fearless water color painting by a 3yo artist

This is my 3 year old friend, Ila, as she engages with paint at home. Her mother, Alexa, knows Ila is hands and body IN when involved with paint. Alexa has paint out for Ila whenever she would like it.

Ila has great freedom at home to explore with all her senses and with all her bright spirit.

At our school, we have the indoor and outdoor areas set up with provocations or explorations for the children. The children may choose wherever they would like to be and engage with whatever materials they choose. The teacher role is well defined to support play, social function and choice.

This particular day, in the classroom we had table easels for water color paintings. Ila came over and started her own work. She began with a red swoop:

After that, Ila began her full painting journey with a lot of BLACK painted here and there, just so, and one more spot right    about    there.

Ila had already added hand prints yet seemed inspired to add more. She was very thoughtful and detailed in her efforts as she painted finger by finger, then full palm back on the paper.

Ila worked on her painting for about 20 minutes as she went back and forth with color, hands, color, hands.
Sometimes we would chat together about what her hands were doing, how the paint felt when the brush stroked over her finger or how sometimes her hand print was light or dark on the paper.

 




When Ila completed her work, I asked her if she would like to tell anything about it, that maybe something was happening inside her painting. Ila dictated her story to bring her painting to life for everyone.

"THERE IS A MERMAID SWIMMING IN THE WATER AND A SHARK BIT HER ON THE LEG BUT SHE SURVIVED."

I am not sure I can say anything else.
Ila's work - her spirit of work - says it all. 

I am inspired to live just one day just like her. [smile]






~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Alexa and Ila's family are no longer at our school. Alexa gave me permission to use her and Ila's first names and to allow Ila's face in the photos.

sugar butter flour: 3 ingredients for best practice in ece

what is your recipe for an enriched, engaged and energetic day at school?

This post was inspired by two things:

One is a delicious local bakery with said name Sugar Butter Flour which I try to not frequent for obvious reasons; Two is the Walker's shortbread that I snacked on yesterday with likely those ingredients in larger quantities than I should eat at one time.

Both got me thinking about the simplicity of ingredients to make good things, just like SUGAR BUTTER FLOUR.

The 3 Ingredients got me thinking about Early Childhood and how complicated things seem to have become over time as to what preschools "should" be, what teachers "should" teach, and [the most brutal] what children "should" learn. [sigh].

Got me thinking about 3 Ingredients for Best Practice.

Wouldn't that be great? Three weighty ingredients that could anchor Early Childhood for new teachers and master teachers alike? [yes].

So, here's the thing. I am not saying I have the answers of what the 3 Key Ingredients for Early Childhood "should" be.
Just saying an anchor would be pretty cool so that - for example - when someone starts saying the 3 Ingredients, then people would automatically associate them with Early Childhood Education in a positive, weighty, anchor sort of way.

Here are my suggested KEYS in the early childhood field. 

1. Step Back. The more seasoned I become as a facilitator for young children, the more excited and comfortable I am to completely fade into the background of children's explorations to allow for Their Agenda to thrive instead of mine. Granted, this has been a style of mine since the beginning, but the lens by which I admire the children's work has become more refined. Documentation and photography are my absolute must-have tools.

2. Hands-On. The use of diverse, natural materials are rich (not expensive) resources to enhance your environment for inquiry, exploration and invention. Collections from nature (pinecones, stones, sticks) can go in the Block Area, Science, Art. Taking apart used machines (wires, buttons, nuts/bolts) can contribute to sculptures, block construction, art. Think outside the plastic box.

3. Reflective Teaching. Collaboration with colleagues, bloggers and brand new teachers is vital to keep the dialogue of Best Practice ongoing in your own daily, yearly, and lifelong work. Reflecting on your own work combined with networking can help you determine who you want to be as an educator, what you believe in, how to take risks, and how to best support children's learning.

Sugar Butter Flour.
Good things are so simple.

Do YOU have ingredients for an enriched, engaged and energetic classroom?
Do you include yourself, the environment AND the children in your ingredients?

hands-on nativity scene

One of my favorite explorations during the Christmas season is offering the children the pieces of the Nativity scene to get their hands ON. The classroom is lucky enough to have two distinct kinds of hands-on pieces for children to handle - you can see a few pieces of both sets in the photo.

Have nativity pieces for children to interact with along with a book - they love it!

1. One lovely set was gifted to our classroom nearly twenty years ago. A mom hand-painted pre-cut wood pieces from the local craft store, small enough for small hands, painted with rich colors and even some gold on the kings crowns (don't children LOVE silver and gold!).

2. The second collection is from a purchased hand-carved set with lightly washed-in colors, larger sized yet still handle-able by young children. These pieces I purchased one or two at a time over some years.

It is wonderful to be able to have pieces that are For Children to use, handle, play with, explore, experiment as they wish. So many Nativity scenes are 'extra special' to only look at on display, never touch, breakable, treasured, all that - it is important to offer pieces to children at home/school that invite them into the scene of the Birth Day :)

In your classroom:

You can make pieces from CONSTRUCTION PAPER, decorated by children, laminated to last longer and make more handle-able.  

You can make pieces from CLAY or PLAYDOUGH.

You can make pieces from RECYCLABLES & CARDBOARD.

Out of print but worth a search!

This particular book, The Christmas Story: A Nativity Tale for Young Children by Anita Ganeri, is a favorite to read, act out and also put out alongside the creche pieces. The book is unfortunately out of print, yet perhaps available if you search for it from sellers. The main reason I love it is because the pages are literally photographs of children dressed as though in a play acting out the Christmas Story and the story is easy to read and follow for the young age group.

* To note, this exploration is appropriate at our religious based school, where we explore religions of any students along with Christian celebrations.


Happy reading. Merry Christmas. Peace. Joy. Jingle.

domino highway

Gotta love dominoes of any kind. Once you start playing, it is sort of addictive!
Try different kinds of BLOCKS, or CEREAL BOXES, or rectangular SPONGES, or LEGOs or actual DOMINOES: line them up - or design in a swirl or make a race with friends - then give them a little PUSH...
These boys took the challenge to new heights.
I had never seen children put dominoes up on a second level like this.
The boys worked together, steady hands, and repeated their attempts again and again (just like we all do when getting a focus for a game of dominoes!).

"I'll work from this end, you work from that end..."

"I think that domino in the middle started by itself!"

"Here we go! We used dominoes in our hands to give the PUSH and the whole top of the highway went down!" Please note that none of the pieces even fell off the highway! wow!

Great for:

• small motor
• hand-eye coordination
• space planning
• problem solving
• creative design
• cause & effect (IF I push this, THEN these will fall over...)
  
• indoors or outside
• done alone, with partner or in a group
• varied complexity depending on age, interest,  & objects used

Read for a game of Dominoes?

Have fun, be patient, and see how far your domino highway 

- or ground level road - 

can travel!

math sightings

diverse materials, deliberate placement, space, lines, rows.

Early childhood math.
Could look like so many things.
So many many things.
Think exploration.
Think diverse materials.
Think open-ended.
Notice hand-eye coordination.
Notice pattern.
Notice geometry.

You can think that math has to look the way YOU understand math...Yet, how wonderful to have math look how CHILDREN understand math.

vertical experiences with small objects: color, shapes, and whimsy.

geometry, half, quarter, pizza slice; solid color & rainbow circles.

small motor, triangles, squares, rubberbands, paper/pencil copy.

partner experience with unusual block puzzle...exploring balance and design.

kapla and wood blocks, dinosaurs: intentional design, purposeful placement.

car line parallel to large block structure; top, cube blocks center spaced within each wood brick.

can you crayon and water color your own shapes and patterns?

creating a circle using cube blocks takes focus and curving and rethinking.

these paper shapes were placed exactly where this child wanted them - size, shape, color.

creating patterns with friends using pegs, dominoes, and colorful bugs.

variety of colors of rubberbands to complete this star design.

using peg boards right-side-up and then up-side-down, pegs supporting a second level of work, bears and dominoes in rows...this kind of work is no accident.

Look for math around your classroom.
You will see it everywhere.
Use the language, interpret the work, scaffold the 'almost there' idea of patterns and math sense.
Provide the materials that allows for the exploration and thinking of numbers, shapes, patterns.
Math sightings occur daily... get your camera ready.

this is a challenge game to identify a friend's pattern and then to REcreate it!

the final touch

The last day of the year. Makes me think about how things wrap up, how things become complete, how things are started and then how things have a "final touch." Today is my last post for this year, my final touch to two thousand ten.

Have been thinking about the steady hand of children who are focused in their experience. As an educator, it is brilliant to witness the thinking of a child as s/he adds "just one more bit" to their work.

 

It is all about the balance.

To observe the concentration, to observe the use of materials, to observe the assessment of space on paper or carpet as a child - in the one exact moment - decides that this final block, or dash of paint, or placement of a dot is Just Right.

Happiness is so simple.

Ironically, so many people who meet an early childhood educator - yet do not have experience with young children - have sympathy for our chosen career path because 'certainly, children create mad messes everywhere they go'. Ahhhh, well, this is not true.

This piece absolutely goes right here.

Children create the most marvelous pieces of deliberate work, sometimes independently, sometimes collaboratively, all day long in so many incredible schools.

dot, dot, dot, dot.

 Here's the secret (alright, it isn't a secret at all): if given the time and materials, if given the time and materials, if given the time and materials...we each learn how to add the final touch to our own valued work, our own masterpiece.

This should fit right here, exactly, excellent.