You've Got To Start Somewhere!

I've been helping out a friend recently who is new to teaching; who is new to special education in particular.  Because of this, I started thinking about all the ways teachers can (but often don't) assist new teachers!

I've had quite a few student teachers come through my classroom.  When you think about it, though, student teaching is often very different than that first year of teaching!  Student teachers often HELP with paperwork, assessments, IEP's and conferences; but, they are never completely responsible for this.  It is still up to the cooperating teacher to make sure things go smoothly, that things are written correctly and that things are done on time.

That first year in the classroom can be just a bit overwhelming!  No longer are you responsible only for the children; but for managing multiple things (paperwork, IEP's, assessments, computer work) with little assistance from others.  This can definitely be overwhelming!  Of course, there are mentors and your teaching team to help when needed.  Unfortunately, many times, new teachers feel that asking for assistance may come across in the wrong way! 

Here are a few things I think all of us, no matter how much teaching experience we have, can do to help those who are newer than ourselves!

1. Offer time to brainstorm ideas and solutions to problems!  Often simply talking out a stressful or challenging situation can bring clarity and several possible solutions!
2. Offer to help create things.  New teachers are often overwhelmed with the responsibility and paperwork alone!  Creating simple games, props, picture prompts or assessment tools can be a great help! 
3. If you have previous knowledge or training in an area that may be helpful; offer to provide a quick overview of how things work!  Often just walking through something can ease the burden!
4. Share!  Share ideas, Internet resources, assessment tools, other resources etc.  Don't be stingy!  Those things are doing very little good if they are only benefiting one person and a few children!  Look at the big picture!  By sharing these resources, you are making an impact on more children than those in your own classroom!
5. Continue to ask if help is needed!  Most of us would like to think we don't need any help and have things completely under control...until we don't! 
6. And always, always remember that you were once there as well!  Remember that we are all learning!  Remember that by teaching and assisting others you can continue learning as well!  And, finally, remember that it is always OK to simply suggest asking someone with more expertise or with training in a specific area!  You don't have to be the go-to person for everything!

For some odd reason, it seems that many teachers feel sharing these resources hurts them in some way!  WE'RE TEACHERS for goodness sake!  People learn from each other!  Be a resource to others!  Try not to fall into the complaining sessions that sometimes happen  (and if you do, just make sure something positive is coming from it)! 

Outdoor Classroom Observations

I was able to observe something quite interesting the other day as we made our way out to our outdoor classroom.  Another class was already outside but had forgotten their key to the sheds. 

The guest teacher for that room met me at the gate with a look of desperation on her face!  "We forgot our key!  Do you have yours?"  As I pulled it out and handed it to her, I noticed the children.

I saw many of the children running in circles up and down the playground equipment... up the steps, down the slide, up the steps again and down the slide!  There were a few more, running in circles around the trike path...around and around in circles! 

Oh yes, THIS was how our outdoor time USED to be!  I had somehow forgotten!  It was actually quite good to be reminded of the purpose behind our slow transformation to MORE exploration, MANY more loose materials and simply more to focus on ... and more to do!

We managed to pull everything out quickly and get it set up.  The children settled down and got to work.  Four or five ran to the sand pit and began making "birthday cakes" with sand in bowls and buckets.  Several helped carry the musical instruments to their spot under the tree.  At least five decided to use the scarves and streamers as "feathers" and the flooring in a "house". 

A few others grabbed helmets and bikes and began riding.  One began building with tree cookies and blocks.  One pulled all the tubes out and slid them under the shelf and through the other side.  A few took loose parts of tubes, tree cookies and scarves to the top of the play equipment as their "house".  Several developed a game of tossing the bean bags over a tunnel and having a friend catch the bean bag on the other side.

Several boys began a game of "monster" and attempted to scare their friends as they peeked at them under the wall of the sand pit magnet board.  Several children explored musical instruments under the tree.  One child grabbed the basket of books to take under the tree.  Two or three children put the tubes on the magnet board and explored scooping sand into the tubes and creating longer and longer tubes with multiple pieces. 

EVERYONE was quickly busy!  Only minutes before they had been running in circles!  Keep in mind, many of these children are new to our program as well!  We really have done very little in way of an introduction to the loose materials outside.  Of course, the adults sit and work with the children when the children are interested in this interaction.   But, the children are  always exploring the materials and experimenting with these materials in their own way. 

Ahhh....much better than running in circles!

Lifelong Learning...Planning for Music Time!

As I sat down to write yesterday, I realized that I hadn't written about the in-service the teachers had with Miss Carol!  That in-service was what really motivated me to dive in and spend the time and money to transfer all of my school Cd's to one device!

There were several things that I learned from the in-service.  Of course, I already really knew many of these things; but a refresher course and a reminder is always handy!  Here are the main things that stuck with me:

1. Children's music needs to be sung slower than most adult music.  Now, of course, I knew this.  But, how often do we, as adults, become bored and frustrated with the never ending repeated verses and sloooooow as molasses songs for children?!  Well, children really do process language slower than adults.  And for children who are just learning language or who simply process language much slower than their same-age peers; this is even more important!  I will continue to use music that is more easy to listen to for times such as lunch or centers.  If we want the children to listen, understand and attempt to sing, we really need to have music that is much slower.
2. Carol stressed planning a SPECIFIC music time during the day!  Now, I've never done this.  I do use music throughout the school day and basically use music for every area including math, social skills, language, literacy, fine motor and gross motor!  But now I have a specific time slot for music.  The idea behind creating a specific music time makes sense to me.  We do need to convey the idea that music is important in it's own right! 
3. Planning!  Actually using a planning sheet to prepare for music time.  To be quite honest, I've never done this even remotely!  Music has been an addition and a teaching tool, but I've never sat down and written out a lesson plan for a music time.  Well, now I have! 

I chose 3 very simple action songs to start with for the music time.  So, with our new planning sheet, song play-list ready to go and a time set aside specifically for music, we're on our way! 

A Musical "Macaroni Soup" Adventure!

Today we had a blast at a Macaroni Soup music event!  All of the children know and love the "Sticky Bubblegum" song and lots of the other songs that Miss Carole sings.  In fact, many of the children can sing them word for word without the CD! 

We enjoyed the Macaroni Soup presentation last year as well; so many of the children remembered the fun they had and were excited to sing and dance along!  They anticipated actions to songs and were more than willing to shout out answers to questions and correct the adults as they said silly things and forgot what sound a dog makes!

The children were hardly able to contain themselves as they sang along!  Then, when the puppets came out, there was squeals and giggles as the puppets did and said such silly things! 

But, the highlight just had to be the indoor snowball fight!  The children loved it just as much this year as they did last year!  The children threw their "snowballs" around the gym with gusto and "froze" perfectly as the music stopped!

Tomorrow, the teachers and teacher associates have a half-day in-service with Miss Carole!  I can't wait to see what we will learn!  I'm SURE it will be lots of fun!

Windchimes and Tree Stumps!

Well, wouldn't you be shocked if I was blogging today about the cloning machine I invented over the last week!  Well, don't hold your breath, no luck with this just yet, but we've been exploring a few interesting things. 

Last week, my husband was kind enough to help me bring in some tree stumps for the children to sit on for our outdoor learning area (as the start of a large group area).  The children have had a huge amount of fun simply sitting and talking to their friends on these, playing musical instruments while sitting on them and, for one child, pretending to be an "owl!"  

(These are horribly boring photos- sorry- I'll try to get some photos of all of the materials we use while outside next time- still working on that cloning machine...remember :)

After our second day with the tree stumps, one of the children in Bumblebee Boulevard commented to his teacher, "We really like those things that we can sit on...you know, the things that someone made so they look like trees..." 

Umm...children, they are TREE stumps...they WERE trees!  Apparently, we will need to explore these items in a bit more detail so the children realize that these are actually trees that were cut down.  (After a storm brought the whole tree down, by the way!)

We've also worked on adding a very small and movable art station with a small easel, (and soon some clay and natural objects).  We've also begun adding to our music area, with handheld musical instruments and wind chimes.  All of these are items that can be stored in a shed when not in use since we do have an issue with things disappearing while school is not in session. 

To attach the wind chimes and easily remove them, I simply hooked together a zip-tie to form a loop.  I then attached several small plastic links, attached the wind chime and hung it on the side of our "tree house".  To remove it, we simply open up the link and put the whole thing away in the shed. 

We're still working on finding a shelf to slide in the shed for our loose materials; but until then, we've had a blast introducing the new items to our outdoor area!

Project Work Workshop

Yesterday another teacher and I attended a workshop on project work in our area.  Imagine my surprise when another teacher brought over someone who apparently knew me from this blog :)  Here was my reaction: "Are you sure you're talking about MY blog!"  Well, after the initial shock that, yes, indeed, it was my blog she was talking about, we had a great day learning more about project work.  Dianne operates a home daycare in our area and has some outdoor learning/nature classroom ideas of her own!  Hopefully, we will hear more about Dianne's outdoor transformation as well! 

Back to the workshop:  We were able to hear from Lillian Katz and Judy Helm on project work, children's learning and documenting children's work.  We viewed projects that other classrooms had done and were able to break off into groups in order to focus at a more in-depth level on specific issues.  We also had an opportunity to view the Children's Campus classrooms and see some of the projects they were involved in with the children.  If you would like to learn more about project work, click on the link; you will be able to follow a project from start to finish!

I've always struggled to do anything close to a true project with my current classroom.  We have so many unique learning styles, challenges and very limited language.  This isn't to say that we aren't learning!  We certainly are.  We just have more difficulty expanding on and verbalizing our learning.  My classroom also tends to have different challenges going on at the same time!  While one child needs to explore by actively engaging in many different sensory experiences; another child struggles with sensory experiences and needs gradual exposure to items.

Even so, I keep thinking that there are parts of project work that I can utilize within the classroom.  It would be nice to be able to tie together learning in a way that is more meaningful and interesting to the children.  Unfortunately, there is rarely something that is of interest to ALL the children!   I will have to keep this in the back of my mind for now, and experiment with how this could work in my classroom.   

Whether I'm able to utilize this in my own classroom for now or not, this was a beneficial workshop.  Hopefully, at some point, I will be able to figure out a way to take pieces of this to use in my own classroom!

Visiting a Nearby Outdoor Classroom

We've struggled a bit to get moving with developing our outdoor classroom.  While we have a great base; we just needed a bit more "umph" and some nice warm weather like we have been having currently, to get going!  The other day, another teacher and I made a little trip to an early childhood center not far from our location.  The Children's Campus is already Nature Classroom Certified and has done a great deal of the foundation work for this that we are just beginning.  All of the photos below come from their Nature Classroom.  Keep in mind, it is still a bit cold here- so no plants are really visible on these photos!

Their Group time Area.  We are planning to buy the same cedar benches as these.

We were able to get a very good idea of what we could realistically do!  Because they are located in the same area we are, we know we will need to follow similar safety guidelines.  Seeing what they have done, what large items they have purchased and how they have stored items was invaluable!

Their Loose parts/building Area

Since our visit, we have brainstormed a "dream plan" :) of large and small items I believe we could collect, make or have made for us, have donated or may need to purchase.  We are sending home letters to parents to get more input and awareness about the project, as well as funding.  We need to develop more of our loose parts/building area.  We need to continue to expand on our music area.  We need to develop an art area and a group time area!  I know, I know...we're just starting with small areas first!  

Their Music Area

One of our big projects that we want to begin soon is developing a garden!  We've had small garden plots in the past for the children, but we've never had one right next to our outdoor learning area.  Locating directly outside of our area would be ideal as it would give very easy access and the children can be directly involved in every process on a daily basis!

One of our biggest challenges with all of this is reducing the amount of vandalism that occurs with any loose items.  Generally, anytime we put something that is not securely attached and padlocked outside, it will disappear before morning (something the above pictures of the other center do not show- as they do not have this issue). 

 I've also done some brainstorming on this issue. We have several "trike storage sheds". These are long and low. I think we could slide a shelf directly into one of these with all of the loose parts/ or an art shelf on it. Before we come out, one of us would need to go out, and literally "re-design" the outdoor area! We would need to pull shelves out of sheds, loose items for dramatic play, loose parts for building, an art shelf, hand held musical instruments, colored cloth and more. It does sound a bit daunting, but if this is something we value, this is most likely the way we will need to do this! Also, if we are spending at least 60 min. outdoors daily with the children this makes it worth our time to re-design daily.

I will post as we begin developing an area!  I can't wait to begin our collection of loose parts (and I'm sure the children will find this wonderful as well), find an unused shelf and see if my idea of sliding this into the trike shed will work!  I'm on Spring Break right now, so my idea will have to wait until next week!  I'll be back next week sometime with an update!

Lifelong Learning...Outdoor Learning Workshop Follow-Up

Ages ago, it seems, I wrote about how excited I was to be able to attend an outdoor learning workshop with Claire Warden as a speaker.  Well, we finally were able to attend this workshop today!  I will say, it was difficult to have this fall on my first day back after being sick!  I'm still running low on energy, so I wasn't quite as excited as I may have been had I not been feeling under the weather still!

Claire is an excellent speaker and clearly is passionate about outdoor early learning!  It was wonderful to get a view of outdoor learning from outside the United States.  Of course, we had already done a good deal of research and came away from the workshop actually wanting a bit more!   However, this is a great start and gave us some very solid ideas to consider and steps to take.
I am still processing information and trying to decide what and how we could actually use in our area.  Although, I know, because of regulations, we will never get to a point even close to our contemporaries in some other countries, I do believe there are many items we can incorporate into our existing area, and area to possibly expand. 

We were able to see documentation panels from a school locally (St. Ambrose Children's Campus) that is nature certified.  This did give me a good idea of where we probably need to focus our efforts (at least at first). 

1. I think we agreed that we lack an area of green space or open space to move about.  Our outdoor area is relatively long and narrow.  However, we do have a large amount of green space that goes unused.  We decided we will need to talk more about how to utilize this space, whether or not we can technically call it "ours"!  
2. We have very few loose materials and almost no natural loose materials.  We will have to work on collecting items, talking to children about collecting items and finding a sturdy natural shelving unit to hold wooden boxes with loose materials.
3. We have no work table.  We would like to find a sturdy wooden picnic table to allow the children to work on.
4. Plants!  We have very few plants.  We will need to work on raising money for plantings and a garden.  We want to make sure the children are involved in every aspect of this, so we may take it slow at first, depending on what we can handle!

We also have some issues with fundraising, as we have some division over what we should be fundraising for!  UGH!  We have a lot to hammer out still!  This will be a long, step by step process for us.  I know we are only at the very start.  It will take years to fully develop any true in-depth outdoor learning, but the workshop definitely helped us to continue to shift our focus towards more true outdoor learning.   We will continue to take things slowly, one step at a time!  We want to make sure everyone comes on board with us!  Our small group of parents, teachers along with the children all need to truly feel this belongs to the school community!

Hmmm...would a community garden work?

As you may have realized by now, this blog is really every single idea that pops into my head about school!  So, here's another one!  Enjoy the photos of center time while I brainstorm ways to keep any new addition to our outdoor learning area safe. 
                           
The area in which we are located was probably originally developed as a way to house the workers from the nearby factories which, for many, are no longer in existence.  The neighborhood surrounding the school is a working class area.  The houses tend to be very small and many families are struggling.  When we created a small garden, the children rarely were able to harvest the vegetables, as the neighbors would come over and help themselves to the produce!    

Rocking Out on the key board!

We have also had problems with vandalism of the current outdoor learning area and previously on our playground.  People have climbed the fence to enter, destroyed things inside and have left graffiti and trash.  Needless to say, we are a bit cautious about any new addition to our outdoors!


So, here's where my idea comes in. As soon as possible, I'm going to talk to our principal about the idea of starting a Community Garden, rather than a preschool garden. We certainly have the space if the district is willing to allow us to use it (still up in the air about this). We are housed within a small elementary school. So, not only would our children learn about where their food comes from, but the elementary classes could help with this as well. 

If we could drum up enough support from the neighborhood, and get enough people on board, we really could have a rather large community garden!  If the community surrounding the school as well as the older elementary children who live in the neighborhood around the school, felt that this belonged to them as well, I'm hoping they would help keep an eye out for any vandalism while we couldn't!


So, I've emptied the contents of my brain onto the blog now!  Ideas are still rummaging around in there somewhere!  I'll let you know what happens with this one!

Outdoor Learning: Getting Started!

If you've been following for a bit, you may have noticed my New Year's resolution #3: Spend more time planning for, making use of and engaging the children in outdoor learning.  You may also have noticed that I was completely excited to be able to sign up for the workshop on outdoor learning with the speaker Claire Warden (http://www.mindstretchers.co.uk/).  We're on a mission!  We're on a mission to encourage the children to interact with the outdoor environment in a more in-depth way than they are doing currently.  Which, I admit, at this point, is pretty basic.

Yesterday, we went on a nature walk around the school.  We explored the size of the trees, the leaves and watched the squirrels.

Another preschool teacher and I will be attending this workshop and are also beginning the very first steps in making real use of the outdoors near our school.  Unfortunately, our school is located in an area that is more typically industrial, with fewer safe places to walk and destinations to walk to than other early learning centers may have.  We've started brainstorming ideas, though.  And, although we may not be able to walk to many places, we agree we do have a very good start on a very natural and engaging outdoor learning area on our own school grounds.   

We went on a walk through the neighborhood near our school.  We heard dogs barking and birds singing.

Now, we just need to expand...we have a large amount a space we hope we can utilize to some extent.  We need to improve accessibility so ALL of our children can access as much as possible.  We also need to provide more loose materials for the children to manipulate, more surfaces and more plants.  Finally, we really need to just do some more "out of the box" thinking!  We are determined to spend more time exploring the environment around the school. 

 

 Yesterday we took a rather lengthy walk (at least lengthy for us) and the children did a wonderful job!  We explored the neighborhood around our school.  We explored various trees and plants in the area.  We listened for birds and heard dogs barking.  We found twigs, acorns, leaves and tree bark to bring back with us. Finally, we saw quite a few squirrels and were able to stay still enough to watch them running around the front yard of our school for a bit!

Below is a quick view of what we currently have in our outdoor learning area.

(Note: We are certainly NOT complaining.  This is a HUGE improvement in our outdoor area from what we have previously had access to.  However, we would like to make USE of what we have to a larger extent.  We also would like to add more plants, more green space, more loose materials and various textures and areas to explore!

The entrance to our outdoor learning area.  Behind this is
the play car and trike path.

Another view of the entrance.

     Our sand area with magnetic wall behind (we have magnetic
tubes to place on the board.)

Our tree stump jumping area with swings behind this and a
log balance beam to the side.

Our "tree platform house."  Beyond this is our climbing structure.

A view through our trellis with storage/trike sheds behind.

Grounds for Play helped us design and install our outdoor learning area.

On the Move...Lifelong Learning!

I was so excited to receive an e-mail the other day inviting me (OK- not JUST me. I'm sure lots of people were "invited") to a workshop on outdoor learning!   If there is one thing we are probably lacking most in our preschool program it is outdoor LEARNING.  We diligently go outside or to the gym each day for our large motor time.  Unfortunately, it often ends up with children wandering aimlessly about until an adult directs them, running and chasing friends or running from one stationary item to another.

Of course, we also see some wonderful and very imaginative dramatic play.  We also are the beneficiaries of  a wonderful outdoor learning area!  It's beautiful in fact!  It includes many natural elements:  a natural sand area (with beautiful natural logs to enclose it), a "tree house" and natural stumps to jump from.  The problem seems to be that all of these wonderful natural elements have already been set up, are attached and unmovable, and appear to the children to already have a specific purpose.  The children use them in the way they were intended to be used...and rarely move beyond this.  We are certainly not enhancing their play or teaching them to be creative problem solvers in this way.

I have attempted to broaden the children's level of engagement by bringing out various items: an easel and paint (big hit of course!), clay and craft sticks (again, a big hit) and various other "set up" activities to bring some of the indoors to the outdoors and create more of a center work time.  However, this is still very isolated and doesn't go far beyond the items and the area that I have placed them.  I think since these are such "set up" experiences they don't necessarily engage the children in the same way that more time, space and encouragement to explore the entire environment would do.  When children view the outdoors as simply an extension of their learning area, there is definitely a different feeling and level of exploration involved. 

If you know me at all, you know I love making use of technology with the children: in the classroom, in the use of assistive technology and to provide supports for communication.  However, with children spending so many of their waking hours in front of the television, using computers and other technology, I do think it is so important to help children develop and maintain a connection with the outdoors.  Our children really miss a key component of growing up healthy and happy when they are isolated from nature or are outdoors in such limited amounts of time.  Just because it often does not come naturally for children with the availability of so much technology; it is even MORE important for adults to show their own appreciation and love of nature and demonstrate to the children how important this is for a healthy and happy life.

Claire Warden (http://www.mindstretchers.co.uk/) is the speaker for this workshop.  For full disclosure, I have not yet read her books.  A few of them are: The Potential of a Puddle, The Right to Be Me, Nurture through Nature and Nature Kindergartens.   But, you better bet I will be visiting this site and reading up before this workshop at the end of January!   After a very brief look at the website, I am clearly intrigued!  I'm sure I have SO much to learn!

I feel like we've just scratched the surface of our potential for outdoor learning in our program!  It took us many years to even obtain a beautiful, natural and appropriate outdoor learning area...now, we just need to make REAL use of the entire outdoors!