Tuesday SOL: Autumn fun

I am participating in the
Tuesday Slice of Life.
All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day.

A big thank you to Two Writing Teachers for providing this unique opportunity

for teacher-writers to share and reflect.

Autumn is a fabulous time of year. My preschoolers have been loving the bright sunshine and cooler temperatures. We love collecting nature treasures outside. We have a growing science corner filled with these - pumpkins, pinecones, acorns, leaves, sticks, and more. One day this past week, I documented children's words as they played outside and gathered special finds; these words became a classroom poem that is shared below. When we returned to the classroom, we got out the paints and created works of art - one large classroom mural and individual pictures as well. There is so much to learn and discover in autumn.

Leaves, leaves, leaves.

Leaves fall down.

I see the leaves falling down.

Red leaf.

Brown leaf.

And purple.

Look at this leaf! It is orange.

A stick.

Sticks from the tree branches.

Trees are sticks.

I want sticks.

Do you want sticks, too?

We found berries on the bush.

Look what I found.

A rock!

Rocks!

We are collecting them.

It’s cold.

Really cold.

Wind in my hair.

Wind feels good.

Look at your hair! It’s windy!

Wind in my ponies.

Wind blows down the trees.

We are running and falling.

Fun!

Let’s do again!

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sol17-27 How shall we sort?

I am participating in the
Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC).
All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day of March 2017. 

A big thank you to Two Writing Teachers for providing this unique opportunity
for teacher-writers to share and reflect.

A container of "whirly twirly lines"

We've been exploring found objects for several days. Today, I wanted to challenge the children to sort the items - to create "collections" of like objects. I've approached this in different ways through the years. Sometimes, I've suggested sorts or even put a few items of a certain type in various containers, just to get the children started. This year, I challenged myself to let the children be a little bit more in control...what would happen if I let them decide what the sort would be? What did they want to collect?

I set out the found objects with several empty containers, as well. I wanted the children to hone in on something special. I invited the children over in small groups and I asked them - Which object do you like best? Which one do you find especially interesting? What do you notice about it?

Then, I nudged them - can you find other objects that are similar to this one?

One container of "long stringy things"; another of  "things that hold things" 

The small groups worked as teams to look through the remaining objects and find ones that fit each other's collections. 

Oh my, did these preschoolers ever amaze me! 

We sorted by 

blue, 

green, 

purple,

metal,

soft,

shiny.

We found all the 

wheels, 

keys,

animals.

brushes.

We collected 

round, rubber things, 

A container of "music things"

long strings,

things with whirly twirly lines, and 

"things that can hold other things" - basically, creating a container of containers. 

My favorite may be the preschooler who put a block in side a can and then shook it, telling me "music! I like music." He proceeded to find things that made noise - tapping his thigh with a spoon, shaking a wheel, holding a pen cap up to his mouth and blowing noises onto it, telling me it was a harmonica. Really pretty funny!

It is so fun and exciting to watch the way children think, and to see how hard they work to accomplish their goals.

sol17-22 What about that?

I am participating in the
Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC).
All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day of March 2017. 

A big thank you to Two Writing Teachers for providing this unique opportunity
for teacher-writers to share and reflect.

"Look, it can tie!"

"This is for screwing things in."

"I have six keys."

"I can pull this piece off."

"This goes around and around."

"Hear the music!"

"You can squeeze this part off."

"This is a part of my Mommy's purse."

"I want to open it."

"It is very, very, very soft."

"See, it is a triangle tape."

We have just begun our found objects exploration, a yearly pleasure for me. At home, the children collected ten small, inconsequential, extra items - things their families didn't need anymore - and we will investigate and re-use in art, engineering, literacy, and math projects. Today, they dumped out their bags of these found objects and wondered aloud about their findings. These little bits of odds and ends are such curiosities! Hearing their non-stop chatter and watching them manipulate the pieces in unexpected ways, I once again was reminded -preschoolers are instinctively engineers, scientists, artists, mathematicians, and storytellers.

Here's to the beginning of what I know will be a fun journey! All I want to do is sit back and record children's words and watch them think.




 

What if we made a map?

This is a Tuesday Slice of Life for Two Writing Teachers. 

Check out their website for many more reflections on teaching.

We had such a crazy start to our day, today. Yesterday's 'wintry mix' concluded with torrential rains this morning, causing a two-hour delay for school. My commute was exhausting. I arrived at school completely soaked, having negotiated sidewalks flooded with melting snow and running water, and I witnessed my umbrella breaking into three parts due to the high winds. Yes, it was a wild walk from the metro to school. I am thankful that I had a day with preschoolers, who would readily accept me in wet clothes and socks but no shoes. We could have fun together!

I knew that arrival time would be frenzied for families, too, with children arriving at varied times. I also knew that our time at centers would be truncated...we needed to get right into the fun.

I cut a large piece of cardboard to cover our table, and this, in and of itself, delighted the children. We had never done this before! I got out our markers and our rulers. I challenged the children to think about the maps we had seen in Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton. What if we drew a map of our city? Of course! Yes! We can do this!

The children traced the contour of found objects to create buildings, houses, stores, ballparks (Go, Nationals!), and playgrounds. The rulers made great roads and train tracks, plus the children could measure which roads were longer, which were shorter. The children searched through the found objects to create make-believe people (marker caps were particularly good), and the children counted steps as these 'marker people' walked the roads. The children also enjoyed drawing people, animals, sunshine, and other features on the map.

Before we knew it, it was time to clean up. Tomorrow, we'll continue our work - writing labels or perhaps using the map as a base on our floor in the block corner...maybe we'll build 3-d buildings for the map, out of our small blocks. We'll see!

How do you know they are engaged?

This is a Tuesday Slice of Life for Two Writing Teachers. 

Check out their website for many more reflections on teaching.


______________________________

We are in the midst of a found objects exploration.

Every child brought in ten inconsequential "extras" from home...small things you might typically throw out, but that work so beautifully in our art, math, and storytelling. We have buttons, soda caps, metal pieces, ribbons, wires, game pieces, and so much more. Everyone finds them irresistible. 

There is a lot going on in this one photo:
several children working simultaneously at the table,
separate but together,
two - leaning on one another, back to back,
everyone, intently focused on very small finds,
even searching the floor when one slips from the hands,
holding onto stuffed animals while they work...

I love how so many children can work so closely together, in a small space, and stay happy, content, focused.

Children find real meaning in these small treasures, and
I find real meaning in their engagement.




Here are some of my found objects from a walk on the beach in Saco, Maine over winter break - pieces of sea glass.

SOLSC #5: How to give the right guidance?

Each day during March, I am participating in the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC). All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day for thirty-one days. My slices will be primarily about teaching preschoolers. Check out the Two Writing Teachers  website for lots more reflections on teaching. Thanks especially to Stacey, Tara, Anna, Beth, Dana, and Betsy for hosting this writing challenge. 

*******

Each teaching day for the past four years, I have worked alongside a Teaching Resident, a beginning, novice teacher, who will lead her own class in D.C. public schools the following year. It is exciting and challenging work, as I try to guide a new teacher in the midst of working with young children. 

For me, there is almost a constant tension between "the way I'd like things to be" and the daily reality of "why are you doing that? have I explained and demonstrated the need to do otherwise? shown you the why behind what I'd like?"  

How many things do I 'swallow,' do I keep to myself, as I - on the fly, in the midst of the cacophony of the teaching classroom - try to discern what is the most important thing to say out loud? I don't want to overwhelm my Teaching Resident with all my thoughts! (Save that for the blog, right?) She is doing a very good job; she is very much on the right trajectory, as the year progresses and she begins to take on more responsibility. But, my thoughts are always whirling...wondering what is the right feedback to give at this particular time. Here is just one small example.

Our Teaching Residents are working on their master degrees, going to school in the evenings while teaching by day. It is a rigorous year, with unending demands. As one part of her grad work, my Teaching Resident was videotaping herself delivering a sample lesson. She decided to work with a small group in our early childhood library - a space just outside our classroom. 

[My swallow: Why do our teaching programs expect such static, sterile sample lessons? When does a preschool teacher ever get to work with a group of four students only? How realistic is that? If I were watching that videotape, I'd be much more interested in what is happening in the rest of the room while the teacher is focused on four children!]

She had planned a lesson on sorting, using our beloved found objects...preschoolers would sort them by size, color, material. 

Here, I spoke up, complimenting her on this lesson idea - "I know the children are going to enjoy exploring this with you; this is work we know they love - so many great, hands-on materials."

This is authentic work for our class; the children have built this collection themselves, bringing in these inconsequential objects from their homes. (We have an ever-growing supply of these materials - I see the beginnings of a materials library!) It is so awesome that she chose to extend our exploration of these objects through her small group work.

Then she called select students to do the work. 

(My swallow: Does she realize that she will not be able to hand select children in her class next year? You are teaching every child, not just the ones who behave in the way you can handle best. )

She left the room with the small group. Out of sight, out of mind, to some extent...though I really wanted to be a fly on the wall out there, hearing her teach. 

When she finished the lesson, she seemed frustrated that the taping didn't go as well as she had hoped. She said one preschooler was very difficult, that she kept saying, "I don't want to do this. I don't want to be out here. I am missing my Mommy."

My mind races with swallowed feedback, a rush, a torment of questions:

What do we know about how children learn best?

Why was she so sad? 

How might she be soothed, in the midst of your teaching?

How do young children respond to being taken out of their routine, out of what they normally do?

What kind of control or choice did the children have in this learning?

What were her needs? 

Were they being met?

What do we know about how children learn best?

How might you have set up this same work in the midst of our classroom, as an exploratory center, for children to choose of their own liking?

How might you have made the lesson more palatable? 

How might you have engaged her?

What do we know about how children learn best?

But there is no time to say all this. It is time to clean up, to line up, to head to the playground. We can only speak to one another in passing, as we continue with our day. I decided to say the piece that keeps repeating in my head. I say simply,

"I hope that you will find time to reflect on the lesson for this one student, how and why it wasn't a successful experience for her. What do we know about how children learn best?"

Gnawing thoughts continue - will she take the time to reflect? In the midst of the rigor of working in this classroom, going to grad school, applying for a teaching position for next year, will she ever have the mental space to think about this? How can I help her see how essential it is to think about this? 

Unbelievably, a day later, I continue to have this gnawing feeling that I haven't coached her well enough, that I haven't 'gotten through to her,' that she doesn't understand me fully.

I remind myself to breathe in, breathe out.

This I know for sure -

my Teaching Resident,
just like any young child,
will learn as she goes, as she grows, 

through cause and effect, 

through failure and success, 

through reflection.
She has learned so much already, and
in time, with time,
she will understand, do, and learn more.

Maybe she will challenge herself to do the same project inside the classroom next,
in the midst of the whirling energy of preschoolers.

Maybe she won't.

Rest assured,
she will learn as she goes, as she grows.

I am not her only teacher.
I am not her last stop.

What do we know about how children learn best?

What do we know about how teachers learn best?

Tuesday SOL What about imagination?

It is Tuesday and this is a "Slice of Life" for Two Writing Teachers.  Check out their website for lots more reflections on teaching.

I am fascinated by what makes children think "outside the box."  What makes them imagine?

For me, working with found objects and recyclables are often the catalyst...an inexpensive and fun way for them to unleash their wonder.

We've been delighted by these in recent weeks. 

Everyone collected 10 or so small, inconsequential, extra items from their homes. At morning gathering, everyone dumped out their objects and we studied them. 

(Well, almost everyone dumped out their objects...preschoolers are fickle beings, new to sharing. Several children were very sad about having to share these treasures with others, and I suggested that they return their objects to their backpacks, until they felt ready to share. Learning to share can be very difficult - even leftover, small "extras" from home.  Children get attached to small things, even things that seem ‘without purpose’ to us adults.)

We discussed what we saw. The children were very interested in all the different materials, textures, purposes. With these materials in hand, the children began discussing the purposes of objects, how things work, what they might be used for, what was similar about our items, what was different...and, also, imagining new uses for things. 

After gathering, I moved to a table and worked with a small group - six students at a time - continuing our exploration of found objects, but allowing the children to be more focused in their observations.  We had set out the found objects on trays and the children took whatever they wanted, exploring these in the smaller space at the table.

From this one small group activity, I gained so much insight about children's different approaches to learning (and understanding about how to engage them in the future) -


I saw lots of "logic" - children creating categories of objects, sets, lines of materials...often putting “like” items together. One little girl was fascinated by keys, searching through the trays for all the keys.


Many seemed fascinated by touching the objects, perhaps enjoying the sensory sensation...

one played with a ribbon strip, stroking it over and over, rubbing it onto other objects, totally engrossed,
another lined up a collection of objects and then, discovering a small brush in the mix, stroked each item, one by one,
one child delved into the pile of objects and seemed to select items simply by touch or feeling; "I love this pom pom!" she told me.

Several children told stories, picking up the items and inventing different make-believe purposes -

"The dragonfly takes off and look what happens - he flies! Hold onto the rope, ready! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...I need the butterfly because it saves the bad guys...it doesn't live in this town."
Another..."I'm making an enchanted forest."
And another had endless imaginative ideas, unable to settle - "I building a ship's tower, no a castle tower. No, I'm making a fish design. Now it is a trap!"

Still others were fascinated by how things work, manipulating the materials in different ways -

one child with a piece of foil, rolling it up, unrolling it, wrapping things in it, unrolling it again;
another student, full of questions - "What are you using that for? How does this work?";
still another, laying out pieces, connecting objects inserting a ribbon through holes in the objects, and
one other, putting objects inside one another, as if to create a container.

Certainly, some children had only a fleeting interest in the objects - landing momentarily at the table, then running to the dress-ups or elsewhere for a bit (but they often returned to inspect the materials again).

Overall, however, I was delighted by the children's concentration -
one child created a large design using a variety of objects, and not saying a single word - seemingly following a plan that I could not see;
another child worked for some forty minutes at the table, holding pieces up individually and studying, adding a "Look, Ms. Ingram!" every now and again and then laying the pieces down as if solving a puzzle...

Over the next several days, we spent some time dividing the found objects by color, in a variety of clear glass and plastic containers. We created jars of red, yellow, blue, green, gold/brown, silver/gray, purple, black and white materials. So much fun!

Last week, I read the story Regards to the Man in the Moon by Ezra Jack Keats. Here, Louis is being ridiculed by peers because his father runs a junkyard...his Dad insists that it isn't junk - all one needs is imagination...and the next thing you know, Louis and pals create spaceships and head to the moon. My challenge to my preschoolers - can you build a toy or something fun out of our recyclables and found objects? Then, they blasted off!

This story was great for our first engineering effort. The children were allowed to build whatever they wanted. Everyone drew a plan [or ‘blueprint’] first, before starting to create with the recyclables and tape. We had many varied creations, including:

The tallest tower in the world,

houses,

a wiggly thing,

a boat,

a beach,

a mountain,

cars,

trains,

a police car,

a helicopter,

a spaceship,

a book.

Here are a few things I've overheard, as they explore the objects and create - 

"I need to make something!!" 

Look - I found a blue thing...I know where it goes!

This one is bendy.

I’m trying to hook this.

What is this? I don’t know what it is!

I don’t think they use this anymore.

Ms. Ingram, I’m making a little helicopter...I’m making a helicopter cable that hangs down.

What is this?!

I’m making a rollercoaster.

I’m making a parade – see!

This is bendy, bendy, bendy.

How to get this thing out of here?

Hey, I got these apart.

La, la, la, squish, squish, squish.

This is hard – listen [taps it on side of containers].
Look, I catch the tiger! (using ribbons, necklace to create a lasso around a toy animal)

And, in the midst of building, an enthusiastic  - "I need to go get some more!" [recyclables] 

Hoping to instigate on-going exploration with these materials, I expanded our science area to include the found objects and simple recyclables, plus tape. My hope is for the children to dare to touch, explore, consider, create. Thus far, the children are mesmerized.  We are having fun with our imaginations!