can you hear me now? "la la la la la!"

At the heart of my commitment to early childhood is my commitment to documentation and photography to capture learning as it unfolds. 
It is a special experience when I discover a photo from a friend that sparks something in me to write a blog post that connects with child development in a specific way.
My high school friend Laura posted a photo of her husband and daughter on a social networking site. The photo caught my attention because - to me - it was clear that the child was making a statement, her own Very Deliberate statement.
It made me think about how some children instinctively Want To Be Heard and Have Something To Say from a very early age.

Can you hear Ella? "la la la la la!"

Mom Laura shared with me that Ella, 22 months, had been attending her big sister's school play. Ella was a bit too disruptive during rehearsal and was 'asked to leave' til the show started. As she left rehearsal, Ella shared her disappointment  "Oh, man!" for all to hear.
After the show, Ella ran right up to the stage and straight to the microphone to sing "la la la la la...!" Dad Isaac was right there with Ella to enjoy her vocals and likely to swoop her away when her solo was completed.
Laura shared that Ella loves to sing and dance and has an extensive vocabulary in English, Spanish and Hebrew. It seems "la la la la" is universal for toddler singing in all languages.

From the educator lens:
1. Children develop their own sense of self, their own sense of wanting to share information or not, their own comfort level in having attention or not.
2. Children have their own motivation to "go straight to the microphone" and yet also it can be something that has been supported by family or school where children have had opportunities to talk and/or share in a trusted group.
3. Children might learn to embrace that role of Sharer or Teller of Information. Some children might not like it still and prefer to have a quieter role.
4. Ensuring the children have opportunities to share their opinions, be an expert (drawing circles, singing La La La, standing on one foot), lead a nature walk, explain their artwork, tell about a favorite book - all these afford authentic contexts for children to speak, lead or explain something. 
5. The "Having Of A Voice" won't always be natural like for Ella yet allowing chances for celebrating what children DO have to say is an absolute gift.

 Here are a few ways that children have a Voice in our classroom:





My 3 year old friend Z created this easel painting and dictated this exciting story.
"This is a rainbow crocodile name Popcorn. She likes to snap and eat people!"






 






My 5 year old friend K created this wood puppet who is holding a paper bouquet of flowers. Here is her story:
"Once upon a time, the puppet went to the forest to get some wood from a tree. It was scary and she saw a ghost but it was really her friend Bear. Then she saw her friend Rabbit.
The End." 










This 4 year old friend climbed one of the ladders in our grove area, spotted something important and made her announcement: "Look! I see my friends way over there!"

This 4 year old friend had private time with all the swings. She kept going from swing to swing to keep them each in motion, round and round, over and over.
She never said a word.

Sometimes, there is nothing to say. Finding an alone space and being with yourself is a beautiful message. Of course, this 5 year old just might be singing or talking to herself in this red tube, we can only imagine.


Thank you to Laura, Isaac and especially Ella for the inspiration for this post on the many many Voices of Children...La la la la la la la!

"Look in my hands!"

Most days at school I am the observer of discovery. Children play and invent and reinvent, and I document and photograph my interpretation of what is happening.
I love my days using my educator lens and valuing the children's work in the very moments it is all unfolding.

There are moments, as well, however, when discovery is delivered to me - literally - by the hands of children. This week, on one particular day, within a short time frame,
2 children came right up to me to show me their most beautiful findings.
My camera was ready.

"Look! I made a heart out of sand!"

"Look! I have a big metal rock and a small black rock!"

I love working in the world of children.

To be allowed to witness the discovery of Amazing and Beautiful things that exist in the world in the spontaneous time frame that children find them - well - that is the reason I continue to teach.

As adults we don't "discover" sand heart or rocks: I know I would not see these things anymore if it weren't for the children.

What have your children discovered lately that was amazing and beautiful?

grab an iPad, hit Pause, then Draw: a 4-year-old IN ACTION

I am always in search for the Next Story for my blog. As in, the Next Story that tweaks my interest when I see or hear something about young children's innovative methods for learning.

I had the good fortune last week to be speaking with a parent in the 3-5s class in which I teach. The dad, Vlada, and I were talking about his 4-year-old daughter Zoe and  - voila! - my Next Story. How amazing that this creative technology story came right to my lap when Vlada told me about how Zoe had been exploring with her iPad at home.

Zoe working at home with her iPad - pausing a scene so she can use her sketch paper to draw a favorite character.

Vlada shared with me how Zoe uses her iPad to watch short children's shows and also do other games on the iPad. A couple weeks ago, Vlada said Zoe started using her iPad - along with paper & pencils - in an unique way:

Zoe would be watching a favorite show on her iPad, then Pause it at a certain point, then turn to use blank paper and pencils to draw details of her favorite characters from the show. Zoe would view her iPad, hit Pause, draw, hit Rewind for a different detailed freeze frame, Pause, and draw further. Zoe would engage this way for long periods of time and has returned to this invented activity many times since Vlada first witnessed Zoe's iPad + Paper art experience. [genius!]

As an educator, I was particularly struck by Zoe's seamless integration of technology, small motor, choice-making, representational efforts with drawing tools, self-direction, and being an agent of one's own learning.

Of course, it is no surprise that children are the best teachers to show us HOW things can be used, turned, pushed, pulled in ways that we as adults would never dream up.
Of course this tech idea came from the best source - a 4-year-old in action.

* Technology use by early learners has been a hot topic for a number of years. Earlier this year, NAEYC put out its statement on Tech + Media. Here is a link to a previously written blog about technology and young children which includes links to the NAEYC Statement: Authentic Ways to Use Technology.

Special thanks to Vlada and Zoe for allowing me

to share their story and photo. 

What do YOU think of Zoe's inventive way

to incorporate technology with her interest in art?

Do you have other children's examples of playing with

or incorporating technology?

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 if the beach was your classroom?

My husband and I just returned from vacation to Kauai, Hawaii. While of course we did our own adult exploring, dining, surfing, boating and such, my eye was never too far to observe children at play. I find it fascinating to see how parents 'allow' play (or don't) when in a vacation setting. 

Free Play? What if the beach - the idea of the beach - was the mentality of how you ran your classroom and determined your role along with the children's roles?

When we were walking along the beaches of Poipu on the south shore, I observed these children playing on the rocks, holding various nets. There was a male adult standing just off the water's edge and as the children would run up the beach, the adult would casually follow to be nearby yet never interfered or directed where the children 'should be.' 
[I must admit, I took some photos trying to look like I was taking a photo of the shoreline - not wanting to appear oddly stalker-ish - yet I was trying desperately to get some shots of the children (no faces) as they embraced their rich play at the water's edge.]

The children would do their own independent searching for treasure of one kind or another then return to their huddle to share their findings.

The adult supported the very youngest child to join the four explorers.

 So, what IF you set the tone of your classroom in the spirit of beach exploration and the adult who was nearby yet not involved directly in the children's play?
So, what IF you set your environment with the basic needs for exploration - blocks, paint, sand, peers - and then you yourself faded into the background ever so sleekly?
So, what IF?
So, why not?
You can YOU CAN allow the environment - the beach, the mountains, the desert, the city - to be your inspiration for exploring in the classroom. Give the children their space and time and - Zella's motto - the children will show you the rest.

respecting children's learning

ZEBRA by PAPER MACHE AND RECYCLABLES.

Most of you know I am a dedicated constructivist educator. I believe in ensuring that children have the time and materials to investigate, explore, problem solve and invent. I truly believe it is a child's right to have - not to be given, but to have - the time and materials to make meaning of their world.

I had the privilege of visiting my colleague Pam's school in Marin, California. Stretch the Imagination offers a "Reggio inspired" program for 3-5s that is filled with discussion, exploration, natural materials, and field experiences to local [incredible] venues for research by the children. Click here to read more about Stretch and founder Michelle Lawton.

I attended an evening event held by the school where teachers were presenting to parents their interpretations regarding their class's discoveries and growth for the year. The presentations were not recounting the calendar experiences of the children. The presentations were an overarching, deeper and wider perspective on the children as a class group from more of a teacher-researcher lens. 

[huge side note: I strongly believe that these are the teachers that should become leaders in our field because Respecting Children's Learning should be modeled, modeled, modeled, exactly as they have done.]

I bring a few photos to afford you a peek into the classroom's documentation and the stunning work by the children. In the classroom, all the children are represented, yet not all the children are represented in every project. This concept allows for a room to breathe, and it allows for educators to be intentional in what they choose to document or display to uplift the overall learning that occurred.

Cheers to the teachers' efforts. Bravo to the children's words and works.

The following images travel from
Self to Artist,
from Words to Photo Memory to Sculpture,
from Sensory to Still Life.

SELF PORTRAIT

THIS IS ME.

THE WORK OF FRIDA KAHLO.

BLACK & WHITE.

HAVE YOU EVER DONE A SELF-PORTRAIT? What colors would YOU use?

COLLAGE WORK with WORDS.

HAPPINESS.

MOON.

ART GALLERY PHOTO MEMORIES.

BOBCAT from PHOTO to BLACK PEN to WATERCOLORS.

PAINTING MOVEMENT OF A WAVE. STUNNING GORGEOUS.

DETAILS OF A TREE OWL. FASCINATING.

BIRD HOUSE.

ELEPHANT by PAPER MACHE AND RECYCLABLES

SHARK by PAPER MACHE AND RECYCLABLES

Sculpture
Work.

"Sculpture has been a large part of our artistic endeavor, both at the Audubon Center with natural materials and in the classroom with found objects."

SENSORY EXPLORATIONS represented in PAINT.

STILL LIFE with an EYE FOR COLOR.

BEGINNING ART APPRECIATION WITH YOUNG CHILDREN.

Take yourself to another school.

Bring a fresh teacher lens to really SEE the learning that teachers make visible.

Look UP, look low, yet especially, look INTENTIONALLY for the children to be the most vital part of the school.

Thanks to Pam and Michelle for inviting me for such a rich visit to a true school for children.

the quiet classroom

End of the school year always brings such mixed feelings for me.

The last two years I have been an instructor at a state university in California and even closing the grades with college age students stills brings the same feelings for me.

The investment, relationships, personalities, understandings, discussions, 'aha' moments, struggles, joys...they are all bundled into the final days at a school and the days afterward when the classroom is so quiet. So very quiet.

how could you NOT miss these faces, these personalities, these people?

For now, though, it is the bittersweet tug-of-war of emotions of being glad for a summer break and also being sad that the group I just finished working with will never form together the same again. I tell people that I can compare it to a business model of work  - it is like every year my entire "department" of colleagues leaves, it just happens that my colleagues are five-years-old. Sigh.

Here is the my favorite, all time favorite, poem that I use when I work with young children and their families. This poem is usually the end paper in the children's individual portfolio books. The poem is the most lovely, quirky, exact compilation of how I feel, what I wish, how I have joy, how I have sorrow.

Here is the incomparable wordsmith talents of Jack Prelutsky:

Today I'm going yesterday as quickly as I can,

I'm confident I'll do it, I've devised a clever plan,

it involves my running backward at a constant rate of speed,

if I'm mindful of my timing I'll undoubtedly succeed.

Today I'm going yesterday I'm moving very fast,

as I'm putting off the future for the rather recent past,

I can feel the pressure fading as I hastily depart,

and look forward to arriving on the day before I start.

Today I'm going yesterday I'm slipping out of sight,

and anticipate I'll vanish just a bit before tonight,

when I reach my destination, I'll compose a note to say,

that I'll see you all tomorrow, which of course will be today.

So, maybe your classroom is Oh So Very Quiet. Yet, you can keep 'going yesterday' and you will hear the joyful noise coming from the walls.

3 ways to steal time back

Don't you love being a GUEST ?

It is such a treat to be invited somewhere to do something and to be a GUEST.

My special Guest Appearance happened today over at the ever-amazing Christie's blog Childhood 101. Christie has her energies focused on her newest adorable member of her family and has scheduled many guest bloggers over these weeks with "mom-in-the-hotseat" or "teacher-in-the-hotseat" posts.

How to get time back? GIVE it to the children.

Click Here To Read The Entire Post Over At CHILDHOOD 101. 

Here are few blog-bites from the post all about the Challenge of Time for Teachers:

Time Stealer #1: Teachers focusing on Teacher Agenda

"...a Time Stealer is when teachers are not “present” with the children in the moment to witness learning, scaffold an experience or take photos and/or document an exploration. Teachers instead have the children “busy enough” in class so that the teacher can prep the NEXT thing they want the children to be engaging in or doing. The day is a blur of next, next, next. "

Steal Time Back #1: Leave room IN your agenda for children’s discoveries to guide your teaching.

"...When you sit down nearby a group of children building in the block area, examine the materials they have chosen, listen in to their drama they created around the Cave for Dinosaurs. Your formal or informal collection of this kind of data in turn authentically informs your teaching for the next day or weeks instead of needing to hurry up to prep a butterfly art project that has no connection to what the children are really DOing."

Time Stealer #2: Teachers impose their exact way for children to do something

"...This kind of ‘teaching’ usually has a complimentary “Don’t press the brush” “Don’t dip in two colors” “Don’t use too much paint”. Not a favorite style of mine. This is a Time Stealer because children don’t require our guidance in this way."

Steal Time Back #2: The classroom environment is set for children to USE and EXPLORE materials and tools on their own. 

"...Yet, really, does paint require a How To? What if children surprised you with how they mixed and dabbled and smushed and dotted different colors? Wouldn’t that enrich your understanding about that child’s creativity and exploration with color and tools? Would all the colors being mixed to brown be the worst thing? Would smashed bristles on a paint brush be the worst thing? Would paint dripping off the easel be the worst thing? All of these can be used in a discussion of “Oh, what happened here?”...  If teachers let go of How To, there will be huge amounts of Time given back to exploration in all areas of the classroom. You don’t need to teach children how to play. We need to let children show us how they play."

Time Stealer #3: Teachers need to Prep and Clean all day

"Teachers need to wash, disinfect, sort, stack, prep, organize all day long with food, materials, and children’s items. Teachers allow this part of our job to Become Our Job all day. "

 Steal Time Back #3: Teachers partner with children to care for the classroom.

"...Children who take ownership of the classroom have a much stronger role in the care of the classroom. When children are in an environment where they choose their materials and tools, have extended choice time to play, and have authentic relationships with teachers, they in turn have an awareness of the care that is required for their classroom and desire to be caring members...

Children learn sorting, sequencing, organizing, as well as being a member of a group, helping, and recognizing what a ‘cleaned up’ classroom looks like."

Hmmm. Who would have known that the best way to GET TIME BACK FOR TEACHERS is to GIVE IT TO THE CHILDREN ?

oh, so simple...so very very simple.

"thinking about sharks"

maybe painting about the word HAPPY makes this child happy.

What

makes

a child

happy?

[pause...tilt your head, squint one eye, twist your mouth...ponder.]

Now, let me pose the question in a different way:

Ask a child to explain to you what makes them happy.

And Then, tell me the answer.

LIKELY ~ what YOU think makes a child happy

might be quite different than what THEY say.

LIKELY ~ your child might answer right in the moment, right then,

and tell in their own colorful way what makes them happy.

[quite likely.]

So, certainly, what YOU think makes them happy might well be true, no doubt.

sure looks like happiness to me!

YOU KNOW your child loves soccer or ice cream or all-things-glitter...

Yet, isn't part of the joy of happiness how each person can have their own sense of it? Their very own version of how life feels to them, tastes, quiet, loud, big, bright, funny, purple?

Young children know very very early on what makes them happy.

They really do know.

My former colleague, Megan, a dear friend and mother extraordinaire to 3 year old Tavo, was my inspiration for this post. She had shared on a social network about Tavo and his musings to her about what makes HIM happy. Here is the short - yet so very sweet and insightful - exchange:

Mom Megan: "Tavo, what makes you happy?"

3 year old Tavo: "Thinking, drinking hot cinnamon, and relaxing."

I imagine Tavo sitting next to Megan or maybe looking right up to her, offering this answer in a way that surprises her in a charming way and yet probably doesn't surprise her as these 3 things are likely very dear to him in his life. Likely, the relaxing or the thinking are part of his personality already. Likely, the hot cinnamon is something Megan and Tavo share occasionally (I don't know what that is, but it sure sounds good on this rainy California night!).

I imagine how wonderful that a 3 year old has a sense of "relaxing" and that it is something that he seeks out to do.

I imagine how powerful that a 3 year old has a sense of  "thinking" and that he is the boss of his own thoughts.

Makes me happy just thinking about Tavo's response.

I asked my Zella friends on FB about what makes their child happy.

Some shares included the parents' ideas about what they know their children enjoy: play time, cheese, Dora, basketball!

Hmmm, maybe the boy would also be happy swimming with alligators?

Another reader who is an early childhood teacher shared a child's answer from a class discussion [which became the short title for this post]: "The boy said he felt happy when he was swimming in a cool pool thinking about sharks."

wow. who could have known this? only the boy.

ask your child. 

and then, please share their response - you'll be happy you did :)