What is that in the tunnel?

Time to make a move forward. Listen to your inner voice and you will know exactly what you have to do.

-Grasshopper

The preschoolers raced out onto the playground, and up onto the playscape,
and the next thing I heard was screams from within the climbing tunnel.
I ran to the tunnel to see what was the matter,
to see who was climbing over whom.

Surprise!
No one was hurting; there was a grasshopper* in the playscape tunnel!
A big beautiful green grasshopper!
An amazing find!!

Thankfully (?), someone had left a trash cup on the playground,
so I was able to catch the grasshopper.
I moved the grasshopper down to the mulch, along the brick wall,
where it delighted the children for some twenty minutes or so.
I encouraged the children to work like scientists,
to stand back a little bit and observe;
we sang “What do you see as you look closely?”
The children were in both awe and fear -
especially when the grasshopper would unexpectedly fly.
Truly, the children swarmed the grasshopper, trying to get a very close look.
As the grasshopper climbed the wall,
I lifted children individually to see it up close.
We wondered why it kept licking its front legs.

Later, after lots of observation
(and so many students playing very close to the grasshopper),
I moved the grasshopper into a bush/undergrowth by the side of the school.
Time for it to have a little privacy!

Back in the classroom, quickly trying to think of a way to extend this learning,
I placed some simple coloring pages of grasshoppers in the writing center,
to discover during our centers play. While the children colored, they shared their thoughts.
Their thoughts form almost a story:

(Me, prompting) A grasshopper came to the playground. We found him in the tunnel.
What did you notice?

(T) He wanted to have a ride.

(W) He wanted to go down the slide.

(E) I saw it. He was walking. See that wall over there. He walked under it, on it.

(C) I was running away from the grasshopper because it was about to climb on me,
all the way to my head.

(J) Why was he licking his hand? Because he ate something - our lunches!

(B) That’s just what he wants.

(L) That it flew...I saw it walking on the tunnel and I went down.

(S) He flied and I run away and then I came back and then I saw him licking his hand.

(T) He so creepy.

(W) He want to climb up the wall.

(Sh) When I saw the grasshopper, it was trying to get in my eyes, and I run and run and run.

An unexpected inquiry about grasshoppers!! Totally exciting for all.

*Full disclosure - I found out the next day from one of my parents,
who is also an entomologist, this grasshopper was actually a katydid! Ah, well,
still great learning, all around!

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!

-->

 

 

sol17-6 What is blossoming?

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.

I don't know why I find them so adorable. For the third day, I've taken a picture of the little yellow miniature narcissus flowers that are blooming alongside my driveway. I don't remember planting these. I know they were not there last year. My husband, Tony, who retired last June, has spent a lot of time working in the yard. We think all his hard work included moving something in a new, unplanned, and oh so right way that we received the blessing of new blooms. They make me smile. They catch my eye every time I return home from work. They remind me how happy my husband is to be retired. Their very surprise delights me. It is a little bit of magic in our yard, a tiny gift.

What are the parallels in my classroom? Were there any miniature narcissus today? 

Oh, yes, Cindy. She decided to write a book about the alphabet - she persisted until she had written every letter! Then she helped Mary write her name. Their collaboration was adorable. When did they fall in love with letters? When did they start noticing? When did they decide they could write?

Then there was Michael. He followed every routine. He didn't cry. He listened to our book. He sat for lunch. He ate his sandwich! He settled on his cot without needing one of us teachers alongside, rubbing his back. What happened? Why today? What was so right, finally?

It is March. Things are blossoming.

What are we wondering about?

Yesterday, I had the best of intentions of writing a "Tuesday Slice of Life for Two Writing Teachers." That didn't happen.

Let me add a post, one day late.

The autumn weather has been so inviting, I have been taking the children on neighborhood walks. I take them out in small groups during our centers time, and there's no end to the possibilities of exploration. We have gone looking for letters and numbers, particularly, reading signs. We have searched for colors - as seen in trees, leaves, flowers, sky, houses, signs, and more. We have searched for shapes, reinforcing our understanding of squares, circles, rectanges, and triangles. We think about maps and directions and which way is right or left. 

I love, love, love walking and talking and observing with children.

We often bring natural finds back to our classroom and add them to our sensory table, which in recent days has been showcasing nature items - seedpods, grass blooms, spent blossoms, leaves, feathers, more.  The children love using the tweezers, tongs, and magnifying glasses, here.

One of our early days out, we noticed the clouds in the sky. Extraordinary! Now, we don't leave school without our clipboards - so that we might sit and draw what we see. 

Tuesday SOL What about our outdoor play?

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

The good news is that I have followed through on one of my summer goals  - every Wednesday, the Big Cats walk to our local national park for a morning of exploration in nature.  (See my earlier blogpost about this.)

Exploring outdoors, 

freely, 

openly, 

is an essential part of preschool.

The bad news is, we only got to have four weeks of this fun tradition. Due to the shutdown of the Federal Government, the park is closed.

This is so, so sad for my students.

I am unable to find the words to express my frustration with our political leaders and this ridiculous impasse.

Why try?
Time is better spent figuring out what the Big Cats will do tomorrow....

Tuesday SOL - How to bring nature in?

Tuesday Slice of Life with Two Writing Teachers

I had a fabulous bike adventure, just a week ago. My husband and I rode the C and O Canal for four days - all the way from Cumberland, Maryland to Georgetown, Washington, D.C., a 184.5 mile trek. It was my first time participating in "The Great Bicycle Tour," which supports the San Mar Children's Home in Boonsboro, Maryland.

Although there were some one hundred participants, we were spread out, riding at our own individual paces, and I found myself quietly and happily alone, riding along some of the most beautiful natural scenery - the Potomac river on my right, rocky cliffs on my left, and a long, muddy, rocky trail, as long as the eye could see, stretched out in front of me.


I did a lot of thinking, pedaling those many miles.

Mile after mile of
moving  
on dirt,
gravel,
sand,
mulch,
mud puddles.

One thing that I could not stop thinking about...and I truly hope I hold on to...was a profound gap in my teaching this past year -
my inability to give the preschoolers access to green space, the natural world, the great outdoors, on a regular basis.
I am determined to do things differently this next school year, to make it happen.

Exploring outdoors, freely, openly, is an essential part of preschool. I know this, I have always taught this way.

Mile after mile of
discovering
turtles,
ducks,
deer,
birds, even
a great blue heron.


Until this past year, it has always been so possible. I've never had to think about it or plan for it. I was surrounded by grass and dirt, places for children to dig, to look for pill bugs and worms, to garden, to jump in mud puddles.

Until this past year.
Our school moved to a new location in Washington, D.C. and we are surrounded by concrete, brick, and asphalt. All play happens on these surfaces. Our daily walks were to watch construction, sprinkled with play on a metal playground and running a groomed baseball field about once a week.

Mile after mile of 
noticing
the river,
trees,
rocks,
rapids,
cliffs.


I told myself it was enough. The children were outside daily, getting fresh air.

It is not enough.

Pedaling so many miles, lost in thought, I realized deep in my core that it is not enough.

It is a deprivation to not have the experience of nature.

Mile after mile of
wind and breeze.



There is a beautiful national park about three blocks from my school - Meridian Hill. We visited there several times this past year, but it seemed a formidable undertaking with my class of twenty-two preschoolers on a walking rope. With a mere hour in our schedule to be out and about, it seemed that we no sooner arrived at the park when it was time to turn around and head back to school.

Now, I'm determined to question these limits, these constraints - to turn them into possibility.

What if I designate one day a week as our park day? Why do I need to limit this to one hour? Why not spend the morning at the park, every week?

What if I cultivate family volunteers to support our outings on this weekly basis?

What if I plan for water bottles, sun screen, bug spray, rain boots, extra kleenex, hand sanitizer, etc - have these organized and at the ready? Oooh, what if I gathered drawing pads, so each child could record observations...

What if I get over to Meridian Hill this summer, and figure out a specific part of its 12 acres that could be the Big Cats ritual location? An area that they could discover and play in, to watch change with the seasons? 

How can I help my families to understand the value of this time outdoors? That it is not aimless, pointless play? How do I make sure that they are "on board"?

I am no longer pedaling in nature, but I am still lost in thought and possibility!