Helping Children Bloom

We are getting ready to say goodbye to our flowers for the season.  In our area, flowers disappear with the first frost.  Although a little early, we lost a few vines this past week, but we are still enjoying the flowers.  However, I understand that we must enjoy them today because they will be gone tomorrow.

I was looking at my geraniums and thinking how different each plant can be.  Not only are the colors of the flowers different, the leaves and the plant patterns vary from mound to mound.  It is like having different children in our classrooms.  If we are working with 5 year olds, they are all 5 year-olds.  Fortunately, they all have different patterns, different leaves, and variegated colors.  Like all of my geraniums, children need different things to flourish and make the most of their development and accomplishments.  I had a geranium this season that needed constant monitoring with additional plant food and water.  Because I took the time to do this, that plant did well and provided many beautiful blooms during the summer.  Other plants seemed to grow like weeds, without much additional care.  The children in our classrooms are so much like that.  Some need extra care and consideration to make the same progress other children seem to make automatically.  The key is to provide that extra nourishment.  Children who need extra care are sometimes the ones that fight it and seem to rebuff that extra attention.  That means we teachers must make it  a priority to provide the necessary care.  If the child is going to bloom, we must be willing to provide the necessary support. As early childhood community, we need to work to make sure every child blooms.

Literacy in the Sand Table

I had the opportunity to present a workshop at the North Carolina AEYC Conference this past week.    It was a joy to meet with wonderful early childhood teachers in North Carolina. I always love visiting that beautiful state.  No matter where I visit in the United States, there are early childhood teachers who want to provide the best possible experience for their children.  Last week was no exception.  The early childhood community continues to look for innovative and engaging ways to help children learn.  Our group discussed using the sand and sensory tables to promote and support language and literacy development.  I firmly believe that the sensory tables are not used enough in our classrooms.  Some of the language and literacy ideas we discussed include:

• Forming letters of the alphabet with wet sand or dough
• Allowing children to create parts of stories using sand and props
• Having children use a scoop to find sponge letters floating in water
• Using a magnet wand to find magnetic letters hidden in sand
• Using dough to create another ending for a story
• Using sand on a cookie sheet or tray to form alphabet letters with your finger

The list was quite extensive and included many activities for use in the sensory table or center.  These types of workshops serve as a reminder about how critical it is to engage children and keep learning exciting.  

it's playtime - obstacle courses

Welcome to another week of  It's Playtime.   

Playful Picks

Spring is here and it's time to head outside and enjoy the glorious weather!  Why not set up an obstacle course like Happy Little Messes?

It can be as simple as setting out some paper plates, as Crafting Play shows us:

Meet my Partners in play:

Messy Kids,

The Imagination Tree ,

hands on: as we grow and

QuirkyMomma

What have you been playing this week?

Linking up is simple.

happy feet

In a world seemingly obsessed with carefulness these days, one of the things I fear is getting lost is the joy of going barefoot, and along with it all the benefits. For little ones, getting and staying in touch with their feet is important.

- Moving Smart

My son is happy to be enjoying a barefoot childhood, and although I often despair at the dirty state of his feet and the shoes that go missing, I'm pretty happy about it too.

At his school, the kids can shed their shoes.   

 

You see, as far as I know, there is no research that says that children learn better when they are wearing socks and black lace up shoes.  I'm pretty sure that kids learn best when they are comfortable, and he is comfortable when his feet are bare.  Of course, common sense does come into play and he is asked to wear shoes when the situation calls for it - on cold days or bush walks for example.

Encouraging kids to walk around barefoot, wherever possible, is the best thing you can do for growing feet. It helps the muscles develop and get stronger and allows air to circulate around the entire foot.

For more on the benefits of a barefoot childhood:

Thoughts on Muddy Feet and Progressive Education
Why Barefoot is Best from Education.Com
Barefootin' from Moving Smart

What do you think?  Would you be happy for your child to be barefoot at school?


Images Courtesy Kinma

Doll house in an old chest

Oooh.  An old chest.  I wonder what could be inside?

block car tracks take over preschool

What began as an average "let's build a car track" kind of morning in the block area took an unexpected turn - out the door.

"Let's go all the way to our lockers." they said.

 "Let's go all the way to the sandpit."  they said.

" Let's go to the big tyre." they said.

By now they had run out of blocks and were raiding the shed for wood planks and PVC pipe.

 "Let's go back inside."  they said.

By now they were down to rope.  They'd covered a lot of distance.

Pack up was fun, let me tell you.

Don't you love it when the children think outside the box - or the block area?

It's curtains for preschool

Nanna's curtains that is.

Strung up between two posts, they create an invitation to peek in and explore what lies beyond.  Or peek out of as you mix up your mud pies and enjoy that delicious sense of seclusion.

They create a statement in the cubby.

And blow gently in the breeze.

Next time you are at a thrift shop, check out the curtain section and see if you can't snap up some lace nanna curtains of your very own.

Use them for cubby making.  Hang them from the clothes line to create a child-sized space.  Drape them from the branches of a tree and lay out a blanket and some books beneath.

What have you picked up from the thrift shop lately that is getting a good workout?