tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45245853386707733792024-03-12T22:05:23.781-04:00Playfully LearningMusings on how children learn best through play and The Project Approach in action
Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.comBlogger264125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-11593566826097885452017-02-15T12:33:00.000-05:002017-02-15T12:33:52.317-05:00Let Them Fall<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif;">I have been speaking with several teachers and parents about risk lately. It is a topic about which people have strong feelings. It has inspired me to dust off my blog and share this information. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif;">Imagine these
scenarios,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif;">A toddler ambles along a pebbled path
and falls.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif;">A three year old starts to climb on top
of an uneven rock wall.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif;">Two preschoolers have their arms around
each other and one wrestles the other to the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif;">Would your
gut reaction be to run over, swoop up the toddler and provide comfort? To tell that three year old, “get down! That
is too dangerous, “or to utter the words,”hands to yourself!” to those two
preschoolers? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif;">Too often
these are the reactions from well meaning parents and caregivers. As a society we have become a generation that
removes risk from the lives of our children.
We have padded playgrounds, low slides, rounded edges, and lists of
rules on how NOT to play. Although it
may prevent some scrapes, bumps and bruises, this overprotective parenting is
actually detrimental to the healthy development of our children. Here we will explore how and why it is important
to say, “Yes!” to these risky activities.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif;">Let’s
consider that toddler who fell on the path.
Imagine her falling forward on her hands. Her father is close behind her, but
waits. What he is allowing her is the
momentary confusion and the time to figure out for herself that she has just
fallen and then to try and pick herself up.
She may feel some discomfort, but is learning that discomfort lessens as
she gets up. She is learning that when
something unpleasant happens, she has the ability to try and soothe
herself. She is also experiencing the
secure feeling of her parent’s confidence in her abilities. Conversely, if the child falls and the parent
immediately swoop in, she doesn’t get to experience what discomfort feels like
and will not have a framework later in life on how to grapple with frustration
or distress. These are the children that
end up texting their parents from college when the slightest thing goes wrong
instead of attempting to solve the problem themselves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif;">What about
the child climbing the wall? Should we
tell her it is too dangerous and prevent her from even trying? When children engage in risky play they
confront their fears in a more relaxed setting.
As they do this their maturity and skill level advance. They are left with positive feeling of
accomplishment which replaces the former fear.
If children have overprotective parents or are only allowed to play in
super safe play areas, they do not get to experience these small triumphs and
many end up with anxiety that is inappropriate for their age or skill level.<b> </b>Outdoor
play gives children a sense of adventure, challenges them and gives them
opportunities to develop confidence. If
obstacles are always eliminated for them, they do not learn to persist in the
face of difficulty. In a paper published
in the journal <i>Early Years, 23(1), </i>Stephenson
suggests that there is a fundamental link between a child who is confident
tackling physical challenges and one who is confident confronting challenges in
other learning contexts. Researchers
agree that a willingness to try things out and take risks, are important
characteristics of effective learners. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif;">Could this
child fall or get injured? Yes, but assessing and managing risk is an important
life skill. As children learn to
navigate their bodies in the world, they will encounter bumps, bruises and
scrapes. Learning to evaluate and handle
the risks involved with these physical actions needs to be developed, practiced
and refined. If we remove all possible
unsafe situations, we do not allow our children to develop the ability to weigh
the risks against the benefits in order to make informed decisions. In our preschool, Community Cooperative
Nursery School in Rowayton, CT when children are climbing on rocks or balancing
on free standing stumps, we remind them to “be ready to fall.” What does this mean? Hands free from pockets or obstacles and
being self aware of one’s body in space.
We strive to help children be prepared for the adventure rather than
being prevented from it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif;">Removing
the rock wall experience from the toddler is similar to the forbiddance of
children touching each other in play-what we used to think of as rough housing.
Author Frances Carlson grappled with
her decisions to allow her students to engage in rowdy, forceful and physical
play, leading her to research and write the book<b>, <em><span style="background: white; color: #333333;">Big Body Play: Why Boisterous,
Vigorous, and Very Physical Play Is Essential to Children’s Development and
Learning</span></em><span style="background: white; color: #333333;">. </span></b><span style="background: white; color: #333333;">In this type of play, Carlson asserts
that children are not only honing their physical skills but “</span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">during such play, children also use increasingly sophisticated
communication skills—both verbal and nonverbal—and social skills. It is also
one of the best ways for children (especially boys) to develop empathy and
self-regulation. And creativity and thinking skills are enhanced as children
determine and solve problems as they arise in the course of this active play.” Children
engaged in this type of play are learning to read non-verbal signals and how to
monitor their actions and reactions based on the others in the group. If the opportunities to learn these social
cues are removed by the rule of “keep your hands to yourself”, they may not be
developed appropriately. At our school
we often check in with children playing this way, “do you want his hands around
you like that?” We also actively teach
self protection strategies such as saying “time out” if a break is needed, or
how to walk away when feeling frustrated. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why are parents overprotective? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Karen Karbo in the article featured in Redbook,
<i>Why Being Less Protective is Better for
Your Kids</i>, explains that we suffer when our children do. “We remember our own skinned knees and
bruised heart and want to spare our children the same pain.” Women are predisposed to being very nurturing
and protective. Another part of the issue, </span><span style="background: white; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;">“may be an outgrowth of
millennial moms' can-do proactivity: Doing "everything" has come to
include protecting our children from life's realities.”</span><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt;"><br />
</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is pressure on fathers, too, who may be
more open to riskier play, to become more protective as well. In our culture protecting children from
discomfort and the pain of disappointment has become associated with effective
parenting. As fathers take a more active
role in daily childrearing, they have an intense need to prove they can be
successful. When a child gets hurt a
parent, dad or mom, often feels as sense of failure as a parent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Removing risk is also related to limited time
that families seem to have for outdoor play or for children navigating new
circumstances unassisted. Today we are in
a hurry. It is easier and faster to tell
a child to put a stick down than to teach her how to hold it safely. It removes the risk of a cut or bump that
will need attention if we eliminate rough housing. In our race to become better parents we are
removing opportunities for essential life skills that will create the
successful, independent adults we hope to raise. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What can parents do?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Give our children the <b>gift of time and opportunity</b> to take risks and explore. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Be near</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> and available for
help, but do not insist on it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wait</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. If it is not a critical life threatening
situation, wait and see how your child handles himself. Follow the mantra set by Tom Mullarky, chief
executive of the Royal Society for the <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Prevention of Accidents, “keep children as
safe as necessary, not as safe as possible.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Reflect</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> with your child on
what he is about to do and then afterwards.
Narrate the situation for those who are too young to verbalize it. “I saw that you tried to climb on that rock and
it was too steep, so you walked around until you found a way you could climb up
by yourself.” “That is a pretty steep
slope, how are you going to keep yourself safe?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Keep your own</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <b>fears and phobias at bay</b>. I
am terrified of heights, I probably didn’t climb enough trees as a child, but
my own children love to climb, and high.
I have a constant inner battle with myself to not let my fears inhibit
their play. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Let them see you fall</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. Try something new in front of your children;
ski, climb, skate, do the monkey bars….if you fall, get up and try again. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And be there with a hug or a band-aid or an
ice pack, knowing you are fostering a resilient, confident, risk-taker powerful
enough to tackle the challenges of daily living. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com78tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-35713197305069268132015-10-14T08:00:00.000-04:002015-10-14T08:00:08.599-04:00A Sensory Experience- Herb Playdough<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlEzHMXgcSGHmrc7TG4cte01_DNr4aBBK0vLY8_hdsbQyMOC2XGpMx5vGTOih2cPVmItXryZR36Iua6H0KKuqYToc_34ZHmZAtcK5vCqlqZnaoOJZJXzSXfAExWAT9ZhrHF4qDXLVhyfZz/s1600/IMG_3585.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlEzHMXgcSGHmrc7TG4cte01_DNr4aBBK0vLY8_hdsbQyMOC2XGpMx5vGTOih2cPVmItXryZR36Iua6H0KKuqYToc_34ZHmZAtcK5vCqlqZnaoOJZJXzSXfAExWAT9ZhrHF4qDXLVhyfZz/s320/IMG_3585.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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We made a few batches of home made play dough and did not add color to the dough. Instead I brought in my over grown herb garden boxes and the children snipped pieces of herbs to add to the play dough. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja_tzMyCNmjEO62lqwj7HiourO4sbx-w-4QeMjR-zjtIgtd6_Gs3K_qSVLhfOgL-10OCqlSdj9nLfGAPQkvG7GieJKJIySgxeePs-OdtvIXPVWmKvXpqruwVtuTFYnWfSax_8YZegUTELx/s1600/IMG_3586.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja_tzMyCNmjEO62lqwj7HiourO4sbx-w-4QeMjR-zjtIgtd6_Gs3K_qSVLhfOgL-10OCqlSdj9nLfGAPQkvG7GieJKJIySgxeePs-OdtvIXPVWmKvXpqruwVtuTFYnWfSax_8YZegUTELx/s320/IMG_3586.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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As the herbs were cut and ripped their scents were released. As the children touched the branches and leaves they felt the various textures of the different herbs. As they kneaded them in to the play dough it became a multi sensory experience watching the dough change color, smell different and have various textures throughout their piece. </div>
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Some experimented with large sections of the herbs so that the play dough was barely visible. </div>
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<span style="text-align: left;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOE-1z0ebFl_wADOg_9wCTKHxrJceS-sjmRV4X8dWiPoEFN0CXjBpF-mDBMZyq6_oCah6enwg_3L8rf-S-PsbESavvFcrO-xUkX2BdzJKaTqLKNQgpe26KazkP04e8q81f54LbiH1zoNVj/s1600/IMG_3587.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOE-1z0ebFl_wADOg_9wCTKHxrJceS-sjmRV4X8dWiPoEFN0CXjBpF-mDBMZyq6_oCah6enwg_3L8rf-S-PsbESavvFcrO-xUkX2BdzJKaTqLKNQgpe26KazkP04e8q81f54LbiH1zoNVj/s320/IMG_3587.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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Other spent time carefully cutting very small pieces and selectively placing them inside their dough.</div>
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This was not only a sensory experience for the class....it ended up leading us into our first project of the year this year...on gardens. As we discussed my herb gardens the children began talking of their own gardens. This led us to visit one of the children's gardens....and our project of creating a school garden has begun. But that is for a different post. <br />
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We spent a week with the herbs and play dough and then added the dough to our outdoor mud kitchen where the children used it to make muffins and cakes.<br />
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Have some fresh herbs in your garden? If not, you could purchase them from the grocery store. It could spur other interests and wonderings. </div>
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Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-12683294697553730292015-10-12T18:36:00.001-04:002015-10-12T18:36:52.322-04:00Loose Parts Play with Rain Gutters<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Many of the posts of this blog reference learning experiences that feature loose parts. I love the description of loose parts in Lisa Daly's wonderful resource, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Loose-Parts-Inspiring-Young-Children/dp/1605542741">Loose Parts: Inspiring Play In Young Children</a>:</div>
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<i><b>"<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;">Loose parts are natural or synthetic found, bought, or upcycled materials that children can move, manipulate, control, and change within their play. Alluring and captivating, they capture children's curiosity, give free reign to their imagination, and motivate learning."</span></b></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;">Almost any type of material can be a learning resource for children if given the freedom and time to experiment with it. Here is an example of this in action using pieces of plastic rain gutters found at the local hardware store, some drink dispensers and upcycled applesauce cups.</span></div>
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The containers were filled with colored water using liquid water colors and set on top of a picnic table for easy and independent access for the children. </div>
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The children not only enjoyed using the water on the gutters, but they were excited when they discovered taking some water from each dispenser in order to make new colors of water. </div>
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As this was a new material for our school, we placed the gutters in an initial arrangement that led itself to the water traveling across several pieces at various heights using a natural rock wall and some tires and small tree stumps (loose parts that have been in our play space for some time).</div>
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The children were eager to pour the water into the gutters and watch it travel. They did not always start at the beginning of the sequence. A few found a favorite spot and poured cup after cup in the same place. A few always went to the "beginning". </div>
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As it was used, it was moved causing the water to stop traveling all the way to the end. A problem was discovered and the children set to work to solve the problem. They began to experiment with moving the gutters, lifting them, rearranging them, connecting them and testing their new arrangements. </div>
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This engineering process continued as initial attempts were less than successful and there were many ideas from the group. Each believed that they had the solution. This was a wonderful opportunity for conflict resolution as well as the children had to negotiate how to take turns trying their own ideas and arrangements. Sometimes when a child would leave a set up to gather more water, they would return to see a change had been made. It was a good time to get the children talking to each other about planning and testing. </div>
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On other days we added other elements such as a low step ladder. We wanted the children to feel that the options were endless-there was not a "right way" to arrange these loose parts. <br />
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Often careful observation of the properties and elements of the materials was needed. How can I connect two pieces? Why won't they stay together? What could I use to keep them together? What could I put under them for support?<br />
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The children talked to each other. "Wait, I know! Let's try this..." "Look what I did, come see this, its working!" "Its stuck. How can we get this unstuck?" They were listening to each other and helping each other solve problems. <br />
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We also made sure to move the parts around the outdoor play space to encourage them to use the materials in different combinations. </div>
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With just a few plastic rain gutters, some drink dispensers and colored water, these children participated in engineering, physics, designing, experimenting, problem solving, negotiating, collaboration, observation, testing and task persistence. Through this highly engaging and motivating PLAY children are developing these critical 21st century skills. </div>
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Please share with us the loose parts play that your children/students are exploring. </div>
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Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-85738311183148175992015-09-14T13:31:00.000-04:002015-09-14T13:31:08.665-04:00Name Tag Mailboxes-A Simple Way to Encourage Writing in Preschool<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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With limited wall space in my classroom, I was looking for a creative way to allow each student to have a mailbox without taking up a bulletin board area. <br />
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To solve this problem these cubby label mailboxes were invented. <br />
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Simply take a business size envelope, decorate it how you would like and then laminate the entire envelope closed. After it is laminated cut about 1/4 inch along the top of the envelope allowing it to open. Then punch a hole through the front side and attach the arrow with a brad. The arrows had also been laminated and cut out. <br />
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This allows the arrow to be down if the mailbox is empty and turned up when it is full. <br />
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The children enjoy writing each other notes and giving and receiving mail throughout the year. We discuss how it is important to write your own name as well as the person you are sending it to, so that person will know who to write back to after receiving mail. </div>
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It is exciting for them to look across the room as they are playing and see their flag up. "I have mail!" can be heard happily expressed as the children rush over to open their messages. <br />
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Having the mailboxes double as their cubby labels saves a lot of space and allows the mailboxes to be in a more central location in the classroom rather than a corner or area they may not frequent as often. The teachers and the working parent also have a mailbox...and we always respond to mail. </div>
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Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-21868987651124458552015-09-14T13:12:00.000-04:002015-09-14T13:13:50.072-04:00A Justification For Loose Parts Play In This Competitive Society-A Professional Development Workshop<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I recently enjoyed giving a workshop on loose parts play to the staff of United Methodist Preschool held at Community Cooperative Nursery School. We started off with the theory behind this kind of play, reflections on current classroom practices and a slide show of the children from CCNS in action.</div>
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But the most important part of this workshop is giving the teachers time to actually play and interact with the materials and investigate the kinds of learning that they can envision their students experiencing. They were asked to not only engage, but to reflect as they played on the skills that children would be learning and applying as they played. </div>
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Then they were given something that is critical for teachers of young children...time to play. Time to problem solve...</div>
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to engage with each other and the materials...</div>
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and to get a real sense of what the children experience as they interact with the loose parts.</div>
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We concluded the play portion of the session reflecting on the CT Early Learning and Development Standards and what skills from several of the domains this kind of play fosters.</div>
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The teachers then created action plans and materials wish lists for incorporating this type of play into their teaching as well as addressing some concerns and issues they may face. </div>
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It is always invigorating for me to be surrounded by such dedicated educators that continue to want to learn more and improve their practices in order to provide young children the best learning environments possible. </div>
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If you are interested in this workshop or other professional development sessions please contact me at danagorman@playfullylearning.me.</div>
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Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-13835474396459800202015-06-27T14:55:00.001-04:002015-06-27T14:56:22.721-04:00Nature Art: A Trip to The Studio<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Creating art from nature and natural products is something I am trying to incorporate more in to my classroom experiences. This year I was turned on to the work of Andy Goldsworthy, a British photographer, sculptor and environmentalist who creates land art using sticks, petals, leaves, rocks and other materials found in the environment in which he chooses to develop his piece. <br />
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We did some of this outside using materials the children found on our playground and we also brought numerous natural materials inside for the children to use to create art. We were not using glue and keeping the products, just experimenting with the textures, colors and objects themselves. In class, we looked at some of Goldsworthy's stunning photographs and tried to emulate his work. (sadly, my photographs of these experiences were lost)<br />
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These Goldworthy inspired learning environments left me wanting to learn even more about using natural materials with children. I was very excited to find that my dear childhood friend, Christine Orlando-Budd, is the co-owner of The Studio in Fairfield, CT and that they were offering a Goldsworthy Art in Nature Summer Camp for two weeks this summer. I was able to go and visit her program yesterday. My photographs are not the best as I was more invested in talking to her about the program and then in creating natural art myself. During each of these Goldsworthy weeks, the children (mixed age group) spend a day looking at video and photographs of his work and then discussing and sketching the artistic elements present in his signature style. The next four days are spent completely in the field: two days in the woods and two on the beach. The products the children develop are ephemeral and left where they are created, so they take beautiful photographs of the work and create slide shows of their process.<br />
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Christine and her partner, Priscilla Igram, bring some natural materials with them that they have collected, branches of leaves and berries, flowers and grasses from their gardens as well as teach the children how to collect the materials found in the area. Then the children "harvest" the materials by pulling off leaves, berries and petals and separating them into containers to use as individual elements. <br />
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One of the pieces was made from the dried beach grass that is found lying at the edge of the marsh by the beach. These artists added white petals to the dried grass. <br />
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It was a challenge for my daughter and I to create a piece of art as it was fairly windy at the beach on this morning, but we tried to use a hula hoop as a design guide as we worked on a piece using leaves, berries and grass. It gave us a good appreciation for some of the challenges that Goldsworthy must encounter as well as the necessity of adapting to challenges when creating natural art- much of our design just blew away. </div>
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I have more to learn as I bring natural art in to my classroom, but it is wonderful to have nearby artists for inspiration. Talking more with Christine about <a href="https://www.thestudiofairfield.com/">The Studio,</a> made me realize what a hidden gem it is right in our backyard. They have <a href="https://www.thestudiofairfield.com/SocialSite/summer-camps">terrific camps</a> for children from very young to teens as well as adult studio classes. It was a short fifteen minute drive from Norwalk. Check out their <a href="https://www.thestudiofairfield.com/">website</a>. I love the idea of the camp entitled "Random ARTS of Kindness."<br />
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I'd also love to hear from you about the natural art you are encouraging your students and children to explore. </div>
Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-77021647839585172432014-09-15T21:37:00.001-04:002014-09-15T21:38:38.038-04:00Preparing Children For College In The Preschool Classroom<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Sometimes life takes turns we do not expect and our
priorities have to shift in order to care for our families. I experienced that this summer in more ways
than one causing me to neglect one of my passions-this blog. Things have somewhat settled down a bit and I
am anxious to get back to communicating with others about learning through
play.</div>
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One of the big life changes this summer was dropping my
oldest daughter off at college for the first time. When she was in preschool someone once told
my husband and I that before we knew it we’d be dropping her off at
college. We had a hard time believing
that thought…until we blinked and we were doing just that! </div>
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As we drove home following one, two, seven last hugs
goodbye, and my mind started turning to preparing my preschool classroom for
the start of the school year, I reflected on how so many of the skills I was
confident that my daughter had and would use starting college were also my
focus with my preschoolers. </div>
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Julia, my daughter, is equipped with the skills needed to
make new friends. She can enter a room
full of strangers and emerge with acquaintances, and more often, friends. Making eye contact, commenting on an activity
someone is doing, offering to help and asking questions are just a few of the
strategies people use to make these connections. These personal and social skills are a large
focus of our time in the preschool classroom.</div>
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Julia has learned to be a problem solver. She can attack a situation with more than one
solution and also understands the value of asking for help. When classes are scheduled incorrectly or
printer connections do not work or a bank card is lost, she will be able to
navigate these situations. So much of
our time in the preschool classroom is spent looking at ways to solve problems
whether it is how to get a toy someone else is using to getting a block
building to stand up to getting a large drawing to fit inside a small
backpack. Giving children the time,
space and support to solve these problems without solving them for them develops
this self sufficiency needed for college life and beyond. </div>
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Julia has learned the value of trying new things and taking
risks. She has also learned that failure
is not the end. Trying out for new
sports teams, investigating new clubs and managing the disappointments that can
come along with tryouts and interviews are invaluable abilities. We nourish and foster these parts of
development in young children in the preschool classroom. We give them endless opportunities to try new
things. We scaffold their learning so
they can succeed and encourage them to take risks within reason learning the
consequences of their actions. Taking
all risk away from the young child and allowing them to experience only limited
activities due to our own fears will not allow these abilities to
flourish. We all must learn to try,
possibly fall, but to get up and try once again. </div>
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Julia has learned to value of play. She knows the relaxation and rejuvenation
that follows time spent in recreation activities. She knows that an important part of her time
management is scheduling activities such as sports or art or laughing with
friends. Children raised in settings
where play is valued learn that this time is not wasted and often the best
ideas are conceptualized during play. </div>
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Julia has learned the joy of learning. She is excited to take challenging classes
and learn from others. She has positive
feelings associated with learning. This
is one of the biggest goals I have as a teacher. I wanted my students to become life-long
learners. To wonder, form questions, seek
answers and share their knowledge discovered.
My job is not to fill their brains with facts and figures…it is to
ignite the spirit of investigation and to share strategies for accomplishing
their goals. </div>
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As I drove away from the college campus, and in the weeks
that have followed, I felt confident in my daughter’s abilities to thrive in a
university setting away from her home and family and was once again inspired to
get back in to the preschool classroom to begin the important work of inspiring
problem solving, friend making, risk taking life-long learners. </div>
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Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-67182268593205875592014-06-06T14:18:00.000-04:002014-06-06T14:18:27.733-04:00The Dog Project Phase 2...and 3<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This is a very long blog post as I am summarizing an entire project in one post. Its worth the read as it was such an interesting study. As I mentioned in my first post about our <a href="http://playfullylearning.blogspot.com/2014/04/one-more-projectbefore-our-year-ends.html">Dog Project</a>, it was odd that we took on a project so close to the end of the year. Our culminating event actually occurred on our very last day of school. This project took on a life of its own...guest dogs came out of the woodwork, field trips and professional visitors just clicked and the enthusiasm of the children was high, so we went with it. <br />
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In my last post on this topic, I described the impetus for the project and our first guests. Learning about the guide dog puppies gave us a bit of a direction for our study as the topic of dogs is so vast. We focused a great deal on working dogs and the variety of different jobs that dogs can have. We did also learn about various breeds and the features of each breed by "interviewing" our visitors. By the end of the study we were able to get answers to most of our initial questions...and the many, many new questions that arise when learning. <br />
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Here is a brief synopsis of how the rest of the project unfolded...<br />
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One of the reasons this project was of interest to our students was because they were hearing about the search for and then arrival of one of our student's new puppy. She brought her 12 week old puppy, Bailey, in to school with her mom and they told us about caring for a new puppy as well as some facts about the Labrador breed. We were shown how to trim nails and paw fur as well as learn about some of Bailey's training regimen. They they were able to feed him, give him water and walk him around our playground. <br />
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Our Educational Consultant for the school also works with her dog doing therapy. Henry, the therapy dog, came to class. Before his visit, the children thought of what they were wondering about a therapy dog. Questions such as "what does he do?", "does he wear a uniform?" "does he get to play?" were among the many on our list. We always share our specific questions with our visitors so their talk can be guided by our wonderings. When time allows, I usually get the questions to the visitors before our meeting, so they have time to think about them and prepare. We learned about Henry's work and his free time, as well as about the breed of Double Doodle. (<i>This is why I love this approach so much...I never knew my Labrador had webbed feet and why! I went home and checked and was amazed. So great to learn along WITH your students every day!</i>)</div>
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Another student shared her Havanese, Shiver, with the class. This is a breed of circus dogs, so she made sure to show us the tricks he is learning. <br />
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We had 6 week old puppies, then a 12 week old puppy, a 9 month old puppy, so it was time to see the other end of the spectrum. My dog, Bella, spent the day with us. She is 11 years old. She is starting to slow down, has a graying chin and is very calm around the children. <br />
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We discussed the differences in the various ages and breeds we had been meeting. At the same time, each child was encouraged to bring in a photo of a dog; their dog, past or present, a neighbor's dog or that of a family member. As the photos came in we researched the type of breed for each dog. <br />
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For a representation of our study, without too much time left in our year, we agreed to make one replica of a dog. We chose Bella as she was the easiest to measure and she spent the most time with us. So, using unifix cubes the children measured her body in various parts and then kept track of it with their writing so we could undertake creating a life sized version of Bella.<br />
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We then tried something I had not done before. I have several children who find it very difficult to draw. They have trouble getting started and need to be talked through the process of how to start, which way to hold the paper, where on the paper to start, the basic shape of what they are trying to create and so on. We did a large cooperative drawing of Bella as a class talking out loud the thinking process that goes on when attempting to draw something you are looking at. Following the group drawing, each child drew their own representation of Bella. It was very interesting. The children that normally had great difficulty drawing had an easier time, and those that did not usually have an issue had many more details in their drawings. </div>
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We made Bella out of paper mache on top of ballons as well as wooden pieces and paper towel rolls. It was a wonderful sensory experience for the children as most of them had not tried paper mache before. They were able to see the differences occurring as it dried and became hard. They also learned the dedication and hard work it takes to create a large project of this kind. We needed layers of paper mache every day for a week. It was a team effort and everyone helped a little bit each day...even if they needed a little coaxing:-)</div>
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The children used their previous measurements to make sure her body, tail, muzzle, etc was the correct length. They even noticed her little gray chin and added that detail. </div>
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When Bella was finished one of our students took it upon herself to create a collar and leash for the dog figuring out how to attach it and even creating the dog tags we had learned about during the various visits. </div>
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While we were working on this project in our art center for two weeks, we also had a few more research events. A police dog visited our school. This was one dog we could not pet. The Norwalk Police Department K-9 Unit was terrific showing us his various uniforms and leashes and even reenacting a hunt for a suspect down the street from our school. </div>
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We met, Ranger, another working dog, who works with a family that has diabetes. A former student brought in his dog and explained how he can smell when he and his brother have low or high blood sugar and then alert his mom. </div>
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We were not able to make it to the dog pound as the dog warden did not think it would be a good place for the children to visit, but we did visit the Animal Shelter and learned about what happens to unwanted and abandoned pets. We brought paper towels to help the shelter and made our own dog biscuits for the dogs there. We also had a visit with a Spinone and learned about working dogs who help hunt and retrieve birds. </div>
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With this action packed month, we ended up having our culminating event on our last day. The parents usually come in to hear some songs and I have<a href="http://playfullylearning.blogspot.com/2012/05/perfect-book-for-last-day.html"> a special end of year story that I like to read to everyone.</a> We were still able to do this, but added in the culmination of our project. By now the walls are usually bare as we pack up our entire school for an art show. But, we left up all of our documentation panels and dog study related displays. The children created dog ears based on a specific breed of dog in which they were interested-most of them chose the photo they brought to school. These dog "experts" then showed their families around the room and explained to them what they had learned, also introducing them to what one parent coined, "Bella Mache". </div>
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It was an incredible last month of school. We never stopped investigating our interests. These children are leaving this class with the understanding that they can follow their interests, learn about them from books, the internet and experts and then share that learning with others in various ways. What a terrific foundation for being life long learners. </div>
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Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-44975523120228415792014-04-27T19:47:00.002-04:002014-06-06T11:49:15.067-04:00Spring Sketching In Our Outdoor Classroom<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The children had been noticing the various blooming flowers on our playground as Spring finally started to emerge. First the crocuses bloomed followed by the buds of our daffodils and tulips. <br />
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After talking about leaving them in the ground so we could enjoy them each day rather than picking them, the children became more protective of them and would check on their progress. <br />
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We brought out clipboards, white paper and colored pencils to the playground each day as the children arrived and encouraged them to "draw what they noticed."<br />
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It was completely a free choice activity, but we were quite surprised with how many of the children were very interested, often choosing to draw a little bit of each day.<br />
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The sketches were all very different as well. Some chose realistic colors looking carefully at the details and others did not seem all that interested in representing their observations with accurate colors. Some just seemed to enjoy the act of sitting in the foliage and drawing with their friends.<br />
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They were connecting with nature and learning to appreciate our beautiful world. <br />
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Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-44115230062622792812014-04-27T19:31:00.000-04:002014-04-28T08:25:46.711-04:00One More Project...Before Our Year Ends<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Our project explorations tend to be pretty in depth and usually last for several months at a time. We usually get through two projects per year and then have lots of wonderful ordinary moments when we are providing provocations and watching for new interests to emerge from the children. <br />
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With only 6 weeks left of school, we were hesitant to start a new project...one of those weeks was our school break, but there was such an insurgence of "dog" play initiated by the children, we felt it was worth exploring.<br />
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One of our teachers has a large collection of beanie baby dogs of various breeds. We added a few of these to the dramatic play center. We also set up a provocation center with leashes, brushes, a harness, a dog toy, a choke collar and other dog related items. Most of the children had some experience with many of these materials and had at least seen them before.<br />
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The children were very excited by this center. It inspired many discussions with teachers and with each other. The children started using the materials on the stuffed dogs, started using classroom materials to build homes for the dogs and some brought in other materials for play.<br />
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Two of the students had recently gotten puppies during our school year and they were often topics of conversation. Their parents also often brought them to pick up time.<br />
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To see if this was a topic that could engage all of the children, we did a memory drawing of a dog. It could be about a dog you owned, or a dog you used to have or any time you interacted with a dog at a park or a neighbor's house, etc. Each child had a specific story to tell....which led to more stories.<br />
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Then when asked if they had any wonderings about dogs the questioning began. <br />
We filled our classroom with non-fiction books on dogs and puppies.<br />
I wrote to the parents to let them know about our new study to see if they had any connections and to ask for photos of dogs known to their families. <br />
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One of the opportunities that arose from this parental contact was from a family in our class that socializes guide dog puppies. The puppies go to three homes for several days each to learn to interact with different kinds of people in different settings. Then they take a test to see if they qualify to be trained as guide dogs. This fit perfectly with our current study and several of the non-fiction books the children found particularly engaging were on working dogs.<br />
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On Friday morning we listed our questions specific to this visit and the puppies arrived late morning. We learning about the socialization process and actually helped with several of the things they need to do each day; be held by different people, hear loud noises, explore different places, go up stairs, go down stairs, etc. We also helped to feed them and learned their commands for going to the bathroom. We ended this terrific experience walking them around our playground. <br />
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(here we are measuring the puppies compared to a student in order to compare to the older lab coming next week.)</div>
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To learn more about taking part in socializing guide dogs, please visit the website <a href="https://www.guidingeyes.org/" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">https://www.guidingeyes.org</a> </div>
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Next week we have a different dog visiting each day; three dogs at different ages as well as a therapy dog and a diabetes aide dog. We are working on a visit to the pound or an animal shelter and a police dog. It is tricky trying to schedule all of this so close to the close of our school year, but the interest is so strong it is important to follow it. Also, since both of our big projects this year just happened to involve vehicles, I wanted to children to experience studying something very different. Our research will be different as well as our representations. <br />
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Plus, who can resist the opportunity for some puppy love??<br />
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Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-45794981698723586062014-04-27T16:15:00.000-04:002014-04-27T16:44:13.738-04:00Cooperative Spring Mural<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We had been noticing and discussing the arrival of budding flowers on our playground. The children had enjoyed sketching them as part of their time outside. Check back for post on that soon. <br />
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I modified this idea that I had seen from Teach Preschool on <a href="http://www.teachpreschool.org/2012/03/springtime-easel-starters/">Springtime Easel Starters</a>.<br />
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I glued some birdseed that we had in class onto the bottom of a large piece of easel paper and hung it across our triple easel. It remained up for the week. Before our center time on Monday, we read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tiny-Seed-Eric-Carle-1991/dp/B00D81YEZK/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1398629144&sr=8-7&keywords=the+tiny+seed">Eric Carle's <u>The Tiny Seed</u> </a>The children were encouraged to add anything that might grow from a seed or live among the growing plants. The used mini paint trays and selected their own colors and paints from our easel materials cart. Everyone chose tempera this week, although it was not a requirement. <br />
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It was an interesting experience as some children found it more difficult to paint near other's work, often saying "there's no room!" This would lead to discussion of creating a larger flower or a smaller flower to fit in remaining space. We also brainstormed other things that could be added to the mural other than flowers as the space became tighter. Some children chose to paint the dirt or the grass rather than a flower. By the end of the week (not pictured here) we had a few bees, a bird, a couple of worms and a snake. <br />
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A beautiful cooperative effort!</div>
Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-87340534630246516362014-04-27T15:05:00.002-04:002014-04-27T16:44:27.535-04:00Ball Painting-A Cooperative Art Experience<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We were focusing even more on cooperative experiences this week with the children, so we made our art center a collaborative effort. <br />
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We used an over sized pizza box taped open and reinforced. We cut paper from a large roll to fit inside the box. We precut several sheets of paper as we knew it would be a popular activity. Three small trays were filled with tempera paint in primary colors and thinned with water to allow the balls to roll rather than stick to the paper. We chose to use ping pong balls, but small wiffle balls, golf balls or other balls you have on hand would work. It would be fun to elaborate on this idea trying different balls and comparing the marks made. <br />
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The children then had to work in pairs or in small groups to manipulate the box and get the balls to move around the paper. They enjoyed moving the box in different directions and thought it was hilarious when the balls would roll out of the box. If you want to avoid this, get a box with a higher lip on it. We didn't mind the small mess made when the balls would skip out of the box and the children were having a lot of fun with this occurrence. <br />
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This activity works well to foster cooperation among children who may not typically play together. The activity was the draw...often attracting others to join in as the painting began with their shrieks of joy and laughter. They had to communicate with each other in order to agree on which way they wanted the box to move.<br />
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You can even relate this activity to the work of Jackson Pollock. The product of this activity looks very similar to some of his work done with his swatting paint brushes. <br />
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As we typically do, we left this out as a center for the week. This allowed children to go back to it several times and for different groups of children to work together.<br />
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As usual the product was not our focus, but these pieces make terrific wrapping paper!<br />
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Give it a try....your kids will have a ball! </div>
Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-25572896720413517922014-04-24T07:53:00.002-04:002014-04-27T16:44:41.501-04:00Baking Bread is Science and Cooking-A Guest Post<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>I am honored to feature a post written by my talented teaching assistant, Katherine Seeley. Katherine, a trained pastry chef and food writer/stylist, handles most of the planning and preparation for all of our classroom cooking experiences. Even with young children she focuses on the various techniques associated with cooking. She has her own food blog and was recently featured in Fine Cooking magazine. Make sure to check out her blog, www.moonlightkitchenmusings.com...I can personally vouch for most of the recipes there...delicious!!</i><br />
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Baking bread is as
much science as it is cooking. Our 4’s class has been hard at work exploring
scientific principles. We’ve observed the reaction that happens when you
combine baking soda and vinegar, and the children did an experiment where they
observed and recorded what dissolved in water. Baking bread was a natural
extension of this scientific inquiry. We chose a simple bread recipe that uses
5 ingredients found in most kitchens: flour, yeast, salt, sugar and water.<br />
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Our first step was to look at and talk about the recipe.
What is a recipe? What ingredients are called for? What are the steps we will
take? Then we identified the ingredients laid out on the table.<br />
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Next, we combined the yeast and warm water and stirred. Just
like the experiment from the day before, the children observed that the yeast
had dissolved or “disappeared” and they noticed, too, that the color of the
water had changed and that it smelled differently. We talked about yeast as a
living thing. It was our “magic ingredient.”
Next we fed it some food—sugar and flour—so it would have the “energy”
to work. Then we set it aside.</div>
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After 15 minutes, the children did not see a lot of visible
changes. I pointed out the small bubbles forming and explained to the children
that the yeast was doing its job making gas bubbles. Then we added more flour
and the salt. It was hard work to mix the flour in. We used what I like to call
“preschool power” to get that flour mixed in. The last ½ cup of flour was too
difficult to mix in, so we turned the dough out onto the table. <br />
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I gave each child some of the dough and we kneaded in the
remaining flour. When kneading, I tell the children to use the heels of their
hands to push the dough out in front of them; then fold it in half, turn it and
repeat. I chant, “push, fold, turn, push fold, turn.” The children and I really
love this tactile experience. It is very calming. Afterwards, we noticed that
the dough had become harder and smoother.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
We put our kneaded dough into a greased bowl and turned it
over. As a class, we looked closely at the dough and noted that it was about
the size of a small plate. We touched it and noted that it was smooth and firm.
Then, as scientists would, we made predictions about what might happen to the
dough. The children had quite a range of ideas: it will get bigger, it will get
bubbly, get small, get really big. Then we covered it with plastic wrap and put
it in the refrigerator until class the next day. When I arrived the next
morning, I took the dough out of the fridge so that it could come to room
temperature.<br />
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With the children on day #2, we observed the dough again,
giving it a gentle poke or two. Our cooks noticed the dough had gotten much
bigger and softer. We continued with our recipe by punching it down, kneading
it again and shaping it. We put the dough in a greased loaf pan and placed it
in a warm spot in the kitchen to let it rise until doubled. Then we baked our
bread. We could all smell that sweet, yeasty bread as it baked.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before we tasted it, we observed one more time the changes
that had taken place. We observed that the dough had turned hard and brown (and
was a little miss-shaped due to the kids shaping it all on their own). When we
sliced it, I pointed out the small holes in the bread. I explained that these
were left when the yeast bubbles had popped. Finally, we all tasted warm bread
with butter. Most of the children enjoyed the bread and many returned for
seconds. Even our picky eaters took a nibble. I’d say our
bread making was a success both as a science lesson and a baking lesson.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigBa9MRFuM0LgPlkW6JZDuvt_tD8xmuDTY6RiEEexN-6hxxj0_uVUSIrbelGibBjPF6Gkn1Gl4LlmmkE_8HdeioMxJCpgiU1E2hM8JZ7VQIBXCiM3NeycpBU-8UCMk-jpEvxUvLT_uEVBC/s1600/IMG_3220.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigBa9MRFuM0LgPlkW6JZDuvt_tD8xmuDTY6RiEEexN-6hxxj0_uVUSIrbelGibBjPF6Gkn1Gl4LlmmkE_8HdeioMxJCpgiU1E2hM8JZ7VQIBXCiM3NeycpBU-8UCMk-jpEvxUvLT_uEVBC/s1600/IMG_3220.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Simple Bread<br />
</b>We made the bread in 2 small loaf pans but it would work just as well in 1
large loaf pan.<b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2 cups warm water<br />
1 Tbsp active dry yeast<br />
1 Tbsp sugar<br />
5 ½ cups flour<br />
2 tsp. salt</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1. In large bowl, add yeast to warm water. Stir. Add sugar
and 2 cups of flour. Stir to combine. Let mixture sit for 10-15 minutes.<br />
2. Stir in the salt and remaining flour. If mixing gets too difficult, turn
dough onto table and knead in remaining flour.<br />
3. Knead dough until smooth and firm. Place in greased bowl and turn to coat.<br />
4. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let rise until doubled. (If not
making bread until the next day, place dough in the refrigerator. Be sure to
let come to room temperature before continuing.)<br />
5. Punch down the dough. Knead again. Shape and put in greased loaf pan.<br />
6. Place dough in a warm spot and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.<br />
7. Bake at 400F until golden brown and cooked through, about 30 minutes. </div>
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</div>
Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-90806535392748880312014-04-17T06:00:00.001-04:002014-04-17T06:00:05.765-04:00A Perfect Square-Manipulating Paper<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="Product Details" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41570AKgEAL._SL160_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-dp,TopRight,12,-18_SH30_OU01_AA160_.jpg" /></div>
<br />
We read the book, <u> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_14?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=perfect%20square&sprefix=perfect+square%2Caps%2C295">Perfect Square</a></u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_14?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=perfect%20square&sprefix=perfect+square%2Caps%2C295"> </a>by Michael Hall about the transformation of a simple square in to several creative possibilities. <br />
<br />
Following reading the story each child was given a 4 x 4 square of construction paper of a variety of colors. NO two students had the same color. This was important because the task given to the children was to create something with this square using all of the pieces of it. They were given scissors, textured scissors, hole punchers and glue. They could also rip, crumble, bend, etc. the paper. They could create anything they wanted to but they had to use every scrap of the original square-just like in the book.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ph33znOmpT_HU_z1JE2EKlasVhQHQms03G7UDWb5uNudqPUoXY2B1Mkq7TDsdKFPjYGJL9pQKXo965efYlFlr43GpL5qvkdvNixfFN32yVyFTfJGKKORUMJiBMREtG8QhpUuLVrDeF63/s1600/IMG_3510.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ph33znOmpT_HU_z1JE2EKlasVhQHQms03G7UDWb5uNudqPUoXY2B1Mkq7TDsdKFPjYGJL9pQKXo965efYlFlr43GpL5qvkdvNixfFN32yVyFTfJGKKORUMJiBMREtG8QhpUuLVrDeF63/s1600/IMG_3510.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a> </td><td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="text-align: left;">They used a piece of black construction paper to mount their pieces. Then they had to write what it was on the paper using their sound/symbol knowledge.</span></div>
<br />
Following the activity we shared our creations with each other paying special attention to the various ways the children manipulated the paper. <br />
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<br />
For a follow up activity to this we created a large class mural. We tried to focus on making the paper 3D giving the piece a lot of texture using the same techniques, ripping, bending, folding, crumbling, cutting, and so on. <br />
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Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-35345366160385500342014-04-17T06:00:00.000-04:002014-04-17T06:00:05.088-04:00Studying Artist's Techniques-Creating an Art Gallery<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We have an open easel in our classroom where children choose the paper and materials with which they want to create. We have several students who spend time there everyday and others who rarely venture to the easel in favor of building or other centers. However, we feel this is an important time to be exposed to a variety of experiences and materials, so we do encourage everyone to give activities such as painting a try once in awhile. <br />
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We had been looking at some artists who used mixed media in their work a few weeks ago, so this week we focused on how artists name their pieces. We looked at several prints, talked about what we saw when we looked at the piece and then what the artist named his/her work. We talked about why they might have chosen that name. We also read a book about Vincent Van Gogh called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Camille-Sunflowers-Laurence-Anholt/dp/0812064097">Camille and the Sunflowers.</a><br />
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Following reading the story, our art center was set up with a variety of fresh flowers in vases and several colors of liquid water colors. We used water color paper as well. We talked about the process of the still life. How an artist looks at what he/she sees and tries to capture the image in his mind. <br />
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<span style="text-align: left;">When the children were painting we asked about what they were noticing. Our comments about the children's work focused on what we saw, not non-specific praise such as, 'beautiful" or "good job". Rather, we would point out features of the piece, "I see you noticed the petals around a center here", or "you painted a close up of one flower", or "I can see you noticed the stems and leaves of the flowers." </span></div>
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When the paintings were dry, we had the children look at their own work carefully and come up with a name for their work. <br />
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We then cut out frames from black construction paper to create our classroom art gallery. We shared the pieces and their titles with the class. </div>
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As the week went on, some children revisited the center several times. Some decided to add tempera paint to their work for a different effect. We also made sure that every child spent some time in this center during the course of the week. </div>
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Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-20605710481860267842014-04-16T09:34:00.000-04:002014-04-16T09:34:00.802-04:00Burlap Banners-Sewing in Preschool<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I found these rolls of thin burlap at Michael's craft store. This class really enjoys sewing and burlap is a very easy fabric to manipulate with both plastic and metal needles for young children because the holes are so big. It is very easy to fix major sewing errors when the children sew around the embroidery hoops we were using to hold the fabric.</div>
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For this experience we moved on from earlier free form sewing to following a line/design. We drew each child's first initial on the top of the burlap with a Sharpie marker. The children chose their yarn color and followed the line with their stitches. Once that was done they were encouraged to add decorations from a variety of embellishments that were available; feathers, beads and buttons. </div>
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Once the sewing was done, which for some children was done over several days, the children searched outside for a thin, short stick. Then we showed them how to sew the top of the burlap over the stick. We tied a string on to the stick on either end in order to hang the banners. </div>
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This activity fostered fine motor development as well as eye-hand coordination from following the path of the letter, letter recognition, and required sustained attention. The children were very proud of their work. They were also exposed to embroidery hoops which most of them had never used before for sewing (we use them a lot for sorting in our classroom).</div>
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If you like the idea of sewing with burlap, check out an earlier post about a <a href="http://playfullylearning.blogspot.com/2013/03/sewing-table-collaborative-fine-motor.html">cooperative sewing experience</a> here.</div>
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Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-26966617255851210612014-04-15T10:06:00.000-04:002014-04-15T10:08:26.241-04:00Water Table Physics<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Kudos to my husband in this post for making these stands for our water table. They were a work in progress. I had a vision of some stands to hold tubes and funnels for the children to manipulate and experiment with moving water. The children helped me measure the height and width of our water table. <br />
The first day the children played with them, we realized that the children had to stand on benches to reach the tops of the tubes. Each day we modified them according to the way the children played with them. Now one has a board with holes facing vertical and one we turned to be horizontal. We also made one shorter. (and by "we" of course, I mean my husband :-)<br />
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After seeing them, our head teacher showed me <a href="http://www.shopbecker.com/sand-water-and-sensory-play/sand-and-water-play/_/funnel-stand/?q=funnel">a funnel set</a> she had ordered from Becker's School Supply. We combined them with the wooden sets for variety in the water table. The plastic tubing was purchased at Home Depot in the plumbing section. We have several lengths and thicknesses available. The table is also stocked with funnels of various sizes, pitchers and turkey basters.<br />
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The children experimented with the properties of physics at our sensory table by connecting the tubes to the funnels, pouring the water in to the tubes, as well as moving the water through the tubes with the turkey basters. They loved watching the water move up the tubes and following its path through the tubes and eventually out. We colored the water each day to make it easier to see in the tubes. A few discovered the power of the air and suction in the turkey baster able to make the water move forward as well as suck it backwards. <br />
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Another strategy that the children implemented was to work together to pour a lot of water at a time into one tube trying to get it to move all the way to the other end.<br />
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Next week we are going to use the two stands that have horizontal holes to hold the funnels with sand in the sensory table. </div>
Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com50tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-37606630604597983982014-03-26T22:01:00.000-04:002014-03-26T22:01:42.041-04:00Using Hammers to Create Art<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We had a fantastic donation from one of our families who cut some great wood into squares for us. We decided to use them to create yarn art.<br />
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The children chose how many nails to use and the design of the placement of the nails. They wore safety goggles from our workbench when hammering, but they did use real hammers.<br />
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We helped them learn the technique of holding the nail in place with the non hammering hand, hammering lightly to get the nail started and then moving it away before hitting much harder.<br />
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<span style="text-align: left;">I know the question will be asked about children hurting themselves while using real tools. We do use tools fairly frequently in our class and have a workbench in the room at all times. There were just a few banged fingers and thumbs, but that is part of the learning involved in using a real hammer. These resilient children were more focused on finishing the job of getting the nails in the wood, so they would shake it off and start again, much the way I do when I still occasionally miss:-)</span></div>
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Once they has their nails placed the way they wanted them to be, they wound cut pieces of colorful yarn around and around the nails in their chosen arrangement. We did not tie any of the yarn. We wanted this to be a fairly self-sufficient activity. The act of tying would have caused more frustration than was necessary for this activity. We showed them how wrapped several times around one nail head and tucking it under, pretty much held the yarn in place and allowed them to move on to the next color of yarn.<br />
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We had very different styles of accomplishing this project. Some children used a lot of nails and a lot of yarn, other had much more of a sparse approach.<br />
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This activity was left out for the week and several children chose to go back to their pieces and add more yarn or more nails as the week went on. This is one of the main reasons we leave centers for the week. Children need time to process an activity and try it again, add more, and deepen their experience. Some will only visit a center once, others will visit the same center each day for the week. Knowing they have the ability to return lets them feel relaxed as they are exploring it and not rushed to try everything in one day.<br />
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I love how individual these pieces of art ended up. They actual tell a great deal of each child's personality. </div>
Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-84308643862131709962014-03-26T21:33:00.001-04:002014-03-26T21:33:51.749-04:00Loose Parts Math Lesson<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Given time, space, materials and the ability to take risks children will investigate a variety of topics on their own. <div>
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This week the children discovered what I used to call a "seesaw"( <i>I'm probably dating myself here</i>). There used to be one every playground when I was little. These days it is rare to see one. They must have been deemed too dangerous by some group. </div>
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A few children in my class made their own by putting a very long 1x4 across a stump that was on its side. It started off as a ramp with the children walking up the ramp and then balancing as their weight shifted the board down the other side and walking off. The play of a couple of children attracted many more as soon a flock of children were all clamoring to try out the board at once. </div>
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From this impatience came the balancing lesson. Several children took turns standing or sitting on each end and noticing that the board would stay up or go down as the children changed. If the board was up one side, the goal became getting that side down and children would call for help from their peers. </div>
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Through their play they started talking about the concepts. "This side is heavier." "This side has less kids." "We need more people over here to get it to go down."</div>
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Sometimes it became the girls vs. the boys, separated on each side by their own accord. "We need more boys, we need to make it heavier." </div>
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This activity mimicked a similar experience we had presented several months earlier inside with pan balances and different bags of materials. The same concepts were being learned. But somehow, the inside activity did not elicit the absolute squeals of delight, the repeated engagement, the problem solving and the passion to keep trying new combinations day after day. </div>
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Was there risk involved? Absolutely. </div>
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Did children fall off? Yes.</div>
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Did anyone get hurt? A few bumped knees and such which were met with a quick hug or brushed off with an "I'm okay, I'm getting back on." </div>
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We were close by reminding them to check their support and to give warnings to others if they chose to get off suddenly throwing off the weight, but that was part of the excitement. When the weight proportion shifted-there was a dramatic change. So much more memorable than the pan balance inside.</div>
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We were there to remind them to "have your hands out and to be ready to fall"-our standard line to children to let them know that we value risk taking, we trust them, and we expect that they will take care to be as safe as they can. </div>
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I did not plan this math lesson. However, my class was fully engaged in some very powerful learning and chose to repeat this experience again and again. What we did do was provide loose parts on our playground and give children the time to use them in creative ways. Then we supported their explorations, ideas and risk taking. </div>
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Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-23277611871416655422014-02-10T23:31:00.000-05:002014-02-11T17:00:06.815-05:00Fight the Flu...Play Outside!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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What an absolutely beautiful day it was outside today. The new snowfall made everything clean and white again, the sky was blue and the recent ice storm gave us some great chunks of ice on our playground. Of course it was cold! It is winter in the east. Of course we played outside. Children NEED to play outside everyday!<br />
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I have become quite discouraged by all of the reports I am hearing from friends and family about their young children not being able to go outside at all when there is snow on the ground or if it is cold. Somehow the idea of recess or a physical movement break is getting minimized to the point of non existence. Indoor recess is happening more and more where children are asked to pick a "quiet" game and sit at their desks to play it. How does this activity give them a break from sitting at their desks being quiet? To rejuvenate these young minds and bodies and make them able to focus once again on their tasks inside, we need to give them fresh air to breathe, room to run, time to make noise and the ability to interact with our natural world. <br />
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Thank goodness I work at a place that values the outdoors and the need for children to interact with their natural environment as much as possible. We go outside each day, twice, in the fours class. We play in the cold, the snow, the light rain and the sun. We currently have a rule that we stay inside if it is below 22 degrees. I am not sure how this number was chosen and this winter having so many days below 22 degrees have us questioning that rule. <br />
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This does require parent cooperation and sometimes takes a few weeks to get everyone prepared everyday. We require raincoats and boots for muddy, rainy days. For days like today, we ask that the children wear their snowpants, snowboots, hats, gloves or mittens and winter coats. Is it a lot of work to get everyone dressed each day? Sure it is, but becoming independent with dressing is one of our goals and getting outside is worth the effort. <br />
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It also requires our staff to be willing to dress for the weather. We cannot actively supervise the children without walking in the snow and mud. My assistant and I are often dressed in our full gear...snowpants and all...allowing us to actively participate with the children. <br />
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Once parents see that you will indeed be going outside everyday, they are more willing to send in the correct clothing. If needed we send reminders home or make phone calls. <br />
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I chose the title of this blog post because some people still believe the old wives tale that going outside in the cold will give you a cold. Actually its the opposite. More people get sick in the winter because they are spending too much time indoors in close contact with each other and each other's germs. The dry air inside helps the germs spread easily. Get outside where there is more space between people and a whole lot more fresh germ free air. <br />
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So this post isn't just me on my soapbox, here is a cool-literally- activity to do outside and in. <br />
Today we found the frozen snow blocks from the ice storm last week under the fresh powdery snow that had just fallen. We collected the slabs of ice and built sculptures and bridges with them.<br />
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We were having so much fun with them that we decided to bring them inside for our indoor playtime.<br />
We collected them in the base of our sensory table.<br />
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Once inside we added jars of liquid water color paint and paintbrushes. The children painted the slabs of icy snow as if they were artists' canvases.<br />
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When we returned outside we brought them with us and added them to the landscape of our outdoor classroom.<br />
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So put on your snowgear...and get outside to play! </div>
Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-85077495603636012372014-02-04T07:00:00.000-05:002014-02-04T07:00:02.020-05:00Tape Resist and Name Extension<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We have an open easel in our classroom that fits three children at a time. It was made specifically for our classroom by the talented husband of our twos teacher. I need to write a post on the creativity and efficiency of this easel because it is just fantastic, but for now we'll focus on one of our easel experiences. At our easel, children choose the type of paint they would like to use as well as the brushes and paper. Occasionally we will highlight a specific technique or type of material to expand their experiences.<br />
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A couple of weeks ago we showed them tape resist. We added masking tape, scissors and cardstock to the easel. We showed the children how to put tape on the paper across the sheet or in smaller pieces. Smooth the tape down with their hands and then paint on top of the tape filling the spaces.<br />
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Each child attempted this project with their own personality, some using a lot of tape and a lot of paint. Others using smaller pieces and creating specific designs with their work. Some were very minimalist with their painting technique while others covered every spec of white paper. <br />
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The following day, we removed the tape and shared the paintings. We talked about the colors we could see and what happened where the tape had been. <br />
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When I was hanging them up to display them, I made a sign out of tape which gave me the idea to create names. The following week we extended this tape resist exploration to the writing center where the children "taped" their names. This was difficult for some with curved lines and they had to figure our how to make straight pieces of tape curve. Ripping them into little pieces worked well. Some had to pre-write their name in pencil on the paper before taping it and others could visualize and tape straight away. A couple with long names stretched across two pieces of paper. With this activity, we suggested they try the water color paint to use a different medium with a similar technique.<br />
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With taping letters we were able to focus on some of the aspects of each letter using a different medium. Peeling off the tape from the dried paintings was good fine motor work as well. <br />
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Give it a try...bet your students can't <b>resist </b>it :-)</div>
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Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-91573589017631336932014-02-03T20:14:00.000-05:002014-02-03T21:20:16.135-05:00Tube Exploration<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We finished up several rolls of wrapping paper around my house this past holiday season. I gave a few to my nephew to play with along with some pom poms I had at home. He enjoyed putting them through the tube and seeing how they came out. He liked leaning the tubes on the stairs to watch the pompoms roll out. So I gathered the tubes and brought them back to the classroom with me.</div>
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To create this provication center I placed several kinds of balls or objects that rolled in baskets. We had ping pong balls, golf balls, wiffle balls, pompoms and some large marbles. The tubes were several thicknesses of wrapping paper tubes as well as paper towel and toilet paper tubes. </div>
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I cut some of the tubes length wise. There was also a basket of masking tape and scissors. Some of the tubes were pre-taped to the walls of the furniture in that area making a ball maze. </div>
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Then we gave them time to explore the materials each day.</div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">They removed the few tubes I had taped on the wall to make room for their own creations. It was fascinating to watch them try and secure the tubes onto the wall with various taping strategies. Just getting the tape off the dispensers was a challenge for some requiring some problem solving and often team work. </span></div>
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There was a lot of physics exploration as they tried to figure out how to get the balls to roll from one tube to another or to roll out of the tubes depending on how they were facing.<br />
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One time two boys spent a great deal of time trying to figure out how to get a ball to roll in to another tube. They were trying to get it to roll UP. Their solution was to keep adding more tape to the outside of the tube.<br />
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I was trying to guide their thinking with various open ended questions such as what happens to the ball when you put it in the tube? Where does it go? Where do you want it to go? What happens to the ball in this tube (pointing to a tube facing downward)? I did not tell them how to fix the problem. I gave them questions to think about, had them look at their surroundings and gave them the time and space to problem solve.<br />
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Sometimes this involved being very flexible with other centers in the classroom that needed to take a backseat to their increasingly growing inventions. </div>
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This activity encouraged problem solving, team work, evaluation, construction, synthesis, comparison, trial and error and many other higher order thinking skills. It was also exciting and inviting....and </div>
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So start saving those wrapping paper, paper towel and toilet paper rolls! Share with us what your children do with them. </div>
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Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-20448617326751960952014-01-13T22:20:00.000-05:002014-02-03T21:20:28.351-05:00Today I Played With Dinosaurs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I was shocked back in to the reality of how much I had been neglecting my blog today when someone told me they heard from another that I no longer had a blog! I'm here... busy teaching an active class of inquisitive four year olds, co-directing our school, presenting workshops...and oh yes, mothering three teenagers-one of whom has been applying to colleges. Then the list of blog posts that I want to write gets longer and longer...until it seems overwhelming. But this comment and the simple and yet, profound experience that I had today, has brought me back. I hope to be catching up on writing about our last project on the Fire Station and the beginning of our next which is just starting, as well as the fun, playful, good stuff we have been doing in between. </div>
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Short and sweet to get back in the swing of things.....today I played with dinosaurs. I had put out dinosaurs along with leaves, vines, tree blocks and river rocks as embellishments in our block area this week. I have a few students who are challenged with sustaining productive play unassisted and often end up banging toys together, kicking over structures or turning everything in to something that is shooting. Excited to play with the dinosaurs they started their playtime in that area. It only took a short while before the dinosaurs were flying around the rug, shooting. I observed this for a few minutes somewhat close to them. Then I went over and sat on the carpet near the materials. I started my engagement with them by merely sitting close to where they were standing. <br />
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As the dinosaurs flew over head shooting down a few blocks, I picked up a smaller dinosaur and began walking in around the floor and making him talk out loud. "I wish I had a place to hide from all of this. I do not want anyone to hurt me." I think I will build a cave to hide." Then I proceeded to use the materials to build a structure for the dinosaur while "he" talked about what he was doing. </div>
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The boys lowered their dinosaurs to the floor and walked them closer to me. I added a felt river since I was thirsty and when one of their dinosaurs came a little closer to me, I had my dinosaur introduce himself and explain what he was doing. That's all it took for them to creep closer to me and start to play with me. One boy had his dinosaur offer to give me a ride on his back to see his home. Another asked if there was room for him in my cave. There wasn't enough for both so we built a new home together. The play became much more constructive and communicative and cooperative.</div>
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As I reflected on it later talking to some colleagues, I remembered feeling guilty that I wasn't over at another table doing the small group fine motor lesson that I had planned, but knowing that this was where I was needed. These boys need help with their play. This is happening more and more these days-children coming in to preschools not knowing how to play with other children or how to play imaginatively. This will be a whole other post someday. But today-this dinosaur play- seeing the changes it made to the dynamic of their interactions without me saying anything negative about their initial play, "dinosaurs don't fly" "our dinosaurs do not shoot", etc. reinforced the critical importance of teachers and parents playing with young children. I should not have felt guilty about not getting to my "small group" work because I was doing small group work. I was teaching playing- an activity that requires imagination, creativity, flexibility, planning, characterization, empathy, problem solving, cooperation, language development and so much more. Today I played with dinosaurs....what did you play?</div>
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On another note, if you like to play in the kitchen, you need to visit a new blog written by my talented assistant, Katherine, who will be featured in Fine Cooking this month, <a href="http://moonlightkitchenmusings.com/2013/12/21/gingerbread-cookies-with-preschoolers/">MoonlightKitchenMusings.com. </a>This link brings you to a post about our class, but she writes about home cooking as well. Enjoy!</div>
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Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-79683881948428691262013-10-15T06:00:00.000-04:002013-10-15T06:00:04.996-04:00Stick Decorating<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I was inspired by a blog post I had read on a wonderful blog, <i><a href="http://www.aneverydaystory.com/2013/08/13/reggio-beaded-branch/">An Everyday Story, The Beaded Branch</a>. </i>Wanting to bring more natural items in to my class and activities, we gave this a try. I had also seen some "yarn bombings" in the next town and on line where knitters knit covers for items found outside such as trees and statues. Really, look it up on Google, it is very cool what these talented knittes do.<br />
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So we combined these two ideas into our art center for the week. We discussed the yarn bombing concept as well as the tree featured in the blog post at the American Visionary Art Museum and looked at photographs.<br />
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We put out a tray of embroidery thread, various beads, shells with holes in them and pieces of wire. The children wrapped the thread or wire around the parts of the branches as well as beaded pieces of wire that hung off the branch.<br />
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The pieces of art evolved throughout the week as the children spent time on them. As is often the case when you leave an activity out for many days, children were able to revisit it and add to their work. Others tried different aspects of the work on different days, wrapping on some and beading on others. A few only added a few beads, some just watched. <br />
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It was an incredible opportunity for fine motor work as well as a good place to watch the incredible attention spans that these students had when they were so interested in what they were creating. <br />
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This activity was done within the first two weeks of our school year, so it was also a lovely place to sit and talk getting to know each other more as we sat side by side beading or wrapping. <br />
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I loved when I saw a Facebook post from one of my families that their daughter had shared this idea at home, so she and her sister climbed a tree in their yard and sat wrapping branches with yarn. Love when home school connections are fostered by the children!<br />
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We hung our branches from the ceiling over a shelf. We also have a very large branch in our classroom near our reading nook. We made some hanging beads for this tree with our photos hanging from them representing each member of our classroom community.<br />
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Next time you are out for a walk, look for an interesting branch that has fallen. Give this a try-bring nature inside.<br />
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Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4524585338670773379.post-1380256625769055572013-10-14T22:01:00.000-04:002013-10-14T22:01:51.423-04:00Phase 2: Our Visit to the Fire Station<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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As mentioned in an earlier post, <a href="http://playfullylearning.blogspot.com/2013/10/our-first-project-this-year-phase-i.html">Our First Project This Year: Phase I</a>, we have begun a study of the Fire Department. In beginning this study and telling our parents about the interest we found out that the father of one of our student's is a volunteer fire fighter. He offered to take a day off from his day job and have the class come to his fire station. Once again, we talked about the specific interests and questions of the children and he created an amazing experience for the children. <br />
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The impetus for this study came from the children spraying each other in their dramatic play. We talked a lot about the spray of the water and that water could actually be quite heavy and hard when sprayed at a high pressure. Paul, our "father" fire fighter arranged for the the truck to be at a local beach in order for the children to see the hose being unrolled, filling with water and spraying it. <br />
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They could feel the pressure of the water and the strength needed to hold the hoses when he tried to let go while they held it alone. Even the teachers had to get in on the action.<br />
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Of course, once the fire is out, the hoses need to be drained and rolled.<br />
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The children were also curious about what fire fighters held in their pockets. They had been adding knives and orange juice from our dramatic play center. Paul made sure to answer these questions by getting in full dress and showing him everything kept in each pocket.<br />
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We had been noticing several items in our research. While doing a project the children do "research" by looking in non-fiction books on the topic and then putting a little sticky note on a page that interests them. At group times the children show their page and we read the caption of the photo or the page the photo is on. One child had noticed the jaws of life taking off a car door. This went on to our list of questions , "do fire trucks carry the jaws of life". Paul showed us where they keep two similar tools and took them out for the children to get a closer look.<br />
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<br />Another child found photos in a book of some images seen through heat detector goggles. So, each child was able to look through the heat goggles to see their teacher as a ghostly image.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-watJOP55PGPGGYIzxZogVzuypIImV1lhE0sf7mL46e3E0a0meqgXIzxKm_Y_6Z_JfOpxjVIBgC-HFFHoo2CvOFgnfOyHPbaB-aOErhx7NMaa6Oymuxuay6JIp25TJmySNiGtJm2I21Py/s1600/DSCN3987.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-watJOP55PGPGGYIzxZogVzuypIImV1lhE0sf7mL46e3E0a0meqgXIzxKm_Y_6Z_JfOpxjVIBgC-HFFHoo2CvOFgnfOyHPbaB-aOErhx7NMaa6Oymuxuay6JIp25TJmySNiGtJm2I21Py/s320/DSCN3987.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Following this specific questions and hands on answering session, we went to the station and had a tour. This is a volunteer station so the fire fighters do not sleep there. They also did not have a fire pole. The did have a kitchen and computers and maps and alarms confirming some of their predictions. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMQmKKTYd6vPUYt4Cpe48ODP1rdeWKwdLpKLCV8RkBB5ImMpkLBvtyz22ZPGEx7B_BSr5AGSjRs0swihJOH0xLLj4nYUrw3WLcG1LpJoPHMQS8uB_7KJRcOdgAe5Js6n1g96Hw4kO3r502/s1600/DSCN4116.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMQmKKTYd6vPUYt4Cpe48ODP1rdeWKwdLpKLCV8RkBB5ImMpkLBvtyz22ZPGEx7B_BSr5AGSjRs0swihJOH0xLLj4nYUrw3WLcG1LpJoPHMQS8uB_7KJRcOdgAe5Js6n1g96Hw4kO3r502/s320/DSCN4116.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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There were many other parts of the station that we saw, but the key point is that what we focused on was related to their questions. Of course, many new questions emerged as we explored the station. We took many photographs including close ups of the many details and features of the trucks and aspects of the station so that we could use them to help us with our representations later on. We also spent time sketching areas that interested the children.<br />
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It was an incredible day!<br />
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The children had so much to talk about and were so excited to start some representations. Of course, they had more questions as well..."is every fire station the same?" and "does any station have a fire pole?" ...hmmmm, time to plan another trip.<br />
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Dana Gorman, Playfully Learninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670651276458764116noreply@blogger.com0