four stories

Seeing children as meaning makers of their world.

Bonjour!
Comment ca va?

Today is July 14. Bastille Day. The best day to celebrate French culture.

In honor of Bastille Day, I will share
4 posts that offer a lens to see children as powerful thinkers and meaning makers of the world

Because it is your name.

1. "This Is Me: Self-Portraits"

(pencil, mirror, and one's own face) 

2. "Following Emily"

(a very special post that I hope you have the time to read - following emily might just be the "Aha!" that you have been needing without realizing it! )

Way too fancy for preschoo

3. "Because It Is Your Name"

(very significant from birth. how names are used by children)

4. "Way Too Fancy For Preschool"

(is there such a thing? children and their sense of style from an early age)

Children as active agents in their own learning. Amazing. 

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.

window on learning: teacher field trip!

One of the best best best ways to invigorate my own teaching is by visiting other preschool classrooms. I had the privilege of observing a full morning at my colleague Laura's site [the site name and location remains confidential as per the director's request] which is in the San Francisco Bay Area in the beautiful state of California.

Peek through my 'window on learning':

One student glues the bones of her invented dinosaur to her paper - maybe a long neck? a t-rex? Students had "discovered" bones the day before in their sensory table and this day each child formed their own dinosaur with their findings!

Laura works with one dinosaur designer to name and explain his prehistoric discovery.

Collaboration at its best when many many hands are in on the formation of this flat block design.

Color, shapes, order, sequence, tall, low, and oh-so-organized.

This kind of math exploration is complex and intentional. Do YOU think these children have done this before?

This kind of work is no accident. Dedicated focus to stack stack stack turn turn turn.

Outside writing space under tree, slanted roof, fence-posted mirror and trays of accessible marking tools.

This is an over-sized garden planter box that is a dirt-filled construction site today!

Nature and more nature, crevices for play, large spaces for play, over, under, far and near. Makes you want to Go Play!

The teachers took apart a 'plastic play house' and attached the walls to the fence for dramatic play in the sand box - the red door swings open and the oven on the left pulls forward for all your baking needs! I've never seen this idea before!

Planters, huge trees, and of course children working with dirt and more dirt!

This huge tree is a favorite for climbing, I was told, and check out the swing attached to the pole through the tree! Love it!

Laura has a little meeting with a group in the tire building area - maybe planning a party? solving a debate? talking about their dinosaur inventions?

This girl was fascinated with these small gem of fruit from the tree above her. Laura and the girl figured out they were small "white" plums!

Approaching these tubes is quite a challenge to balance just right, to lean this way, and have your arms that way - then Let Go!  Impressive!

This Peg Board worker explained to me how the orange was "going around and around and around" the red stick.

When I came back to the Peg Board worker, she had started another "around and around" with blue pegs - and this time with a friend helping!

When is the last time YOU laid on your stomach on the carpet, grabbed a sunflower pen and started writing Right There with three pages ready for marking?!!

It is wondrous to visit another school and live the daily routine as the children navigate their way through what they know is School. Seeing my colleague Laura in action with her students was a gift for myself as she is such a talented, kind and patient educator.

Have YOU visited another school lately? It is such a rich professional development - and professional support - experience that allows you a window on learning that would be impossible via blog, article, or video.
BEING THERE amid the life of a school day is priceless.