And School Begins...

It is that season again when most school systems begin a new academic year.  We started classes at the university last Monday, but most of the public school districts in our area begin in the next few days.  I took the opportunity last week to visit my student teaching candidates as they were helping their site teachers with classroom setup.  The old "beginning of the year" excitement was very evident in every school I visited.  I remember that excitement well as I enjoyed setting up my classroom every fall for almost 25 years.  Later this week, I will meet with my candidates and begin our semester-long course on classroom management.  To me, effectively managing a classroom is the key to everything for the year.  A teacher cannot teach successfully, or children learn successfully, without an effective classroom routine.  Research tells us that it is the attitude of the teacher that is the key factor in teaching reading, math, and other academic subjects.  My job this semester is to model for my student teachers how human development should be the foundation of that classroom management.  Our educational system is so focused on academic teaching that teachers don't receive a lot of support for meeting the needs of their students using developmental principles. Those principles are the key to understanding how students function. It is not just early childhood children who should reap the benefits of developmentally appropriate practice. Understanding the developmental stage of a 9 year-old will be a tremendous help for the teacher in a fourth grade classroom. My job is to help my group of future teachers understand those principles.

Picnic in the dirt patch

A picnic blanket, pots and pans and a great big tub of wood chips by the dirt patch to welcome little picnickers on a sunshiny day. 

They collect, they scoop, they spoon, they fill, they mix, they stir, they experiment, they talk.

 They cook up a natural feast.

 

Lay down a picnic blanket, set out some old cooking utensils next to a patch of dirt and step back.  Hours of outdoor fun and play - it's that simple.

it's playtime

It's been a long time between drinks for Let the Children Play and It's Playtime. I plead the intrusion of life, the universe and everything for disrupting my posting schedule and thank my partners in play for allowing me to drop the ball in such a dramatic fashion.  

I've pulled up my socks, and am back on track today, and bringing you my favourite picks from last week's wealth of play experiences.

Impossible to go past an amazing 60 Nature Play Ideas for Kids from the equally amazing The Imagination Tree.  Try one, try them all and get outside with the kids and play!

Continuing on the outdoor theme - naturally - have a look at this oh so simple outdoor music play area from Play Dr Mom:

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Meet my Partners in play:

Messy Kids,

The Imagination Tree ,

hands on: as we grow and

QuirkyMomma

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What have your kids been playing this week?  We'd love to know.

delightfully disgusting

The day was delightfully sunny, so what better to do than get stuck into that marvellously sensory business of making goop alfresco style.

 Mixing the cornflour and water together with little hands and curious minds:

 Is is a liquid, or is it not?  Firm under pressure, and oozy, slimy, runny goo when released.

The exploring and experimenting didn't end there.  When the outdoor kitchen is so close, how tempting is it to see what will happen when you mix goop with dirt:

and wood shavings:

and grass:

Preschool experimentation at its delightfully disgusting best!

wine racks, ramps and marble runs.

I spied a small wine rack on the side of the road during our last council clean-up and in manner of all good preschool teachers, I stopped to put it in the boot because it might come in handy one day.

Turns out, it does come in handy.  It's perfect for holding up the tubes and gutters in the block area when making those ever popular car ramps and marble runs.  

A wine rack in preschool?  Who knew?!

Passing the Torch

Time continues to slip past us at an incredible rate.  As we age, our perception is that time moves even faster.  Before we realize it, we take the place of our parents and soon we will observe our children taking our place.  When my aunt, the last of her generation, passed away last fall, my cousin turned to me and said, "Well, we're it now.  WE are the oldest generation."  When did that happened?  When did I become the 'oldest' guy around?  I watch my three children as parents worrying about their children moving into the teenage years. Wow!  Part of me laments at being older while the other part of me is happy that I don't have to raise teenagers again!

I had the opportunity to take my six grandchildren to my parents' grave recently.  I really wish that my parents could have known my children and grandchildren as they are now.  They are so interesting and individual. But, time marches on and I am happy to have been the bridge between these generations.

They're Watching...

It always intrigues me to watch a young child with his parent or grandparent.  The child watches everything that the adult is doing.  If at all possible, the child will imitate the adult in an effort to be just like the person that is their protector.  As I watched a group of family members show their children how to safely use sparklers to celebrate the holiday yesterday, it was evident that the children were making efforts to follow the examples of the adults.  However, the older the child, the less the child seemed to follow the adult direction.  Isn't it interesting what children do as they become more independent.  It reminded me again of how fleeting and short these important early childhood years are for those young ones.
The experience also reminded me how vulnerable and delicate our young children are when watching their parent or grandparent.  When adults are good examples and at the same time challenge the child to think and create their own answers, a resilient child is created.  I remember reading some of the research on Multiple Intelligences that was a theory offered by Howard Gardner.  In one of his documents he mentioned how he didn't want his children to redo the same things that he had done.  He wanted them to create new things and new ideas.   Being a great example to children and encouraging them to develop thinking skills will help carry these children into a future we can't predict.