children + movement from the ground up

The work of children to learn movement, to coordinate their arms and legs to move themselves forward, to gain muscle control, to keep their head up while in motion, to establish a sense of balance and .... well, there is so much learning going on in every moment for very young children.
Quite impressive, really.

Rowan on her own adventure in the park with dad John and pug Stella up ahead.

My college friend Jennie posted this photo on a social media site of 14 month old daughter Rowan. Jennie shared that Rowan, dad John and pug Stella were at a local park. When John went ahead to catch up with Stella, Rowan took the initiative to catch up with them. Jennie took this wonderful shot of Rowan's adventure forward.

Appreciate the WORK that Rowan initiated for herself to cross this field.

The photo struck me from an early childhood educator lens in 2 ways.
First, I was in awe of Jennie's perspective taking to give Rowan the focus, her left arm in grand reach motion, her back right leg seemingly just slightly in motion as well. Dad John and pug Stella are blurred in the background yet clearly the goal for Rowan as she tackles crawling one arm/leg combo at a time. How far does Dad and Stella look to Rowan - a football field away?

Arm, leg, head up, hat on, and In Motion.

Second, I was struck simply by Rowan. The photo really allows me to appreciate - to almost feel - the effort required by a 14 month old to move across the grass field. Think about what Rowan might be thinking: I want to be with my dad and dog. Think about what Rowan might be feeling: With every movement, her knees and shoes and hands FEEL the cool grass, the tiny flowers, the clumpy dirt, and any other obstacles that anyone who is not crawling would not feel. The smell of the grass deepens with every movement. Think about if your own head was merely a foot above the ground, straining to look up and forward, to keep that neck muscle working to keep the body in position to move forward. Wow. I am a little exhausted just thinking about attempting this in my 40+ year old body!

This photo made me think about how each young child is really on their own "independent study" as though in graduate level course work at a university:

• Each child is on their own to feel motivated, to be allowed freedom to move, to test out their body's abilities, to engage in their family life in the way that they can at their age and developmental level.
• No one can "teach" Rowan to crawl across this grass field nor motivate her to do so.
• No one can teach Rowan to coordinate left arm with right leg, then the opposite.
• I love that Rowan has her freedom to GO in order that she can do her own needed work from the ground up.

Quite impressive, really.

As Rowan moves forward in her abilities, she'll be able to establish more complicated ways of engaging with the ground. Here are "future" possibilities for Rowan as development and peers and tools are incorporated:

1. Maybe Rowan will want to stand and play with water and share with a friend.

2. Maybe Rowan will want to crawl under and across a parachute!

3. Maybe Rowan will run and capture a parachute in motion with friends!

4. Maybe Rowan will run with a hula hoop in motion and try to capture the hoop or even dive through it on the field!

5. Maybe Rowan will try on 2 hula hoops, put her hands in the air and put her whole body in motion to get both hoops in motion! [wow!]






















BEING IN MOTION is amazing, complicated and healthy.
However, LEARNING TO BE IN MOTION is quite an incredible journey from a very young age and requires time and time and time to give it a GO.

MANY THANKS to Jennie, John and Stella the pug for being part of this blog post today. My special thanks to Rowan for inspiring me to appreciate the joy of learning to be in motion from the ground up. 
Quite impressive, really.

what children hear...

Was out shopping today at a gorgeous outdoor shopping center in California.

Was sitting on a bench that had two lovely trees as bookends.

"Look! This tree has an umbrella shaped top!" -- "What? We are going to Jamba Juice?"

Each tree had been specially trimmed to have its branches arranged in a flat top that fanned out, almost like a spider web design, and also was twisted with small lights which turn on at dusk.

As I was sitting having coffee, a mother with two young boys started walking by.

The mother stopped the boys right in front of me and said:

"Boys, look at the top of this tree. When the leaves come in it will look like an umbrella!"

The youngest boy spun around on one foot and looked all around.

The older boy, perhaps five years old, looked straight at his mother and replied:

"What did you say? We are going to Jamba Juice?"

[Jamba Juice is a well known chain of juice stores  - there is one in the background of the photo.]

The mother burst out laughing, as did I. 

The mother said, "No, I didn't say we were going to Jamba Juice. I said, look at this tree and see how it has an umbrella shape at the top."

"Oh," said the older boy. "So, we are not getting juice?"

"Come on, boys, time to keep walking..."

The mother and I smiled at each other.

Off they went.

I am still smiling.

How often do YOU have the experience of the "selective listening" or the "edit to one's advantage" kind of listening by your children or students? It does happen, I know it does.

no doubt fearless

Children just ARE who they are - absolutely - even at a very very young age. They already have that sense of self, somehow, that brings some attitude, some "of COURSE I can do that", some leadership and charisma.

It is one of my favorite parts of my role as an early childhood educator - to meet 4-year-olds who just "get it" already, can socialize, have opinions, have plans and questions and don't want to miss a second of school life.

Didn't matter to Ava that supplies were high - she always got what she needed!

Here is one such girl. I will call her Ava [yet I change all the names of students in my blog for their privacy].

Ava was a Go-Getter, a Do-It-My-Selfer, and a Nothing Is Too Hard For Me kind of girl.

However, I didn't know that Ava at first.

When her family first visited our school to consider applying, I met with them and with Ava. I loved the family, loved Ava and certainly thought they could be a match for our school.

My concern was that I was a teacher of young-fives at a school where we were the youngest and everything in our school was set for elementary-AGED children and, accordingly, elementary-SIZED students.
Ava was not petite - she was strong and a fast runner and capable - yet her height was far below a typical range for height for 4 or 5 year olds.

I was fearful she would not be able to participate in some things, that she wouldn't be able to climb on the big playground climber, that all the stairs and steps at our big school would wear her out everyday.

However, none of that was a concern for the family. Ava was talkative, busy and full of energy. She was a great match for a young-fives program and would be a great addition to our class culture. We discussed that time would allow us to see how Ava would adapt to school and that we would make adjustments on her behalf if necessary.

Nothing was needed. No changes were necessary. Ava embraced her school environment and it embraced her.

In the classroom, Ava had no issues that kept her from doing what she wanted to do, used materials as she needed, and navigated her way around independently.

Ava was NO DOUBT FEARLESS. 

Teachers and families often have concerns for their children that are grounded in the right ideals of wanting children to be safe, capable, successful. 

Yet, we often don't realize that we equally must give credit to the child that they can adapt and meet the challenges or expectations of whatever [school, a sports team, a transition]. 

Ava reminds me that each person is THEIR OWN PERSON. 

Ava has been herself HER WHOLE LIFE and never considers anything impossible.

Ava knew she could do school before her family or myself knew she could do school.

OF COURSE Ava could do school...of course.
 

How many NO DOUBT FEARLESS children have you met?

the big art show!

Parents and guardians. Invaluable in the success of a school year on so many levels : support, communication, volunteer work.

parent/artist showing an abstract art piece & using the view finder

This particular year, we had an amazing opportunity to work with a parent in our 4s/5s class who was a professional artist!

step 1: watercolor!

The parent and teaching staff collaborated about the concept of this project.

We discussed the process, the materials, the timeline, and the storage during the process.
 

step 2: scraping tempura paint!

We discussed:
"WHY are we doing this?" 
"What do we do with the art?" 
and the specific goals of how children should be the creative forces as they gain unique skill from working with a professional artist. 

step 2: spreading tempura paint!

The first component was to have the children work with large art paper to engage in Abstract Art. The process was going to have three visits to their work to add layers : 1. Watercolors with brushes 2. Tempura type paint with scrapers and rollers and 3. Pen details and symbols with rulers as an option.

step 3: pen work for lines and symbols!

Each week the children would "revisit" their dried work and make decisions as to how much of the next process they would add. There was a reflective component where the children were examine their own work and that of their peers to admire and "discover" color or lines or swirls: Art Appreciation at its best.

Looking closer at our Abstract Art with the Viewfinder!

The second component of the process was for the children to examine close-up sections of their work with their "view finder" like an I SPY game.

They would search amid their own painting to find a section that caught their eye, we would take a photo of that section, and then they would describe it or name it. For example, one boy's overall painting was called "Rollercoaster" and one of his viewfinder sections was called "Upside Down!"

artist discusses with student.

student describes action of his art!

  

students wrote signs to guide our visitors to our exhibits.

The final component: The Big Art Show! We welcomed our entire school community to our classroom to admire and celebrate our work. This celebration was part of our All-School celebration when all classes are inviting parents and the school community to appreciate their work, as well. As a side note, we also had three other exhibits in our classroom at that time to uplift other work we had been doing all year - incredible work by this class group!

giant display boards with the student photo, their Abstract work and their 3 viewfinder frames!

parents sit on the center bench of the art rotunda to appreciate all the children's work!

a student describes her work to a visiting teacher!

The Art Show. Incredible. Our visitors were so impressed. 
Many were wanting to have the the art show displayed in our local town, in a real art studio! [we couldn't because of some other factors, yet the idea was fabulous!].
Because we were a project based classroom, we were so fortunate to have a parent who was "an art expert" that could share with students in a process oriented way AND offered the students an experience that allowed us to create our own museum. The riches of this journey - to have a parent take on a three month commitment to our class - was priceless. 

appreciation for the half-alive flower

the appreciation that comes when you SEE a child loving school.

Today is "national teacher appreciation" day.

School communities come together in a chosen way to say 'thank you' to their teachers.
Certainly, a lovely gesture overall.

Over the years, I have absolutely appreciated being appreciated by the families in my class.

It has often been a dear, sweet gift of TIME out of the classroom for a hosted lunch. Or, perhaps a collective gift made by the children during some "top secret" project time that the teachers didn't know about (we did, but we said we didn't :)

"Oh, wow, look at that...!"

painted vases, colorful murals, scrapbooks of amazing photos, magical wands, artwork and letters and songs and dances...

My favorite part is saying Thank You back to the children and families to see their delighted faces that THEIR efforts to appreciate me were truly appreciated.

 

Here's the thing, though:
I have never needed this exact, planned appreciation from the children and families.

I have always received appreciation daily from them
in the moments that are just flickers: 
1.  the hand on my arm to check in about something
2. the half-alive flower brought by the student from their garden that morning
3. the "good morning" hug, and even more wonderful -
4. the child who says HELLO and just strides right past me to get to their friends who are already playing in the classroom.

I am very appreciative of my job because it is actually my life.  

I am appreciative of the families that have given me the stories that have made up my school memories and, in turn, the content of this blog.

Cheers to 

being grateful, appreciative and thankful for the FLICKERS of wonder that make up a teacher's day.

Hope YOU have a day with flickers and moments...

from, zella.