'Pyramids.... I mean, Apartments!'

'It is never too late to have a happy childhood.'  ~Tom Robbins

A number of months ago I scored big time on my daily search through craigslist. I found a wonderful, amazing, fantastic, incredible set of blocks! Blocks are one of those things that as the classroom environment changes and rotates, they remain a constant. They are always there. In some form. Although there are days that they sit unused, they are generally the most versatile. This week our little class pet, Velveeta, needed to stretch her legs. So the children worked together to make a little enclosure for her to jump around in. There's a plethora of ways blocks can be used!

But, to enhance our block experience, we have some old cable reels donated to us by a dad. They too, have been a constant in our centre. They are used quite frequently, and mostly because they make the BIGGEST and TALLEST tower.... quickly and efficiently. On a side note, they also make the LOUDEST and EARTHSHATTERING sound as they tumble to the ground. 

So in the last few weeks the children have been taking to building up the tower, and shouting, 'Take shelter, take shelter!' To which everyone (including me... I learned my lesson) runs for cover (it always reminds me of an earthquake drill). Meanwhile, one brave soul hangs back to knock the tower over. 

These towers have progressed into some amazing forms. They are no longer towers, but 'apartments' (sometimes confused with 'pyramids'... they sound the same, I get it). These apartments are thoroughly furnished and engineered. Gone are the days of quick stacking and knocking them over, it has become quite an art.

Lessons from nature

A brother and sister team arrived one morning with a large stack of leaves.
We were curious about the variety, but were also curious about the sizes, there were some rather large ones in the stack!
So naturally the children sorted them biggest to smallest.
Who says that we don't learn anything from leaves?

Beavers EVERYWHERE!!!

It appears we've been infested with beavers!!!! After noticing a curious little design on a friend's shirt, it turned into an all out search for all the beavers we have in our little school. Interestingly, I didn't think we had even this many. We recently introduced 'Bizzy Beaver' to our group circle, so that was an easy one, but it seems that it didn't stop there. 

Don't Forget....

We read a story about an elephant that forgets everything. In the story her friends suggested she tie a string around her trunk to remember to go to her dance class. 

Shortly after the story a child asked if I had a string he could use. 

Once I found some I gave him the roll of yarn. He snipped off a short piece and it was only when he struggled to tie it to his finger, and asked me for help, that I learned what the purpose was. He told me he needed to remember to look for something when he went home. 

A-Ha!

A Lesson in Gravity

A few weeks ago the children started making streams and river and inlets and lakes and and and and..... It was pretty apparent that the children discovered a new interest.
In our sand pit we have a rain barrel ready and waiting for the children to explore and play with water.
A few months ago I placed some rain gutters in the sandpit, and the children used them here and there, but didn't really take to them. In fact, when they initially used the gutters the children tried pouring the water into the low end, and the effect was lost on the children as the water immediately ran out 'backwards'.
So it was when I brought out the hammer and the nail, and a few pieces of wood, that the children's interest peaked. They came to take a closure look and soon the children started putting together a sluice way, and quickly became invested in creating a gravity fed stream/waterfall.

It took a while to perfect it, and a couple children remembered what we discovered in the last few times of creating streams. It was pretty obvious that the problem of gravity was solved.

Velveeta

This week marked an addition to our little school!

 

We welcomed Velveeta to our little group, and she is such a joy!

It's not really something I had talked to the children about, but rather a spur of the moment decision based on the fact that we were donated all the items necessary to have a class pet... minus the pet. So the children were so surprised on Monday when they walked into the room and there she was.

 

She's really one of the group, playing alongside the children indoors and out (although she has a little enclosure to make sure that we have her with us for a while, and to contain those 'natural bits')

The children have taken ownership of her, and really care a lot about her. She loves to eat the Kale from our garden, and the children love being the providers and caretakers.

Alpha Children- workshop review

Last Thursday I 'snuck' into a parenting workshop. By snuck, I mean, I attended a parenting workshop even though I am not a parent. I think it was a good move though.
It was a workshop entitled 'Alpha Children: Reclaiming our Rightful Place' presented by Deborah MacNamara, Phd. She is a part of the Neufeld Institute, and having heard Gordon Neufeld himself speak last year, there was a great deal of links to what he said in regards to children and the things he practices and has discovered through intense study.
As always, I leave workshops feeling refreshed, but somewhat antsy about my practices. It's a chance to hear a philosophy and what works and what doesn't and apply what works into your own method of working with children. Last night was no exception, I left thinking, I see where this is coming from, and it all sound easy, but is it? And does it work?
She spoke about attachment, and how it is key to a child's development and upbringing. She spoke about being the Alpha parent yourself and that children are the dependents, of course they are, anything that we are meant to care for depends on us. The children need that attachment bond strengthened by 'taking care of the child' not the other way around. She showed how alpha children are expressing themselves more and more, and that often we allow the children to tell us what to do, thus increasing the 'bully' behaviour in our society. By contrast, she talked about reclaiming that alpha position in the relationship, and showing children that we are there to take care of them and to keep them safe. An adult that depends on your children to meet their emotional needs (ie. mommy is sad, I need a hug from you), you are allowing them to take care of you.... a role that is completely outside of the realm of childhood.
In extreme cases of Alpha positioning, children are expressing themselves through hate and aggression.... extreme aggression. As an Alpha parent, you need to be ahead of the game... read the cues.... see the temper beginning to flare, and deflect the behaviour. One example she gave with children that spit, was to have a spitoon available. When you read that child's behaviour, you say, 'it looks like you've got lots of spits in you, here's a place to put them and you can spit all you want.' The behaviour is deflected into a place where that is acceptable. It's similar to a children's book about anger I read a while ago, it explains that it's ok to be angry, and if you are angry go and push the wall... push it harder than you've ever pushed anything before!
Deborah shared an example of a child at school, when the teacher seemed to have been dealt the hand of lots of Alpha children in her class. All of those children were trying to assert their authority and to be the one in charge, only to find that the teacher herself was at a loss, she was immediately put in the 'dependant' position, where she needed the class to listen, she needed the class to settle down, she was depending on them to make sure that the whole class got something out of the lessons for that day. It was at that point that a child, who expressed to her mom that night, wanted to stand up in front of the class and chop their heads off, because they were just not listening. To us, that seems drastic, but to a child, that was her solution. What the class really needed was a teacher that could assert her alpha role and take the reigns.
This behaviour is not only manifesting itself in young children, but also in our adult relationships, where one partner, whether husband/wife partner or work partner, depends on the other.

So what was Deborah saying?
She is seeing a trend: children are less receptive to being parented or taught
children are more resistant and oppositional
there are more alarms or alarm problems
there is more frustration and aggression problems
there are more eating problems
there are more restless and impulsive children
So her suggestions were outlined in the form of challenges:
1. Make it easy and safe for your child to depend on you: take the lead in the relationship and in taking care of the child
2. Convey a strong alpha presence around the child: give the child the impression that you can and will take care of them, and be careful about revealing you own needs, dependencies, or fears.
3. Read the needs and take the lead: meet needs and not demands, this is especially important in regards to issues of proximity and food (an example she gave, was rather than 'do you want cereal or oatmeal?' make an announcement to the child saying, 'It seems like a cereal kind of morning.' when the child says, 'No, I want oatmeal.' Then you say, 'I knew you wanted oatmeal, I just was checking to see if you knew you wanted that too.' In this case, you are making it YOUR idea.)
4. Assume the alpha roles with regards to the child: to make the decisions you believe are best for the child, even if they are upsetting to the child.
5. Avoid provoking or reinforcing the alpha tendencies: ie: using what they care about against them, or revealing yourself as needing to be taken care of.
6. Provide a legitimate expression for the alpha instinct: Especially helpful in terms of an older sibling alpha, place them in charge of feeding others and helping them get ready for heading out the door.
7. Win the alpha battles that you can and avoid the others:  by trumping or foiling demands ie: when a child is dawdling in getting shoes on, instead of harping at them, put their shoes on and their coat and their hat. Often we expect that children can do these by themselves, but sometimes they just don't want to.... trump that behaviour by going the extra mile to get them ready, do it all! It will happen eventually that they want to 'do it themselves' at which point you let them, DON'T DEMAND COOPERATION!
8. Set the stage for being the child's answer: arrange activities and interactions where you are clearly in the lead or need to be depended on.
So with that long winded review, I took from it what I wanted, chose to try to apply some techniques into my program. Some things I need to ponder further and make sense of it further, and some I just don't see the point. That being said, it left me feeling a bit empowered to remember to always remember that the children are in my care, because they depend on me, and I care about them. The last thing I took from the workshop is: it's not about perfection it's about consistency!  

Turning Something Old into Something New!

The last few posts have been about our 'Repurposing Days' and I thought i'd share with the children a little bit about the ULTIMATE repurposing place LITERALLY just down the road from our little school. I've contacted the place to see if we could possibly have a field trip there, and :( they said not likely. It is a place that is a bit outside of the 'safe zone' for a larger group of children. Although I know these children could handle it, I respect where they are coming from. So instead I took a few photos.
Our little community has a little gem. It's a haven for people renovating their home, and for an Early Childhood Educator.... it's well.... a bit of a happy place!

It's a new and used recycling centre. It's always new and changing, and it's full of many treasures. If you are renovating your home and looking for that EXACT bathtub... you may luck out, or you may need to rethink your plans, it's really whatever is available. It's a place that old kitchens go in the hope of becoming someones new kitchen. It's a toilet graveyard, door collection, and window waiting area.

So when I went there a few months ago, hoping to find some patio stones, what I found was a place that would quickly become a threat to my bank account.

The children looked long and hard at the photos and spotted items that would be useful to our school. So mommies and daddies, if you are redoing your tile and making a trip to this glorious place, I know of a child that would be UBER excited to tag along!

So when I said I went to look for paving stones, who knew that I was going to leave with THIS MANY PAVING STONES???

My dad's poor trailer.... it didn't know what hit it!

What did we do with those paving stones? Take a look.....

The paving bricks themselves were rubber, so the children were only too eager to help, and it was easy for them too!

The finished product.... so nice!

Repurposing Days

As I mentioned in a previous post about our new tradition of Repurposing Days, we've been bringing an object from home that is far from a 'toy' and reinventing it's purpose as a play thing. We're into our second week, and it seems to be hitting off well. It's a challenge for some of the children and their families as it's hard to look past the surface and find a new function for things. What I find makes this easier, is that I don't think too hard about it. That's the job of the children. There have been so many times that i've put something down in the classroom, not really to motivate the children to play with it, but often that item becomes such a big hit, that it's become a fixture in our classroom. For example, our dustpan has become many things in our classroom over the last year. So the trick is.... don't think too hard about it (as long as it's 'safe', it's a plaything ;))
But it's been fun so far. I've decided to hold off on the photos, until we have a little more experience under our belt, then we'll share what we've 'repurposed'!
In the ECE community we use terms such as loose parts, and open ended play, these are all ideas that build from the foundation that we are trying to achieve through the repurposing days. The hope is that children will start the revolution to look at an item and give it a new life. It's similar to the upcycling that people have taken to. Really it's not a new concept, but rather a bit of an endangered concept. So let's encourage those infants who go through the tupperware drawer!!!!

So with that in mind, I wanted to share a video with you. It's from two guys that I can't seem to get enough of these days. They are the 'Piano Guys'. Quite often we listen to their music at daycare, and the children love their music probably as much as I do. I wanted to share this video because they seem to get the whole point of repurposing! It's a new way to look at a piano, and look what they did with it! It's truly outstanding

Water...

I have a theory.

I imagine that world peace would emerge if we had enough water to drink, as well as play in!

Well, probably not, but it's a nice thought.

It's actually a thought that stemmed from a rather difficult day, for both the children and myself. We were just not on the same page. There are days like that, it's completely normal. I was just not myself, and the children just seemed to sense that, and were really pushing my buttons. Hmmm, let me rephrase that, because I was probably pushing their buttons. They were laughing and having a great time, aside from a few moments of tension amongst the children. It was me.... completely me... I will stand up and say it was me! I was just not feeling the excitement of the sunny and warm weather, and just wasn't in it. So when the children were happily playing and moving about the outdoor classroom, I just found myself kiboshing their fun. It was not intentional, I just wanted 'an easy day.' Try as I might I just couldn't get them to just 'take it easy'. Of course not, what was I thinking? They weren't doing anything untoward, they were merrily playing, and exploring. They were taking risks, they were creating their own fun, they were PLAYING!!!

So I had to shake myself out of this funk.

That's when the water came out.

For no other reason than I needed something to play with myself. Something I could engage in, that would bridge the tension between the children and I. Out came the water tables, and the water, and suddenly the world just settled into place. Similar to my theory.

The tension was gone, the nagging stopped, the laughter continued. The children that were engaged in play already, continued their play, but I found something that 'calmed me nerves', and motivated me to get down and dirty with the children and have fun.

I guess the overall message is, if you're finding yourself nagging and annoyed.... just pull up your britches, and PLAY!!!! I think that on a small scale we saw the solutions to the world's problems.... just PLAY!!!

FUNK.... BE GONE!!!!

Those Moments.....

When I was a little girl I was overjoyed when my Grandad showed me how you could write the word 'boy' on a paper and turn it into a picture of a boy. I remember I drew that all over my notebooks for school. I was pretty excited when I taught myself how to do the same with the word 'girl'. 

I'm sure there is an official term for this type of art. Whatever it is, as a preteen, I thought it was pretty 'awesome'.

Now when a four year old has drawn a number '2' you get pretty stoked and share in his accomplishment with joy and excitement. 

So when the said four year old tells you he drew a sailboat, it took a second look to see that the sailboat started out as the number '2', and morphed into a sailboat!!! 

Can you see the number '2'?

How about now?

How cool is that?

Love me Tender

After a child showed off her Peanut butter and banana sandwich one day, the children were curious, and started sharing how much they like this combination- whether they had had it or not.

It was during this discussion that I remembered a famous person that liked fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches. I shared this funny fact with the children, and in turn introduced a little Rock and Roll to our music repertoire. And just like that these children have developed a minor obsession with Elvis Presley. So if you walk into our classroom and we're swiveling our hips while listening to Don't be Cruel, you'll understand.

It's funny what triggers an interest. Who knew peanut butter sandwiches would lead us to twisting our hips to Elvis Presley. What's next? A white sequined suit?

Theories of light

This week we have been exploring more with light and we brought a dinosaur out of 'extinction'. We've been creating some fantastic designs on the wall through the magic of and overheard projector.

It's been funny hearing each parent walk in the room and state, "Wow, I haven't seen one of those in years!" To the children it's new and exciting and worthy of a little bit of curiosity.

In addition to making some fantastic pictures on the wall.....

 

 

..... the children have been coming up with theories. For example: One child noticed the light went up onto the ceiling. Thus initiating him to hypothesize that it must be because there is lots of things on the projector. Part of his hypothesis was that if he added more, then it would light up the whole ceiling.

To test out his hypothesis he and his friends started loading up the projector with more and more. 

This lead to a new hypothesis, that the more they loaded on the projector the less light there was. So squeals of delight ensued when the children worked hard to cover EVERY inch of light.