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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Our first day back

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

Check out their website for many more reflections on teaching.



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Happy New Year!
Let me share the things that made me smile on our first day back after winter break (which was yesterday) - how about 16 for 2016?

1. How much I fidgeted all night long, in anticipation, excited and nervous. Oh, how many times I looked at that clock! Why does this still happen to me after all these years of teaching?
2. Seeing the bright sun after two weeks of rain and clouds.
3. Finding uneaten chocolates in my teacher's cabinet at school.
4. My Teaching Resident sharing new pictures books she had found for the children - she was thinking like a teacher over break!
5. Big hugs and smiles from the children, happy to be back at school. 
6. Seeing families so, so, so happy to drop their children off after two weeks of togetherness - everyone with big smiles. Routine is great for all of us, no matter what our ages.
7. Watching individual kids find their friends and start playing. How excited the children were to be back together in their classroom!
8. The children laughing at my improvised "Happy New Year" song to the Happy Birthday tune, squealing "That's not how it goes!"
9. Hearing everyone's favorite memory from winter break (perhaps my favorite - one little boy said 'Mac and Cheese'. Loved it!)
10. Making a big batch of purple gak with delighted children
11. Both the Art teacher and I forgetting who was in each Art group - and me having no recall of where I kept the list. Mush for brains after two weeks away!
12. Building many block homes for toy animals
13. Children creating dress-ups from our cloth collection, making capes, dresses, head coverings, more
14. Reading Peter and the Wolf to a captive audience of preschoolers 
15. The children jumping and running in the leaves alongside the playground. 
16. Children wrestling in the leaves despite the cold!

Wrestling in the leaves

Lots of running and jumping

Happy New Year!

What about play?

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

Check out their website for many more reflections on teaching.


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In many ways, it was a release, a letting up of the brakes. 

A new gift from a family,

a bin of cloths,

large fabric pieces,

varied colors, textures, sizes.

Four boys wanted to dress up. Make me a hat! Can I have a cape? I need this part on my body! Can you tie this here? I am ninja! I am fast! I am superhero!

Let's forget that I am

one small part of  an elementary and middle school,
primed and ready for surprise observations from district officials and other supervisors, looking for rigor and visible learning,

providing family conferences about student progress, with families craving insight about pre-literacy, early mathematics, academic skills, their child's future success,

readying for the Learning Showcase evening event, documenting all the children's work for families and community, with children owning their work and detailing it for families, all work labelled with clear objectives, 

supporting a resident teacher, immersed in graduate school details of early reading, collecting data, leveled readers, guided reading, reading progress,

adhering to specific and separate times for art, music, Spanish, physical education, recess,
keeping unit plans updated, lesson plans current and detailed,
making sure I am following the posted schedule with impunity,
consumed by data tracking, writing trimester summaries and report cards

Let's forget the tension of

specify, specify, specify,

faster, faster, faster,

more, more, more

Four boys wanted to dress up.

And I began to play, too.

And then they began to run, 

in the classroom,

their excitement impossible to contain,

to which I led them outdoors,
to the field,

where we ran and ran and ran

on a rainy day.

I wonder

are we making time for make-believe?

are we preserving possibility for the unexpected?

are we remembering what it is to be a child?

are we along for their ride?

are we losing sight of the three year old?

the preschooler?

the child?

are we losing our minds or their minds?

what is really needed?

Children need play and its infinite possibilities,

surrounded by adults who nourish the fun.

And so,

we played.

Tuesday SOL Summer musings

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

Check out their website for many more reflections on teaching.

Just this week, in the midst of summer, I was sorting through my photos on my phone, collecting my favorites from recent travels. (We traveled to Oregon for the wedding of the daughter of my best friend from college; we had a great time sightseeing and hiking.) I was delighted to see not just these vacation photos, but many fun photos from the last days of the school year...and I find myself smiling in memory. 

Let me share a few with you....

The Bucket Truck

Rain didn't stop us from heading outside to play on this day. But the showstopper was this repair truck - the children were riveted, studying every move. Children call us to be present, so curious about the world, finding joy in their surroundings.

Water Play Day

Our traditional "splash day" was also an overcast, rainy day...and our location was the crumbled surrounds of a community center behind our school (scheduled to be renovated and revamped this next year!). But that didn't stop the children from having such a great time outside, enjoying the hoses, buckets, spray bottles, sidewalk chalk, and more.

The Tablecloth

We created a process art tablecloth/dropcloth for our Teaching Resident (Ms. Kim) as an end-of-year gift. The children used found objects and nature items to stamp prints all over the canvas, choosing their favorite colors. They also used fabric markers to sign their name on the cloth. We're hoping that Ms. Kim will use this cloth for 'messy' activities in her new classroom, and remember this sweet class of preschoolers every time she does.

Marble Art

The first art activity the children experienced in the Big Cats was doing marble art on a nametag. At the beginning of the year, this was a teacher-led and supervised project. Here, at the end of the year, the children ran the project themselves - selecting paper, paint colors, dropping marbles into the paint, and rolling these onto paper. Everyone had a grand time and even enjoyed cleaning the table and supplies at the end. I got to marvel at how much everyone had grown during this year. 

Balls, Cars, Blocks, and Ramps

There was incessant creativity in the block corner these last few weeks of school, as if the children were well aware that they would no longer have access to these open-ended building materials. I was amazed by the teamwork, how well the preschoolers worked together, sharing the materials and ideas.

The Family Book

This was our favorite book to read - with individual pages about each child and family, created by the families themselves. Here, the children are helping me to stuff these pages into their portfolios, so that the pages are returned home at the end of the year. But, these boys are transfixed - not wanting to take the pages out of the book but seeking to re-read the pages about each other, noticing who's who. It is amazing how much we learn about one another during a school year.

Engineering with Recylables

We had a "free for all" with the recyclables, with me issuing an open invitation for children to create and invent with abandon. 

Helping Clean the Classroom

We had created a train track out of tape on part of our classroom floor and the children worked diligently and tirelessly to remove it, to help Mr. Thomas (our Building Manager). Again, I am awed by the focus and tenacity of young children when they desire to accomplish something.

Field Day Fun

I think we had the hottest and sunniest day of the school year for our traditional field day - but that didn't stop these preschoolers from running non-stop.

Signing the Goodbye Board

They had helped us clean the room and put away all the toys, supplies, materials. Now it was time to practice their writing skills one more time, using the whiteboard markers.

I really enjoyed this past year of teaching...I worked with a delightful group of preschoolers and their families, I had a strong teaching team, I love the physical space of my classroom in our new and permanent school building. It is fun to go down memory lane in the midst of summer!

SOLSC 2015 #24: What do you want to learn about?

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. 

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"Quick, Ms. Ingram, quick! Over here!"

"You have to have your feet on the bench! You can't have your feet on the ground!"

"The spaceship is getting ready to take off!"

"Come on, astronauts!"

"I want to get on!"

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, blast off!"

"We're going to the moon!"

"We're going to Jupiter!"

"I want to go to Mars!"

We pretend that the rockets blast, there is some turbulence, we bounce into a landing, and all the children spill off the bench, running in all directions, with hands held up to their faces (pretending to have oxygen masks of astronauts). Several are in charge and at a moment's notice, we must get back onto the rocket for another space trip.

Many voices at once, many preschool bodies, squeezing onto one of our big wooden playground benches, James, Katherine, Simona, Julian, Micah, Nicky, Evan, Kaelyn, Dmitry, Avery, Naima, Luke, Jackson...how can so many children fit on one bench? I know I'm pretty much on the bottom of the heap, using my arms to embrace and hold onto a few children...they always allow me to be on the bench first, thank goodness! Others are hanging onto the back of the bench, feet wedged into the bottom part (making sure their feet are not on the ground, interfering with takeoff), still others are on the arms of the bench, entangled with one another and me. 

In recent weeks, on the playground, it's all about going to space, being on a rocket (the bench). Truly, I think everyone in our class has played this game with us at some time...children from other classes join in on it, too. We simply expand the number of rockets (lucky us, there are four strong benches on our playground).

Yesterday, at read-aloud time, I chose two books about the moon, 

The nonfiction Dorling Kindersley's Eyewitness Book Moon for nonfiction and the lovely story by Floyd Cooper, Max and the Tag-Along Moon. 

I love reading books that parallel their interests, provoking questions, comments, thought. Once again, play helps me see what they want to learn.

SOLSC 2015 #2: Why do you see it that way?

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. 

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She is standing at the hallway window, watching intently.

I join in the fun. 

We stand quietly together.

The field is white with frozen snow, with large patches of ice. I am surprised at how 'untouched' the field still looks, several days after the snow has fallen. It speaks to how cold the days have been, this snow is frozen and set.

But today has brought a bit of a melt, and an elementary class has grabbed the opportunity to play in the field, rather than in the more limited space of the playground in front of the school. 

Is there anything more joyous than a warming day in winter, sun bright overhead, and freedom to stomp around in the squishing snow and ice? 

Yes, there they are, near to us, "in the foreground,"

just outside our window,

the students and their teachers,

playing in the field.

The students are

slipping and sliding,

holding onto one another,

heads bent in laughter,

sometimes falling onto the icy ground,

sometimes rolling into others - either mischievously or unexpectedly, I can't tell,

happy, happy faces,

some find sticks and attempt to break up the ice,

others try to skate in their shoes,

many are holding hands, locking arms, using each other for support,

faces wide open with smiles.

"It's amazing!," I breathe to my colleague.

"Yes. They should not be out there at all. Someone may fall and break an ankle or a wrist. Look, that child has a stick! That could really hurt another student."

I look at her in astonishment, caught off-guard.

"Oh." 

I softly add, "I see happy students," and I slip back to my classroom.

Same view, same moment, two perspectives.

Tuesday SOL One month of no blogging - time to ramble!

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

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Almost one whole month has gone by since I last posted and I don't like this at all!
There have been so, so, so many things I have wanted to share…
and now I hardly know where to begin.

Should I share my excuse - 
my son Keith got married just before Thanksgiving! ?
How do I describe how busy this made me, how it filled my head, hands, and heart?
How much fun we all had? 
How incredible it was to see my oh so serious son smiling all day long?
How beautiful Mara and he looked together?
How cold and perfect their outdoor ceremony, in the woods?
Should I share how fabulous it was? 

No, the wedding is no topic for a blog about early childhood!

Should I share how several preschoolers told their families that I missed school because I was getting married?

Well, that's not much of a share!

What if I shared some photos of our fun during these last four weeks?

We love playing doctor in the dramatic play area.

We love to work with recyclables and tape.

We made a fun new alphabet line - covering letters with glue and dipping them in sand.

We love building trains and traveling to make believe places.

We love, love, love to run around on our big field and play games.

We dragged in some branches from outside and then we painted them!

We had fun yarn bombing the tree branches!

More yarn bombing!

Still more yarn bombing!

We have begun our new exploration of found objects and are loving this, too!

That's all I'll share for now…I have written a short post, and I have rekindled this blog…I will share more in the days ahead.

It is nice to be back!


*****

Wait, one last thing…


Sure, it's not early childhood…but once upon a time, a short while ago, they were preschoolers! Here are two photos from the happy wedding day!

My three fabulous sons at the wedding - the groom, Keith, and the groomsmen, Wade and Bryce.

Mara and Keith say their vows.

Shall we go for a walk?

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

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We had snow days last Thursday and Friday - which meant we had a five day weekend, due to President's Day yesterday. 

Today, we returned to school! 

We have had such an inconsistent calendar this winter, what with delayed starts and snow days, plus ice cold, freezing temperatures that have resulted in lots of indoor play.

Preschoolers do not thrive on such a broken routine.

We had a very energetic and loud morning, 

with children delighted to be together again, 

playing in their classroom, 

their special place. 

Ahhh, routine!

Although snow was falling as I left for school this morning, 

by mid-day the temperature was in the 40s. 

In pursuit of fresh air 

and the strong desire to return to our once normal routine,

I suggested we take a walk outside today.

Today, we returned to school and our normal routine!

Before we could go outside, 

we had to get our coats on.

Plus, we had to remember how to line up with the walking rope.

Several children didn't want to go outside - and seemed to have entirely forgotten that 

"we all must go outside together - all for one, one for all!"

Finally, we corralled the reticent and unwilling to get their coats on and join us in the line.

We had spent some 20 minutes just getting everyone ready to go out the door.

Out the door of the school we went!

Today, we returned to school and our normal routine!

Nope. Bad news.

With the exception of right in front of our school, 

the sidewalk was still frozen over.

I hadn't thought of that.

Today, I learned that it is near impossible to guide 22 preschoolers on a walking rope over ice.

We froze in our steps.

Change in plans.

Back inside.

Everyone turned around, facing the other direction, 

holding the walking rope with the other hand.

The back of the line became the leaders,

The once leaders became the cabooses.

[That, actually, for a new routine, went pretty smoothly!]

We'd been outside for at most 5 minutes.

Step, step, step

back inside.

Take coats off, hang them up,

settle in for storytime.

Today, we returned to school.

Our normal routine remains elusive.

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....