SOLSC 2015 #6: What do we do now?

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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Over the past few days, we've been (or I have been) in Phillips project withdrawal (see yesterday's post)...and, for me, there is always a feeling of malaise that accompanies the end of this big effort. I decided we needed to do a couple of fun things to help us through the transition...some relaxing, open-ended activities that children could choose to do if they were interested. 

First, we got out the shaving cream! Yes, all that decoupage work left an art table covered with glue. The art table doubles as a lunch table, so it has really been bothering me that it is has been covered with this goop. Shaving cream does the trick. I can't believe it, but it was the first time I used shaving cream this school year...I don't know why I delayed the pure preschool pleasure of this. I put some in the sensory table, too. Come one, come all!

You can learn a lot about children when you observe them with shaving cream. Some took one glance and disappeared, not at all interested in touching something of that slippery texture. Others dared to touch, only to quit immediately  and beg, "it's on my hands!," disturbed by the feel. They went right to the classroom sink and were done. But, as always, there were a few stalwarts...children who could not get enough of it. 

The children drew letters and shapes in the cream, made snowmen piles of the cream, rubbed it all over with their hands, and even scrubbed with sponges. 

All the glue disappeared in the midst of all the fun!

Another fun activity, we are making our own school bus, to commemorate what might be the most memorable part of the Phillips field trip for the children - the yellow school bus we rode on. My husband gets special credit for this effort - we had a new stove installed at our house and he asked the installer if he could keep the box, "because his wife was a preschool teacher." Lucky me! Lucky kids! (The installer said - "Oh, this box has too many staples - I have an even bigger box from another delivery that is staple free; let me get it for you!") Tony and I had quite the time getting that cardboard box into our car and over to school, but now its fate is sealed.

The box is so big, we have placed it in our early childhood common space. We are creating the bus with our other preschool class, the Giraffes. Each day, teachers take a small group out into the hall to paint it during centers time. Some of the children work calmly, as if transfixed; others take bold, fast strokes and you have to caution them about soiling the hallway carpet. I have delighted at the look of children who dare to paint the interior - lots of yellow-orange paint in their hair, from the ceiling. Did Michelangelo look like this?

Soon, the bus painting will be done, wheels and other details will be added. I predict this sturdy bus will provide plenty of good play for a long while.

And, the children and I will be ready to take on new adventures!

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!


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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.

Tuesday SOL Water exploration - let's build bridges!

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 have been doing lots of science and engineering about water...this past week, we engineered bridges using our recyclables and tape.

This engineering problem is based on the book Twenty-One Elephants and Still Standing by April Jones Prince, which shares the true story of how Phineas Barnum marched his circus elephants over the Brooklyn Bridge to test its soundness. The children test their bridges by seeing how many toy elephants their bridge supports (our goal was five toy elephants). It's been a couple years since I've done this particular engineering problem with children (see my  blogpost from that time)...and it was no less thrilling for these preschoolers than for previous students.

I, however, noticed one big difference between this week's bridge-building and previous attempts -

I led this engineering effort in a fish bowl,

with two large groups of adults visiting my classroom during the course of the morning. We are a demonstration school, and, at least once a week, there is a tour of classrooms. On bridge-building day, we were having the last tours of the school year, and, I'm not exaggerating, some 20-30 adults visited my room.

When the adults entered my classroom, I did my very best just to tune them out, to focus on my preschoolers.

After three years at my school, knowing this is a part of what we do - opening doors and letting people observe us in action - I am practiced at teaching "in the fish bowl."

But, wow, what a weird sensation!
I found myself both
"on autopilot" and,
yet, sweating up a storm,
relaxed about the children's exploration and,
yet, terrified that they would say or do something outrageous.
All the while, I felt as if time was standing still and,
yet, the morning flew by.

The children were mesmerized by the task at hand and
oblivious to the visitors.
I may have been exhausted by our engineering fun
(well, the pressure of these visitors), but
the children were energized.

Let me share just a few photos of our fun together....

Let's get building!

To build is to focus.

Testing the bridge for its soundness.

One bridge gets tested, while others investigate the water.

These two worked together to create one enormous, awesome bridge.

I promise - more details about our other water investigations work very soon!!

SOLSC #27 Abiyoyo meets some engineers!

I am posting every day during March as part of the annual "Slice of Life" Challenge for Two Writing Teachers.  Check out their website for lots more reflections on teaching.

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A great day! We explored engineering for Pete Seeger's Abiyoyo...this story is a big hit with the children, and they threw themselves into creating devices that could stand up to this big giant!

(I apologize in advance for not having as many photos as I usually do for this work.)

Here's what I asked them to do -

Problem: Abiyoyo scares everyone away.

How to Solve? Make something that is not afraid of Abiyoyo.

Test: Place device on table.  Have student bang table with hands – see if device falls over.

We had a very busy centers time, with children very engaged at cutting tape, working with recyclables to create their devices. Here's what they made -

Shaan – a magic wand

Lily – a rocking chair with fire on it

Helen – a house for Abiyoyo

Jasmine  - a house with a kitchen and a bedroom

Seymour – a trap

Evan – a magic wand

Bernie – a trap – it looks like a candy store, but these are pills and it puts him in here and it gets covered by a net – it is a trap

Charlie – it’s a truck – it carries Abiyoyo away

Eloise – a cave that traps Abiyoyo

Amelie – this is a monster that scares Abiyoyo

Ashley – a store for Abiyoyo – I don’t know why!

Lavinia – this is a telescope so I can see Abiyoyo

Caroline – I’m making a trap for Abiyoyo – a trap and a sled. I catch him in the net, where the trunk is.

Micaela – It will make Abiyoyo get scared and run away. This rope and tape have super powers and make Abiyoyo smaller and be soft and nice

Ellie – it scares Abiyoyo and makes him disappear

Ian – this is Batman movie. Abiyoyo will be scared.

Hughie – this part comes up and saws Abiyoyo and smacks him

Zuren – A monster that can’t be scared of Abiyoyo

Ada – a Stop Sign, so that he doesn’t come by my house

Nico – a house to keep me safe

Alyja – something that is a sled, and I slide away and get to my house

Julian – I made a monster and his feet and his mouth

I will have to let you know how the engineering test goes - we never got to this part of the fun, today! There was too much building and creativity happening with the devices.

Too much creativity was the very best problem of the day!

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!