places to find hope

The school I worked at for many years was affiliated with a church.
The families and children attending the school didn't have to be of that particular religion yet we did speak of god and holidays associated with a variety of religions.

What I especially loved about being a teacher at this school was witnessing how young children could connect with a spiritual side of feeling and knowing, seemingly deeper than perhaps how adults connect.

There are so many tough things that happen in the world and we all need some form of connection for support and HOPE.

The paintings in the post today are paintings that the children made for one of the church staff who - ironically - had her birthday on Christmas. This staff person had shared so many wonderful stories with the children of how you can find God - HOPE - everywhere, not just in a church.

 

The children made a collection of paintings to share where we thought we could find God ...where we could find HOPE when we need it. 

The original water paintings were made into a book of HOPE.
The book was given to the staff person to thank her for helping us think about the beauty of the world - the beauty of HOPE everywhere.

"falling off a horse going down a hill..."

most days are oh-so-happy-joyful-silly.

Spending my days with young children is the gift of my professional life. It is like nothing else. It is like no other kind of food.

The days and moments with young children are wondrous, magical, hilarious, touching, powerful, joyful.

However.

And, there IS a however.

Not all days can be like the wondrous, magical, joyful ones. It is just how life works.

Some days are difficult, maybe just in a moment, but less wondrous than anyone would want. In particular, some days are not perfectly joyful for children (not just teachers). It is just how life works.

The day of this particular story was one of THOSE days.
The YEAR of this particular story was one of those years where the group of children and teachers had more challenges together. Sometimes, it is just the way it is, no fault of a specific child or teacher or guardian. Sometimes, it is just how personalities vibe together that are challenging - like a recipe that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.

The difficult day had challenges by one four-year-old boy who had had challenges all year.
He had difficulty saying goodbye to his mother that morning - screaming, crying, flailing.
He had challenges making choices for his own play - running in circles, disrupting others' play, yelling.
He had challenges outside on the playground - running through games, throwing bark, poking children. The day for the boy continued to be challenging.

Within the scope of the boy's day, teachers and peers tried to support his energy, give him space to unfurl his frustrations, offer invitations to join a game or activity, and interpret his difficulties in a compassionate way to help him through or out of his frustrations. 
As a class group, we had been working all year on COMPASSION - on understanding that we are all uniquely different and have our own feelings and interests and ways of communicating. 
We had been working all year on respecting each other and valuing each of our contributions to the group. It may sound 'heavy' but it was necessary and quite effective in our discussions as a group. The children as a whole were remarkably compassionate and reflective on how some days  - even at home - we each can be "grumpy" or "mad" or "not right".

This was our day. Full of grumpy and mad and frustration by this one boy. Full of screaming and flailing and disruption.

[You may wonder why this boy stayed at school. You may wonder how this difficult day was allowed to continue.]
It is the way of a school to support to the highest degree sometimes. Other times, perhaps a school sends a child home for a low-grade fever because it is required by law for good health of all at school Yet, with children and teachers in a preschool setting, the actions of each of us and coping and understanding is PART OF THE CURRICULUM. 
It is PART OF WHAT WE ARE TRYING TO LEARN. 
It is school. And, it is how life goes sometimes.

The day happened. Even though it was the one particular boy's difficult day, it was a day that we all endured because we were there, we were there, we were there. 
As a class group, we had discussions about those kinds of days so that all children would feel respected for trying to help each other, for each person trying to still have their own good day, for trying to be compassionate in the way we can be at age four and five (and thiry-something).

We always ended our school days together with "Good Thoughts" for the day. That day was no different:
"I loved painting on the easel"
"I loved playing soccer on recess"
"I loved reading 'Frog and Toad' and drawing the characters"

The next day at school was somehow CALM. No one ever understood the why of it. Some days were just like that. Calm, gentle, friendly. 
At the end of that day, as we got ready to leave the classroom to greet our parents outside, we shared our "Good Thoughts" again. I had offered to the class that today felt a bit better in my heart and I gave thanks for all of us being together.
And then five-year-old friend James said in agreement,
"Yea, today was much better than yesterday!
Yesterday was like...
FALLING OFF A HORSE
GOING DOWN A HILL!"

Yes, James, exactly. Some days are like that.

the marble challenge

the beginning of the story...the beginning of the challenge.

Sometimes the materials we have in a classroom require special introduction.

Sometimes the materials are just waiting to be brought to life.



In the classroom for the these 4s/5s students, there is a basket of marbles available in the block area. The children had been building with usual block materials, making complex systems, constructing and deconstructing designs.
When the children initially started using the marbles, they had used them flat on the carpet, mostly in a large pool of all the marbles together. The children created games that required the marbles to be flicked across the space or rolled them with force to get a marble across a specific area.   (yikes!  potentially not safe, a bit wild, a bit uncontrollable).

sketching ideas for the marble's journey.

I decided to introduce a challenge to the whole group. We began by sitting together in our block area, the children each having a clipboard (which they have used before in projects) and a pencil, and there we sat looking at one marble sitting on one long wood block.

comparing ideas for the marble to travel.

We talked briefly about what we know about this marble already  - it can roll, it is small, it is glass, it is shiny.
AHA! - the marble can ROLL! Keep that in mind!

you can see rollercoaster-like lines on these sketches.

The challenge story was such:

"Please help this marble. It is wanting to go on a journey on its own. For the marble to journey on its own, it needs your help to have a block design for its travels.

There is only one rule: the marble has to be able to keep ROLLING on its own once it starts on its journey. That means, really, each of us can only START a marble on its travels yet then it has to KEEP ROLLING ON ITS OWN as far as you can design an adventure.

Let's use our clipboards to sketch out ideas that might give an opportunity for this marble to roll on its own."






The ideas on paper, the discussions while drawing, and the inventive thinking by the children was inspiring. The children were immediately engaged, challenged and brought new language to the group: 
"The marble needs kind of like a rollercoaster to keep rolling."
"It needs to go up and down and up."
"It needs to not stop. It needs to go fast."

the children worked in partners with basic materials to start, then got more materials as they needed. they used their sketches as reference for discussion with their partner and remembering ideas of UP and ROLLERCOASTER and HIGH.

leaning one block on another for a basic ramp.

simple design to test how FAR the marble can go.

It was interesting to see partners solve particular problems that their designs presented : the marble falling off a block "path" so students added bigger blocks on each side or the starting ramp being adjusted higher or lower to get the marble to the "end zone" where they wanted it to stop.

adding walls for the road to contain the marble.

double starting points, more features, tunnels, and an end box.

group of boys working during choice time to devise a curve for the marble.

road is reinforced with walls for the marble to keep traveling.

layers and layers of blocks create "steps" for the marble to bounce its way down  the trail.

separate tracks, tubes, tunnels, ramp structures, fall off points, complex use of materials.

details over the marble trail, steps, walls, end zone: action!

think different, use other rolling materials, create ROLLING SYSTEMS.

let it roll...

Sometimes it just takes one story about a marble to scaffold children
to a new level of thinking, a new way of manipulating materials, a new way of engaging with peers.

The children are ready: Just offer the story.