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MAP EXPLORATIONS Louisa's mom, Maggie, came to talk to us about maps. Before she arrived, I asked the children to tell me about maps. --They can bring you where you need to go. --You can find out where you're going with them. --They can spin! --He's thinking of the ball like we have one over there (points to the globe) that tells us everywhere in the world. --It's something that you can see where you're going so you won't lose your way. --Siri tells my Dad where to go. Most seemed to have some understanding that maps show us where to go. We need them so we don't get lost. Freida assured us that Siri will help if we get lost, but we found out that Siri needs a map too! They also understood that the "spinning ball" (i.e., globe) was a map of the whole world. But that was pretty much the extent of map knowledge...until Maggie arrived. She showed us that maps can tell us about animals and people, and even our own houses! Maps are NOT just something adults use when we get into cars, Children can use maps too-- to see where the swimming pool and parks are in Iowa City, to find where moms go when they travel (Pennsylvania), to find the warm state our friend just moved from (Texas), to see where our teacher's mom lives (Sudan), to locate where penguins live (under the equator), to see where there are earthquakes (not in Iowa, whew!). We got busy looking at maps, making maps, and playing with maps. Although the children seemed to always have had an understanding that the world is much larger than our school and community, exploring all of these maps seemed to broaden their world view. We talked about how maps can be of our school/house, our neighborhood and city, our state....and just keep expanding to the whole world.
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Normally on Martin Luther King Day I think about celebrating individual diversity. The standard has been to talk to children about our individual differences and celebrate each and every one of us for who we are. I’ve just come from a MLK Unity March in my own local community and it has me thinking less about individuals and more about group and community. We walked a mile together in -12 degrees windchill. Many of us as different as could be, but yet together. Smiles, hugs, handshakes, song, and laughter were shared. An important part of my classroom has always been to build community. But right now, this seems more urgent and important than ever. It will be through group action and community that we stand up together to do what is right, to care for one another and our planet, and build a better world. We can’t do it alone. Community in the preschool classroom is when Freida’s stuffed kitty is lost and we all help look for her. It’s when Violet’s dog died, and we give her hugs. It’s when Laine’s baby sister was born, and we all celebrate. Community for preschoolers is seeing it snow for the first time and we all jump up and down, smile, and hug each other as we rush to pull on our boots and chatter about the snowflakes. Community is saying yes to someone who wants to join the game, it’s helping open someone’s cheese stick wrapper, it’s getting help when someone is hurt. Preschool community is learning about sharing and making sure everyone gets a turn to be line leader. Community in preschool is really much the same as it should be in our adult world—being there for one another, ready to celebrate together or share sorrow. It’s about making mistakes, and fixing those mistakes together. It’s making judgments about others, but spending time to get to know one another and having those judgments dissolve in a belly laugh. And once you build community and group spirit, you stand together on the same boat and navigate the journey together. "When I woke up this morning I was SO angry that it wasn’t Christmas today." "When I woke up I was SO tired that it wasn’t Christmas I wanted to just stay home." "I’m going to my Grandma’s tomorrow for Christmas." (it turned out, “tomorrow” was quite a few days away). Me: It’s hard to wait for something "Yeah, like you just wait and wait and it still doesn’t happen." Me: What do you do when you are waiting? "Oh, I just do stuff." "I’m just SO SO angry of waiting." "I’m so tired of waiting. I want Christmas now." "But you have to be good waiting. You have to be nice, not naughty." This was the discussion we had on Monday, 7 days before Christmas. Children came into preschool that morning very… well, let’s just say it was a difficult morning. I know this can be a hard time of year for children. We like to think of it as magical, and it definitely is. But it is also full of anticipation, expectations, disrupted schedules, busy parents, etc. I wanted to hear from the children what was going on. Waiting. Waiting is hard. Waiting is especially hard at Christmas when along with the waiting are expectations to be “good” so that Santa will come. And so, we counted the days until Christmas and counted how many of those days would be school days. Me: We are going to be in school together for 5 days, waiting. Will it help if we wait together? Can we help each other wait? "Yes, like we can do stuff together." "If we wait together then we are playing and waiting at the same time." "We can paint and make stuff to wait. We can make Christmas paintings so when we don’t want to wait we just look at the painting and pretend it’s Christmas." "Oh, we can play family and pretend it’s Christmas now! I’ll give out the presents." "If L is angry to wait, we can give her a smile and she will feel better." The rest of the week went much better. We played, created, and sang together. We gave each other smiles and hugs when the waiting got hard. On Friday we toasted our waiting success with hot cocoa. We hung in there together –a community of waiters. As part of our storytelling project, Calvin, Univ. of Iowa dance major, came and “told” a story by using his body (no words). He told the story of Where The Wild Things Are. The children immediately recognized that he was Max. Later, he asked them if they could guess who he was thinking of as the Wild Things Calvin: Who do you think in my mind the Wild Things were? Vioet: In your imagination? Calvin: Yes, do you remember when I stopped moving and looked at you in the audience? Louisa: We were the wild things! Calvin: Yes! We got into a movement circle and work-shopped with Calvin about how Wild Things might move. How would their hands look? How would they move to show roaring without making noise? How would their bodies move through space to show a wild rumpus and swinging on trees? Then he invited us to rumpus with him! Calvin came back another time, and invited the children to help tell the story. We became the story. This was the beginning of what is becoming a wild adventure. We have re-told the story many many times in our classroom. Louisa has made puppets and a boat for Max that we often use. We have made movement drawings to document the movements that we work-shopped with Calvin. We've gotten into our movement circle to work on our Wild Things moves. We've had wild rumpuses at school and at Harvest Preserve. Now, we want to invite Calvin back to help us tell our story to the other classes. It started with a story, and grew into an adventure--let the wild rumpus start!
"Tell me the facts and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in heart forever.” – Native American Proverb Early in my teaching journey, I discovered Vivian Paley, an early childhood educator, researcher, and author. My first Paley book was Wally’s Stories in which she describes using storytelling and acting in her kindergarten classroom. It is her second of 13 books, written in 1981, but still very relevant today. I went on to read and integrate many of Paley’s works, but Wally has always remained close in my mind. I incorporate storytelling in some form in my classroom, some years much more so than others. Each time, it takes on a different direction, but always the stories are the focus. This year, It started with a remembered story, written last year by Louisa, Charlie The Troll. I had loved this story as it was being told to me. So simple, yet so eloquently told by a 4-year-old. "There once was a troll who walked through 100 forests for 1000 years." My own mind's eye could picture this ancient troll, roaming the forests, alone for a 1000 years. Then, he met another troll and what happens next in the story is something I wish more humans could do. "The troll said, 'we may not be alike, but we are both trolls.' They became friends." This year, I knew I wanted to explore storytelling in-depth with the children, but we needed a story to start with. I pulled out Charlie the Troll in the early weeks of school and we acted it out. Stories flowed from there. We've had stories about penguins, polar bears, birds, mermaids…and often, dragons. Not all have told a story yet, some aren't ready. But all have participated in the magic of making a story come alive either by being an active listener, acting out a part, or giving feedback. Children feel valued and validated when they tell their stories and people listen. When they see their stories come to life through action--by acting it out, or through puppetry, movement, or song--they see their ideas come to life in a concrete way. They know their creative ideas are valued by others, their inner thoughts are important. But more importantly, their stories become a vehicle to self-expression—a way of explaining themselves, their world, and their thoughts and imaginations to one another. But I want to do more than storytelling this year. I want to also focus on story-listening. While it is so important to tell our own stories, it is equally important to listen to others’ stories. I want the children to see that stories come in all sorts of forms—a movement, a quilt, a song. I want them to see and hear the stories all around them in their world, to pay attention to the real and imagined stories they encounter every day. I’m asking and hoping for our community to join us in storytelling. My hope is that children will see adults participating in the very important work of creating and telling stories. “Stories are a communal currency of humanity." --Tahir Shah, in Arabian Nights The Having of Wonderful Ideas was written by Eleanor Duckworth and her ideas have been a foundation for my teaching and the teaching at Preucil. All children have ideas. All children have wonderful ideas. My role is "to get people to think about what they think." It’s early in the year and for some, this is their first formal educational experience. All have ideas, but not all are used to exploring them and talking about them. Often, when I ask children about their thoughts and ideas, I hear “I don’t know.” (I have many theories for why that is the go-to answer, but too many to talk about now). I assure children I’m not looking for a right answer, an answer they know to be true, but rather, for an idea. We had been looking closely at the red leaves all morning. We notice cracks, lines, spots, holes and when we look through the magnifiers, we think they look like dragon skin (dragons have been heavy on our minds lately as they keep popping up in our own created stories). Anya, a new, young preschooler is enthralled with looking closely and filled with wonderment as we talk about what we see, what we notice. I ask her if she has any ideas for how the spots got there or why they are there. Her response, "I don't know," I ask Isla, a seasoned 2nd-year preschooler to demonstrate for us the having of ideas. Her first answer too, had been “I don’t know.” Isla, maybe you don’t know, but maybe you do. Do you have any ideas about how the spots got there? No Can you have an idea if you think on it? Ok! Isla comes over, takes the magnifier and looks. She’s very quiet. Anya, and I are waiting and waiting for the big moment of the “idea.” Isla, do you have an idea? No, not yet. I’m studying the leaf and I’m thinking about how the spots got on it. Minutes pass. I start to think MY wonderful idea is not going to work out the way I had intended. Then, after a solid 5 minutes of deep studying and thinking while Anya and I wait patiently, the idea is sprung. I think they are poisonous spots. The leaf got them from the trunk and the trunk got the poison from the seed. It’s the kind of tree that doesn’t like to be touched or eaten by animals, so it has poison spots on the leaves. “.Having confidence in one's ideas does not mean "I know my ideas are right"; it means "I am willing to try out my ideas." --Eleanor Duckworth Anya, do you have an idea about the spots? Anya DOES have an idea, it is less concrete and organized than Isla's, but it’s an idea that she did not have before. The spots are there and they are going to be there forever. They are stuck there. They got stuck on those leaves. Isla smiles and nods. Both children leave the area and go to play in the kitchen. Anya is learning that she has ideas and that her ideas are accepted and wonderful! "The more we help children to have their wonderful ideas and to feel good about themselves for having them, the more likely it is that they will some day happen upon wonderful ideas that no one else has happened upon before." --Eleanor Duckworth We began our tree study by looking at pictures of trees and noticing the details. We recorded our observations through drawings. We've read books about trees and have had discussions about our thoughts and theories concerning tree growth, the role of leaves, and the importance of human care for trees. We went outside to look at the trees on our playground. We documented or observations When Louisa hugs the big tree, she can reach her hands. But when she hugs the smaller tree, she can reach her shoulders. Isla can reach the tippy top of the "baby" tree, but even when they jump, they can't reach the top of the others. We noticed the big tree has "wrinkly" bark. The small tree has a smooth trunk. "That's just what happens when trees and people get older." We are using "100 Languages" to reflect our leaning Our discussion about trees quickly turned to debate as the question of breathing and the role of leaves came up. Ideas were thrown out, wondered about, and conclusions were made. The concept that trees need leaves for their health seemed important, but the group was uncertain about the role leaves play. The idea of breathing was brought up, but quickly discounted. I think the children all realize that trees are not like humans and animals for which breathing is required. But some seemed to know something about the importance of air and it's necessity in keeping living things alive. While it was decided that trees don't breath, "blowing" was a useful term. They see the leaves blow, they feel the air made by the blowing, and somehow it made sense to them that this air is necessary for the trees too--but not so much in the winter when the trees sleep. --You shouldn't pick off their leaves because the trees can't breath then. --They don't breath. --They do breath when the wind makes them blow. --No no, people breath their air. --But you shouldn't pick their leaves or they might die. --But their leaves can fall off when it's ready and then it won't die. --Yeah, when the weather changes to different weather and the leaves change to different colors, then you can pick them off. --That's fall. Then the leaves fall off. Get it? Fall--leaves fall off? Get it? --Yeah, but the tree stays, like the branches don't fall. --Trees are strong, except for the leaves because they fall off. --Yeah, because the leaves are the growing part. --No, it all grows and gets bigger, but the leaves are the blowing part, so they aren't strong. But you can't pick them because the tree needs them. --Yeah the tree needs them for breathing, I mean not for breathing but for blowing. But then it doesn't need those leaves anymore and so they fall off and they don't need blowing in the winter because it's very cold and then they hatch new ones again when it's time. --Yeah, they need the leaves to blow but not in the winter, so they fall off before the winter comes.. --Yeah, that's what happens. --Yeah, they sleep in the winter like bears and turtles. --Oh, that's called hibernate. Bears hibernate. --I think trees do that too. A few days later, the concept of the sun came up. Louisa seems to know a little something about photosynthesis, but is unable to communicate the concept in a way the other children can understand. The following conversation followed: --The leaves soak up the sun and give it to the tree. --Yeah, in the summer the leaves take up all the sun and squeeze it into the other parts. What about in the winter when the leaves are gone? Do the trees need sun then? --Well, they have the left over sun stored up in their trunks. They don't need leaves in the winter because there's not really much sun and anyway, they hibernate. There is some understanding that leaves are important for trees survival--they will die if the leaves are picked off. Air and sunlight are important for the tree and somehow, the leaves play a role in this. Children know about bears hibernating in winter and not needing the usuals (food, water), and so it must be that trees hibernate as well and don't need sun and air given to them by the leaves. In formulating their theories, they are using prior knowledge and applying it logically to an unknown. Critical collaborative thinking at it's finest! Our theories and hypothesis about leaves will continue and refine as we take this tree adventure together. “A shadow is a darkened picture of yourself without coloring.” “It follows you in the sun.” “It walks by you.” “It’s a dark reflection of your body on the sidewalk from the sun.” Do only people have shadows? “My cat has a shadow when she walks.” “My dog has a shadow.” “Trees do too.” “The sun makes the shadow. It shines on to us.” How did we get the shadows in our room—did the sun make it? “No, the projector did. When you turn it on, it makes light and does shadowing.” So, it’s the light on the projector that makes the shadow? “Yes.” Do our ceiling lights make shadows? “No, our lights are not bright enough." “Our lights are too high. It’s too high it doesn’t make shadows. If I could dive into a light in the ceiling I might find a shadow following me.” Our ceiling lights are too high for shadows, but the sun can make shadows. Is the sun higher than our lights? “Yes, but the sun is so so high and it shines on everyone and it’s so bright. Our ceiling lights are not bright enough.” “Does it matter more if it’s high or if it’s bright? “It’s more shadowing if it’s bright I think. The projector was pretty bright, but it wasn’t high like on the ceiling.” “Yeah, the projector was bright.” "When I move it closer, the shadow is smaller, but if I bring it back, it's bigger."
What about if you put it on the projector? "Then it's hugey big. I think there's something in there that makes it bigger." The first days of school are filled with excitement, apprehension, and the occasional tears. Familiar friends are delighted to see one another again as they run and embrace in hugs that end up with bodies tangled on the ground. Old routines and habits (kitty speak) quickly fall back into place for those returning. Last year’s newbies are now professional preschoolers. But their confidence does not keep them from seeing the deer-in-the-headlight-faces of this year’s newbies. They know too well the feeling of walking into a room, scared and unsure. They remember when the strange adults took their hands as they waved goodby to their beloved parent. Last year’s “littles,” now the big kids, see the needs of the inexperienced. Lucas shows Callum where the bathroom is, Isla wants to share her Tandy Bear with Chris who is missing his dad, Louisa explains tape to Anya. They take the hands of the new children and lead them into this mysterious world of school.
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Tricia Windschitl
5 day teacher |