Tuesday SOL: What about home?

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.

It is no surprise that, at the beginning of the school year, home is ever-present on preschoolers’ minds. As children play and explore in the classroom, I see a great deal of fascination and curiosity about home. In dramatic play, the children play family, with pretend meals, bed times, and doctor visits. In the block area, children create homes for animals and people. We decided to delve into the topic. We wondered,

What is home?

What makes a home?

What do you love about home?

Preschoolers are beginning to discern what is the same and what is different, stretching their thinking muscles. I posed the question, “What is the difference between home and school?” and the children truly struggled with this. I loved listening to the preschoolers, as they tried to tease these two concepts - home and school - apart:



“You run at school.” (O)

“But not inside!” (S)

"Dirt is a kind of home." (M)

“I have a bouncy ball at home.” (C)
"I have a grabber at home." (J)

“You not bring your toys to school." (N)
"I like to play with my sister." (L)

"Home – watch cartoons!” (E)

“Yes, watch T.V. at home” (A)

“Home and school are the same because you are warm.” (C)
“At home, Mommy has a bed.” (B)
“Mommy is home.” (Z)
"Mommy picks me up." (I)


We are finally on to something! Our families are at home!

I think it is oh so sweet that the children struggled to figure this out. Perhaps there is a great deal that is the same about the early childhood classroom and children’s own homes? 

Tuesday SOL: What is death?

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.

"One can tell the morals of a culture by the way they treat their dead." Benjamin Franklin



We buried Flash the betta fish this week. I noticed he was slowing down one day. The next day when I came in, I didn't even see him in the tank. I looked more closely at the tank and there he was, in long, narrow leaves of the fake seagrass. Imagine, this tiny little life still having the desire and power to die in solitude...living life in a glass bowl, everyone looking at you, and then when it is time to die, finding the one available place of solitude to die.

I shared the news of Flash's death with the preschoolers. I let them see him in the reeds. They asked,
"Is he stuck?"
"Is he tired?"
"Why is he hiding?"
"Why did he die?"
"Is he sick?"

I removed him from the tank and into a paper cup with water, so that we could transport him to the garden for burial. I let the children look into the cup one by one, so that they could each be assured he was no longer alive. They asked,
"Why is he not swimming?"
"Is he sleeping?"
 "Can we make him move?"
"Is the cup too small?" asked one.
When the cup jostled, one declared,
"Flash is moving!"
I asked the children to put a hand over their heart. "Do you feel it beating? You are alive! Flash is no longer alive. He lived a good, long life."

We had a solemn procession down the hall and out the door to bury Flash in the garden. We dug a deep hole, placed Flash within, and then covered him over with dirt. I explained, "Flash the fish will help enrich our garden soil. We will be able to visit him in the garden, should the need arise." The children shared a few words,
"I like Flash."
"I miss Flash."
"Flash is in the dirt."

My colleague took several photos and I was truly surprised and moved by this one; I had not even realized this was happening, in the moment:

Do you see how one preschooler is supporting me, as I prepare to place Flash in the burial spot? It is so beautiful, the empathy and concern of preschoolers. It makes me so hopeful for our world!


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Alongside everyone in our nation, I woke up to the news about the carnage in Las Vegas yesterday morning. Another horrific mass shooting.

Our nation will throw heart-wrenching memorials, so many flowers and candles, surrounded by breath-taking photographs of our deceased loved ones. We will weep, sob, cry out in grief. We will head right back out to the gun shop when we are done. What is life? What is the value of life? 

We are teaching our children to take it all in stride.  

Our Mommies, Daddies, sisters, brothers, grandparents, neighbors, colleagues, friends, lovers, fish,

all come and go.

We go through the pantomime of caring. Against all odds.

"One can tell the morals of a culture by the way they treat their dead." Benjamin Franklin

What can we tell about a culture by the way it treats life?

SOLSC 2015 #13: What do you ask?

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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We are a demonstration school, with frequent visitors. This week, visitors entered our room while the children were immersed in building "Three Little Pigs" houses out of recyclables and found objects. Kaelyn had just found a piece of turquoise netting and had created an amazing roof for her house. A visitor appeared at her elbow, watching her, and said, kindly, "Oh, my, you have built a beautiful boat! What a lovely sail!" 

I wish you could have seen Kaelyn - her lips tersed, her face scrunched, her shoulders tightened. 

How often do we as adults, however well-intentioned, disregard the work of children? 

Why do we assume we know? 

Why don't we take a moment to ask?

I witnessed the whole exchange (one side with words, other side with body language) and quickly intervened, "Oh, Kaelyn, perhaps we should tell her about our "Three Little Pigs" work? Have we ever heard of the Three Pigs being in a boat? You have made a house - with a triangular roof, right?" And Kaelyn softened at my silliness, and the visitor immediately apologized and quickly changed approach - "Oh, wow, tell me about your house. Look at the details!" 

I think we adults could learn a lot by imitating children's approach to new things - ask questions, questions, questions! Just minutes earlier, in the midst of children struggling to attach turquoise netting, bottle caps, and corks to their structures and finding that these simply would not adhere with regular glue or tape, I got out my glue gun for the first time this school year. I explained that it was for me to use only and that I would keep it up high on my counter, because it gets very hot. Oh, my, the questions -

Is it a real gun? 

Why do you have a real gun?

Why does it get hot?

Where does it get hot?

You can touch it but not get burned?

We would call the firefighters if you got burned?

How come the glue is melting?

Where did you get the glue gun?

The glue gun only works if it has a plug?

We shouldn't touch it?

Why do we need it?

Is this glue going to be super strong now?

Is it better than tape?

Why is the stick of glue hard but when you put it in there, it melts?

I want to use the glue gun. Can I be a teacher like you when I grow up?

This last - I quickly responded, "Oh, yes! And we can work together! We'd be colleagues."

********

Here are the other Three Little Pigs houses:

Tuesday SOL What does mid-year look like?

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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We are mid-year in the Big Cats. Every day, the children choose their own fun, working and exploring where they desire. There is cheerful "instigation" and coaching from teachers, guiding the children to extend what they have chosen to do, or to try something all new. Our centers are purposefully set up to reflect their interests and our "guided discovery" process from earlier in the school year allows the centers to have ample materials that are both accessible and organized. I have tried to set up a 'laboratory' or 'scientific' environment, a wondering and questioning place …we are constantly working "at" things, trying to figure things out - What can I do with this? How might I do that? What is the problem? What might we do? Why is this broken? How might I fix it? What are some ideas?

Yes, we are mid-year in the Big Cats, and I am so pleased with the kind-hearted and curious work that my preschoolers are drawn to doing. The Big Cats love to work at things, to try. They are happy with the "gray," with things not being perfect or absolute, with trying to make something work. They love exploring.

Let me share an anecdote:

Paxton was playing in the block center with the ramps and toy cars, and he found a small car with its wheel broken off. He raced over to me, in the art center, and asked to use the science tweezers to pull at the wheel, to see if he could loosen it free from the axle. Dmitry came over to investigate what Paxton was doing. Paxton worked at the car for awhile and then passed it to Dmitry, to see if Dmitry was able to remove the broken wheel.

Dmitry, using the tweezers, trying to pry the wheel loose,
Wow, I almost got it.
That's really hard.
Wow, I strong.
Shew.
Almost…almost…got you off.
Oh boy.
This is.
Off.
Strong.
Oooooh.
I almost got it.
I'm getting tired.

Paxton -
Can I try, too?
I'm going to have one more turn, okay?

Dmitry -
Ok, your turn.
You have to try it.

Dmitry passes the car to Paxton.
Paxton takes the tweezers and he, again, tries to pry the wheel loose, explaining,
I think someone should snatch it off.
I'm going to be a helper.
I'm going to do it all the time.
That was a really good hard one for me, Ms. Ingram!
My Dad has some really good tools, Ms. Ingram.
He has even bigger pliers than we do.

Micah walks up and observes -
Want me to try?
I'm really strong!
You can give me a turn.

Paxton -
And I am super strong, too, Micah!
Here, try!

Micah, takes the tweezers and struggles to remove the wheel, emitting groans -
eeeeh yah!
eeeeh yah!
She is really struggling. Luke walks up to see what is going on.

Paxton -
Luke, he can try, too. He's a really good fixer.

Micah -
He's really, really strong! 

Micah gives Luke the car and the tweezers. He begins to work on the car, and Micah cheers him supportively -
Can he? Can he?

Katherine, painting a picture at the same table and observing their hard work, adds a commentary,
Daddy has a thing in the basement that fixes bikes.
But it can't fix cars.

Paxton -
Can it fix trolleys?


I love their camaraderie and good cheer, even when working hard.
I love how these kids are working with each other.
I love how they support one another.
I love their instinctive sharing.
I love how they don't shy away or flinch from the difficult, from the challenging.
I love how hard they work, how they persist, how determined they are.
I love their conversations.


Yes, I am happy.

Tuesday SOL What are your questions?

 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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This is the time of year when prospective families often drop by the school to check it out, to see if this is the place that they want to send their preschooler.

What questions will they have?
Will they wonder about the curriculum?
The pattern of our day?
The types of activities we do?
What project are we working on?
Are they wondering about our academics?
Will they ask, where is the math? what about literacy?
Are we teaching children to write?
What are the learning standards for preschool?

One young couple dropped by today, getting ready to send their firstborn to preschool.

They had two questions:

Is it a problem that my child takes a three-hour nap?
How will my child adjust to having so many classmates, when he is a quiet, introverted child?

I loved these questions!
These are parents who are thinking about their child,
and his developmental needs.

Right on!!

Why do you sit in a chair?

We've started a new fun ritual at the start of our day, wherein the students themselves take turns asking the question of the day on the whiteboard.  I've seen this done in older classes but I hadn't tried it at the preschool level. Laura McCarthy (Teaching Resident) decided to give it a try with our class and I have really enjoyed seeing how excited the children are about this daily pastime.

We invite the children to consider what they want to learn from their peers or what they want to know about their peers.


Most of the questions have been fairly predictable..."small" wonderings, such as

Do you have a pet? Yes or No?
What is your favorite food - macaroni and cheese, pizza, spaghetti, other?
What is your favorite - airplanes, helicopters, or trains?
What do you like for breakfast - oatmeal, muffin, cereal, other?
Do you like princesses? Yes or No?




This past week, Harper's question was open-ended:

Why do you sit in a chair?

I was delighted to see how the children answered.

Many were stumped.
"I don't know," being their immediate response.


Others puzzled long enough to reframe the original question, to make their answer fit their needs -
I like that chair! [points to a student chair] (Ferdinand)
That chair! [points to teacher chair] (Nolan)

For many, a chair was for sitting down for meals:
"So, you can eat lunch." (Soren)
"So, you don't spill food." (Sayid)
"That means you have to eat." (Ben)
"Because we eat." (Emma)
"Because we got to sit down eating." (Ellington)

Reia noted another favorite activity for chairs:
"Because we read books."

Dillon's response made me think of "rules" about chairs -
"Because we sit in a chair all the time." (Dillon)
[He is perhaps remembering adult voices, reminding him to sit in the chair.]

Other responses seemed to wrestle philosophically with the purpose of a chair -

"Because I don't want to stand up." (Harper)

"So, if there is something lower, you can reach it." (Sarah Lydia)
"So, we won't fall." (Anya)
"If it disappears, you fall off and hit your bottom." (Jamie)
"If you want to relax, you go to a chair or a bed." (Charlie)

I loved this question! I loved how one simple question gave me a window into children's cognitive processing...how they think.

SOLSC #12 What does she do?

Two Writing Teachers' Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC)

We are in the midst of a couple of very unusual days at our school.  

Our Teaching Resident, Laura McCarthy, has gone to another school to work in a kindergarten class; that school has sent their Teaching Resident to our preschool class for a few days.  This exchange gives the Residents the opportunity to experience another school and hopefully providing invaluable insight and perspective as they ready themselves for job interviews at different Washington, D.C. schools, for employment next school year.

I asked the Big Cats to give advice to our new Resident, posing the question to the children, What exactly does Ms. McCarthy [our regular Teaching Resident] do?  I loved their responses:

"Share!" [Zoe]

"Share the whole school." [Lukas]

"Switch places with her." [Sophie]

"Join us." [Ebony]

"Build with us." [Ferdie]

"Show us the sign-in question and the morning message." [Soren]

"When the school is open, she goes in." [Ben]

"Shares toys, blocks, books." [Bella]

"Share!" [Jamie]

"When the school closes she can go home." [Sayid]

To me, it is clear that they love and admire Ms. McCarthy, and know that she is an essential part of our classroom.  They may be preschoolers, but they have great understanding about what teachers do!

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Center for Inspired Teaching's teaching certification program includes Teaching Residents at two partner schools - ours (Inspired Teaching Demonstration School) and Capital City Public Charter School (CCPCS).  For a four day period, the Residents are switching places.  Yes, it is a little confusing...to write about! ;-)  

SOLSC #8 What questions do you have?

Two Writing Teachers' Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC)

Last night, my son Bryce (17) searched the house looking for an old sheet, in order to make a toga for himself.  He was giving an oral report about Socrates in his Philosophy class today, and his teacher had challenged him to dress "in style."  This high school senior was delighted with the report, and as he readied the bedsheet, he delighted my husband and I with his practice - the entire report would be given in questions, the Socratic way.  

There is so much magic in questions! I shared with Bryce that I worked hard to nudge my students through open-ended questions, rather than through specific directions or simple "yes/no" questions. I find this a challenging way to teach and so rewarding. Questions open up whole new avenues of exploration and allow children to think more deeply about things.

I really want the children to ask questions, to be curious. In recent weeks, we have had an "Animal Sharing" box.  One child brings a special animal toy from home and hides it in the box.  Classmates take turns asking questions, to see if they can guess what is inside the box.  We have been working on "What makes a good question?" and encouraging the children to build off of each other's answers.  This is difficult for the preschoolers to grasp. We often have simple questions, such as, "Is it a bird?," "Is it an elephant?" We are noticing, recently, many of the children's questions are growing more complex.  While still 'yes' or 'no,' the questions are more general, provide insight about the category of animal ("Does this animal swim?," or "Is this a very small animal?") rather than jumping immediately to specific animal guesses. 

Over time, through this sharing box ritual, we are all learning a lot more about the power of questions.