if you wish.
When you’ve finished presenting the activity, put the activity away on the shelf. Always show how to clean up and put away an activity when you first present it. If you had a rug out for the activity, roll the rug up and put it away.

One Fish, Two Fish Counting Activity

For younger children or those still working on counting objects 1-6, I created a Montessori-inspired activity tray using the 1 Fish 2 Fish Interactive Printable Placemat from The obSEUSSed Home Librarian. (There's also an addition version you could use.)

Preparing a One Fish, Two Fish Counting Tray

Materials (and preparation tips):

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss (if you don't already have it on the shelf)
1 Fish 2 Fish Interactive Printable Placemat
Materials for printing, cutting, and laminating printables (Again, thick glossy photo paper is fine for home use if you'll be using the activity at home and don't expect heavy use.)
21 Goldfish crackers for the activity
A small container for 21 Goldfish
Container of Goldfish crackers for snack.
Activity tray. I found the inexpensive wooden tray in the photo at a hobby store.
Tweezers, strawberry huller, or child's chopsticks (optional) for transferring the Goldfish. You can add a tweezers, etc., to transfer the Goldfish to add a practical life activity for fine-motor coordination. This isn't essential, but it's especially nice for older preschoolers who would like to do the activity but don't need practice counting.

Presenting the Activity

I'd read the book and use a similar presentation to the One Fish Two Fish Addition except that I'd probably count out the Goldfish into each fishbowl rather than having the children take turns.
This activity has a control of error because there are exactly enough Goldfish for each of the fishbowls.

Montessori-Inspired Hop on Pop Language Trays

At Living Montessori Now, I have a post from last year (Dr. Seuss with a Touch of Montessori) with links to free Hop on Pop language printables and ideas for creating activity trays.

I also have a Dr. Seuss Unit Study Pinterest board with Dr. Seuss activities of all types and for a number of levels.

President's Day Activities

In you're looking for Montessori-inspired activities for our closest holiday, I have a post with Montessori-Inspired Activities Teaching about Money and Presidents.

Have fun! :)

Deb Chitwood is a certified Montessori teacher with a master’s degree in Early Childhood Studies. Deb taught in Montessori schools in Iowa and Arizona before becoming owner/director/teacher of her own Montessori school in South Dakota. Later, she homeschooled her two children through high school. She is now a Montessori writer who lives in Colorado Springs with her husband of 36 years and their cat of 10 years. She blogs at Living Montessori Now.

Linked to AfterSchool Linky Party, Living Life Intentionally Linky Party, The Mommy Club Resources and Solutions at Milk and Cuddles and Crystal & Co. , Thrifty Thursday, Fun Stuff Fridays, Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday Link Party, Preschool Corner, Show-and-Share Saturday, Link & Learn, The Sunday Showcase at Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas and Classified: Mom, What's on the Tray Wednesday, and Everyday Math Play at Teach Preschool.

March Match, Number Names Game

2012-02-14T07:04:00.000-05:00

After reading these two books that make great March read-alouds, I was thinking about the ways they are alike and different. St. Patrick's Day by Gail Gibbons is a nonfiction book, heavy on the facts. I learned a few new things myself from this book. Green Shamrocks is a animal fiction story (animal fantasy as the characters talk), and is rather silly. Pages in both books are covered with green.

Comparing and contrasting the two books, the Venn diagram looks something like this:

I was then thinking about Kindergarten and grade 1 learning different names for numerals, which also takes some comparing and contrasting. At first it can be confusing to learn that a numeral has several different names. People have different names, too, if we stop and think about it.

Here are some names for a girl. There is only one person, Molly, but she is called different names by different people:

Opps! Can't leave the boys out . . .

Here are some names for numbers (numerals):

Now here is my game of the month for PreK + K Sharing:

MARCH MATCH

Happy learning!

A Daily Morning Valentine for Your Child

2012-02-13T06:00:00.008-05:00

Happy “Day-Before-Valentine’s-Day.” Do you tell your children often how much you love them? Do you take time to go beyond words to show it? Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and why not make it a Valentine’s WEEK by trying this every morning this week and see if you notice any differences in your children and their behavior. I’m talking about one of the best ways that we can show our children we love them and it requires no words, gifts, or money. I call it the “10-Minute Morning Check-In” and when implemented successfully, you will fill your child up with love to keep them encouraged for the rest of the day. Watch this video below to learn more about how to do this, along with several other tips for bonding with your children.

And just in time for Valentine’s Day, I’ve been offering my Face Book Fans, quick and easy tips for demonstrating love to their children. I offered fourteen of them, one for everyday in February leading up to Valentine’s Day. Here they are for you to enjoy, just in case you’re looking for some more ideas on demonstrating love to your child this week.

Using a family meeting, have everyone create a craft project that represents love to them. Provide a wide selection of construction paper and craft supplies and allow your children to create whatever comes to mind. Put the creations on display for everyone to see and enjoy, and photograph them to look at for many years to come.

Create teachable moments with your children when they are open to learning, by explaining (and demonstrating) what you do to love yourself. This might be a tough exercise for some, but teaching a child to love himself starts by setting a healthy example he can see.

Compose a poem about your child or describing how much you love her. Print it off on special preprinted paper with a border that can be purchased at office supply stores. Frame it and hang it on your child’s bedroom wall. You could even include the child’s picture or her foot or handprints if you had them done earlier. Sign it and read it to her nightly.

Have a movie night with your child(ren), complete with big pillows to snuggle up with and a big bowl of popcorn. The one difference in making this night special is that the movie being featured will be the home movies you have of your child(ren)!

When your child approaches you to get your attention, stop what you’re doing, get to your child’s eye level, silence your mind-chatter, and remain completely quiet while your child speaks. Nothing feels better to a child (or an adult) who has something to say, than the sense of getting 100% of that adults attention in that moment.

It might be a little late for this one, but consider helping your child plan a V-Day party with all of her friends. For one activity at the party, provide a personalized mailbox (or bag) for each child. On blank slips of paper, have each child write down words that describe what they like about each of the other kids, one child per slip of paper. They will deposit them in each others’ mailboxes.

Use the ENCOURAGEMENT FEAST exercise with your family. Each person takes a turn in the center of the circle, facing each person who states one thing they love about the person in the center. Before the person in the center steps back into the circle, they must state one thing they love about them self. Then someone else steps into the circle. See the video http://bit.ly/xsueNx.

Every Sunday night, schedule a date with each of your children for the week to come. Put it on your calendar and tell your child so they will have something to look forward to. Scheduling in these dates ahead of time ensures they will happen. Then everything else that is less important can fill in around them. Why not schedule a date with your significant other as well?

Take a picture of you and your child, frame it, and then give it to your child to put in his or her room on the dresser or night table. If you have more than one child, create one for each of them. For an older child, put a picture of the two of you in a locket that the child can wear. This will also help calm a child who feels anxious when being away from the parent.

Find a child’s illustrated book that sends a message of love and commit to reading it to your children every night, leading up to Valentine’s Day. My favorite is the book LOVE YOU FOREVER by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Sheila McGraw. It sends the message that I’ll always love you unconditionally, no matter how you behave and well into your adult years.

Teach your children about love by expressing love for your significant other in front of them. Children who have healthy models of affection around them are likely to recreate in their adulthood what they witnessed as children. When your significant other and you argue or fight in front of the children, be sure and let the kids see the two of you makeup.

Toddlers to teens love to be surprised. Hide a small valentine, an encouraging note, or a small valentine chocolate somewhere for them to find each day leading up to Valentine’s Day. Get creative and mix it up. You could also leave a note each day in one place that contains clues to helping them find what you’ve hidden.

You’ll notice that there are only 12 here on this blog post. Want the last 2? You’ll have to LIKE me at http://www.facebook.com/Cooperativekids.com to get the last two! Need some parenting help? I'm now offering online parent coaching for a limited time.

Bill Corbett is the author of the award-winning parenting book series, LOVE, LIMITS, & LESSONS: A PARENT'S GUIDE TO RAISING COOPERATIVE KIDS (in English and in Spanish) and the executive producer and host of the public access television show CREATING COOPERATIVE KIDS. The first in his book series recently received the PARENT TESTED/PARENT APPROVED seal of approval for outstanding family products. As a member of the American Psychological Association and the North American Society for Adlerian Pscyhology, Bill provides parent coaching and keynote presentations to parent and professional audiences across the country. He sits on the board of the Network Against Domestic Abuse, the Resource Advisory Committee for Attachment Parenting International, and the management team of the Springfield Parent Academy. Bill's practical experience comes as a father of 3 grown children, a grandfather of two, and a stepdad to three. He is a Western Massachusetts native and resides with his wife Elizabeth and teenage step daughter Olivia in Enfield, CT. Get more parenting help by subscribing to Bill Corbett's own blog.

For the Love of Lesson Plans!

2012-02-12T06:45:00.001-05:00

I am sure you are expecting a good ole lovey dovey Valentine’s post this bright and beautiful morning but instead I thought I would share with you something that I do NOT love to do…lesson plans! You too? I feel like it is a great big juggling act that I must put tons of thought into because I have so much to teach but I also want my lessons to be fun and engaging for my students. How do you put all of that down on paper?

Well, it is not always easy peasy like I wish it was. Sometimes, it’s written in tiny font and I feel like I need to bust out the magnifying glass just to read it. I think in education it is important to have a “plan” but I also believe in the teachable moment. Those are the moments when you see a child’s light bulb start to flicker and you seize the moment to turn it on. Now that makes my heart smile! Unfortunately, I feel like that can be tough to fit into lesson plans sometimes but if you are going to follow the child, you must make room.

Today I thought I would share my schedule with you and a blank lesson plan sheet to show you how I plan out my week. I have individual plans for each lesson, but this helps me to focus on each daily goal. I am sure there are better plans floating around in cyberspace, but this works for me. J When teaching any grade level, I think it is important to have goals and then have a plan to attain them. This is a key part in measuring success. If you don’t know where you are going, how can you plan to get there? J How will you know that you are successful if you don’t have a goal? I know even on the pre-k and kindergarten levels we feel the pressure of standardized tests and school achievement goals. When the pressure gets to you, take a deep breath, step back and look at the little picture. Yes, I said little. Our job is to love and teach our little darlings everything we possibly can during the short time we have them. And, if we stay organized, take time to plan, and focus on what is going on in our own classrooms, we will make a difference in the life of a child.

So, here’s to fabulous lesson plans and a daily schedules that meet the needs of your class family. J Happy Valentine’s Day and in case someone hasn’t told you today, thank you for the love you give to children every day. You are making a difference in our world!

Stop by my blog and say hi! If you are looking for something sweeter, I have several Valentine goodies posted this week. J

2012-02-11T07:07:00.000-05:00

FEBRUARYFUN!

Love is in the air andchildren truly enjoy the excitement of singing songs, exchanging valentines,enjoying a party and sharing HUGS, HUGS,HUGS!

A great classroom projectis to invite the children to cut out different colored hearts and paint them.Messages can be added and or the children' names to display. This tree can bebulletin board size or construction paper size. It can also be a class projectand each child cuts and paints a heart for everyone in the class and they makean individual tree filled with names and messages.

VALENTINE TREE

Will you be my VALENTINE, VALENTINE,VALENTINE?
Will you be my VALENTINE?
I LOVE YOU!

YES I'll beyour VALENTINE, VALENTINE, VALENTINE!
YES I'll be your VALENTINE!
I LOVE YOU TOO!

Teach thechildren this short song .
This project is a great take homeand school connection. Make this a couple of days before Valentine's Day andsend it home for the children to use and sing with their parents on Valentine's Day. Type the songand glue it to the back of the colored paper plate.

VINNIE & VALERIE VALENTINE

MATERIALS:
3 small red and 3 small pink paper plates
2 craft sticks
Glue
Yarn
Markers

Wiggly Eyes
Stapler

Cut out aheart from the middle of one of the red and pink paper plates (foam plates donot work well). Add wiggly eyes, yarn or marker hair, lips and nose. Glue theheart to the end of the craft stick. (about one inch only so the stick is longenough).

Cut a paperplate so the largest piece will cover your heart on the stick. Staple or gluethe paper plate to the whole paper plate. Leave a 2 inch opening at the bottomof the plate to insert the craft stick. Decorate the white side of the halfplate and the child's name can be added. Make a Valentine puppet for each childin your room and let them sing the simple song to each other. Invite the boysto sing to the girls and visa/versa. Send this project home and tell thechildren to sing to their parents using the puppet. This project will fit inany budget. It develops small muscle control, language development, socialskills and much more.

The MAIL BOX – each child should decorate their own mailbox. They can use a shoe box, photo box,mail box or paper bag designated as a mail box. The children make Valentines for each child in the room and they becomethe mailman. This idea is centuries oldbut still loads of fun.

making art together: collaborative circle painting

2012-02-10T04:52:00.009-05:00

This year I have done quite a few of these "circle paintings" with my Kindergarten and first grade Art students. I am always amazed by the boldness and gusto my students have when they're creating work together, characteristics I sometimes never see from many of them. I absolutely adore these projects, and I think after reading about the elements and principles of circle paintings, you may even be inspired to give it a whirl with your students!

Heip Nguyen, who created the first community-based circle painting, desired to connect with the children of his neighborhood. The neighborhood children kept coming back for more, often bringing friends with them. He was inspired to use circles (a symbol of connection) as a way to connect with others in the community. Originally, circle paintings have been part(s) of community functions, bringing community members together to create LARGE, colorful, collaborative works of art.

I have brought that same excitement to my classroom recently:

My Kindergartners creating their collaborative circle painting.

I love doing this project with my Kindergartners because they begin with a circle, a small, relatable and attainable shape. "So cool! I know how to make a CIRCLE!" Working along with the other students in the class, layers of color and circles are added and added and added by their peers to produce a much more complex project: a collaborative celebration of color and circles.

During the collaborative process of circle painting, something magical happens. Every single student, not just select "stars", suddenly begin to work and think like real artists...from which colors to use to where to add their newest circles. I see them thinking more on a collaborative project than on individual ones. Every time we do this project, the kids are amazingly enthusiastic, and they’re involved in the whole range of the artistic process, from conceptualization to execution.

Even though we, as adults, know the complexity and symbolism of the circle, the kids have no idea how powerful their work has now become...or how beautiful it is. All they often see is scale (large) and colors (many).

Collaborative art-making is a great way to teach pre-K and K students the theme of UNITY. Students who feel inferior in the art-making process suddently come alive. They realize that their contribution to the artwork is just as important as their classmate's...everyone is now an equal game-player, and everyone's contribution matters. Whats even better is that while creating, students develop relational skills ("I like the polka dots you added to MY rings!") and they just plain GET ALONG. There are conversations about colors mixing and compositional terms I had no idea they even KNEW. It's magical on so many levels.

I am always amazed at the amount of pride and sense of ownership every student expresses at the end of the project: “I made this. I did THAT one right there! Isn’t this great?” No one is going to pick out the "wobbly" circle, in fact no one even notices. It’s a huge self-affirming lesson for a child to experience a job well done, especially a job well done collaboratively. Together students can create what they could never create alone. What an essential lesson! It can’t be taught too often.
While there’s nothing new about circle painting OR collaborative art-making, what is new is
bringing this approach into your classrooms and taking the plunge to "go there" with your students. Don't be afraid of the "what if's"--that is what is so great about the minds of young children and what is so HONEST about their artwork. There will be wobbly circles, there will be mixed-paints. Let me tell you, thier pieces of the puzzle don't even come close to stacking up to the final product. Your students will see this, too.

There is no doubt that your students can create astonishing art that you never dreamed possible. Circle paintings are do-able, the experience is powerful for everybody
involved, and the final products are amazing. Collaborative art-making has tremendous potential for changing the "inferiority complex" that your students may have about making art.

And in the end? After I've displayed their collaborative work for (what, to them seems like) an eternity...I cut it up into 22 individual squares and pass it out to them. They don't even care if they got THEIR circle. They're just happy to have a slice of the masterpiece!

So, go forth and create...and if you decide to take the "plunge" please come back and link your project in the comments section of this post!

Joanna Davis-Lanum is a National Board certified Art Teacher and teaches at Garden Elementary School in Venice, Florida. She is the author of her classroom blog "We Heart Art" and amazingly (to everyone's surprise) wears white pants on occasion in the art room! For more lessons on the circle project, you can check out the lesson plan here or a circle painting mishap here.

theotherlion: making friends

2012-02-09T01:36:00.002-05:00

As parents, we all want to see our children make friends. When we discover our children aren't typical, we start focusing on therapies, school, and even just surviving the day. But at some point, we sit and watch our precious child shake two wooden spoons in front of his face for twenty minutes and wonder if there's another child in the world who would understand this behavior. And then you eventually meet another parent of a special needs child and find your answer -- yes, someone does understand! Unfortunately, many of those people exist in a land called The Blogosphere; it is likely you will never step foot in each others' homes.

And even if they did live next door, one reality would still have to be faced -- the world isn't filled with people who are exactly like yourself. It's filled mostly with neurologically and otherwise typical individuals who don't get it when a seven year old slaps his mother across the face when she asks if his head hurts or when a little boy at a play group melts down because the lights are too bright and starts throwing toys like snowballs.

It's tough being the parent who's constantly running interference, whether it's because of behavior difficulties, language boundaries, or navigating basic social interactions. It's a constant game of interpreting, prompting, and redirecting, but we do it because we hope for a connection.

I recently read a status update from a fellow parent of a child with fragile x syndrome. She relayed her heartache over a conversation with some children in her child's daycare who said they didn't like her child because they think her child is mean. I've been there, and it hurts. "He's weird." "He's mean." "He acts funny." "Why does he do that all the time?" "I don't like him."

As parents it is our job to advocate for our children, to be the ones running interference during play dates. As educators, it's our job to foster an environment that feels safe and loving. It's our job to listen for the cues that a child is at risk for alienation and try to stop it; it's our job to teach tolerance

It begins with our own attitudes, with the verbal and non-verbal language we use while talking to and about challenging children. I'm guilty of the eye roll, too, I am. I'm guilty of walking in and thinking, "I can NOT do this another day" and letting it affect my approach to the class. We've all been there, and we can all probably do better.

What I suggested to this parent was that she sit down with the teacher and let her know about this conversation and her concern over her child's acceptance. And then I would expect the teacher to do something about it, even if that meant having a talk with the entire class. Here's what have said in response to preschoolers questioning me about my son: You know how you're super smart? Well, he's smart, too, but it takes him longer to learn new things. He has trouble using his words and making friends. But you can be a good friend to him and a helper to me by showing him how to make good choices.

I've also fielded a lot of questions about sensory integration techniques such as therapeutic brushing. The easiest way to answer, "Why does he do that?" is to simply say, "It helps him to feel better. It helps his body feel calm."

When we make a point to include each student by giving them all a space to sit, acknowledgment of their feelings, and a purpose in the class, it helps reinforce the idea that each person is valuable -- that you, the teacher, likes each one of them. Now, as for what I will do when he's in high school, I don't know. Hopefully he will be among classmates who have been a part of an inclusive classroom.

__________________________________________________

My name is Erika and blog over at theotherlion about my son, Punkin, who is seven and is diagnosed with fragile x syndrome. I have been a ParaEducator with children who have special needs for seven years.

Kindness Is A Super Power!

2012-02-08T05:00:00.000-05:00

Happy National School Counseling Week! Have you hugged your school counselor today? Hop on over to The Corner on Character to hear what a few of my students have to say about my job.

My loving family sent me these Character Cookies to celebrate!

I just love working in a profession where we get to help shape hearts and minds for the future. Katie Couric once said, "Kindness is not an inherited trait; it is a learned behavior." As such, we must teach our kids how to be kind, to think with their hearts. First and foremost, that happens through modeling, by showing our children kindness, because little eyes are watching, little minds are processing, little hearts are feeling. We must be kind to one another and treat each other with dignity and respect. In our everyday interactions. With a gentle tone in our voice. With a genuine smile. With eyes that sparkle and say,
"You matter to me; I care about you!"

One of my all-time favorite treasures is this student-made book
that focuses on the power of example:

What would I say? No pressure . . . .

Page by page, I get to read the things that my students see, hear, feel and experience as I guide them down character road.

(If you need a good gift idea for a colleague or your students' caregivers, this is IT!)

This book filled my bucket - and then some!

Kindness begets kindness. Remember the old Faberge Organic Shampoo advertisement that suggests you tell a friend and she'll tell a friend and so on and so on . . . it's called the Power of One. Try that for a month. Do one kind thing every day. Suppose the recipients of your kindness did the same. Do you know how many kind acts you'd have had a hand in at the end February, for example? 268,435,456! Go ahead, check my math.
What if it were a month with 30 days? Or 31?

What else can we do to intentionally teach our future leaders to be kind? Harness the hidden power of the kindness metaphor by joining the Bucket-Filler movement and teaching kids about emotional deposits and withdrawals. In a nutshell, being kind to one another fills invisible buckets (yours and theirs!); conversely, being unkind to people dips from the buckets. Here's the part I really like: the reciprocity. When I fill your bucket with a caring word or deed, mine fills up, too!

I think the thing that struck me most when I heard about the concept (based on Rath and Clifton's How Full Is Your Bucket?) is that when people have an empty bucket, they simply don't have what it takes to fill buckets (others or their own) because they have nothing in their emotional reserve to spare, much less share. What does that say about how much learning is going on in the head and heart of a child with an empty bucket? Such an important message about our roles and responsibilities as mentors and influencers.

Same teachers whose class made the book for me crafted this bulletin board visual!

Just how DO we fill buckets? Every little kindness puts a drop in. Explore the book Have You Filled A Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud for creatively colorful, every day examples of kind things that children and adults alike can do to fill buckets. And did you know that there's a version for younger children?

As an early-childhood educator with years of experience, Carol is well aware of how literal our littlest learners can be, so she put the bucket-filling concept into terms that they can better grasp and apply to their preK and K way. Good thing, too, because the first time I attempted to teach Bucket Filling to my preK students, their answer to my infamous follow-up inquiry - How could YOU fill a bucket today? - was a resounding, "with sand!" Yep, pretty literal. Be sure to stop frequently to check for understanding.

Have students use the thumbs up signal to indicate bucket filling and thumbs down to indicate dipping. Throw out some additional example behaviors to make sure they're getting it. You use your manners (thumbs up!). You roll your eyes at someone (thumbs down!). You help someone who falls down. You forget to feed your dog. You save a seat for someone. (Careful, this one's kind of tricky!) When you think they're ready, let the students give the examples; I promise you'll gain some valuable insight into their world.

To help enrich your bucket-filling talk, sing the Fill A Bucket song I wrote using the tune of Frere Jacques/Are You Sleeping?:

Fill a bucket, fill a bucket.
It's easy to do, it's easy to do.
I can fill a bucket, I can fill a bucket,
So can you. So can you!

Fill a bucket, fill a bucket.
Smile and say hi, smile and say hi.
You can fill a bucket, you can fill a bucket,
Give it a try. Give it a try.

Fill a bucket, fill a bucket.
Help someone in need, help someone in need.
I will fill a bucket, I will fill a bucket
with every good deed, with every good deed.

Fill a bucket, fill a bucket,
with your family, with your family.
We can all fill buckets, we can all fill buckets,
Try it and see. Try it and see.

Add some fun motions; perform it as an echo song or have students sing the whole thing. Find out what other things your songsters could think of to add to the song if they were to write another verse. The book also includes a song of its own, so use either one (or both!) to help your students grab ahold of this metaphor for kindness and put it into practice.

Some of our teachers actually keep these personalized little buckets in their classrooms to keep track of every kindness shown by their students. Each time they fill an invisible bucket, they're given one of the cute little puffs to fill their classroom bucket.

You could keep buckets in your room as a visual reminder.

These puffs come in colorful shapes like hearts, stars, and flowers!

Click here for more bucket-filling resources online.

What other books do you use to teach kindness to preK and K kiddos? In no particular order, here are a few of our other favorites:

Be kind about differences.

Every kind act leaves a heartprint.

Is Pinky being kind to Blue?

This kind Tree keeps on giving!

Paying it forward with a simple smile.

Another way to cement an abstract concept is with something tangible, so why not make a Kindness (or Caring) Chain. We used strips of colored paper to jot down the kind and caring things that we caught one other doing at our school. First, the strips were just linked together in each individual classroom, but after a month, we linked all of the classroom chains together to make one very long community chain that spanned the circumference the cafeteria.

Caring is thinking with our hearts!

Such a fun visual to show kids that kindness connects us!

As seen in the halls at Westwood: It's Cool To Be Nice!

Want a year's worth of acts of kindness ideas?
Click here for a blog post I found with 52 smile suggestions.

Visit me at Westwood or at The Corner on Character

for additional resources for your character building. Happy Bucket Filling!

Dressing for the Occasion In Early Childhood

2012-02-07T05:00:00.000-05:00

Hello again! I'm Ayn and I am a Ga. Pre-K teacher, serving 4 and 5 year olds in an inclusive setting. I share my classroom adventures on my blog, little illuminations.

Do you dress up to go to school? I do!!! As a way to pique the children's interest, I often come to school dressed for the occasion. We frequently have special dress up days where we come dressed as __________ (cowgirl, princess, fairy tale character, etc.). I always dress up right along with the children.

It doesn't take a lot of money, just a little imagination! I rarely purchase special clothing to wear. Usually, I plunder my own closets, and if needed, those of my family members, too!

In September, when we study apples and learn about Johnny Appleseed, I come to school dressed as the wandering planter. It's taken several years, and a variety of props in a series of trial and error. The first several years, I used an actual pot on my head! It kept falling off (apparently my head is not quite perfectly pot-shaped). The pot finally fell off and almost bonked a student, so for the last few years, I've constructed a pot from butcher paper that fits quite nicely.

For our farm unit, we dressed as farmers one day. The kids loved this as much as we did! At our school, teachers don't get to wear jeans very often, so it's always a bonus to do so on special occasion dress up days!

We had a pajama day during our Dr. Seuss unit, so I decided to just combine the two! There's nothing more fun than making green eggs and ham in your jammies at work!

During Pirate week, we put our fanciest pirate wear on and did our best pirate impressions! Arggghhh! No landlubbers here, Matey!

My dear friend, Mrs. Becky, who teaches Pre-K at one of our sister schools, dressed up this year like a Centenarian for the 100th Day. She gets just as excited as I do about dressing up, and had to stop by my house after school to show me!

Little girls always love to dress up as princesses, so during our fairy tale unit, we dress up as princes and princesses. Boys love to dress up, too, but are not as enthused with dressing as royalty, so superheroes are also welcome!

One of my favorite dress up days is the day we read "The Paper Bag Princess" by Robert Munsch. I dress in my special paper bag dress and crown to read the story. It's always a hit!

St. Patrick's Day is one of my favorite holidays to celebrate, so I often dress for the occasion for several days, each day getting progressively kookier!

Dressing for the occasion is a fantastic attention grabber. New teachers often find it hard to step out of their comfort zone and go all out, but the more fun you have with it, the more fun the kids will have! If you are still feeling a little apprehensive, start with a themed hat while reading a story, for instance a cowboy hat while reading a western themed story or a crown for a fairy tale reading. No effort is too big or too small. I always have a few props handy for kids to use who may have forgotten to dress that day, but don't want to be left out. If a student chooses not to dress, that's fine, too. I've found that more often than not, the few who choose not to participate will eventually ask to borrow props, if they know they are available and don't feel pressured to do so.

I'm always looking for new twists for dress up days. I'd love for you to share in the comments how you dress for your favorite dress up days!

Stop by and visit me anytime at littleilluminations.blogspot.com or visit the little illuminations fanpage on facebook!

Language, Vocabulary, & Grammar... Oh My!

2012-02-06T05:00:00.000-05:00

Hello again... its Jennifer from Empowering Little Learners and Simply Centers. Today I want to talk about something that has been a pain in my side for about five years now... teaching language, vocabulary and grammar... oh my!

I live in Arizona and we have very strict laws about how we teach our second language learners. All students who register for school with any language other than English are all placed into a single classroom. In schools where the students are predominately language learners, they are leveled off according to language ability -- according to 4 levels (and then an English class if needed.) These language classrooms are required to teach 60 minutes of explicit reading, 60 minutes of explicit language (which is grammar and vocabulary), 60 minutes of explicit writing, and 60 minutes of explicit listening and speaking. And they can't overlap (isn't listening and speaking all day?) It is STRONGLY suggested that these do not get broken into smaller segments and so it can be very difficult to plan your schedule let alone your lessons! (Sigh!) The biggest complaint teachers say is that students have no language models other than the teacher... but we are asked to teach in ways where students do the majority of the talking! An oxymoron sort of! (And what about math... there is no time in the day left for math!)

So let's start with language. You usually think of language as speaking and not sentence construction, and vocabulary. It really is all encompassing of these concepts though. Once I have taught the concepts it is easy to reinforce it through the day. We even start our day every day by passing around a speaking stone and practice saying complete, elaborate sentences about various topics using different parts of grammar and our vocabulary. To put a fun twist on this I have collected stress balls from many places I have visited over the years. Just the other day we were at the airport and they had one in the shape of an airplane on the counter and so I asked and she gave me 12 of them! It's the next two parts that make this area of my day so difficult for me - how do you teach Vocabulary and Grammar!

Vocabulary; it's getting more difficult! Our reading program has a very prescribed vocabulary program. Every lesson has about 2 or 3 words we are supposed to teach the kids. BUT... with language learners these words are very inappropriate (squabble, substantiate, and progression for kinder... really?) So I find myself each week trying to figure out what 'words' to teach my kids! I have tried everything... pulling words from books, doing thematic words, and pretty much just doing words I feel like they should know. I feel like it is very disconnected and not fluid for the overall year. (A little background on me - I am at a new school this year and we have no curriculum map.) Here is what my vocabulary looks like for February. We do these words within lessons during reading and my favorite is to use them during our Writing Center! Click the image on the left to grab the February ones for free! I even incorporate these into my math lessons as students recreate these same image with blocks and count how many blocks it took! These are available monthly in my TpT store!

Grammar; what, and hour of nothing but grammar? I mean.. what can I say? I don't know what to say! Do you know how hard it is to come up with 60 minutes of grammar each day? We do a lot of Thinking Maps... let's define a noun or let's describe a dog using adjectives. To be honest with you... I have seriously had to look up what certain parts of grammar are because I did not know exactly what they meant... what makes a verb imperative anyways? And I am seriously just happy that my students can identify run as a verb, let alone which verbs are imperative! (I admit... so please don't give me grief... all teachers struggle in one area or another... grammar has ALWAYS been mine, even growing up!) So every once and awhile I come up with something great like a recent lesson I did on adjectives with my $10 IKEA igloo. We turned it into our "Adjective Igloo." We spent a period learning about igloos by viewing info on the Internet and in books and collecting a bank of adjectives to describe it. Then the students had to all come up with their own adjective to add to the igloo! Amazing lesson using realia I have to say - way more meaningful than just putting up the igloo during the winter! BTW - IKEA still has these igloos even though I have had mine for years!

There is so little out there to explicitly teach Language, Vocabulary, and Grammar for our little learners! I hope I am not alone if feeling this! So the purpose of this post is to create some buzz about these topics for little learners and hopefully get some our of our great PreKandKSharing authors, fellow bloggers, and even some readers to share some ideas by commenting below their ideas to teach Language, Vocabulary, and Grammar. Let's put our heads together and create a great bank of ideas!

As always, it's great that you stopped by to read my little post. I will see you (well write to you) next month... be sure to stop by and say hi at any of the places below!

Happy Monday Everyone!

Jennifer =)

Why do we ask Questions? The magic behind creating!

2012-02-05T03:00:00.000-05:00

Questions and Critical Thinking

Materials as Languages

(all of the following artistic images were created by preschool children and were the result of the adult learners asking children many questions and exploring together)

Happy February!

It's Enrique here from the F.A.M.E. Foundation and author of Living Like a Child. I'm so excited to be sharing with you again as I do every month on this wonderful collaborative blog. Last month I shared a lot of images related to "Creativity and Wire Sculptures." I mentioned the importance of:

allowing for a balance of abstract and linear thought
encouraging children to create Art in their own image
discover their own passion

The first step is using questions with children. Last month, I highlighted the children's wire sculptures in the classrooms of Natalia C. Mora and Maria Inez Gortarez. I went back and interviewed Natalia to find out more about the process which has worked wonders for children and parents at their preschool center. It's one thing to see beautiful things made by children. It's another to understand how the process of children-initiated creation happens. When we understand how to engage this process, we can use any Art form as a powerful stepping stone to meaningful and life long learning. Below, Natalia discusses how they began the process of creating their wire sculptures.

Part I of III

Wasn't that great! She mentions the interests of the child and the word "investigation." Natalia and Maria took the time and risk to engage children in a real discussion of what they wanted to use to create. This authentic approach to helping children create leads to some wonderful Artwork, but more importantly it fosters young children who can think critically! And questions were the gateway!! My colleague Debbie Clement refers to this in her wonderful blog on the importance of process. Enjoy the following images which use some wire, but also use cork and other odds and ends. I really have to tip my hat to Natalia and Maria. They have created a real culture of thought in their classroom!

"Me and My Daddy Made a Castle with a Princess Together"

"Boxing Table"

"Park"

Natalia and Maria have found ways to involve parents in a very meaningful and on-going manner. What I find so important in their work with children is their expectation that children already bring a great deal to the table. Natalia and Maria started this project 4 years ago and each year, they "allow the process to be different" based on the children's interests. Below Natalia describes how the parents reacted when their children first starting using wire and that reaction changed over time to one of amazement and pride in their children's ability to create and problem-solve.

Part II of III

Enjoy and share the following images and remember that what you're seeing was the result of a lot of discovery and exploration which started with questions like:

"What can we do with the wire?" (Bend it, twist it, cut it, etc.)
"Does it break when we bend it?"
"How can we cut it?"
"Where can we find wire in our classroom and in our world?"

The most important question Natalia shared with me that she and Maria used with the children was "What's Next?" An open ended, abstract question that leads directly to critical thinking...brilliant!

"A robot and his puppy playing in the yard"

A close of "Park"

A work in progress

Natalia and Maria took this whole concept to another level by having Father Figure Nights. During these sessions, parents brought in their tools and worked together with their children, a concept discussed in depth by my colleague Danny Brassell. They built and discussed together as they created as a team. The children had so much experience built up over time with the process of creating that they took the lead! Imagine parents learning from children....simply magnificent on so many levels. Parents LOVED it and were truly amazed at how much initiative, creativity and independent thinking their children showed. Listen to Natalia share the rest of the story!

Part III of III

As I mentioned earlier, each time the process is unique. Enjoy these images of wire being combined with the writing of a child's name. The improvement over months in how many children could visualize their letters and name was really something to behold.

Name first traced and using wire to match the tracing

Name made in wire without tracing

As I wrap this up, keep in mind the following:

Identifying a child's interest can lead to discovering a talent
When we discover their talent, we have a much better chance of guiding that child to recognizing their passion in life.

This doesn't happen overnight, but if we start early the chances are so much higher. I know this from personal experience. My mom and dad identified my interest in piano at age 4 when I asked to play piano. Over time I discovered that I was really great at it and today I'm a film composer, pianist and vocalist in addition to being an early childhood educator. More importantly, I figured out how to take an idea and make it a reality and that is a gift worth sharing!

LIVE LIKE A CHILD

the book, the movement

Making the transition from product to process focused art

2012-02-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

By Deborah J. Stewart, M.Ed of Teach Preschool

Debbie Clement recently wrote a terrific article on the topic of Product versus Process art where she creatively and clearly clarifies the difference between the two approaches and then goes on to describe the value of process-focused art in the preschool classroom...

The transition to move from product-focused to process-focused art isn't an easy task for many, if not most, teachers in the preschool classroom and there are many reasons why. Let's take a look at those reasons and see what can be done to help smooth the transition from product-focused to process-focused art...

A lack of experience with process-focused art

For those who lack experience with process-focused art, it can seem overwhelming and non-productive at first. To provide quality process-focused art experiences for young children, you have to start at the beginning and invite the children to simply explore the materials you provide. As the children are given the freedom and time to explore the materials, their skills and abilities to constructively manage and creatively use those materials will build over time.

You also have to understand where your children are developmentally so you can plan processes that they will want to try. In order to keep young children engaged in the process, you have to come up with ideas that are age appropriate, inviting, and interesting. Coming up with successful process-focused art experiences takes commitment, effort, time, and lots of trial and error along the way.

The inability to justify the process

Another reason teachers struggle with transitioning from product to process-focused art is the inability to justify the process. Trying to explain to parents why most of the artwork coming home looks like one big blob after another can be difficult. One tip that will help with this is to start with the planning phase. When planning an art activity, answer the question; "what will the children do?" instead of "what will the children make?" This will help you focus on the process and then talk about the process with others.

The next time an adult walks in the classroom and says, "What did the children make today?" You will be prepared to say, "The children figured out that..." or "We are making great progress on..." or "We explored the use of..." Describing the process will naturally lead to a discussion on what the children learned or gained from the process and keeps the conversations open ended and focused on growth and development. Answering the question with "We made a tree today" pretty much wraps up any real potential for an exciting conversation about growth and development...

The internal struggle

Another part of transitioning is recognizing and managing the internal struggle to control the art experience. Perhaps you like the artwork on your wall to look a certain way. Perhaps you have certain expectations about how the children should use the materials you set out. Perhaps you love something you saw on Pinterest so much that you want to reproduce the exact same artwork.

In order to transition from product to process-focused art, you have to start by reflecting on your own attitudes about the role of art in your classroom. Is the art experience in your classroom about what you need or is it about what the children need? Is the art experience in your classroom about what you love or is it about what the children love? Is the art experience in your classroom guided by what you find easy to clean up and manage or is it guided by what will keep the children engaged, challenged, and interested....

My personal experience in the transition to process-focused art

Implementing process-focused art has been a fairly new experience for me this school year and I learn something new every day. There are days when I don't get it exactly right, but my students are so processed-oriented now that they quickly remind me of what really matters to them.

I have watched my students go from sampling the materials to embracing the materials. I have watched my students go from using too much glue on everything to self-regulating the amount of glue they need to complete a process. I have watched my students go from mixing every color of paint on the table to selectively mixing the colors to produce a desired result.

We have higher level conversations about about our artwork than I have ever had or even thought of having before in a preschool classroom. One of my students said it best last week while we were exploring a new kind of easel painting. She said, "Wow, we are like real artists" and as I watched them paint, I had to agree - they were truly were like real artists.

If you would like to see more about what our classroom is exploring, I invite you to join me over at Teach Preschool.

By the way, I highly recommend these plastic bottles (pictured below) for painting with your students. I have been using them all year long and absolutely love them. I purchased mine from Walmart in the kitchen utensil isle....

Some Simple Parachute Play!

2012-02-03T06:00:00.000-05:00

by Pam

We love parachute games in my preschool special education classroom! Pulling out the parachute brings laughter and squeals of excitement from just about everyone! Sometimes, it seems that with the continual push for earlier academics, we forget that these seemingly simple activities have been staples of early childhood for such a long time for a very good reason!

Using movement, music and social interaction is a sure fire way to help children learn! For those worried about children mastering some of those more memorized skills such as color recognition, shape recognition, letter and letter sounds, counting and one to one correspondence, the parachute can be used to reinforce these skills in a fun, non-threatening way for children with and without special needs.

For children with challenges with movement, the parachute also provides an opportunity to move objects with even a slight movement from the child. The children have the benifit of standing side by side with other children who may be able to assist with the movement of the objects without ever realizing that they are doing anything more than enjoying play with friends! The parachute also offers flexibility! We often sit on the floor with our feet under the parachute and kick up and down to make the parachute move like waves!

For children who struggle with social interactions, the parachute provides a perfect social opportunity! The children are naturally facing eachother and working together. There are natural opportunities for imitation, eye contact, smiles and communication!

Because of all these things, the parachute is a perfect way to engage children of various ages and abilities in a group activity that is both structured and open ended enough to offer the children multiple ways and things to learn while playing!

Many different items can be put on top of the parachute to bounce and move about. We've had the most fun with:

leaves (fabric and real in Autumn),
stuffed animals (various kinds to represent different topics, to sing songs and for beginning sounds etc.)
cotton balls (as pretend "snow")
light/heavy balls (to explore the difference in weight)
and balloons (for work on color recognition)

The parachute can also be used to help reinforce letters and letter sounds: "If your name starts with A, run under the parachute" or for sounds: "If your name starts with 'a,a,a' run under the parachute."

The parachute can be used to help reinforce other basic learning: "If you are a BOY, sit under the parachute."

The parachute can be used to emphasize spatial words: under, on top, up, down, above...

We often count HOW MANY balls, balloons or other objects are put on the parachute. We also often count to a designated number before we shake the parachute. Of course, this is not only a practice in rote counting, one to one coorespondence but also a practice in self regulation!

We are also crossing midline during parachute play. We often increase this work by singing songs such as The Itsy Bitsy Spider with movements. We move the parachute side to side and up and down with the rhythm of the song.

We learned this from one of our wonderful music therapists and it reminds me of conducting an orchastra! Here is how we interpret this for the Itsy Bitsy Spider:

The Itsy Bitsy (side to side)

Spider (up and down)

Went up the water (side to side)

Spout. (up and down)

Down came the (side to side)

Rain...and (up and down)

...washed the spider (side to side)

out. (up and down)

Out came the (side to side)

sun...and (up and down)

...dried up all the (side to side)

rain...so (up and down)

...the itsy bitsy (side to side)

spider (up and down)

went up the spout (side to side)

again. (up and down)

But then again, a colorful new sheet would be just as much fun to move and shake and could even be swapped out for different patterns when exploring various topics (example frog sheets, bug sheets etc.). So if you don't have access to a parachute, don't let that stop you! Whether you have a huge multi-classroom parachute, a small parachute or a sheet to hold on to, enjoy experimenting with ways to move and learn while using the parachute!

Stop in at my blog How Long is This Hall?! to see some of our fun with parachute play with fabric autumn leaves or our winter clothing parachute play.