 Commotion on the ocean! Our preschoolers LOVE ocean animals so we decided to spend a few weeks learning about the creatures, coral reefs, animals, and environments of the ocean. By adding sharks, fish, whales, jellyfish, eels, starfish, and shells to our dough, moon sand, and water beads, we created several science and sensory stations to capture the imaginations of our little learners. Of course it is EASY to have lots of meaningful conversations stemming from these natural elements of play.
  Even our littlest learners (ESPECIALLY our tiny tots) get to play and learn along side their older preschool playmates. We do not separate by age, rather, we diligently work to create an inclusive environment for our students of all abilities and ages and by the looks on their faces I would say it is a grand SUCCESS!!! The importance of daily sensory play for preschool."Sensory activities facilitate exploration and naturally encourage children to use scientific processes while they play, create, investigate and explore. The sensory activities allow children to refine their thresholds for different sensory information helping their brain to create stronger connections to process and respond to sensory information." - http://www.educationalplaycare.com/blog/sensory-play-important-development/  "Here are 5 reasons why sensory play is beneficial:
We LOVE sensory play for calming an anxious child. We have several children in our preschool with varying degrees and varieties of SPD's. Water beads, sand, and dough's give these children a calm focus and allow them ample self-directed play time's that provide them with total control of themselves and quiet play practice with others. We also have added lots of math and language arts with our Ocean Commotion studies with our curriculum partners at Mother Goose Time! See our following posts for how simple shells provide fun hands-on opportunities for matching, adding, subtracting, and sorting here at Woolsey Academy!
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This week we began by learning that all planets fall into one of two categories. They are all either gas planets or rock planets and this week we focused on the rock planets. But first....we had to learn one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE space songs. It is from the old Blue's Clues shows. This one never gets old...just take a look and a listen!  One of our darling astronauts! One of the things I LOVE about studying space with preschooler's is that there is a WEALTH of great children's literature on the subject like this one! And this one! We were immersed in space words like "Sun", "Earth" and "Mars" with our emergent reader book from Mother Goose Time! I love the word pointers that emphasize our site words like "look", "up", and "and". They draw attention to our special words and make it easy for our little learners to find their site words in these emergent readers and in our other space books too. We use them to write the words and turn it into a matching game. In addition to stories and songs we received some new Tangram puzzles from our curriculum partners at Mother Goose Time with a special space theme. We built rockets, a space station, the Sun, and astronauts using diamonds, squares, circles,triangles, and hexagons! Our preschoolers played this again and again and it is the perfect way to teach shapes minus the flashcards! We observed how we can use shapes to make pictures of things we recognize!!  Tangram puzzles are amazing for developing a math and logic minds and we utilize them daily here at Woolsey Academy.
"During my psychology training, one of my lecturers used to say that if you gave a child no other math instruction bar Tangrams for one whole year, they would be more advanced mathematically than if you followed the regular math curriculum. The simplicity of this bold statement has stuck with me ever since. Imagine if something as simple and fun as playing with Tangrams could really advance math skills more than a year of regular instruction?! While I have not found anyone willing to try this experiment (yet!), I recently employed Tangrams in my Math Genius club with great success."https://catherinehallissey.com/2012/12/21/tangrams-the-easy-way-to-develop-mathematical-thinking-skills/ These seemingly simple puzzles are full of potential and possibilities. They are easily configured to any topic and can be reused and redesigned as the child's logic grows. Math, Science, Music, Movement, and Literature! This was a great beginning to our week studying the rock planets! As always, we wish you well and we hope you get to play today. L  Our preschool learning and fun takes us to outer space all month long! This week we are studying "Space from Earth" as we discover the stars, sun, moon, astronomers, and comets! Basic Concepts To Reinforce At Home: Letters: Rr, Ss, and Zz Numbers: 13 and 14 Color: Yellow Shape: Star Of course we have lots of music, songs, stories, arts and crafts, dramatic play, and S.T.E.M. in store for our little learners as we BLAST OFF into another play-filled month of curiosity! Just look at what we have done so far! Constellations Mapping and Star Size RecognitionI LOVE the interactive and engaging method for teaching our young learners to recognize small, medium, and large stars WHILE becoming familiar with patterns high in the sky! We received these from our education partners at Mother Goose Time and they were an instant hit! So far we have learned to recognize the constellations Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Orion, and the Big Dipper! You can help make this come to life as you take me outside and gaze at the stars pointing these out as you see them in the night sky! Oh Mister Sun, Sun, Mister Golden Sun.... We discovered that the sun is a fiery ball of gas that is VERY big! We painted with red and yellow and observed that as we swirled the colors together they made shades of orange. We learned that the 3-D shape of the sun is a sphere, but that we were making our suns on "circle's". Even our littlest bitty was able to join in the this science and sensory painting experience. Up In Space! A Counting Book by Chris Lensch "Up In Space, A Counting Book," by Chris Lensch has to be one of my FAVORITE new space books. It includes the names of the planets, simple facts about gas planets and rock planets, and it counts backward, then forward and back again! It is an educator's dream for reinforcing math and science in a beautifully illustrated piece of preschool literature! Thank you, Mother Goose Time for providing this for us educators! Our "Number Stars" game work seamlessly with "Up In Space!" We played this sweet and simple game two ways. First, we used the cards with our glow in the dark stars to count one to one recognizing the number on each card and then counting correctly the corresponding number of starts. Secondly, we used our cards and lined them up in order from 1-10 and then from 10-1, making sure each number was in it's proper place! Our own little telescopes help encourage us to star gaze!   Many of our little learners immediately turned our bright blue and star stickered cylinders into megaphones, hooting and hollering to their neighbors. But many understood the concept of what a telescope is and that it helps us to see far into outer space. We were excited to take these home and look up into the night sky to see the planets, moon, and stars!
We will continue to discover comets and asteroids in the coming days, rock planets, gas planets, and methods of how we research and study about the galaxies all around us. We are moving and grooving our way through March with some exploration, discovery, and most importantly....play. As always, we wish you well and we hope you get to play today! - L  This month our studies took us all around the world. We visited The Great Wall of China, The Grand Canyon, The Serengeti, Matterhorn, and The Great Pyramids of Egypt. But this little lesson about the picture language of the ancient Egyptians captivated us all. We received this from our curriculum partners at Mother Goose Time and we immediately observed that different pictures had letters that they symbolized. We discussed how we use pictures too on our phones to convey words and emotions, so we are not so different from the people from very long ago. We turned this lesson into an opportunity to spell our names in hieroglyphics. I think the smiles below tell the story very well of how engaging this was for our students..
I loved the hieroglyphic alphabet! 
Our 4 and 5 year olds quickly cut out their letters and pasted them in proper order noticing that their names were no longer made out of "A's, b's, and c's" but rather, 'bird, staff, hand, palm leaf, water!" Our 2's and 3's practiced cutting out their letters and some asked for help while others arranged and rearranged their letters until they got it just right! 
This lesson made reading their names more challenging as they had to find their individual paper to take home after it dried!
Silly and sweet and ready to read!! All in a day of play at Woolsey Academy! As always, we wish you well and we hope you get to play today! -L This is the way we learn about our world!
With literature provided to us from Mother Goose Time, "Let's Wonder Around The World," by Leslie Falconer and Chris Lensch, we learn to recognize places around the world and that children live and go to school near these places. We learn to recognize the special places near our own hometown! This is the way we learn how about mountain goats of Matterhorn!
This is the way we learn to read!
This is the way we discover the pyramids!
Each and every day we read, play games, learn, laugh, draw, create, and discover with our little learners.
All in a day of play with Woolsey Academy! As always, we wish you well and we hope you get to play today!! -L  Every once in a while a wonderful book crosses my path that explains complex concepts with ease. During our cultural study with Mother Goose Time's, "It's a Small World" we are observing peoples, traditions, foods, and clothes of different cultures around the world. It is giving us lots of opportunity to discuss what makes us similar and unique! "What If The Zebras Lost Their Stripes," by John Reitano deals with the topic of racism with childlike innocence. One of the things I LOVE about small children is that they don't even know to notice skin tone as something that makes them different from another anyway. They will excitedly relay to us how "My fwiend and me look JUST alike, Ms. Donna!!" because they are both in ponytails or they both have pink shoes. Small children only "hate" when someone takes their favorite doll or gets to "their" swing first. "I HATE 'dem, Ms. Donna!" to which we are able to reply, "You may be upset that you someone took your toy, but let's work together to fix it!" Children readily see past the surface and take note of acts of kindness, smiles, and silly moments shared. When a child does point out someone in a book with features or tones that they consider different than themselves, we discuss it. We then move to the things we have in common with different cultures; because you know what??? If we spend too much time focusing on things that make us different, we fail to see all the unique beauty we each possess that draws us closer to one another. If we can draw any universal truth from history, it is that we are all in this together. And THAT is a concept worth teaching. While searching for new books at a local outlet I came across what, at first glance, was a book about Zebras. "Perfect!" I thought as I quickly scooped it into my basket thinking I found a book about African animals. It was SO much more! "What If Zebra's Lost Their Stripes," by John Reitano easily explains to my students how silly it is to decide if we like someone by shades of light and dark of a meek shell that embraces the soul. "What if Zebras lost their stripes, and some lost black and some lost white? Would they think that it's all right, or would Zebras start to fight?" The poignant message of this sweet book with beautiful illustrations by William Haines, and great rhyme and meter, is that the color of their fur is not their doing as it asks "What if they lost their stripes?" "Teach only love, for that is what you are." |
 | Sweet Peppa joined us in making our very own volcanoes to celebrate our final week with the dinosaurs! With lots of paint, some paper bowls, and bit of red tissue paper and some imagination, we turned these raw materials into some hot S.T.E.A.M play for our little preschoolers.  |
Even our bitty ones get to build those little pincer grasps, create with colors, mix paints, and experience Creative Arts through play. We simply put them in their highchairs and let them determine how long and how much they want to participate. This is vital to proper development and our mixed-age approach to learning provides LOTS of sensory awareness and practice through play.
Our curriculum partners at Mother Goose Time understand and promote this approach to learning and provide materials for every child in our group ages 9 mos-5 years!
Our curriculum partners at Mother Goose Time understand and promote this approach to learning and provide materials for every child in our group ages 9 mos-5 years!
"Art has the role in education of helping children become like themselves instead of more like everyone else." - Sydney Gurewitz Clemens
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Mix in some Science!
We couldn't resist the opportunity to create some baking soda volcanoes with our home made dough, vinegar, and baking soda! This is the recipe we use for our ever popular homemade dough. We add glitter, sparkles, confetti, food coloring, etc. depending on our current monthly themes. It is by far the very BEST recipe we have EVER used!!
Materials
Materials
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup salt
- 1 tablespoon cream of tartar
- Food coloring
- Saucepan
- 1 cup flour
- Combine water, oil, salt, cream of tartar, and food coloring in a saucepan and heat until warm.
- Remove from heat and add flour.
- Stir, then knead until smooth. The cream of tartar makes this dough last 6 months or longer, so resist the temptation to omit this ingredient if you don't have it on hand.
- Store this dough in an airtight container or a Ziploc freezer bag.
And a dash of Emergent Reading...
This week we studied the letters "V" and "E: for volcano and we practiced using it in our word puzzles. We found the letter sounds at the beginning, middle, and end of the words. This helped us understand the how the letters sound and what it means for a word to "start with" a certain letter.
Dino Tic-Tac-Toe!! We added a new game to take home!
Our Dino Make and Take game began as a fine motor skill building activity that was quickly embraced as our little learners excitedly understood that they would be taking THIS game home to share with moms and dads! We carefully cut along the dotted lines and asked the teachers and our friends for help when we felt we needed it. We worked diligently to create our rectangular pieces. Some needed a bit of tape, but that just makes the process even more fun!!
Why do we send these seemingly simple games home?
In closing this week, I leave you with this...
And that wraps up our month of playing with the dinosaurs at Woolsey Academy.
As always, I wish you well and I hope you get to play today...
-L
Week Three With The Dinosaurs: Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes! (and maybe a claw or two!)
1/23/2018
Seriously? Do they make them ANY cuter?? I get to spend my days filled with the most DARLING Wild Things!!
Our dinosaur hats set the pace for this fun filled and educational week. This week our dinosaur studies focused on Dinosaur Bodies and we learned about their heads, bones, habitats, and foods.
We learned that some dinosaurs had heads as big as a car and some were very small. As we further discussed the types of foods they ate, we discovered that their heads and teeth were larger for the the meat eaters and seemed smaller for the veggie eaters. We hypothesized that maybe it is because it is harder to chew up a burger than a lettuce leaf so maybe they needed those big teeth to help them survive!
Our dinosaur hats set the pace for this fun filled and educational week. This week our dinosaur studies focused on Dinosaur Bodies and we learned about their heads, bones, habitats, and foods.
We learned that some dinosaurs had heads as big as a car and some were very small. As we further discussed the types of foods they ate, we discovered that their heads and teeth were larger for the the meat eaters and seemed smaller for the veggie eaters. We hypothesized that maybe it is because it is harder to chew up a burger than a lettuce leaf so maybe they needed those big teeth to help them survive!
Check out our Wild Things!!
These haute hats were courtesy of our education partners at Mother Goose Time and went along with our weekly lesson about dinosaur bodies. We discussed the things that all dinosaurs had in common which were eyes and teeth. Some dinosaurs had noses on their heads and some had big teeth while others were quite small, but they all had them. As we cut and pasted and placed our dino's facial features where we thought they should go we were learning about the proper geometric placement of facial features which is a developmental milestone in young learners. (Chalk up another win for the team for making learning into play!! Way to go team Woolsey Academy!!!)
Puzzles, puzzles everywhere!!
Our education partners at Mother Goose Time sent us some simplistic puzzles that went along with our newest book, "Jurassic Jam". Our students excitedly recognized the characters and went to work building each three piece puzzle back into it's proper single unit form. Keeping fresh materials (like new puzzles) available for our little learners is vital to development as it "Allows children to learn that a whole is made of parts. Develops hand-eye co-ordination and fine motor skills. Builds visual-perceptual skills. Develops attention, concentration and thinking skills such as recognizing, remembering, matching, sorting and problem sorting." - https://www.lifeslittletreasures.org.au/prematurity/support-for-families/prematurity-articles/how-puzzles-can-help-your-child-develop/
Card Sharks!
I think the backward cap says it all when it comes to how seriously this crew takes it's card playing! We LOVE card games and this one was a dinosaur card game based on the old favorite "War". The cards each had a differing number of dinosaurs on their face from 1-10 and the children had to count the dinosaurs quickly as a card was drawn to determine who had the card with the "most" dinosaurs on it. The card with the most took the all the cards with "fewer" dinosaurs. This is a complex math concept for young children that is easily mastered when put into a game format. During this game one of our teachers sat in to aid in "following the rules" and "recognizing more and less."
In the article, "Using Card Games To Teach Basic Math Skills" by Sheldon Soper states that cards are a great way to teach children math skills utilizing a social format that is FAR more fun than worksheets and I AGREE!!!
"There are three reasons I love this approach:
"There are three reasons I love this approach:
- Playing cards are cheap and readily available.
- Card games are timeless, portable, and fun (read: way more fun than practice worksheets)
- Card games incorporate family members and fellow students in the learning process making it collaborative and social"
Dinosaur Skeletons and Oodles of Noodles!
Using LOTS glue of differing types of noodles was a fun and effective way to compare the different types of bones in a dinosaurs body. This activity was part of our S.T.E.M. and discovery provided by Mother Goose Time. Our children determined what types of noodles they felt best looked like legs, spines, and heads!
Lots of opportunities to build our knowledge of Language Arts!
“Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment.” (Zig Ziglar)
Our Dinosaur Emergent Reader books from Mother Goose Time have been read again, and again, and again. Repetition gives children predictable outcomes that lay solid foundations for learning complex concepts. These books are now memorized and predictable so the next steps can be made from holding and hearing the books to beginning reading and writing. Since our students can follow along with each word and count the number while recognizing the types of dinosaurs it is a natural progression to show them which words, names, and numbers go with the pictures. This information is easily retained as it is predictable. We can then move to writing the numbers and words as pictured here.
We picked a page and some writing strips to focus on two to three words of the sentence. We recreated those words as we carefully recognized the name "Stegosaurus" and the number "4" in the sentence. We worked diligently to copy the text as written in the book.
This provides excellent writing practice, word recognition, and a sense of pride upon completion!
Regular writing opportunities in the classroom also allow us as teachers to assess in real time how our students are progressing along with their emergent writing skills. These skills begin as a child's first scribbles and progress along a predictable path.
Each stage is just as important as the next and cannot be skipped!!
These activities are just a small part of the fun we have had learning all about dinosaur bodies!! From songs to stories, heads to toes, we are singing, dancing, reading, and writing our way as petite paleontologists all month long at Woolsey Academy!
As always, we wish you well and we hope you get to play today!!
-L
As always, we wish you well and we hope you get to play today!!
-L
I just LOVE the photo-bomb cutie is the background of this sweet pic! My little One'asaurus in the foreground is busily painting her Triceratops with greens, browns, and white.
Look at that developing grasp!! Swoon...
But my little Three'asaurus in the background is focused in his explorations with our "Eye Spy" paper glasses provided by our education partners at Mother Goose Time that came as part of our dinosaur themed Emergent Reader book,
This week we focused on 5 popular dinosaurs similarities and differences.
We learned the words "herbivore" and "carnivore" and what those meant. We also discovered that we, as humans, are "omnivores" since we eat both meat and plants. We discussed the different types of plants that we eat like apples, oranges, and lettuce. We wondered if the dinosaurs might have liked those pants too?
Look at that developing grasp!! Swoon...
But my little Three'asaurus in the background is focused in his explorations with our "Eye Spy" paper glasses provided by our education partners at Mother Goose Time that came as part of our dinosaur themed Emergent Reader book,
This week we focused on 5 popular dinosaurs similarities and differences.
We learned the words "herbivore" and "carnivore" and what those meant. We also discovered that we, as humans, are "omnivores" since we eat both meat and plants. We discussed the different types of plants that we eat like apples, oranges, and lettuce. We wondered if the dinosaurs might have liked those pants too?
The making of a GREAT week!
"Explode," by Dancing Beats from Mother Goose Time is the newest addition to our YouTube Dinosaur Dance playlist. It is perfect for helping our tiny dino's how to move and groove to the beat with easy to follow dance steps they can quickly mimic and master!
We are the Dinosaurs!
NO preschool day is complete without LOTS of singing, dancing, and wiggling to the music
This one is a HIT and always has them begging to "STOMP!"
This one has been great to help them learn dinosaur names and it has all of us singing in an Aussie accent!
And of course, the Dinosaurs A to Z song!!
But we're not just singing and dancing all day....we have SO much more to do!
Like building with dinosaur bones to make a T-rex or Pterodactyl!
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We painted with friends as we counted 17 bony plates on the Stegasaurus.
We built geometric awareness as we used shapes as materials to construct a dinosaur!
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We practiced rhythm and patterns with out newest book (and a whole lot of instruments), "Jurassic Jam!"
| Jurassic Jam provided by our educational partners at Mother Goose Time, provides a great rhythm and meter as each page describes a grand gathering of dinosaur friends cheerfully entertaining on their instruments. Our students quickly caught onto the patterns presented and began finishing the sequence by stories end.. | |
And we are reading even more dinosaur books each day! We LOVE these....
We are learning about dinosaurs each day as we count our way up to 31! Even our daily circle time board is dino themed!
We have been matching our dinosaur friends to their information cards and learning about each one! This week we have discovered dinosaurs as long as several buses put together and one as small as a mouse!
From Music and Movement to Science and Discovery this week has been FULL of opportunity for dinosaur discovery and education through play!
As always, I wish you well and I hope you get to play today! -L
As always, I wish you well and I hope you get to play today! -L
Being stuck inside can become dull quickly with a group of energetic preschoolers, but this month we decided to study all things "Dinosaur" with our educational partners at Mother Goose Time.
Our little learners discovered what a Paleontologist is and does as they dug into fun with this science and math filled week.
Our little learners discovered what a Paleontologist is and does as they dug into fun with this science and math filled week.
Language and Literacy
 Our Field Journals provide Language Arts for our Emerging Readers, writing and pre-writing practice with shapes, letters, and numbers; plus plenty of space for recording our own observations! |   |
We began our week discovering what the word "Paleontologist" means - a person (scientist) that studies the history of life. In this history we are studying dinosaur bones. We then discussed what an "Excavation Site" was as we made our very own dirt dough to excavate and imprint fossils in to take home and share with our families.
Science and Sensory
Our dirt dough was made with coffee grounds, flour, salt, and water all measured and mixed to create a soil like consistency. This provided full sensory immersion into our fossil review as our Paleontologists pressed dino feet, heads, and bodies into mounds of "mud" then placed them into the oven to harden, simulating the solid fossils like those found in real digs.
Q-tips and our favorite homemade dough make easy to create fossils.
Our teachers joined in the fun creating Pterodactyls, Brontosaurus, and T-Rex (always the crowd favorite!)
Our teachers joined in the fun creating Pterodactyls, Brontosaurus, and T-Rex (always the crowd favorite!)
Units of Measure
 | It is important to provide little learners with tools that allow them to explore complex concepts like "fossils" and these little assorted dinosaur fossils that we ordered from Amazon fit well with helping them to understand what a "fossil" is. Here is the link http://a.co/4mIEsDh. We used these for making imprints and impressions, for painting and stamping and here we used them to measure length, height, and width, comparing our veggie eaters (herbivores) and our meat eaters (carnivores). |
These child-sized rubber dinosaur math manipulatives and counting cards are set up on one of our math shelves and allow our students to independently add and subtract their way to 10. We also use these as game pieces in our new math game, Dinosaur Dig!
Dinosaur Dig provided excellent opportunity for math skill enhancement through self directed game play. We loved this easy to follow game and I wrote a bit more about it here...
https://www.woolseyacademy.com/blog/math-magic
Creative Arts
Many of our S.T.E.A.M. activities are intertwined and provide for learning through play on
multiple planes of achievement and skill levels that fit our mixed age group. This is just one of many that we accomplished this week. We stamped with browns, and whites as we mixed and swirled our stampers to look like dinosaur feet in the dirt. We discussed how a dinosaur made imprints in the soil with their feet that could last for a very long time as they hardened in the sun.
multiple planes of achievement and skill levels that fit our mixed age group. This is just one of many that we accomplished this week. We stamped with browns, and whites as we mixed and swirled our stampers to look like dinosaur feet in the dirt. We discussed how a dinosaur made imprints in the soil with their feet that could last for a very long time as they hardened in the sun.
Week 1 of this month's Dinosaur Dig provided a strong foundation for our budding Paleontologists to discover with friends while building connections with creatures from long ago to their own backyard.
As always, we wish you well and we hope you get to play today! -L
As always, we wish you well and we hope you get to play today! -L
  | I write a lot about games that teach. I believe in teaching through play. I believe in experiences, music, dancing, squishy dough and finger paints, dress-up and dolls, trains and trucks that haul loads and whose tracks meander around our classrooms. Our dinosaur studies with Mother Goose Time this month have been full of opportunities for all the "fun"dementals of play and I have been like a kid in a candy store enjoying all the newness each day brings. There are, however, certain games that make me FLIP! These games are always an instant hit with our little learners and provide the freedom for organic learning through engaged involvement. They don't realize the science behind the game. They don't realize that I am providing these experiences because not only do I know they will LOVE it, but they will be building critical thinking skills and not even realize they are learning. I can actually measure their expertise increase as they play. It is magical.... Sigh..... |
What makes a game special?
Dinosaur Dig has all the necessary components of a skill builder at a research level.
As the children move their dinosaurs along the board they begin to recognize key words and letters that clue them in to what the upcoming instruction square is going to say. Some stated, "Find 1 bone," or "Subtract 2 bones." These are Emergent Readers striving to learn so they can independently play a game (Language Arts).
FORGET flashcards!! Who has time for that???
As they roll the dice they excitedly count from 1-5 along the squares toward an instruction square. We carefully add and subtract as instructed. Rounding the last square we tally each child's total (math).
By the end we are BEGGING to reset the board and play again. We are pointing out the "add" and "subtract" squares and giggling about how many bones we are going to collect THIS time!
This game is built on subject matter that our children love (dinosaurs) with game pieces that easily fit into their hands. They pick out a new color dinosaur and we discuss it's name each time (science). We have fun conversations about whether it is a "veggie" or "meat" eater as we recall the words "herbivore" and "carnivore". (Language Arts, Social/Emotional, Science) and we are pretending to be baby birds eating the bones we have collected as we roll and recognize, then put into practical application the numbers displayed on our dice.
Research is FULL of evidence (just google "how to best teach a preschool child math concepts" and you will find page after page of articles filled with doctoral dissertations about the "how to's" and "why's" and it all boils down to one concept.
Play games...specifically board games with your child. Have your child attend a preschool that teaches complex and abstract math concepts through stories, songs, and playing board games. This is what we are proud to promote each day for our little students.
Your child's math brain will grow. Your child's social/emotional resilience will grow. Your child's language skills will grow.
Now...stop reading this wonderful little blog and go play :) !
As always, I wish you well and I hope you get to play today! -L
As the children move their dinosaurs along the board they begin to recognize key words and letters that clue them in to what the upcoming instruction square is going to say. Some stated, "Find 1 bone," or "Subtract 2 bones." These are Emergent Readers striving to learn so they can independently play a game (Language Arts).
FORGET flashcards!! Who has time for that???
As they roll the dice they excitedly count from 1-5 along the squares toward an instruction square. We carefully add and subtract as instructed. Rounding the last square we tally each child's total (math).
By the end we are BEGGING to reset the board and play again. We are pointing out the "add" and "subtract" squares and giggling about how many bones we are going to collect THIS time!
This game is built on subject matter that our children love (dinosaurs) with game pieces that easily fit into their hands. They pick out a new color dinosaur and we discuss it's name each time (science). We have fun conversations about whether it is a "veggie" or "meat" eater as we recall the words "herbivore" and "carnivore". (Language Arts, Social/Emotional, Science) and we are pretending to be baby birds eating the bones we have collected as we roll and recognize, then put into practical application the numbers displayed on our dice.
Research is FULL of evidence (just google "how to best teach a preschool child math concepts" and you will find page after page of articles filled with doctoral dissertations about the "how to's" and "why's" and it all boils down to one concept.
Play games...specifically board games with your child. Have your child attend a preschool that teaches complex and abstract math concepts through stories, songs, and playing board games. This is what we are proud to promote each day for our little students.
Your child's math brain will grow. Your child's social/emotional resilience will grow. Your child's language skills will grow.
Now...stop reading this wonderful little blog and go play :) !
As always, I wish you well and I hope you get to play today! -L
Play.
Period.
End of discussion.
Mic drop.
If you want to create math minds,.. play.
I am not talking about giving children toys and saying, "Here you go, play this." I mean play WITH them. Create Invitations to Play that engage their senses and natural curiosity.
This is easily done in the preschool setting and our educators at Mother Goose Time provide an excellent foundation for math skills through multiple Invitations to Play throughout the school day.
Period.
End of discussion.
Mic drop.
If you want to create math minds,.. play.
I am not talking about giving children toys and saying, "Here you go, play this." I mean play WITH them. Create Invitations to Play that engage their senses and natural curiosity.
This is easily done in the preschool setting and our educators at Mother Goose Time provide an excellent foundation for math skills through multiple Invitations to Play throughout the school day.
What is an Invitation to Play?
Creating an "Invitation to Play" may sound complex at first, but it is very simple. It is "staging" areas of play that the child is naturally interested in and stocking those areas with items that they can utilize that encourage skill building. This can be done for Language Arts, Science, Social/Emotional, Math, Music, etc.
This is just one of our simple, yet highly effective "Invitations to Play."
Don't those colorful little blocks just say, "PICK ME UP!!!"???
Our children carted these from one area of the room to the next. They placed them on the scales and weighed them. Three blocks on this side, eight blocks on that side. They would readjust the numbers and weigh over and over to see if 6 blocks weighed more than 2, and if 10 blocks weighed more than 1. They would grab a friend and giggle and guess whose side would go up or down. They would squeal, "I WON!!!!" with glee when their side was heavier or lighter depending on the rules they had set up for their newly created, self-directed math game.
Our partner educator, Mother Goose Time, sent us these 1 inch colored cubes with our Winter Wonderland theme for the month of December and by our children's reactions these will stay out for a LONG time!
Don't those colorful little blocks just say, "PICK ME UP!!!"???
Our children carted these from one area of the room to the next. They placed them on the scales and weighed them. Three blocks on this side, eight blocks on that side. They would readjust the numbers and weigh over and over to see if 6 blocks weighed more than 2, and if 10 blocks weighed more than 1. They would grab a friend and giggle and guess whose side would go up or down. They would squeal, "I WON!!!!" with glee when their side was heavier or lighter depending on the rules they had set up for their newly created, self-directed math game.
Our partner educator, Mother Goose Time, sent us these 1 inch colored cubes with our Winter Wonderland theme for the month of December and by our children's reactions these will stay out for a LONG time!
Here they decided to see "How many more would it take to make 10?" So one child set out a certain number of blocks (5 here), and the other child would count along from 5 to determine how to make 10. This is algebra in the pre-k years. It is play. It is a beautiful mix of self-directed learning and mastery that makes this teacher swoon!!!
Sigh........
Sigh........
-In this video one of our younger 3's became a bit excited as he grabbed the "7" from his older classmate. She handled it like a champ! We have a mixed-age, small private center and we teach our older children to be understanding and patient of the younger ones. This little learner was focused on the task despite the distractions and obtained her goal!
Aren't my kids the CUTEST?!?!
Aren't my kids the CUTEST?!?!
As Early Childhood Educators we must provide these experiences.
"The basic math skills teachers provide in early childhood education set the building blocks for the entire academic career. Without learning simple skills like number sense, math concepts and simple application of ideas like adding, children are not prepared to move into elementary education. "-Room 241 Team of Concordia University-Portland
Not only did our students use these little blocks for counting, they used them to build rows and columns alone and with friends. They use them each day for measuring how long one doll is in comparison to another, and how tall the T-Rex is compared to the Stegosaurus.
"An ideal play activity for promoting early geometric and spatial sense is block building. Playing with blocks, a popular activity found in most early childhood classrooms, can contribute to children’s spatial reasoning, knowledge of geometric shapes, numerical knowledge, and problem-solving skills (Kamii, Miyakawa, & Kato, 2004; Ness & Faranga, 2007; Reifel & Greenfield, 1982). Building with blocks not only engages individual students but also groups of students, especially when block building takes the form of guided play — fun activities structured to provide opportunities for exploration and learning (Weisberg, Hirsh-Pasek, & Golinkoff, 2013). Guided play can be used in early childhood classrooms to engage children in play activities that can connect to the curriculum and promote learning. Studies have found that teaching children through guided play can be more effective than didactic instruction because it encourages children to take on an active role in their exploration (Alfieri, Brooks, Aldrich, & Tenenbaum, 2011; Fisher, Hirsh-Pasek, Newcombe, & Golinkoff, 2013)."-By Geetha B. Ramani and Sarah H. Eason
When we look at the life-long benefits of math in preschool we must take an active approach to providing tools and games that will constantly engage our little learners.
When these tools are mixed with time, we have a winning technique that draws in the child naturally and the process of laying foundational skills becomes effortless. "Child's play", if you will...
As always, I wish you well and I hope you get to play today. -L
Introducing children to new concepts is one of my favorite things to do in preschool.
It is so easy to get into the ABC rut prepping them for Kindergarten from a "McDonald's" style checklist and even easier to drown in the mundane of daily routines and circle times.
We have to keep things fresh and engaging. Part of that is not becoming bored ourselves and our Mother Goose Time curriculum ensures that every single day is fresh, inviting, and engaging!
This is why I LOVE introducing children to the Fine Arts. It gives them a window into the bigger world they live in and gives us an opportunity to watch them interpret and create masterpieces of their own.
Some would say, "They are too little!" "Why bother?" "Just stick to the basics..."
The basics??!! The basics assume that children are not capable of amazing things. "Too little" is a adjective for small thinking.
"Why bother?" Just look for yourself and see what these little learners created with some basic materials. They are proud. They are engaged. They are imagining and creating and inventing and interpreting. These activities build language skills, fine motor skills, observational and spatial relationship skills. What's not to LOVE!!!
It is so easy to get into the ABC rut prepping them for Kindergarten from a "McDonald's" style checklist and even easier to drown in the mundane of daily routines and circle times.
We have to keep things fresh and engaging. Part of that is not becoming bored ourselves and our Mother Goose Time curriculum ensures that every single day is fresh, inviting, and engaging!
This is why I LOVE introducing children to the Fine Arts. It gives them a window into the bigger world they live in and gives us an opportunity to watch them interpret and create masterpieces of their own.
Some would say, "They are too little!" "Why bother?" "Just stick to the basics..."
The basics??!! The basics assume that children are not capable of amazing things. "Too little" is a adjective for small thinking.
"Why bother?" Just look for yourself and see what these little learners created with some basic materials. They are proud. They are engaged. They are imagining and creating and inventing and interpreting. These activities build language skills, fine motor skills, observational and spatial relationship skills. What's not to LOVE!!!
The Science of Art
In this Fine Arts lesson we utilized Van Gogh's, "Olive Trees with Yellow Sun," provided by the educators at Mother Goose Time.
Teaching Fine Arts to preschool children allows teachers and children to learn together through observation and conversation. Much of how a child learns is first through conversation and engaging each student on the same level.
"Teachers respond to a student’s comment on a painting by paraphrasing the comment and taking it to the next level,
"Perhaps a student will notice a figure. The teacher will then say, “so you are noticing this figure in the left-hand foreground of the painting?”
“We’re giving them language they wouldn’t normally have in a context that is meaningful to them right in the moment,” she said
"It is important for the teacher to paraphrase the student’s comment in such a way that the student feels understood and the rest of the group can grasp what the student has said, Gulden said. Teachers have to let go of their agendas and ideas and follow the child,"
"Using high-quality artwork is also important," Morin said, "particularly in terms of stimulating observations by the children."
“You can keep going back to a masterwork and see something different every time,” she said. “If it’s not a high-quality work, it doesn’t have that depth.”
Teaching Fine Arts to preschool children allows teachers and children to learn together through observation and conversation. Much of how a child learns is first through conversation and engaging each student on the same level.
"Teachers respond to a student’s comment on a painting by paraphrasing the comment and taking it to the next level,
"Perhaps a student will notice a figure. The teacher will then say, “so you are noticing this figure in the left-hand foreground of the painting?”
“We’re giving them language they wouldn’t normally have in a context that is meaningful to them right in the moment,” she said
"It is important for the teacher to paraphrase the student’s comment in such a way that the student feels understood and the rest of the group can grasp what the student has said, Gulden said. Teachers have to let go of their agendas and ideas and follow the child,"
"Using high-quality artwork is also important," Morin said, "particularly in terms of stimulating observations by the children."
“You can keep going back to a masterwork and see something different every time,” she said. “If it’s not a high-quality work, it doesn’t have that depth.”
,Grace Hwang Lynch, explained this concept well in, "The Importance of Art in Child Development."
"Developmental Benefits of Art
Motor Skills: Many of the motions involved in making art, such as holding a paintbrush or scribbling with a crayon, are essential to the growth of fine motor skills in young children. According to the National Institutes of Health, developmental milestones around age three should include drawing a circle and beginning to use safety scissors. Around age four, children may be able to draw a square and begin cutting straight lines with scissors. Many preschool programs emphasize the use of scissors because it develops the dexterity children will need for writing.
Language Development: For very young children, making art—or just talking about it—provides opportunities to learn words for colors, shapes and actions. When toddlers are as young as a year old, parents can do simple activities such as crumpling up paper and calling it a “ball.” By elementary school, students can use descriptive words to discuss their own creations or to talk about what feelings are elicited when they see different styles of artwork.
Decision Making: According to a report by Americans for the Arts, art education strengthens problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. The experience of making decisions and choices in the course of creating art carries over into other parts of life. “If they are exploring and thinking and experimenting and trying new ideas, then creativity has a chance to blossom,” says MaryAnn Kohl, an arts educator and author of numerous books about children’s art education.
Visual Learning: Drawing, sculpting with clay and threading beads on a string all develop visual-spatial skills, which are more important than ever. Even toddlers know how to operate a smart phone or tablet, which means that even before they can read, kids are taking in visual information. This information consists of cues that we get from pictures or three-dimensional objects from digital media, books and television.
“Parents need to be aware that children learn a lot more from graphic sources now than in the past,” says Dr. Kerry Freedman, Head of Art and Design Education at Northern Illinois University. “Children need to know more about the world than just what they can learn through text and numbers. Art education teaches students how to interpret, criticize, and use visual information, and how to make choices based on it.” Knowledge about the visual arts, such as graphic symbolism, is especially important in helping kids become smart consumers and navigate a world filled with marketing logos.
Inventiveness: When kids are encouraged to express themselves and take risks in creating art, they develop a sense of innovation that will be important in their adult lives. “The kind of people society needs to make it move forward are thinking, inventive people who seek new ways and improvements, not people who can only follow directions,” says Kohl. “Art is a way to encourage the process and the experience of thinking and making things better!”
Cultural Awareness: As we live in an increasingly diverse society, the images of different groups in the media may also present mixed messages. “If a child is playing with a toy that suggests a racist or sexist meaning, part of that meaning develops because of the aesthetics of the toy—the color, shape, texture of the hair,” says Freedman. Teaching children to recognize the choices an artist or designer makes in portraying a subject helps kids understand the concept that what they see may be someone’s interpretation of reality.
Improved Academic Performance: Studies show that there is a correlation between art and other achievement. A report by Americans for the Arts states that young people who participate regularly in the arts (three hours a day on three days each week through one full year) are four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement, to participate in a math and science fair or to win an award for writing an essay or poem than children who do not participate."
And now......The Masterpiece!
As you can see from the variations of interpretations and level of development each child has a unique masterpiece. These went home with smiles and compliments and were a grand addition to many art walls and refrigerators.
We love providing the time and freedom to allow our students to experience the Fine Arts and recreate what is in their own hearts and minds.
All in a day of play at Woolsey Academy.
I wish you well and I hope you get to play today!
-L
We love providing the time and freedom to allow our students to experience the Fine Arts and recreate what is in their own hearts and minds.
All in a day of play at Woolsey Academy.
I wish you well and I hope you get to play today!
-L
One of our sweet students excitedly observing that her paint is mixing as it melts and swirls! Our children LOVE our daily routines with Mother Goose Time. From stories to science to Fine Arts, we are greeted each day to our student's questions, "What are we going to do today?" "What are we making today?"
They know we have a purpose and a plan for their day and they excitedly await our morning meetings to discuss what they are going to be observing, growing, reading, experimenting, painting, and learning each day here at Woolsey Academy. Made even better is the fact that I know our approach to learning
"uniquely weaves 33 research-based skills into playful games and discovery projects.
.The cross-disciplinary model supports a child’s on-going social-emotional, physical, language and cognitive development."
In December we get to discover "Winter Wonderland" and our first week was FULL of freezing and melting!
They know we have a purpose and a plan for their day and they excitedly await our morning meetings to discuss what they are going to be observing, growing, reading, experimenting, painting, and learning each day here at Woolsey Academy. Made even better is the fact that I know our approach to learning
"uniquely weaves 33 research-based skills into playful games and discovery projects.
.The cross-disciplinary model supports a child’s on-going social-emotional, physical, language and cognitive development."
In December we get to discover "Winter Wonderland" and our first week was FULL of freezing and melting!
The Science of Discovery
Young children greatly benefit from discovery and being allowed to make their own unique observations through a variety of mediums.
This fun lessons was packed with opportunity to scrutinize the process of frozen paint as it melted. "It's crunchy!" "It smells funny!!" "It's squishy!!" "Ms. Donna, Ms. Donna LOOK AT WHAT MY PAINT IS DOING!!!" (swoon...)
To which I followed up with exploration and observation questions like, "WOW! What is your paint doing!?"
"It's melting!"
"I am making GREEN!"
"Ms. Donna, I see PURPLE!!!"
This fun lessons was packed with opportunity to scrutinize the process of frozen paint as it melted. "It's crunchy!" "It smells funny!!" "It's squishy!!" "Ms. Donna, Ms. Donna LOOK AT WHAT MY PAINT IS DOING!!!" (swoon...)
To which I followed up with exploration and observation questions like, "WOW! What is your paint doing!?"
"It's melting!"
"I am making GREEN!"
"Ms. Donna, I see PURPLE!!!"
We rightfully framed the beautiful masterpieces that our endearing artists created to give them their proper significance. The S.T.E.A.M. process experienced provided our little learners with invaluable opportunities to extend art and science into play as we, "support children in their exploration by creating an environment that promotes observation, exploration and explanation, asking open-ended questions such as 'What do you think might happen?' or 'What do you see happening?'."
These types of activities are vital to developing, "strategies for active exploration, thinking and reasoning and develop working theories for making sense of the natural, social, physical and material worlds around them."
This was just one example of many experienced in our week of Freezing and Melting at Woolsey Academy!
As always, we wish you well and we hope you get to play today!
-L.
This little piggy went to market....this little piggy stayed home!
We began our day with these sweet little piggies counting, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5!" as we poked and punched them out of their frames courtesy of Mother Goose Time!
We laid them in rows. We folded them and gave them little frowns, smiles, angry, and scared faces as we discussed the piggies journey from market, to home, to the dinner table and the piggie that was so, so sad because he had nothing to eat!
We discussed what we would do to help our friends if we had something yummy or going to the store and our friends were sad.
We decided that sharing our meal and asking mommy or daddy if our friends could come along would make our dinnertime and our shopping trips even more fun!
As they gave their little pigs emotions and words, I gave them time to retell their stories, their way. I gave them time to pretend and play, to invent and dream up knew scenarios.
Retelling a story with props is a developmental milestone and a very important skill that preschool children need as stepping toward reading readiness.
Utilizing well known and easy to obtain stories such as Nursery Rhymes helps small children with recall and helps them to connect their learning day with their family experiences at home.
"Children learn through retelling a story.
The first telling of a story by the teacher to a group of young children is an exciting introduction to the content, while retelling of the same story allows children to revisit the tale and refine their understanding. This repeated pleasurable experience helps children develop concepts about words, print, and books (Morrow)
The magnetic quality of storytelling is the universal power to remember, entertain, inspire, create, and know—a personal process that connects to the language of the children. Drawing children into the telling actively engages the listeners, creating a shared experience that bonds the teller and listeners.
This co-creation is very different from the story viewing young children frequently experience in today’s high-tech world.
(28 www.naeyc.org/yc n Young Children • March 2002 2001)).
Several retellings of a favorite story by the teacher or the children over a period of time allow children to clarify their ideas and pick up additional details of the content. Each retelling increases the children’s familiarity with the story and offers more opportunities for their participation during the experience. These retellings also help children build frameworks, characters, and vocabulary to use when they create their own stories." http://www.naeyc.org/yc/files/yc/file/200203/Isbell_article_March_2002.pdf
We began our day with these sweet little piggies counting, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5!" as we poked and punched them out of their frames courtesy of Mother Goose Time!
We laid them in rows. We folded them and gave them little frowns, smiles, angry, and scared faces as we discussed the piggies journey from market, to home, to the dinner table and the piggie that was so, so sad because he had nothing to eat!
We discussed what we would do to help our friends if we had something yummy or going to the store and our friends were sad.
We decided that sharing our meal and asking mommy or daddy if our friends could come along would make our dinnertime and our shopping trips even more fun!
As they gave their little pigs emotions and words, I gave them time to retell their stories, their way. I gave them time to pretend and play, to invent and dream up knew scenarios.
Retelling a story with props is a developmental milestone and a very important skill that preschool children need as stepping toward reading readiness.
Utilizing well known and easy to obtain stories such as Nursery Rhymes helps small children with recall and helps them to connect their learning day with their family experiences at home.
"Children learn through retelling a story.
The first telling of a story by the teacher to a group of young children is an exciting introduction to the content, while retelling of the same story allows children to revisit the tale and refine their understanding. This repeated pleasurable experience helps children develop concepts about words, print, and books (Morrow)
The magnetic quality of storytelling is the universal power to remember, entertain, inspire, create, and know—a personal process that connects to the language of the children. Drawing children into the telling actively engages the listeners, creating a shared experience that bonds the teller and listeners.
This co-creation is very different from the story viewing young children frequently experience in today’s high-tech world.
(28 www.naeyc.org/yc n Young Children • March 2002 2001)).
Several retellings of a favorite story by the teacher or the children over a period of time allow children to clarify their ideas and pick up additional details of the content. Each retelling increases the children’s familiarity with the story and offers more opportunities for their participation during the experience. These retellings also help children build frameworks, characters, and vocabulary to use when they create their own stories." http://www.naeyc.org/yc/files/yc/file/200203/Isbell_article_March_2002.pdf
We practiced our fine motor skills cutting money for the piggies to go to the market with, then our money counting skills by counting each "dollar" one at a time. We added and subtracted by purchasing "roast beef", bananas, apples, baby clothes, and many other items at our market!
We took turns being the shop owner, cashier, and buyer. We shopped, made decisions on purchases based on how much money we had in hand and how much items cost.
This was all wrapped up in teacher supported play. I helped them as they needed assistance with adding and subtracting. It prompted conversations about how much we could purchase and items we should save for another day.
These social/emotional and math skills were all powered by P.L.A.Y!! What a great way to promote S.T.E.M. in real time, child led, teacher supported moments!
As always, I wish you well and I hope you get to play today! - L
We took turns being the shop owner, cashier, and buyer. We shopped, made decisions on purchases based on how much money we had in hand and how much items cost.
This was all wrapped up in teacher supported play. I helped them as they needed assistance with adding and subtracting. It prompted conversations about how much we could purchase and items we should save for another day.
These social/emotional and math skills were all powered by P.L.A.Y!! What a great way to promote S.T.E.M. in real time, child led, teacher supported moments!
As always, I wish you well and I hope you get to play today! - L
Nursery Rhymes and that magic box...
Each day during our morning rituals the preschooler's ask, "Let's do something fun today!" I say, "What would you like to do?" They run to that magic box and start digging.
Packages and papers flying, experiments, loose parts, yarns, ribbons, paint brushes and books scatter until they land on it, "THIS!" "We want to do THIS!" There are squeals and hustle as we open packages and assemble the plans.
We observe. We discuss. We hypothesize. "So what will we need to do this?" I ask. They think and plan... "We will need....." and the planning and gathering turns into a process. The process turns into progress and before we know it we have a full day of play ahead.
I love their excitement. I love that they know I will help them accomplish anything they can imagine. I love it when holidays roll around and they are beaming to make hearts or clovers or Christmas trees.
There's nothing better than the twinkle of tiny eyes and paint covered hands.
For now, we are studying Nursery Rhymes. We live in the world of "Bah, Bah Black Sheep" and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" so turning this into a thematic unit filled with science, math, creative arts and, of course, literacy is child's play! (pun intended!!)
Packages and papers flying, experiments, loose parts, yarns, ribbons, paint brushes and books scatter until they land on it, "THIS!" "We want to do THIS!" There are squeals and hustle as we open packages and assemble the plans.
We observe. We discuss. We hypothesize. "So what will we need to do this?" I ask. They think and plan... "We will need....." and the planning and gathering turns into a process. The process turns into progress and before we know it we have a full day of play ahead.
I love their excitement. I love that they know I will help them accomplish anything they can imagine. I love it when holidays roll around and they are beaming to make hearts or clovers or Christmas trees.
There's nothing better than the twinkle of tiny eyes and paint covered hands.
For now, we are studying Nursery Rhymes. We live in the world of "Bah, Bah Black Sheep" and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" so turning this into a thematic unit filled with science, math, creative arts and, of course, literacy is child's play! (pun intended!!)
Hickory, Dickory Dock!
Most of my little one's know many of the nursery rhymes we are covering. Today was Hickory, Dickory Dock! This clock game is one of my favorite new math games from Mother Goose Time!
We first looked at the clock and discussed how the numbers go all the way around the "face" of the clock and the the number 12 is at the very top. This brought about questions...
"Why isn't the number 1 at the top? "Where is the zero?"
Good questions.....
After explaining that clock numbers go in a circle we practiced walking around numbers we placed on the floor. Like little mice we scampered around and around.
We then allowed the 2's to continue this active, gross motor play while the older 3's and 4's played the game. In this game they had to practice their social/emotional skills of turn taking, waiting patiently, and politely saying, "Your turn _______" if their friend becomes distracted and forget whose turn it was. These skills are, in my opinion, even more important than the number recognition and counting practice they are receiving by playing this game.
In fact the ability to self regulate is a better indicator of academic success than any other indicator (even better than scoring high standard test-based entrance exams!!)
This is just another reason why I LOVE games that teach. They can be "teaching" letters, counting, sequencing, that cows pass gas for heaven's sake, I don't care! What they are actually teaching a child in regards to his or her social/emotional development FAR outweighs being able to recognize a lower case "r" or that 13 come after 12. They are teaching patience, persistence, perseverance, taking turns, and that sometimes we win and sometimes we do not, but that we all get to play together.
But don't take my word for it. Read the research...
“There is a lot of evidence to suggest that self-regulation can be taught in children.” As an example she points to an intervention aimed at improving self-regulation in preschoolers. “In one recent study,” she says, “we found that a series of classroom games in preschool designed to help children practice paying attention, remembering instructions, and demonstrating self-control significantly improved self-regulation skills, especially for children with low self-regulation.” https://www.education.com/magazine/article/self-regulation-children/(Read the full article here.)
This article in ChalkBeat discusses the psychology behind self-regulation and the vital importance and superiority it holds over Kindergarten entrance math or reading levels.
"In psychology, this lack of self-regulation is referred to as “executive function.” Research shows that executive function is a better indicator of academic success than IQ or entry-level reading or math skills.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that a quarter of all children don’t have the skills they need to learn. Forty-six percent of kindergarten teachers reported in one study that more half of their children did not have sufficient levels of self-regulation. Another study of Head Start classrooms found problems with self-regulation, such as kicking or threatening others, occurred once a day for 40 percent of students.
There is, however, a silver lining: executive function capabilities can be altered quickly if caught and changed early enough. The problem is, parents are regulating their children instead of teaching their children how to get control of themselves.
Key findings in the book:
The skill of self-regulation is a teachable, not an inherent skill and allowing children the time to experience conflict, decision making, and turn taking with the use of games that have predictable as well as non-predictable outcomes is vital to their academic success which translates well into their adult years.
So for you and all the little ones in our lives, I wish you well and I hope you play today!!
-L
We first looked at the clock and discussed how the numbers go all the way around the "face" of the clock and the the number 12 is at the very top. This brought about questions...
"Why isn't the number 1 at the top? "Where is the zero?"
Good questions.....
After explaining that clock numbers go in a circle we practiced walking around numbers we placed on the floor. Like little mice we scampered around and around.
We then allowed the 2's to continue this active, gross motor play while the older 3's and 4's played the game. In this game they had to practice their social/emotional skills of turn taking, waiting patiently, and politely saying, "Your turn _______" if their friend becomes distracted and forget whose turn it was. These skills are, in my opinion, even more important than the number recognition and counting practice they are receiving by playing this game.
In fact the ability to self regulate is a better indicator of academic success than any other indicator (even better than scoring high standard test-based entrance exams!!)
This is just another reason why I LOVE games that teach. They can be "teaching" letters, counting, sequencing, that cows pass gas for heaven's sake, I don't care! What they are actually teaching a child in regards to his or her social/emotional development FAR outweighs being able to recognize a lower case "r" or that 13 come after 12. They are teaching patience, persistence, perseverance, taking turns, and that sometimes we win and sometimes we do not, but that we all get to play together.
But don't take my word for it. Read the research...
“There is a lot of evidence to suggest that self-regulation can be taught in children.” As an example she points to an intervention aimed at improving self-regulation in preschoolers. “In one recent study,” she says, “we found that a series of classroom games in preschool designed to help children practice paying attention, remembering instructions, and demonstrating self-control significantly improved self-regulation skills, especially for children with low self-regulation.” https://www.education.com/magazine/article/self-regulation-children/(Read the full article here.)
This article in ChalkBeat discusses the psychology behind self-regulation and the vital importance and superiority it holds over Kindergarten entrance math or reading levels.
"In psychology, this lack of self-regulation is referred to as “executive function.” Research shows that executive function is a better indicator of academic success than IQ or entry-level reading or math skills.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that a quarter of all children don’t have the skills they need to learn. Forty-six percent of kindergarten teachers reported in one study that more half of their children did not have sufficient levels of self-regulation. Another study of Head Start classrooms found problems with self-regulation, such as kicking or threatening others, occurred once a day for 40 percent of students.
There is, however, a silver lining: executive function capabilities can be altered quickly if caught and changed early enough. The problem is, parents are regulating their children instead of teaching their children how to get control of themselves.
Key findings in the book:
- Praise doesn’t increase kids’ achievement It has been a long-standing belief of psychologists and parents that praise was an important motivational factor for promoting achievement. In fact, this type of nurturing based on constant praise is actually more likely to create children who are willing to cheat to get by. “It instills in them the idea that had they prepared well enough, or tried hard enough, they could have succeeded, rather than risk being told they have failed or that they aren’t smart,” said Merryman.
- We are robbing our kids’ sleep Today’s generation of children get one hour of sleep less than children did 30 years ago, and the effects of this are just now beginning to be realized. New research has tied this sleep loss to numerous problems facing today’s children including ADHD, behavior problems, academic problems and even child obesity.
- Obedience vs. self-direction “The idea is that how you nurture self-direction is not by drilling children or telling them what to do, but by fostering them in mature make believe play where they play a role which in turn helps them to regulate themselves,” said Leong. This is the sort of play that allows them to learn how to self regulate. “Preschool and kindergarten are really the only places left in the world where children really get to practice that if the teachers nurture that.”
- The role parents play Kids playtime has diminished as parents have put an emphasis on teaching letters and numbers, according to Leong. She also pointed out that children are in very segregated age groups and don’t have much interaction with older children who can be mentors of play and learning for younger children. This leads to lessons taking three or four times longer to teach to children because they literally have to learn to play again. Parents can learn to be creative with learning opportunities that pop up while cooking, shopping, or running errands. “We put our kids in situations where they are isolated from real life, which is easier for parents in some cases. Parents spend a lot of time trying to keep their kids occupied rather than seeing these as opportunities to teach their children about real life,” said Leong.
- Immediate benefits There have been a number of 1-year studies on children who entered kindergarten a year behind, entered a Tools of the Mind classroom and came out a year ahead of their peers, said Merryman. A few school districts in New Jersey have noticed a pattern of children who participated in Tools of the Mind landing in gifted and talented programs. In Jefferson County, the curriculum in preschools and Head Start programs has been so successful that first grade programs have begun to be rewritten because the kids were already so far ahead. “We saw that the more difficult the tasks the children were given, the more motivated they were to succeed,” said Merryman." By Alex McNa http://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/co/2010/11/04/self-regulation-key-to-classroom-success/
The skill of self-regulation is a teachable, not an inherent skill and allowing children the time to experience conflict, decision making, and turn taking with the use of games that have predictable as well as non-predictable outcomes is vital to their academic success which translates well into their adult years.
So for you and all the little ones in our lives, I wish you well and I hope you play today!!
-L
Inclusive.
This term used to mean "everyone gets a turn at kickball," or "we all get to have our names on the clubhouse wall." It still does, just in a different way.
It now means everyone. EVERYONE. The 10 year old with a wheelchair, the 2 year old with a speech or hearing impairment, the 5 year old with an SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder for those that don't know.).
It means we include everyone's names in our classrooms, our childcare's and our preschools. But what does it look like?
Let me tell you...
Sometimes it's magical.
There are days when the child that has an SPD and is VERY sensitive to sounds, textures, or activity levels comes up with a new game or method of doing an art project that suits him personally, because finger painting literally makes him throw up (I mean projectile!). It is an incredible moment to be part of. I stand awestruck as my little one on the "Spectrum" and non-verbal grabs a nearby car so he too can join in the painting. He came up with it himself!! This is big. BIG! It means he understands his own needs. He desires to take part. He is making a way. It is progress toward independence and it is beautiful.
I type with tears in my eyes just recalling the moment.
Then there are days...
Lord, help me there are days.
Days when my two little ones with SPD's of varying degrees plus my little on the "spectrum" are feeding off of on another's energy like the monster from Scooby Doo. You remember the one. The gang tries to zap it, catch it, feed it, starve it out. NO MATTER WHAT THEY DO IT GROWS BIGGER, and BIGGER, and BIGGER!! Any amount of energy in themselves or the environment makes it grow.
These are also the days we can't go outside because the wind chill is zero.
I think about going out anyway. I think about taking up smoking. I wonder if I should put the Betty Ford Clinic on speed dial. (I am JOKING!!)
These are days when parents pick up their children and I have to wonder if they think I am losing my mind!! These are the days when I feel like I just might be!
Then I research. I read. I pray. I reflect. I remember the good times. I recall the magical moments. I welcome a new day.
Who knows what it will bring?
Here is what I know.
Inclusive environments are good for children. It is o.k. for me to help children see each other as "not the same" as themselves AND the same. It helps them understand why one child gets a peanut butter and jelly for every meal (because that is literally all he will eat) or he will go hungry to the point of pain. (Spectrum remember.)
It is o.k. for parents picking up to see the good moments and the bad. They have them at home too. We are all in the same boat. In those moments they get to witness, first hand, that Ms. Donna won't duct tape them to a wall. I may chase, use my "firm" voice, even hold one on my hip and one by the hand to keep them from literally climbing a wall and jumping from the trim (I have one that can do this, no joke).
And we will come out of it. We will all survive together. It is good for children to see other children not being "happy" at all times and know that everything will turn out o.k. We get through it together; the tantrums, tears, meltdowns, crazy, excited times. We do it all TOGETHER because we are a family. When one of us hurt, we all hurt. When one is happy, we are all happy. We celebrate, grow, and learn together.
But what about the times we have to say goodbye? Those days when we realize that a little one's needs exceed our ability to maintain a safe environment or maintain safety for that one child or their friends?
Those days are the most challenging in my role as Childcare Provider, parent advocate and friend, "day-mom," because you know what? I grow to love each and every child that crosses my path. I pray for them. I think about them. I research on their behalf. I study. I read. I try what the experts say, "This works everytime!" (and then it doesn'.t). I realize that it isn't providing lasting effects for a child.
I stress, have headaches, and morn decisions that mean we will no longer be able to be part of that child's life on a daily basis. I dream about that child. I dream for that child. My heart aches when circumstances or challenges or job statuses mean that a child will be leaving us.
Why? Because we are family and it's hard to say goodbye. So, I say, "See you soon." I say, "We love you." I say, "I wish you well." The hard truth is that not every teacher, classroom, environment, or school is going to be able to meet the needs of each child.
But we try and we try and we try...
Sometimes progress comes from change. Sometimes it means hard conversations with tears, doctor after doctor visits for little ones looking for answers, and holding a mama's hand when she is at the end of her rope and saying, "I see you. You are amazing. You are strong."
It is being willing to admit that you don't have the answers to what they are facing, but you wish you with every fiber you did. Be willing to sit silently while that mama cries....
Isn't that what matters most, being there for each other in the changes, the challenges, the easy times and the crazy ones even when you don't have the answers, especially when you don't have the answers just so they aren't alone?
I think it is...
I wish bubbles and suckers made everything o.k., don't you?
As always, I wish you well and I hope you get to play today. - L
I am incredibly blessed by the families of the children in my care!!! They are the MOST supportive, wonderful people I have ever known.
Each year when the "big kids" move to school and a fresh batch of beaming new faces begin, it's the same.
Maybe it's the community, maybe I am simply lucky, maybe it's God's hand of blessing on my life. Whatever it is, I know it's amazing and I LOVE it!!
This day was just another bit of proof of how incredible they are. During our Community Helpers thematic unit from Mother Goose Time throughout the month of November, we were introduced to MANY Community Helpers. We discussed the Postman (lady), Nurses, Doctors, Sanitation Workers, Teachers, Construction Workers, Factory Workers, and on and on. For the entire month each day was fresh and new, yet all circled back around to those great folks we see in our community making a positive difference each day.
Today was EXTRA special because one of our very own daddies drive this big rig!! Mr. Scott Williams with MoDOT was given special permission to bring a great, big, shiny snowplow for us to climb on, get inside, and explore!!!
Each year when the "big kids" move to school and a fresh batch of beaming new faces begin, it's the same.
Maybe it's the community, maybe I am simply lucky, maybe it's God's hand of blessing on my life. Whatever it is, I know it's amazing and I LOVE it!!
This day was just another bit of proof of how incredible they are. During our Community Helpers thematic unit from Mother Goose Time throughout the month of November, we were introduced to MANY Community Helpers. We discussed the Postman (lady), Nurses, Doctors, Sanitation Workers, Teachers, Construction Workers, Factory Workers, and on and on. For the entire month each day was fresh and new, yet all circled back around to those great folks we see in our community making a positive difference each day.
Today was EXTRA special because one of our very own daddies drive this big rig!! Mr. Scott Williams with MoDOT was given special permission to bring a great, big, shiny snowplow for us to climb on, get inside, and explore!!!
We climbed under the plow! We noticed that we are small and it is VERY BIG!
We then inspected the tires. We touched the black surface that was smooth and rough all at the same time. We noticed that it was warm, unlike the yellow metal and commented on the sunshine that was making it a different temperature.
The most beloved feature of this big rig were all the buttons, horns, levers, and pulls. We were allowed to experience almost every square inch under the watchful eye of Mr. and Mrs. Williams. They helped us reach high and low as they left no button unpushed!!!
When our visit was coming to a close and we had asked every question on a four year old's mind (believe me that's A LOT!!) we received the coolest pencils EVER!!!
We wasted no time finding things to "fix" and "hammer" with these beauties!! Each child took one home along with a "Traveling Safely with Mo" coloring and early reader workbook.
We waived and hugged goodbye to the big yellow snowplow as we watched it drive up the lane to a great big, "HOOOOOOooooooooNNNNNNkkkkkk!!!"
of the airhorn.
What a special treat, incredible learning experience and all around great day of learning and play at Woolsey Academy for Young Learners!!
A special, "THANK YOU!!" to the Missouri Department of Transportation, Mr. and Mrs. Scott Williams, and all the amazing men and women that work to keep us traveling safely on the roads in Missouri!!
THANK YOU!!!
As always, I wish you well and I hope you get to play today! - L
We wasted no time finding things to "fix" and "hammer" with these beauties!! Each child took one home along with a "Traveling Safely with Mo" coloring and early reader workbook.
We waived and hugged goodbye to the big yellow snowplow as we watched it drive up the lane to a great big, "HOOOOOOooooooooNNNNNNkkkkkk!!!"
of the airhorn.
What a special treat, incredible learning experience and all around great day of learning and play at Woolsey Academy for Young Learners!!
A special, "THANK YOU!!" to the Missouri Department of Transportation, Mr. and Mrs. Scott Williams, and all the amazing men and women that work to keep us traveling safely on the roads in Missouri!!
THANK YOU!!!
As always, I wish you well and I hope you get to play today! - L
I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends...(a study about the amazing people in our community)
11/15/2016
One of our very FAVORITE Community Helpers was a lifelong dairy farmer, our grandpa, and a Korean War Veteran. We are so proud to call him ours!! Community Helpers is one of my favorite thematic units. I love immersing our time with those around our community that make is great.
We live in tight-knit small town USA and it is not at all unusual to spend a few moments at the mailbox catching up with the mailman (or lady) on their latest family addition.
It is a common place in our town to hand the bus driver a hot cup of coffee through her window on morning routes.
We know one another because it matters. It is OUR community for better or worse and each day it is what WE invest in it that makes it a place we all lovingly call home.
So, when we study "Community Helpers" we are learning about our friends, our family, our neighbors. THIS is what makes for real learning when children can concretely put a name with the profession of someone they waive too each day.
We live in tight-knit small town USA and it is not at all unusual to spend a few moments at the mailbox catching up with the mailman (or lady) on their latest family addition.
It is a common place in our town to hand the bus driver a hot cup of coffee through her window on morning routes.
We know one another because it matters. It is OUR community for better or worse and each day it is what WE invest in it that makes it a place we all lovingly call home.
So, when we study "Community Helpers" we are learning about our friends, our family, our neighbors. THIS is what makes for real learning when children can concretely put a name with the profession of someone they waive too each day.
Our Firefighters are the BEST!
Our local fire department is VERY proactive to bring trucks, gear, and training to US!
The children LOVE touring the trucks and practicing "Stop! Drop! Cover! and Roll!"
We played 911 during our dramatic play and practiced dialing and recognizing the numbers. We took turns dialing the numbers and practicing what we would say.
During our firefighter demonstration we learned that even though they may look and sound scary, they are just dads on the inside and dads are not scary!!
What do we do to daddies? We give them BIG hugs!! That is what we do to our firefighter friends if they are coming to help us during a fire, we give them BIG bear hugs!!
The children LOVE touring the trucks and practicing "Stop! Drop! Cover! and Roll!"
We played 911 during our dramatic play and practiced dialing and recognizing the numbers. We took turns dialing the numbers and practicing what we would say.
During our firefighter demonstration we learned that even though they may look and sound scary, they are just dads on the inside and dads are not scary!!
What do we do to daddies? We give them BIG hugs!! That is what we do to our firefighter friends if they are coming to help us during a fire, we give them BIG bear hugs!!
Who delivers our mail?
We made mailbags that we sewed together ourselves using red yarn and some pre-poked holes! We weaved and tied and packed our bags with letters we made and delivered around the room to the "restaurant," the "hospital," and the "school."
We matched our letters from the teacher, the doctor, and the cook to their respective locations deducing through conversation and logic where the destination may be.
Our little learners played this logic and correspondence game throughout the entire day writing and delivering letters.
We matched our letters from the teacher, the doctor, and the cook to their respective locations deducing through conversation and logic where the destination may be.
Our little learners played this logic and correspondence game throughout the entire day writing and delivering letters.
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Our Bus Driver Is A Rock Star!
Each morning as we place our school kiddos on the bus this wonderful lady lingers a few moments to lean out her window, wave, honk and make sure these little ones are filled with anticipation for their turn to be "school kids" and ride the bus too.
She is one-of-a-kind and we are so privileged to have a community full of people that do their jobs as an extension of who they are with their whole heart.
Ms. Julie made time in her schedule to visit us during our "Bus Driver" Community Helper study. We were able to open and close the doors, honk the horn, open and close windows, practice getting on and off the bus safely, get up and down from the seats, and have a conversation about what happens if the bus is in an accident and we cannot exit through the doors!
We came back into the classroom and played "Bus Matching" pre-math matching game from our curriculum partner, Mother Goose Time, and then moved on to Creative Arts putting together our very own mini buses and little Julie's to drive them! We used these during Dramatic play for days!!! We stacked and counted them, drove them with full and empty loads, broke and taped them up again while using them as props to sing "Wheels on the Bus!"
She is one-of-a-kind and we are so privileged to have a community full of people that do their jobs as an extension of who they are with their whole heart.
Ms. Julie made time in her schedule to visit us during our "Bus Driver" Community Helper study. We were able to open and close the doors, honk the horn, open and close windows, practice getting on and off the bus safely, get up and down from the seats, and have a conversation about what happens if the bus is in an accident and we cannot exit through the doors!
We came back into the classroom and played "Bus Matching" pre-math matching game from our curriculum partner, Mother Goose Time, and then moved on to Creative Arts putting together our very own mini buses and little Julie's to drive them! We used these during Dramatic play for days!!! We stacked and counted them, drove them with full and empty loads, broke and taped them up again while using them as props to sing "Wheels on the Bus!"
Why do we discuss Community Helpers?
Community Helpers seem to be a thematic unit for any quality curriculum. One may think that discussing them year after year may get a bit stale. To young children, revisiting these themes gives them an opportunity to put their constantly developing sense of self, logic, reasoning, and skills to practice when restudying thematic units.
I came across this article about the importance of Community Helpers and I couldn't agree more.
"Parents constantly warn children about the danger of strangers. In today’s society, that is an important lesson. But what happens if the child is in an emergency situation? Imagine your house is on fire and someone in a strange uniform tries coaxing you from your home and your usual place of safety. You can understand why children sometimes hide from fire fighters under a bed or in a closet.
These fears can be prevented when children meet community helpers in a safe and fun environment before being asked to trust them in an emergency. When we think like a young child, we realize how alarming an unusual uniform or vehicle might be perceived. Rescue vehicles are loud and fast. To see one up close and touch it while stationary helps children be less apprehensive when one speeds by with sirens wailing.
By participating in dramatic play with costumes and acting out behaviors of community helpers, children develop important social/emotional skills and are more comfortable with uniforms. It helps them understand the world around them and their place in it. It’s important for children to learn their role in a community and that there are safe, friendly people to help them if they get sick or have an emergency. It’s comforting for children to learn there are strangers outside of their family who have a concern for their safety and well-being and to understand who they can trust." - https://cdmfun.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/why-teach-young-children-about-community-helpers/
We are also able to introduce our little learners to those in their community that will be caring for them in the coming years to help ease anxiety about transitions and provide confidence that, "I am o.k., You are o.k.!"
This confidence builds competence.
And to think we get to do all this through play....swoon...
As always, I wish you well and I hope you get to play today!
-L
I came across this article about the importance of Community Helpers and I couldn't agree more.
"Parents constantly warn children about the danger of strangers. In today’s society, that is an important lesson. But what happens if the child is in an emergency situation? Imagine your house is on fire and someone in a strange uniform tries coaxing you from your home and your usual place of safety. You can understand why children sometimes hide from fire fighters under a bed or in a closet.
These fears can be prevented when children meet community helpers in a safe and fun environment before being asked to trust them in an emergency. When we think like a young child, we realize how alarming an unusual uniform or vehicle might be perceived. Rescue vehicles are loud and fast. To see one up close and touch it while stationary helps children be less apprehensive when one speeds by with sirens wailing.
By participating in dramatic play with costumes and acting out behaviors of community helpers, children develop important social/emotional skills and are more comfortable with uniforms. It helps them understand the world around them and their place in it. It’s important for children to learn their role in a community and that there are safe, friendly people to help them if they get sick or have an emergency. It’s comforting for children to learn there are strangers outside of their family who have a concern for their safety and well-being and to understand who they can trust." - https://cdmfun.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/why-teach-young-children-about-community-helpers/
We are also able to introduce our little learners to those in their community that will be caring for them in the coming years to help ease anxiety about transitions and provide confidence that, "I am o.k., You are o.k.!"
This confidence builds competence.
And to think we get to do all this through play....swoon...
As always, I wish you well and I hope you get to play today!
-L
I don't think I have been this excited about a recipe in a LOOOoooooOOOOng time! When I received this "mud dough" recipe from Mother Goose Time, I couldn't WAIT to get my hands on it!
I was PRAYING it wouldn't be a flop. (Seriously, this happens to me ALL the time when I find cool recipes online, but everything MGT has been tried and tested so I was thrilled to grab the ingredients and give it a go!)
This one is EASY, but I did a bit of magic on my own and added coffee grounds (fresh, not used) to give this a bit more of a "dirt" effect. The smell of the chocolate pudding and the coffee grounds was pretty amazing. I did, however, warn my littles that it would NOT taste like it smelled.
This is even gluten free, so it was safe to send home with my preschool babes without worry.
I was PRAYING it wouldn't be a flop. (Seriously, this happens to me ALL the time when I find cool recipes online, but everything MGT has been tried and tested so I was thrilled to grab the ingredients and give it a go!)
This one is EASY, but I did a bit of magic on my own and added coffee grounds (fresh, not used) to give this a bit more of a "dirt" effect. The smell of the chocolate pudding and the coffee grounds was pretty amazing. I did, however, warn my littles that it would NOT taste like it smelled.
This is even gluten free, so it was safe to send home with my preschool babes without worry.
Talk about a great sensory experience to bring home how much pigs must love rooting around in their own mud!
We have been all about "Down On The Farm" here and each day discussing the different things we might find on a farm.
We use our conversations to branch off into different experiences and discussions. This is a GREAT way for me to see what they are thinking and HOW they are think!
I love this list! We use list making as a part of circle time to give the children a more concrete circle time experience. Everyone loves having their words printed and read and reread to them again and again throughout the day. This is great for letter and word recognition and emergent reading naturally.
My favorite on mud day was #2. "Dirty pigs, NOT stinky pigs" was an observation made by one of my little 4's of his favorite part of the farm.
I followed his statement up with more probing questions like, "How does a pig get dirty, but not stinky?" His reply was great! "Make mommy clean up da' poop!" He had already thought about the fact that pigs poo and somebody was gonna' need to clean that up! He was also confident that it sounded like a job for a mama!!
We use our conversations to branch off into different experiences and discussions. This is a GREAT way for me to see what they are thinking and HOW they are think!
I love this list! We use list making as a part of circle time to give the children a more concrete circle time experience. Everyone loves having their words printed and read and reread to them again and again throughout the day. This is great for letter and word recognition and emergent reading naturally.
My favorite on mud day was #2. "Dirty pigs, NOT stinky pigs" was an observation made by one of my little 4's of his favorite part of the farm.
I followed his statement up with more probing questions like, "How does a pig get dirty, but not stinky?" His reply was great! "Make mommy clean up da' poop!" He had already thought about the fact that pigs poo and somebody was gonna' need to clean that up! He was also confident that it sounded like a job for a mama!!
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After reading, "I'm A Dirty Dinosaur!" by Janeen Brian and Anne James we brought out the "mud", pie tins, rocks, and sea shells to make "mud pies." (these items were lovingly provided by Mother Goose Time!)
They sniffed, pressed, squishes, and even tried a bite (o.k....maybe a bite or two or three!) of their mud. This was the consistency of homemade dough and the added coffee ground gave it more of a dirt look and feel. The "dirt" mixed in well as they kneaded and pounded the dough into the tins.
We added a bit of math to our sensory and science by lining up shells and rocks and counting how many we had of each. We patterned rock, shell, rock, shell, rock, shell around our mud pies to make beautiful pie creations that we bagged up and took home with pride!
Stuck In The Muck! Dancing Beats
We moved and grooved to this cute little diddy by Dancing Beats, "Stuck In The Muck!"
and "Catch The Pig!"
We use these little brain breaks to get us up and moving, because when we move, we learn!
Dancing Beats songs and dances are easy for our preschooler's to learn, repeat, and sing along to. They feature catchy tunes, easy rhythms and easy motions that are slow enough to be repeatable.
They are also dressed age appropriate and their movements are preschool appropriate!!
This is a very important feature for little bodies! Nothing is more disappointing to a preschool age child than to not be able to follow along easily to dances that look fun and inviting and Dancing Beats understands that need by providing motions that involve large easy to follow movements.
Songs and dances are a vital part of the preschool child's education which is why we include them daily.
Studies show, "Singing songs is a powerful way for young children to practice language. When children sing, they practice pronouncing words and putting together sentences. Learning the lyrics to songs is also an effective way to remember information." http://articles.extension.org/pages/25592/music-activities-teach-important-skills-to-children-in-child-care
The benefits of dance cannot be ignored and should not be dismissed.
"Dance is basic to learning. Children learn most readily from experience. John Dewey understood this when he asserted, “Action is the test of comprehension” (Dewey, 1915). To learn by “doing” and to act on knowledge is the basis of kinesthetic learning. Kinesthetic learning is becoming more widely understood through the work of Jean Piaget (1896-1980), Howard Gardner (1944- ), and other cognitive theorists.
Dance, in particular, integrates kinesthetic learning with understanding. Preschool children do not conceptualize abstract processes (Piaget). They primarily learn through physical and sensory experiences. When children are provided with creative movement problems that involve the selection of movement choices, they learn to think in the concrete reality of movement. Thus, learning the art of dance helps young children develop knowledge, skill, and understanding about the world. " http://www.ndeo.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=893257&module_id=55419
Sensory, science, literature, music, movement, dance and play! All in a day, "Down On The Farm!"
As always, we wish you well and we hope you get to play today!
-L
Yep...that's one of my little "family" members!
This little guy loves dress up. He loves the Hulk and princesses, and Thomas. He loves to play.
Exuberant, energetic, joyful; even at nap time!
One of the things I love about Family Childcare is the "family" part of it. There are opportunities each day for togetherness, conversations, and connections.
With a mixed age group we get to watch the babies become toddlers, then send them off to "big school" filled with pride and excitement.
Often, we get to remain in a child's life well into their adult years (showing my age ;) ). That's the way a community should be. That gives children a grounded center and memories of good moments shared that builds trust and confidence that the world is a good place. This is the way I want to raise my children AND the children in my care.
This little guy loves dress up. He loves the Hulk and princesses, and Thomas. He loves to play.
Exuberant, energetic, joyful; even at nap time!
One of the things I love about Family Childcare is the "family" part of it. There are opportunities each day for togetherness, conversations, and connections.
With a mixed age group we get to watch the babies become toddlers, then send them off to "big school" filled with pride and excitement.
Often, we get to remain in a child's life well into their adult years (showing my age ;) ). That's the way a community should be. That gives children a grounded center and memories of good moments shared that builds trust and confidence that the world is a good place. This is the way I want to raise my children AND the children in my care.
Me and My Family unit study is one of my favorites...
Another one of my little "family" members and me!!
I love beginning the new school year with a study of social/emotional skill builders and awareness of ourselves and our family units.
Children LOVE their families and families are all unique. Welcoming new little students each August means that we get to know new friends and their families. Our curriculum partner, Mother Goose Time understands how vital it is to validate a young child, their emotions, and their unique family units.
We do this through songs, games, conversations, and language arts, science, math, and creative arts! We do this through lots of opportunities for solving conflicts and understanding that tantrums, conflicts, and the presence of emotion does not mean the absence of a good parent, good teacher, or "good" child.....it is simply an opportunity to teach and that is a VERY good moment!
Children LOVE their families and families are all unique. Welcoming new little students each August means that we get to know new friends and their families. Our curriculum partner, Mother Goose Time understands how vital it is to validate a young child, their emotions, and their unique family units.
We do this through songs, games, conversations, and language arts, science, math, and creative arts! We do this through lots of opportunities for solving conflicts and understanding that tantrums, conflicts, and the presence of emotion does not mean the absence of a good parent, good teacher, or "good" child.....it is simply an opportunity to teach and that is a VERY good moment!
What you focus on you get more of...
One of our favorite games this month was the "How Are You Feeling?" game.
We have an awesome game cube with replaceable picture pockets from Mother Goose Time and we have used it again and again.
It's soft smallish size is perfect for even the tiniest of hands!
We replaced these with our emotions faces and took turns passing it from person to person observing and discussing how the child on the cube felt as we rolled the "dice" and it landed on sad, happy, scared, etc.
We then discussed what makes us feel that way and made some dog-gone cute faces!!
This little learner has "angry" down!! We then talk about how we can help ourselves feel better. We decided that we don't like feeling scared, angry, sad, or lonely, but we WILL feel that way from time to time and it's o.k.
What is not o.k. is to STAY feeling those emotions. We like feeling happy, excited, and surprised (in a good way) better. We made a list of ways to help our friends and ourselves feel better. We observed that singing, hugs, blankies, and taking time away from others to play alone all can help with feeling mad or angry. We also discussed that we can play WITH a friend, a teacher, a pet, or parent when we feel scared, lonely or sad to feel better.
As usual, as we moved throughout the day there were many opportunities (tantrums, conflicts, and power struggles ;) ) We used these as teachable moments to try out our list. We made choices between singing a song or hugging a friend; waiting for a turn or taking time to self; asking a friend to play or playing with teacher.
We noticed that when we made choices, they worked and we felt better. We also made a very concentrated effort to record, "Caught ya's!" We "caught ya'" sharing! We "caught ya'" taking turns! We "caught ya'" being a helper! As we focus more on the "caught ya's" and less on anything else, the "caught ya'" moments become more and more contagious, fun, and sought after by each age group. The children's moods switch from "self focused" to "others focused" and we had a board filled full of "caught ya's!"
Why? Because what you focus on you get more of!
We use our game cube for letters and numbers too!
Children loves games so this little cube gets used by all ages and for many uses! Here we made a letter recognition game that we played over and over day after day this past week.
Our letters this month are A, M, and T; upper and lower case.
Our letters this month are A, M, and T; upper and lower case.
Games beat flashcards hands down!!
We also use our dough cutters with corresponding letters A, M, and T for hands on letter play.
Both our new game cube and our alphabet dough cutters came with our Mother Goose Time curriculum! What a fun treat!!
Our Creative Arts and Language Arts embraced social/emotional skill building as well!!
Our Many Colored Days by Dr. Suess is one of our favorite books. It teaches colors and emotions in a safe and accepting manner that little readers can understand and identify with.
After reading this recommended book we used our Invitation To Create example and many colors as we discussed and painted how we felt. The resulting artwork was beautiful!
After reading this recommended book we used our Invitation To Create example and many colors as we discussed and painted how we felt. The resulting artwork was beautiful!
We had colorful rainbows and murals of black with swirls, shapes, and figures. We also had lots and lots of excited chatter as they each explained their masterpiece!
Bunnies EVERYWHERE!!!
Part of our Me and My Family study included pets that make up our families. We have many, many types of pets. Some have cats, dogs, birds, fish, even bunnies!
I think bunny day was a hoppin' success!!
I think bunny day was a hoppin' success!!
Giving them more...
Part of helping children understand their emotions is giving them special ways to learn how to positively calm themselves and express their energy in a safe manner.
Our very own Mr. Ninja is beloved by our children!! This is the perfect way for our littles to use their muscles to feel strong and empowered! It works, just look at these sweet faces.
Our very own Mr. Ninja is beloved by our children!! This is the perfect way for our littles to use their muscles to feel strong and empowered! It works, just look at these sweet faces.
Ms. Melissa comes to teach us yoga with songs, dances, stories, and special poses that correspond with the seasons and our thematic units! We practice these poses during each week when we need a brain break or as a calming transition to another activity. Even our little 2's know "Tree Pose!"
This is such a small sample of the week. We love, laugh and learn together. There are challenges and victories. We grow a bit taller and a bit stronger with each passing day.
Providing children with a solid basis of learning is a small portion of what we do.
Giving them more....making a difference in their lives daily is where the reward lay for me.
Yoga, Karate, Zoo Encounters, Librarian Storytime, and Community Visitors all comprise our whole child educational program. I believe that when we give children an safe environment where they can experience the world around them that we, as a community become an extension of "family."
This is a vital part of healthy children and healthy families.
As always, I wish you well and I hope you get to play today.
-L
Providing children with a solid basis of learning is a small portion of what we do.
Giving them more....making a difference in their lives daily is where the reward lay for me.
Yoga, Karate, Zoo Encounters, Librarian Storytime, and Community Visitors all comprise our whole child educational program. I believe that when we give children an safe environment where they can experience the world around them that we, as a community become an extension of "family."
This is a vital part of healthy children and healthy families.
As always, I wish you well and I hope you get to play today.
-L
One of the main goals with this blog as a whole is to educate families as to the importance of the deep and meaningful aspects of play and how "play" is actually the very important business of learning for little ones. It is further to dissect the actions of educators, like myself, that provide experiences specifically designed and engineered to provide certain outcomes for children to make observations and build skills from, that they may not receive in any other setting.
The phrase "invitation to play" has long been a buzzword in the Early Childhood Education community. It is an "engineering of play" to provide such outcomes and play based learning experiences for young children.
In simple terms, it is designed to draw a child in. With a true "invitation" the child will naturally WANT to explore, discover, and have the freedom of time and materials to make a valuable impact on their own education. The teacher literally sets up and sets out materials in an impactful manner designed to make the play irresistible to little minds and big hearts!
But, in most instances, I think we are missing the true intent...
The phrase "invitation to play" has long been a buzzword in the Early Childhood Education community. It is an "engineering of play" to provide such outcomes and play based learning experiences for young children.
In simple terms, it is designed to draw a child in. With a true "invitation" the child will naturally WANT to explore, discover, and have the freedom of time and materials to make a valuable impact on their own education. The teacher literally sets up and sets out materials in an impactful manner designed to make the play irresistible to little minds and big hearts!
But, in most instances, I think we are missing the true intent...
The "Invitation's" true importance.
The true "Invitation to Play" or "Invitation to Create" is as old as play itself. In simple terms is means, "Come play with me." It is designed to signify importance. It's purpose is to communicate a time of togetherness to the "invitee."
However, this simply is not the case in most instances. In most of the articles and images I have researched regarding the "Invitation to Play or Create" the MOST important aspect is missing.
Time and togetherness.
This is a sad portrayal of the American child's preschool (and often home life) experiences.
We can provide beautiful materials arranged, balanced, and researched. We spend time and money purchasing these, setting them up and then watching little eyes as they bound toward the awaiting objects, the tea party, the finger painting with loose and unconventional parts, the mud kitchen, the science lab filled with ladybug larvae or worm farm.
We photograph the excitement, label it, post it and we are DONE!
Mission accomplished, drop the mic, we did it!! We brought them joy and encouraged play (aren't we amazing teachers/parents/care providers?!?) PAT ON THE BACK and an A+++++ for effort!
Then it happens, "Will you play with me?"
"What? Ummmmm....I mean look at all this fun STUFF you have!" the child looks at it and looks at you and again asks, "Will you play with me?"
What most of these valuable experiences are missing is YOU.
Recall above when I noted true meaning of an "Invitation to Play?" The true meaning to a child is "I want to play WITH you." The child is drawn to the beauty and possibility of the mud kitchen, the tea party, the marble run, the leaf painting, the worm farm and what they want more than anything is to share it with you.
Without the conscious and deliberate presence of a caregiver meaningful conversations and authentic, lasting learning stagnate. WITH the presence of a parent or caregiver we can open up an incredible world imagination and understanding into how this little personality thinks, moves, and defines their world. It is nothing short of miraculous.
It takes patience, dirty hands, lots of paper towels (usually) and a willingness to be part of the mess. It takes the adult making observations about what they see and asking the child what they see, then listening and reflecting.
The best part? It really is so simple and easy to do.
Owl family in a tree.
This Invitation to Create is from our curriculum partner, Mother Goose Time, who has an amazing variety of "Invitations" that span science, math, language arts, and creative arts.
They have paperbags, cotton balls, black paper, and sticks. They also received (post pic) brown, white, and black paint and glue. Their inspiration piece was an owl family in a tree.
Now....how are children 1-4 going to make something that resembles owls with those? It actually turned out beautifully.... I was asked to help on several occasions with cutting, mixing, holding this here or there while it dried. We had cotton and brown bags stuck to everything!
They have paperbags, cotton balls, black paper, and sticks. They also received (post pic) brown, white, and black paint and glue. Their inspiration piece was an owl family in a tree.
Now....how are children 1-4 going to make something that resembles owls with those? It actually turned out beautifully.... I was asked to help on several occasions with cutting, mixing, holding this here or there while it dried. We had cotton and brown bags stuck to everything!
Here we were talking about the dark and how things look different or "scary" because it is dark, but dark is just.....well....dark! In this "Invitation to Create and Play" we made "dark" animals (common ones that might be found in our room at night) with cut-outs from Mother Goose Time. These allowed us to have many conversations about dark and light and pretend and real. Every child needed my help creating these. Does it look like we are getting any less benefit from them because I didn't make the children, "do it themselves" so that it would be "their own creation?"
I ask them to show me how they are creating their art, if they would like to do it together, if they would like help or to do it themselves.
Their answers vary based on the idea in their heads. Helping a little one cut out a shape or use scissors, or create just the right shade of brown is not "doing it for them" and does not stunt growth. Helping with tape, glues, and glitter and assisting them in creating what they are wanting to rather than frustrated little ones quit because, "I can't." is an incredible experience in cooperation.
.Rather, it creates a spirit of cooperation and confidence that they know if they cannot do it themselves, they do not have to sit frustrated. They can simply come to me and I am always willing to help.
Isn't that what we all want? Someone to come along side us and lend a hand as we are reaching goals that may at first be out of reach? We still learn. Often, we learn more as we get to experience the help of an "expert" and watch and again and again allowing ourselves to be taught and coached. This is true for little ones as well.
Being present.
Being willing.
Being a part of the "Invitation to Create" is a vital component to the education of young children whether one chooses to provide open ended, child-led play or project-based, teacher-facilitated materials. The MOST important part of the play is time and togetherness.
As always, I wish you well and I hope YOU get to play today.
-L
Our study of force was probably my favorite day in Science Camp for the month of August by our curriculum partner, Mother Goose Time.
When a science lesson is THIS fun, solid learning through sensory play is taking place and a love of learning is taking root in these little learners.
When a science lesson is THIS fun, solid learning through sensory play is taking place and a love of learning is taking root in these little learners.
We began our lesson on force by passing out straws and blowing air hard and slowly through the tube. Some straws went up noses and the children noticed they could blow that way too! I explained that when we blow hard or soft we are using air as force. I then passed out the paper and gave each little one a pile of colored sand. I wanted them to be able to experience "force" for themselves. I placed a glue barrier at the top of each paper so the sand would not be blown all the way across the table and into the face of another child.
I then asked the children to move the sand using nothing but the straws. Some blew slowly and cautiously, others tore loose and the sand went flying! I explained that both were an example of "force." The "force" of the air is making the sand move. They asked for more and more and more sand. They practiced blowing at differing speeds and making designs in the sand by blowing very softly. They began to realize that when they were blowing soft, they maintained control of the direction of the sand as opposed to blowing hard.
AMAZING!!!
As you can see we have a mixed age large group from 6 months to 4.5 years. This lends itself to the little children being exposed to concepts that they may not get to do in a same age traditional preschool setting and for those children to advance at their own pace. Further, it allows the older children to help the younger children experience and understand by example.
We are like a great big family and that's they way we like it!!
There is a TON of research why a mixed age setting is actually a better way for children to learn over segregating children by age. One of my favorites is by https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/200809/why-we-should-stop-segregating-children-age-part-iii "Older children are excellent teachers of younger ones, partly because they are not too far ahead of the younger ones."
"Daniel Greenberg made this point in one of his books about Sudbury Valley, where he wrote: "Kids love to learn from other kids. First of all, it's often easier. The child teacher is closer than an adult to the student's difficulties, having gone through them somewhat more recently. The explanations are usually simpler, better. There's less pressure, less judgment." [2]"
But that is for another post!!!
I then asked the children to move the sand using nothing but the straws. Some blew slowly and cautiously, others tore loose and the sand went flying! I explained that both were an example of "force." The "force" of the air is making the sand move. They asked for more and more and more sand. They practiced blowing at differing speeds and making designs in the sand by blowing very softly. They began to realize that when they were blowing soft, they maintained control of the direction of the sand as opposed to blowing hard.
AMAZING!!!
As you can see we have a mixed age large group from 6 months to 4.5 years. This lends itself to the little children being exposed to concepts that they may not get to do in a same age traditional preschool setting and for those children to advance at their own pace. Further, it allows the older children to help the younger children experience and understand by example.
We are like a great big family and that's they way we like it!!
There is a TON of research why a mixed age setting is actually a better way for children to learn over segregating children by age. One of my favorites is by https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/200809/why-we-should-stop-segregating-children-age-part-iii "Older children are excellent teachers of younger ones, partly because they are not too far ahead of the younger ones."
"Daniel Greenberg made this point in one of his books about Sudbury Valley, where he wrote: "Kids love to learn from other kids. First of all, it's often easier. The child teacher is closer than an adult to the student's difficulties, having gone through them somewhat more recently. The explanations are usually simpler, better. There's less pressure, less judgment." [2]"
But that is for another post!!!
Oh honey, this little guy has force down!!!
This little fella' is the very definition of force. He is force.
He has force.
He does everything with force!!
He exudes energy and enthusiasm and makes each lesson more fun with his "outside of the box" thinking.
He had enough of the straws and decided to experience the sand with his hands and face!!
We will just pretend that was part of the lesson plans!!!
He LOVES to get messy because he LOVES water and a mess always means he gets to wash up in the sink!!! (clever little learner!!)
He has force.
He does everything with force!!
He exudes energy and enthusiasm and makes each lesson more fun with his "outside of the box" thinking.
He had enough of the straws and decided to experience the sand with his hands and face!!
We will just pretend that was part of the lesson plans!!!
He LOVES to get messy because he LOVES water and a mess always means he gets to wash up in the sink!!! (clever little learner!!)
We are not afraid of messes around here. That is a sure sign of a valuable lesson that made it's mark.
Sand, straws, glue and paper - simple ingredients that equaled another great day of play!
As always, I wish you well and I hope you get to play today!!
-L
Sand, straws, glue and paper - simple ingredients that equaled another great day of play!
As always, I wish you well and I hope you get to play today!!
-L
Got S.T.E.A.M.?
This little guy does!!
All......the......time!!!
Seriously though, if you have a little one around, teaching S.T.E.A.M. is natural, abundant, and caters to their innate curiosity about the world around them.
Let me show you just how easy it is!
This little guy does!!
All......the......time!!!
Seriously though, if you have a little one around, teaching S.T.E.A.M. is natural, abundant, and caters to their innate curiosity about the world around them.
Let me show you just how easy it is!
What is S.T.E.A.M.? Why all the fuss about it?
"STEAM is a movement championed by Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and widely adopted by institutions, corporations and individuals.
The objectives of the STEAM movement are to:
Let me answer that... AWESOME!!!
The objectives of the STEAM movement are to:
- transform research policy to place Art + Design at the center of STEM
- encourage integration of Art + Design in K–20 education
- influence employers to hire artists and designers to drive innovation "(stemtosteam.org/)
Let me answer that... AWESOME!!!
Here is what just a few days of S.T.E.A.M. looks like for the Family Childcare and Preschool sSetting.
The materials are simple, but the concepts are complex. Allowing children to work with everyday items brings these lessons home and makes them concrete.
This was just 4 days of our Science Camp with Mother Goose Time. We are learned new words, new concepts, new "laws" and even what a "law" is!
The best part about incorporating S.T.E.A.M. into preschool is that it is such an easy fit. The children LOVE asking questions like, "Why?" and "How come?" and this gives them many opportunities to do so.
From connections to circuits, from magnets to molecules, it is all in a day of play with Woolsey Academy!
As always, I wish you well and I hope you get to play today! - L
Life is made of moments...
"There isn't anything more full of hope, joy and peace than a child's smile... It captures the mundane and makes it extraordinary." - LaDonna Woolsey
I am a Mother Goose Time Blogger. I decided to become one after trying their products because I they are comprehensive and serve my mixed age group well. I do receive products to review from Mother Goose Time and do so with my own honest and thorough opinions. For more information, please contact me at Ladonna@woolseyacademy.com
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