Compassion

A number of weeks ago the children were chatting with one another, and the topic of people with no houses came up. Over the summer, the children have traveled to a number of holiday spots, and a few of them saw some people that were sleeping outside a store. This is not the first time this has been talked about amongst the children, but it is the first time, it seemed that all the children had a fairly good understanding of what being homeless meant, at least to three and four year olds.

So i'm going to assume this means that the children have talked about this with their families.

This was the first time as well that some of the children expressed some emotion in regards to their situation. 

There were no tears, but there was definitely a emotion of empathy, it was heartwarming.

So I attempted to approach the situation delicately. After a discussion of how it made us feel, I asked the children if there was something we could do to help. It's never to early to encourage a philanthropic attitude.

The instant I asked the question, I realized that I would need to pull back the reigns on some of their ideas. I mean, I don't think that our mommies and daddies would be very happy to be having a stranger living in their spare bedroom, i'll leave that to the families!

In the end, we came up with a baby step. We will be making a donation to the local food bank through our fund raiser with Mabel's Labels. If you would like to help us out, our donation website is : http://www.perfectharmony.mabelslabels.com/

We will also be hosting a blanket drive until late November. So if you are close by and have some blankets to donate, we'd appreciate your donation.

And a Dash of Humour...

Lately the children have taken to telling jokes. It's been pretty hilarious! 

As soon as one child tells a joke the rest get right in there with a little 'I've got a good one.'

The jokes are pretty clever. They mostly go something like this, 

"Why did the tree cross the road?"

"To get a banana."

The children then in turn lay down on the ground and wave their legs in the air and laugh hysterically.

Humour is a lovely corner stone for a healthy childhood. 

Even though the jokes don't make sense to an adult, hearing hysterical laughter is so satisfying, and on the other side the 'ROFL' is just so worthwhile. It's only when we grow older that we understand that humour has rules (kinda takes the fun out of it all). When a child tells me one of these nonsensical jokes I immediately get the urge to google jokes to share my own, because i'm an adult and those rules are like a infection that take the fun out of humour. 

Oh to be a child and not feel the need to tell jokes that require thought.

 Because a tree crossing the road to get a banana is pretty funny. 

A Word from Afar....

.... well maybe not that far, but the children have taken to writing letters to one another. It's really sweet.

Perhaps these are what initiated the activity:

Or maybe it's these fun little gift boxes that the children have been placing momentos in and 'gifting' to their friends.

Or maybe it's a combination of both:

All we can say is that our writing centre is a hubbub of activity these days. 

Repurposing Days

We're starting a new tradition! It's part of an intention to encourage the children to look at the value of 'things'. It's called 'Repurposing Days'.
It is our hope that this day increases the children's abilities to look 'outside the box' and recognize that 'things' can be just as much fun as the commercial products.
So starting September 4th instead of a traditional show and tell day, the children are encouraged to look around them to find an object such as a spatula, pinecone, or a rock, and bring it to share. It is during our morning meeting we will take a look at the item and brainstorm ways to include this item in our play.
We'll keep you up to date on the success of our Repurposing Days.

Now for a little visual insight into our daily goings on:

These buildings are popping up everywhere!

Oil Pastels are even more exciting when they come outside. 

Carbon Paper! Who knew how cool it is?

A small portion of our music fence

A tower worthy of the step stool

Our writing centre seems to be the hubub of activity these days.

Getting a little haircut

Measuring Worms

And we're back

Last week we had all taken a collective holiday. A time to spend with our families and a time to regroup. We've come back and quickly adjusted back into the swing of things, and everyone has been so excited to share their adventures. It's been lovely to hear of all the swimming, hiking, playing and relaxing that the children engaged in over the course of the week, and for many, a few times here and there over the summer. It's especially wonderful to hear that they enjoyed their time with their families!

Not much had changed while we were away, well, perhaps a few more weeds have grown, the grass grew a bit taller, and the children, I promise, even grew a bit taller. But we were quick to notice the change in our veggie garden. One major change is our cucumber patch! It's overtaken our garden, but has blessed us with an abundance of cukes. Cucumbers of which we plucked right off the vine, gave them a little wash and instantly started munching down on them. We quickly discovered that there were enough cucumbers for us each to enjoy at least one.

I wanted to share this before we left for the summer, but I didn't get to it, so I thought i'd share it now. It's funny how right away the children jumped back in and started up this project where they left off. Our new sand pit is home to a rainbarrel that has provided up with so much joy and wonderful opportunities of discover, so it's inevitable that a stream was soon to follow.

As you can see in the videos, the children were trying to block and divert the stream. This has naturally transitioned into a closer look into dams, and river flow. The children are discovering terms such as inlets, and erosion, and islands, and bays, and lakes. Yet another thing we learn through play. It should be interesting to see where this project takes us. 

Extensions

When children make discoveries themselves it often will lead them to make certain hypothesis' about the way things work and they test these theories in a variety of ways. They will try out their discoveries and results in a variety of mediums. These tests often are the basis for projects and further discovery.
This is where setting up the environment to be used as the third teacher comes in handy. It allows children to initiate their own learning. There are plenty of opportunities in our classroom for self discovery, and collaborative learning.
A few months back we shared a post about a discovery we made while using the 'singing balls'. These singing balls have been a regular addition to our play. Nearly every day they come out in some form or another. They often are used by the children as a simple self calming tool. They will generally gravitate towards them when they just need some quiet time.
But as we discovered with the lazy susans before, it added a whole new dimension to our physical play. So it was interesting that a few months later they were placed in a different tool and the results were the same, yet different.

This time placing the balls in the silver dish the sound sort of resonated and became more pure.

Wonder of Learning Exhibit is Finally Here

"Learning and teaching should not stand on opposite banks and just watch the river flow by; instead, they should embark together on a journey down the water. Through an active, reciprocal exchange, teaching can strengthen learning how to learn."

Loris Malaguzzi (1920-1994)

Last weekend I was blessed with a trip to the Wonder of Learning Exhibit. This exhibit is a amazing display outlining the outstanding childcare program in Reggio Emilia, Italy. The philosophy of the programs for the last 50 years has captured Early Childhood Educators attention. It is a philosophy that boasts an image of the child as capable and creative. It draws out the natural inquisitiveness of the child and channels it in a manner that allows the child to discover and learn through sheer appreciation of individual learning and group play, and puts it into projects and real life discoveries. Through the experiences of Loris Malaguzzi, the Reggio Emilia philosophy began to take shape.

Inspiring works of art in our atelier

Invitations to create

A little Inspiration in the Block Area

     













The role of the teacher in the Reggio program is to provide the children with leading questions to encourage the children to continue to test their theories, as well as provide opportunities for further discovery. The teacher also uses tools such as documentation to record the learning process, and uses the documentation to draw the children back to and experience and further the discovery.

A pleasing invitation to write,
draw, create

A provocation of objects to explore light
next to our light box

A free clay table. Another
medium to recreate,
or inspire with

In the Reggio program the environment is also looked at as the third teacher, and the environment is set up in such a way that encourages self discovery. Each area of the space is thought out and encourages communication, collaborative play, and problem solving. In addition the space is set up in a way that is calming and inviting. Often Reggio centres do not have commercial, plastic toys, but rather materials for open ended discovery, and REAL items.

Beautiful items to promote
spontaneous discovery

Children's Art work is respected
and valued.

Textures that seem to have no purpose,
until someone discovers that they
reflect pretty rainbows on the wall!

Natural elements that tell
the children that they deserve
a calming, reflective and inspiring
environment.

Getting back to the Wonder of Learning Exhibit on display in Vancouver until December, it was a humbling and inspiring experience. I do plan to revisit the exhibit a number of times before it continues on it's world wide tour. There were six fascists to inspire, those being: light, writing, materials, projects, nature, and culture. In addition to those elements, there were opportunities to learn more about the Reggio philosophy and the history and background. There was a LOT to see, and a lot to read! There were a few times that I had to sit down, and just soak it all in, it was a bit overwhelming and perhaps a bit daunting! At one point I choked back tears as I saw the wonder in the children's eyes and the collaboration to test their hypotheses as a group, or as individuals. The children were encouraged and valued enough to create and play as children should. It made me wonder where the program at Perfect Harmony is going. Yes, our program is new, and it's still working out the bugs, but it's coming together. I just want so much more for these children. They have the potential and drive to turn into something wonderful. It takes being more engaged and being ready and prepared to promote an interest and let it fly (literally.... everytime I turn around these children are creating airplanes out of whatever they can get their hands on, so...... project?)

An invitation to create with
tape.

Each day a child creates a
centrepiece for our eating
table. This is quickly
becoming a very important
part of our program.

No program or philosophy is perfect, because we are not perfect, but we can still try our best.

The Hundred Languages of Children

The child is made of one hundred.

The child has a hundred languages a hundred hands a hundred thoughts a hundred ways of thinking of playing, of speaking.

A hundred always a hundred ways of listening of marvelling of loving a hundred joys for singing and understanding a hundred worlds to discover a hundred worlds to invent a hundred worlds to dream.

The child has a hundred languages (and a hundred hundred more) but they steal ninety-nine.

The schools and the culture separate the head from the body.

They tell the child: to think without hands to do without head to listen and not to speak to understand without joy to love and to marvel only at Easter and Christmas.

They tell the child: to discover the world already there and of the hundred they steal ninety-nine.

They tell the child: that work and play reality and fantasy science and imagination sky and earth reason and dream are things that do not belong together.

And thus they tell the child that the hundred is not there.

The child says: No way. The hundred is there.

Loris Malaguzzi