The Guilletos Playful Learning

The Aftermath of Ophelia

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 20:12:00 +0000

In the aftermath of Ophelia storm, as the children came back to preschool, there was a lot to talk about and to share. The children wanted to talk about what they had seen or heard and many said they were scared because the wind was "noisy" and because the electricity went off, leaving them in the dark.

So I went to the storage room and dug up a book I don't use very often called "Feel the wind" by Athur Dorros.

Now, the book can be a bit technical at times. So I skipped certain pages, changed the wording and made it as simple and interesting as possible for my 3 to 5 year olds. Then I ask the children a few questions at circle time: What can the wind do? How can you see when it is a windy day? Answers:

Wind moves the clouds in the sky
Wind can make your clothes dry quick outside on the washing line

Wind makes the wind turbines turn and turn

Wind make our kytes fly high in the sky

Wind make things and people move

Wind can move small things

Wind cannot move rocks and heavy things

To illustrate the last 2 statements, I gathered several items around my home: pebbles, feathers, a sheet of paper, a marble, a miniature bale of hay, buttons, pom-poms, wooden blocks and a ball. I brought my hairdryer and plugged it in. I explained the children that my hairdryer was like the wind: "if I blow my hairdryer on this marble, do you think the wind will be strong enough to move it?" They had to give me predictions first and when they saw what happened, we placed the objects into 2 categories: heavy and light. To tell you the truth, this was such a great experiment!! Every time an object moved, the children giggled and laughed and clapped hands!! It was absolutely brilliant!! Here are a few photographs of our little experiment:

Next, we talked about the fact that it is a good thing the wind makes the turbines turn as it helps producing electrivity. And I asked them :

"what works with electricity in your house?"

I should probably have recorded how many times "my wii", "my brother's X-Box", "my sister's Playstation" were mentioned!!!!! Children are moving on with the technology. It was exciting to make them realise that practically everything they need and like works with electricity!!!! And Ophelia was the best experience as they had loads to say about it.

I also asked the kids to tell me how they could see it was a windy day outside. "The trees are moving, the leaves too. And the flowers!! ". Then, we went outside and I asked them to close their eyes. I asked again how they could now tell it was windy. "My hair is blowing!!" and " I can feel it on my cheek". Another child cleverly said "I can hear it!" and another one added "..and I can hear the wind chimes making music too!".

Harvest time is here!

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 02:30:00 +0000

This week, we took a closer look at our pumpkin patch as we were talking about harvest time. What better way to show the children what harvest is all about but to let them go and harvest our pumpkins? The children have been introduced to the cycle of life of the pumpkins several weeks ago. We documenting each process carefully , taking pictures, printing them, gluing them in a book and adding captions depicting the pumpkin life cycle This booklet has been an on-going project and has been on our shelves since mi-September. Each time we brought the children outside to our little garden, I would ask them to describe what they could see:

"I can see flowers growing in the pumpkin vines"

Child: "I can see a yellow round thing now. Is it a baby pumpkin?"

We harvested them this week.

We finally finished our booklet and put it together.

Harvesting apples was just as easy as harvesting pumpkins. I brought the children to my other garden and I invited them to "harvest" the apples.

They looked at me, very puzzled. I asked them "how do you think we can harvest the apples from the trees? What do we need to do?". Still unsure, nobody would move until a little girl moved forward and pulled one apple. " See? That's what you do!"

Our next move was a threading exercise. The children coloured the template of an apple. I laminated them, cut the shape of the apple out and punched holes around the apple. I then showed the children how to use a red woollen lace around the apple. Lacing provide an excellent small motor exercise, helping children to control their movements and develop their hand-eye coordination. The children loved the back and forth action of the threading. I didn't ask them to thread in a specific way. I let them have fun and enjoy their creation.

Finally, after the children showed an interest in baking, we decided to go and pick some black berries for our baking activity.

These types of activities teach the children about the world around them: the children engaged and experimented in their environment and saw how to use certain physical skills to manipulate objects and materials (how to cut a pumpkin, how to pick an apple from the tree, how to thread etc..). They are simple activities but are hands-on learning experiences.

As part of our Harvest theme, it came to our attention that some children didn't realise where food came from. When asked where milk came from, they said Tesco or Aldi. So we started by reading our book about harvesting. It has very little text but the photos are enough to show the children where the food comes from.

At circle time, as an extension, we played a little game: we presented the children with different types of food (carrot, potato, apple, honey, sausages, milk, eggs, and bread). We wanted to teach them that food comes from a lot of varied sources. We then presented them with pictures of a cow, a pig, a bee, wheat ) and with a box of mixed seeds. We then asked the children to come and match the food to the pictures.

5 Autumn Golden leaves high up in the tree!

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Wed, 04 Oct 2017 18:51:00 +0000

Another year... another season.. And this is actually my favourite season (I think): Autumn time!! I love the colours, I love the themes.. So I re-introduced all the bits and pieces I use to decorate our classroom every year:

our autumn tree

moss and leaves i gathered on my nature walk in Ballycross Apple Farm

sticks, fern, nuts, pine cones and my little squirrel

Apple and conkers (chestnuts)

my Autumn posters

All our good books featuring Autumn

And Jack the scarcrow ( a bit early for him but I Love him and "He" cheers up the classroom so much!!)

We started by reading one of my favourite books: The Leaf man by Lois Elhert. It's the journey of a character made out of leaves across the country. The book is beautifully illustrated and captures the children's imagination. Each picture depicts an animal a vegetable or a landscape created entirely out of leaves. Very clever!

So we created our own little characters out of leaves too! The children love this activity. They simply choose 2 or 3 leaves, glue them carefully onto the page and then decide what they want them to become! We did this exercise last year too and it was so popular that I had to do it again.

At circle time, I have introduced a new song called "5 Autumn golden leaves". This allow me to introduce a bit of a maths as we count backwards:

5 Autumn Golden leaves

High up in the tree

The wind blows

The leaves shake

And 1 falls down to me.

Falling, falling down

falling to the ground.

And today we did "leaf printing".. Nothing very original here but again, this is a very popular pre-writing activity, which develops concentration and fine motor skills.

There is so much more to do. I have a lot osf things planned.. So keep in touch!

Our Hedgehog House

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Thu, 21 Sep 2017 19:36:00 +0000

We read the Leaf Man story by this week in class. I made the story simple by saying that in every pile of leaves outside hide a leaf man. The wind blows him off across the world sometimes and he meets lots of other animals. I asked the children to recognise as many animals on each page (rabbit, squirrel, fish, turtle, chicken, etc..)

The follwing day, at circle time, after reading the Leaf Man a second time, I asked the children to remember all the animal we saw in the book. One child shouted "a hedgehog". I said no, there was no hedgehog in the story but it would have be nice if there had been one. This is when Odhran suddenly said that his dad saw a hedgehog in his garden at night:" the hedgehog was coming out of its den, looking for food but he got a fright when he saw daddy and he run back under the logs and Dad showed me and I saw loads of leaves and Daddy said he had made his bed out of leaves beside the ditch".
I explained that indeed, some animals gathered leaves in Autumn time to prepare for cold weather and to keep them warm in their den. I mentioned the hedgehog, the bear, and the squirrel. Then I asked again “What about us? Do we put leaves in our bed to keep us warm?” Odhran giggled a lot and then said: "no, silly, we have blankets to make us warm and cosy. We are not hedgehogs".

As an extension to this teachable moment and to support the children's sudden interest, I read the children a book about hedgehog and how they live, what they eat etc.. The children were fascinated and they referred to the book several time during the week, talking to one another and describing the pictures in the book, remembering what they had previously retained from our discussion.

And then I simply asked "what could we do to help hedgehogs?" Children thought about leaving food in the garden. Good point. Some suggested leaving water. And then the children thought about making a den for the hedgehog to help him. We used our iPad to check a few ideas. I provided 2 boxes and we taped them together, made a door and a little tunnel. The children went around the garden on a hunt to gather leaves, feathers, hay, moss etc.. They placed their findings in the shoe box. We then wrapped it in plastic bag, placed block all around and added more hay and leaves between the blocks and the shoe box. The children then went to gather a few logs and bark with the help of a big wheel barrow. We decorated the top of the den with hay, bark and log and voila!

The following day, the children asked me if there was a hedgehog in the den yet. I told them I wasn't sure. Izzy was worried that the hedgehog wouldn't know about the den. So we rallied again at circle time and thought about what we could do to let the hedgehog know. Again, Tadhg suggested placing food by the entrance of the den ("this would be like a restaurant!"). And Malachi thought that we should write his name on the house. We went outside straight away to place some water and a little bit of tinned cat food by the den (we looked it up online with the children and this is what was recommended with tinned dog food, or chopped boiled egg). Back inside, we decided to write a post. We asked the children what we should write. some said .... Isabelle suggested "The lovely Hedgehog house". We took a vote and it was decided that we would write "Hedgehog House" to make sure our little friends would know what it was. Here it is.

Learnings

The children really engaged with this topic and used great exploring strategies such as questioning, investigating, negotiating and problem-solving, showing what great little learners they were. They were eager to learn about the natural environment around them and the life of little animals such as hedgehogs fascinates them. The nest building activity was a good collaboration exercise during which they had to work as a team to collect the resources needed to build the nest.

Activities encouraging "Positioning schemas"

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 00:26:00 +0000

We have been observing the children very carefully these past few weeks to identify the schemas in action in our classroom in order to learn more about each child's personal learning process.

Schemas are patterns of repeatable behaviour the children use to test out ideas and to make sense of the world around them. Once a schema is identified, it is very important to offer the child appropriate activities which will nurture the patterns allowing the develop and progress of learning.

After a few weeks of careful observations, it emerged that a group of younger kids in particular shared the same schema called "positioning". The children love lining up toys or placing objects in very specific ways . It does not necessarily follows the logical thinking process of an adult but it seems to make complete sense to their little minds. And I dare you to try to "reorganise" everything... Tantrums may follow, tears or screams of frustration. We have observed children positioning, ordering and arranging objects sometimes in very obsessive manners. They sometimes line them up in order of size, colour or shape or texture too. They also love "stacking" activities: cylinders, blocks, lego, cubes, animals on top of each other, books etc... Some of them also like their food to be placed in a certain way on their table mat and they can be very particular about it. Or they may not like if certain type of food is touching.

Keeping this schema in mind, we had a look in our classroom to make sure the children had enough opportunities to play and learn . Below, are a few of the "Positioning" activities children are presented with or can choose from in our setting. These activities are usually loved by smaller children and though the materials themselves might have a more direct objective (such as counting and representing quantities or matching colours), we let the children in a "positioning" schema use them freely. They just enjoy placing the counters in a certain way. Later, as their learning expand, they will start using them in the way they are meant to.

This game is supposed to help children learn about following patterns with colours and shapes. Many of them just love stacking the beads onto the rods, following their own design.

Some children also like lining up the crayons. As simple as this.

This is not the right way to use the Montessori Pink Tower but here again, you need to step back and recognise the child's schema and allow him to test his ideas. Observe the need for lines, order and association in the picture.

Our bear counters are a favourite. We use them with the wooden grid to associate numbers and quantities or to categorise them by size or colour. But children make their own rules, placing the bears in the way they like.

The Montessori Brown stairs is often used by little ones in a "positioning" schema. Here, it has actually been used correctly but the little girl decided to use other material and is placing them on top of the stairs in a manner that allows her to problem-solve, question, predict, imagine, speculate and develop independent choices as she was making decisions in an area she was familiar with.

Blocks can be lined up, stacked up. We have coloured blocks and natural colour blocks. Children use them to build anything. They sometimes choose to place them in a certain order that make sense to them, mixing them up with other blocks or other materials. It may seem random to you but the fact is that children use that type of play to develop a methodical, systematic and logical collection of information through heir senses and their movement.

Here are a few more examples of classical positioning schema:

We also use our sensorial table as an invitation for "positioning". Last week, keen on creating further experiences, I filled our table with all sorts: wooden dice, plastic letters and numbers, bear counters, plastic counters, wooden beads, etc... I place a sorting wooden tray on the opposite side of the bin and let the magic begin. The children were immediately attracted to the activity. I didn't give them any directions but let them explore the possibilities themselves. Some recognised the potential for categorising or sorting. The younger children enjoyed choosing a place for each item, deciding on placing one or two or more items together, on top, beside etc...

What else do you do in your classroom to support the "Positioning" schema?

Scaffloding preschoolers' early writing skills

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Thu, 10 Nov 2016 15:00:00 +0000

Providing young children with rich writing/drawing experiences lays good foundations for literacy learning. Scaffolding preschoolers' early writing skills is of paramount importance. But the diversity of skill levels can sometimes present a challenge. Some children are still at the stage of scribbling while others are drawing neat pictures from their imagination. Some are still colouring or drawing while others have started making "signs" or formed "letters". So what could I do to encourage my children, support their development level and shape their learning experiences? I took a step back and observed the children in my classroom. One little girl, one day, was playing with a small Montessori numeral rod a wooden box turned upside down. She told me she was drawing! And it hit me. Diversifying writing materials as often and as much possible was a must. Crayons, paint, markers, chalk are a great start but what about the canvas? It doesn't always have to be paper or card. Just gather materials, present it to the children and let them use their imagination. Let them use the materials whichever way they want without preconceived ideas or expectations. Then the possibilities are endless, really, and so are the learning experiences.

Below are a few examples of what I offered to my children:

Use wood as a canvas

Embracing the Reggio approach, I set up this provocation last week and let the children make the most of it. I gathered pieces of wood, sanded them and placed them in a pile on a middle of the table, with markers, crayons, pencils and pens. I was going to leave paint too but i decided to keep it for another day. The children looked at the sample I had left inquisitively at first, then sat down and without a word , started drawing/writing on the wood cut-offs.

Use slate and chalk

Why not painting on what we may find in your garden (leaves, pebbles, stones, bark, sticks etc..)

Use Salt to draw pictures or letters

Why not painting pebbles with water?

These are only simple ideas which have been used by teachers across the globe. It's just nice sometimes to stop and get out of the daily routine in order to try different things and learn. We all get stuck in a rut at times and it's important to learn from what we observe and to follow the children's interests.

10 timid Little Ghosts - Props

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 18:18:00 +0000

We have been reading 10 Timid Ghosts by Jennifer O'Connell for the past 2 weeks in the classroom. The children love this story. I guess the story has mesmerised them because it represents everything scary about Halloween: witch, ghosts, cats, rats, vampires, skeletons etc.. It is spooky without being frightening and it got their attention straight away. The rhyming and repetitive prose is catchy and easy to memorise making it fun, while the illustrations are really colourful and detailed.

When I saw how much they enjoyed this story, I decided to create some props. One of the best way to promote a love for reading is to make reading fun! Props make stories interactive and bring stories to life. They help children:

to sequence a story
to develop their speech as they remember words or expressions from the story when read to them or as they use their own words to retell the story.

So I made something very simple. I downloaded pictures online and laminated them all. I drew a house on cardboard. For the ghosts, I added googly eyes and stickers for the mouth and voila!

We read the story once at circle time using the props and we invited the children to use them as often as they wanted and whenever they wanted during the session. Here is a video of what happened:

Communicating:

The children in question in the video showed how well they could use language to recreate roles from a story they had heard previously. They responded very well to this new literacy activity and even created their own experience when they decided to close the book and to re-tell the story their own way, thinking and expressing themselves creatively.

Identity & Belonging:

They also demonstrated they could work as a team, sharing the props and delegating tasks to do: the little girl was narrating while the little boy placed the props in the woods and around the house, imitating the screams of the ghosts. They both tried to count together, helping each other.

Naming clouds...

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 14:30:00 +0000

As we were berry picking the other day, a little boy stood quite still in the middle of the field, looking up to the sky. I asked him what he was looking at. He said he could see a funny cloud shape in the sky. I looked up and asked him what it was shaped as. He simply said it looked like a big marshmallow!! Other children joined in when they saw us and we all had a game of "guess what my cloud looks like"! We saw dogs, circles, superheroes etc...Imagination had no limit. The following day, at circle time, I showed the following video to the children. It is based on a book called "it looks like spilt milk" by Charles G. Shaw. The children loved it as it was an extension of what we had done the day before.

The following day, as we played our name game at circle time again, I explained the children that clouds do have names too. They thought it was a funny idea. Clouds? really? with names? I showed them some pictures of different clouds I had downloaded, printed and laminated beforehand. I asked them to identify the difference between each cloud:

"well, this one is like a cotton wool in the sky".. "and we can see the blue sky too".

This is a CUMULUS cloud

"the sky is all grey"... "it's like a grey blanket in the sky".. "it makes the sky sad"

These are called STRATUS clouds

"it looks like a fluffy string"... "or like a spider web"

These are CIRRUS clouds

"I don't like this cloud, it's scary"... "the rain is coming"... "it's all dark"

These are NIMBOSTRATUS clouds

I left the children describe each child and just gave them the name at the end of each description. I think it works better that way as the children make their own observations and retain the information better. They were creating their own learning that day. And it worked: the following day, I asked them to have another look at the cards. The description they had given the day before was printed on their mind and they repeated them without too much hesitation. As for the names of the clouds, they now remember every single one of them, by the end of the week! Recognising clouds is now part of our daily routine when we talk about the weather at circle time.

To further extend the children's learning, I presented the children with a little experience called "rain cloud demonstration".

I use an the eyedropper to drop a bit of water onto a cotton ball "cloud."

After a few drops, it began to "rain" from the "cloud." Can you see it? There is a rain drop about to fall at the bottom of the cotton ball "cloud" ? I kept adding water to the cotton ball until it "rained". I Loved this activity. You could hear the birds outside: the children were so quiet, waiting for the 1st rain drop to fall!!! This was a very simple way to explain to the children how clouds work. I didn't go too much in details as they are still very young but it was enough for them to grasp the concept through this hand-on activity.

Finally, I prepared a provocation for the children. I set up the picture cards of clouds beside paper, glue and cotton wool. The children simply chose their favourite cloud and tried to represent it using cotton wool. It was a popular activity on our shelf this week. they loved modelling the cotton wool to their needs and using plenty of glue too!!!!

Learning Goals

Exploring & Thinking:
The children learnt about the natural environment and its features : the clouds.

Communicating:
The children interacted with one another and with their teachers, taking turns at circle while describing the different clouds, using language with confidence and competence. The little ones still struggling with speech at times did share their ideas with only a few words. But all the children participated in sharing their ideas during our group discussions.

Identity & Belonging:
The children showed themselves as great learners as they directed their own learning this week. The whole activity was based on personal interests and was linked to their environment.

We are going on a bear Hunt

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 18:27:00 +0000

One of the children's favourite books in our classroom is We are going on a Bear Hunt. They love the chanting rhyming tone of the text, the pictures, the repetitive and therefore predictive actions.. So we often use this story to introduce our topic on bear and hibernation. Here are a few examples of our classroom's activities based around the book.

Language /Communication: Using props

At circle time, once the children were familiar to the story, we introduced the props to add another twist to the story telling experience.

Language and Craft

This activity aimed to help the children further explore the use of descriptive language (adjectives) in the story. I needed an activity which could bring their interest to life. As the children LOVE painting, I thought about this simple craft: it helps the children to sequence the story but also to describe what they see on each page with specific descriptive words: long wavy grass, oozy thick mud etc..

I stuck a black paper cave in the middle of a large paper sheet and divided the sheet into 5 sections with a pencil. As we read through the book during the activity, I asked the children if they could find other words than "long" and "wavy" to talk about the grass for example. They came up with "green", "dark green" and "tickling". So I encouraged them to paint in the first corner of the page to represent the grass.

The river was deep and cold but the children thought it was also "wet", "wavy" and "blue".

Then I asked them to talk about the mud: its thick and oozy but it's also "brown", "dirty" , "brown" and "sticky".

The children had to think a bit harder to describe the forest: they finally said forests can be "green", "brown", "dangerous" and "scary" (especially if you get lost apparently and they are sure that if the dog wasn't there to show the way, the family would have got lost!).

The snowstorm was swirling and whirling but it was also "cold", "freezing" and "white".

The children painted a segment of the sheet after each description. They all took turn, two at a time.

Science

Once the children were familiar with the story, we asked them where they thought real bears lived. This was our introduction to our science bit. The children were well able to differentiate real bears from fantasy bears and understood that bears do not live in houses, wear clothes or eat food at the table. But they were not sure where they lived. So we used a book I created a few years ago. I had printed several pictures of different types of bears, laminated each page and bound together to make a book. The book shows them the body parts of a bear, shows them the difference between sloth bears, sun bears, brown bears, grizzly bears, black bears, polar bears... and teddy bears! It also shows shoes them where they live what they eat and introduces them to the concept of hibernation.

Maths

Bear patterns

Craft

Bear collage using cardboard from cereal box as template and brown felt fabric for the collage.

The Hundreds Languages of Fabric

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 16:18:00 +0000

Two years ago, we have introduced the Reggio Emilia approach into our classroom and our curriculum. I didn't really know if it would work.. It has! Don't get me wrong, I am still learning and there are many errors along the way. Things I thought would be a great hit among the children turned out to be an "epic failure" (as my own children would say!). Activities that never really appealed to me became so so popular... It has left me baffled at times. The main thing is not to have any preconceived idea, I guess. Try everything and you will eventually get there.
What I can say now, is that you will notice centres of interest. And I assume that these interests will differ or evolve from year to year as new groups of children pass through your door or as children grow older (never a dull moment in teaching!). So far, thanks to the Reggio inspired teaching method we are using, two interests have emerged from the children, one being a serious love of glue and the other being an equally intense love for fabric. I took these two interests and planned possibilities and provocations.

Children have developed new skills since September and used many different media to communicate their understandings of the world around them, their emotions etc.. As an adult, we may not always get "it". I often see Mams winking at me when their child show them proudly the "blob" they painted earlier on. Mams may ask "what is it honey?". And the child gets frustrated and sighs, explaining what he tried to convey on paper. I taught many parents to comment on the composition of the painting or the colours used when they are not sure what it is representing. The child usually automatically forwards a clue of what it is but his feelings have been saved and he/ she feels valued by the praise they received. Children are quite good at using many "languages" to express themselves. The possibilities for dialogue are endless then, as long as we (teachers and parents) provide them with appropriate tools and means. And I believe that it is my privilege as an early years teacher to support the children who come through my door in discovering, appreciating and mastering the different "languages" available to express themselves and convey their ideas.

As I said before before, kids have shown such a strong attraction to fabric, either when they played in the corner area or the small world corner, or when they used the Montessori sensorial fabric box. And of course, they ADORE using glue.. "Can I glue this? Can I glue that? Where is the glue? "... So I wanted the children to really know the qualities and possibilities when both fabric and glue were mixed together. And why not add other popular items such as buttons and colourful paper to add another sensorial dimension to the exploration ? What a great provocation.. I made my own sample and displayed it on a little wooden easel in our writing and art corner. I left a pot of glue beside it and a box containing the buttons, paper and fabric. As expected , the children were automatically attracted to the table, and asked if they could make "one" too... I didn't give them any instructions and they followed their own thinking and ideas.. They all had something to say about what they were doing though, explaining their little friends who were watching what they were doing and why.. "I am only using the same colour all the time.... I don't want to use the buttons because they are hard and I only want to use soft things like my bed, because I love my bed, you know?... I am making a picture for my mam to tell her I love her.." The dialogue was so profuse.... I loved listening to them!! Job well done. I gave myself a pat on the shoulder !!

The display

only pink items

a tea party with table cloths and cupcakes .. see??

Berry picking and cupcake baking!

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 13:24:00 +0000

We read "Rufus and the Blackeberry Monster" by Lisa Stubbs to the children last week.

Shortly after, 2 little girls got very inspired and decided they were going to bake a pie too, just like Rufus's Mam in the story. I watched them getting busy in the home corner.
They took down the cupcake recipe book from the shelves and started looking at the pictures. Izzy called me over and asked me if I could help read the words for them. So I did. As I read the recipe, the girls came up with ideas to substitute the real ingredients: beads for berries, playdough for butter, a jug with pretend milk, a bigger bead for pretend egg. They mixed and mixed, put everything in the oven and served it all with a cup of tea at the end.

So, to enhance the children's learning and to follow their interest, we decided to do a baking session in the classroom. At Circle time, we read Rufus again and then we had a look at baking recipe book again. We asked the children what they thought was needed to make a cake or a pie. Apparently some think we need beer!! hmm, I never came across such a recipe. Most of the children knew we needed eggs, milk, flour and sugar. I asked them what else we could add to make it taste even better. Some made a link with Rufus's story and thought about "berries" straightaway. Others thought about strawberries, bananas and of course chocolate.

So we brought the children outside in the field next door, and showed them how to pick up black berries from the bushes. They were so excited! It was something different and many kids could actually relate to the experience as they had done the same with granny, mammy or dad!

The next step was to wash the berries.

Then the actual baking process started. All the children got a go at mixing the dough, adding a few berries, and filling up a cupcake case using a spoon. They were so excited! I brought the cupcakes to my own kitchen as we don't have an oven in the preschool building. Once they were ready, I brought them back to the children. Yum Yum.. We even had some extra left for Mams and Dads.

Communicating: During this activity, the children showed great communicating skills as they used language with confidence and competence, receiving information, asking questions, requesting, problem-solving, imagining and recreating roles and situations.

Identity & Belonging: The whole learning opportunity was based on personal interests, linked to their home and personal experiences past. This activity also developed their skills of co-operation and broadened their abilities (sequencing a recipe, counting eggs, accessing a field and running in dried cut grass etc..) and interests (some of the boys were asking why the grass had turned yellow rather than green and we also got to meet our next door neighbours: horses, which really got the children talking).

Teaching kids to use scissors

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Tue, 27 Sep 2016 14:30:00 +0000

Teaching children how to use scissors. Hmmm... This can be quite tricky at times. A few children were struggling and didn't to improve on their skills. So my assistant got an idea and drew these little faces on the children 's thumbnails and told them that the little faces needed to be looking at them all the time while cutting. If the children use the scissors incorrectly, their thumbs usually twist under their palms and away from their body. By keeping that little face drawn on their thumbnail in sight, they automatically use the right position for cutting with scissors .

The children reacted very well to the idea of a little man looking up at them. they held their scissors properly and were able to cut small strips of paper by themselves.They felt empowered and ask for more cutting.
This was a good exercise to refine their fine motor skills and increase their control of movement (Aistear principles / WB, Aim 1, LG 2 & 3)

To enhance further learning, I will add extra cutting strips with pre-drawn lines. And why not making the cutting exercise seasonal to spark up their interest with halloween just around the corner? I had made some for Easter before. So why not about Halloween?

If you can walk, you can dance. If you can talk, you can sing (Zimbabwe Proverb)

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0000

It was a very rainy day today. Horrible day really. We really couldn't go out, so we asked the children after snack time, what they thought we should be doing now. And they all agreed that they wanted to dance and play fun games with the music. So that's what we did.

The bee dance

I asked the children to follow the rhythm: they had to pretend to be little bees. When the music was fast, they had to dance fast ; when the music slowed down, they had to slow down too. They LOVED it!! They had so much fun, it was amazing.

Musical statues

We also played musical statues and I chose tunes which went very quiet and suddenly very loud: Flight of the Bumble Bee by Rimsky Karakov, In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg or The Return of the Animals by Danny Kosarin. The children had to concentrate a lot. At the beginning, they thought I had paused the music and froze, when the music had only really got quiet. It took them a while to get it right and adjust their movements to it but this was part of the fun! How wonderful it is that with very little effort, a teacher can bring such happiness to children each day just by providing the opportunity to do a little something with music.

it prompted us to thin about our curriculum and to refelct on how we introduce music and movement in our classroom.

Rainbow rings or balloons dance

We actually do lots of other music activities in our classroom. One of my favourite ones is dancing with our Rainbow rings. The children made them a couple of years ago and they are still in use! The children simply try to follow the rhythm of the music I choose to put on. Fast, or slow. It helps them control their movement and concentrate, without jumping or running and master their physical self. They learn coordination and begin to understand what they can do with their bodies. If you don't have any rainbow rings, use balloons, scarves or even ribbons.

The tissue dance

Here’s how we play it. I have everyone put a tissue on their head before you play any music.

Then start the music and we all begin dancing, but the idea is not to let the tissue hit the ground. If the tissue starts to fall, the children are allowed to catch the tissue and put it back on their head. However, if they miss and the tissue lands on the floor, they are out! Last one with a tissue on their head Wins! It's a fun game. And it always feels great when we can work language and cognitive concepts into physical games for kids like this one. It gets them moving and teaches them how to follow instructions and rules. That kind of learning is the kind that really sticks!

Music and movement is such an important tool to enhance the children's learning experiences and to make sure that they bloom emotionally and socially. Music doesn't mean you have to move, jump or dance. Music can be incorporated across the curriculum to reinforce a new concept or introduce a topic:

we use songs at circle time to remember the days of the week or to talk about the weather or the seasons.
Whether we are exploring bugs, dinosaurs, food, or butterflies, songs and sounds can be used to further reinforce learning and to make it "funner". Lately, we have been using rainsticks when it's raining, at circle time. Children love the sounds of rainsticks and the motions required to make those sounds. After letting the children “rain” for a few minutes, I like to ask them if they can come up with ideas about how other weather sounds: "how would snow sound like?" or "what would falling leaves sound like"? For the snow, for example, have a plastic bottle filled in with cotton wool! And for the leaves, crumple up some paper in front of them and ask the to do the same with smaller paper sheets.

we also use a CD I received from Better Start program to teach the children how to express ans share their feelings. The music on the CD represents the different types of emotions we can go through: anger, sadness, happiness, loneliness, excitement etc.. I often play it in the classroom and ask the children to listen and to let me know how the music makes them feel. Music helps the children to convey a specific mood through and reveal their feelings and emotions. Snack time is a good time to play that game as the children are all sitting down, eating away. But you could do the same at circle time or as a group activity during the session.
we use music to help children learn about other cultures and other lands (I use World Playground CD – by Putumayo Kids )

we use music to teach letters, shapes, numbers or any other concepts in the curriculum: Chicken Fun by Mary Jo Huff (counting), the Animals went two by two, Six little ducks, 5 fat sausages sizzling in the pan etc..

Music should be an integral part of any preschool curriculum. I actually always have music playing in the background during free play. And each transitions is marked by a song. During tidy up time, we sing "clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere, clean up, clean up, everybody do your share". We also have a song for washing hands: "Wash, wash, wash your hands, soap will make them clean. Scrub the germs til they fall off, germs go down the drain."

Montessori herself said: "Just as beautiful speech comes from years of listening, music appreciation and accomplishment comes from years of listening to music." ( Child of the World, Montessori from Three to Six Years). She also wrote about singing: "There is no such thing as a no-musical child, there are just non-musical adults who did not get this practice as children. Songs give children a way of expressing emotions, and the very act of singing is a physical release. I have always watched for the casual, unintentional singing in class, knowing that it is a positive sign. In our home, hearing our son sing in bed as he went to sleep at night was a reassuring sign that his life is in balance. We do not need beautiful voices to model singing for children." Montessori was not the only one praising the benefits of music. Music is a way of knowing, according to psychologist Howard Gardner (1983) who reckoned that music intelligence is as important as logical - mathematical intelligence, linguistic intelligence, spatial intelligence, bodily - kinesthetic intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, and intrapersonal intelligence. That says it all.

In more simple terms, music gives children an opportunity to express themselves and develop their creative minds. There are actually so many benefits. Research over the last 15 years has shown that music helps to enhance listening abilities, concentration, counting, spatial-temporal reasoning and physical coordination to mention a few.

Maybe this year, with our "butterfly" group, we could try to play a piece of music and ask the children to draw a picture showing how this made them feel?

Adapting our classroom to the needs of the children

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 21:45:00 +0000

I have just realised I haven't posted any pictures of our classroom for quite some time now. And things always change in the classroom. I can't push the walls but I surely can adapt the layout to the needs of the children year after year.

This September, I am opening my doors to a larger number of 2.5 to 3.5 year-old preschoolers. They will form our "caterpillar" group. The "veterans" (over 3 and a half year old and going to primary school next September 2017) will be called the "butterfly" group. I wanted to strike the right balance between the 2 groups and accommodate each of their needs, keeping in line with the Montessori method of education and the Reggio Emilia approach.

Here is what our classroom looks like today:

And here are the details:

1) our mathematics shelving unit:

2) our writing shelf:

3) our Sensorial area situated right in the centre of the room creating a nice partition with the rest of the classroom:

4) our Nature/Science table and shelves:

5) our Practical Life Exercise shelving unit where I have introduced more activities using wood or tree cuts to increase the learning experiences of the children and appeal to their senses:

threading exercise

Using nuts on bolts

6) our Home corner:

7) our Reading corner/Library:

8) As shown in the picture above, I have created a little area for our circle time and group meeting right behind the sensorial shelf and right beside the reading/library corner. Children bring their chair and place them in a circle around that area.

the back of the sensorial shelf marking the circle time area

9) our Small World corner is situated on the other side of the reading corner. I am using a round table so the children can access every part of the Farm with ease. The theme here will change during the year. We have a farm at the moment but it could be a zoo in a few weeks or a dinosaur world or a construction site etc.. Variety is the key!

10) our Construction area is now right beside the Small World table and I used the storage shelf as a partition:

Some of you will notice that I am using the Montessori Brown Stair in this area. The brown stairs are supposed to be used as part of the Montessori sensorial equipment. While working with the Brown Stair and grading the prisms from thicker/bigger to thinner/smaller, the children learn to discriminate dimensions visually. And the same goes with the Montessori Pink Tower. But I think that the exercises with the Brown Stair and the Pink Tower can be quite limited and (let's face it in 2016) "boring", if I was to leave them only in the sensorial area. However, once you use them in your construction area, the learning possibilities are limitless and the child becomes his/her own teacher as he/she estimates, guesses, predicts and anticipates where to place each prisms or cubes to create something that comes directly from their imagination, with the help of other materials. The child is still grading but is also creating. As you can see, I am trying to use as many loose parts, open-ended and natural materials as possible to develop the children's imagination. These materials will change throughout the year in order to extend the children's explorations and their thinking. And look, it works! Look at what this two and a half year old little girl decided to create on her own accord!! It followed its own logic, her own logic. She was explaining (with her still limited vocabulary) that she likes big sticks and small sticks.. and then small stones but not big stones.. And it went on and on. I was amazed!!

So, this is it. I forgot to take a picture of our painting/craft area, situated by the entrance door, right opposite the 2 main tables you see on the very first picture I posted. Yet, you got a nice little tour of our classroom this year.

What do you think. Any comment?

Creating Naturalistic play spaces- PART 2: ADDING FUN FEATURES TO YOUR GARDEN

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Thu, 16 Jun 2016 16:07:00 +0000

Creating a natural playscape for a childcare setting can be quite an investment. As tempted as we may be by all the ideas swarming Pinterest, the reality is that many of us cannot afford such fantastic features or don't have the time nor the skills to design them. That's why I've started writing about easy, simple and cost-effective ways to implement outdoor play ideas using mainly natural materials or recycled materials.

Welcome to Part 2 of our new series "Creating Naturalistic play areas": Adding fun features to your play area.

Today, I am going to show you what I have done so far to add a bit of fun in our preschool outdoor area.

Our school Bus brings us all around the Continents

Are you fed up with plastic cars in your garden? I know I was. I hate plastic. Full stop. I know I sometimes can't avoid it and it does have its advantage. But let's face it... Platic toys look horrible! I was looking for something more "natural" and something that bring on the imagination of the children.. My husband and my younger son have quads. Big fanatics. We are blessed to live right by the sea and a huge long beautiful burrow full of natural resources. I asked my husband if it would be possible to bring one of the many washed out logs we find on our shore. Would the quad be strong enough to drag one home? No problem, he said. Here is the story of our new "School Bus" in photos:

Once home, my husband used the chain saw to cut out seats. He bought 2 threaded bar for about €12 and attached 2 real steering wheels to them. I had been asking several friends who owns garages and farms if they would have an old steering wheel laying idle somewhere and I was very lucky to be donated 2 of them. So our bus has 2 steering wheels which means 2 happy bus drivers!!

2. Add balancing beams

We bought 3 logs altogether. With the 2nd one, we made a balancing beam laying the log on 2 tree stumps. I placed the beam beside our enclosing fence as some of the children are still finding it hard to find their balance and feel more secure holding on to something. But I can always move it further away from the fence once the children feel more confident.

3. Add benches

And with our 3rd log, we made a cute little bench, blending in nicely against the background. The twisty look of it does add effect to it, I must say! I could have bought kiddies' bench anywhere but this is definitely more in cue with my idea of cost-effective and "naturalistic" deco!!!

4. Add a "Chalk" area in your garden

Outside, children are often observed talking more, cooperating, socialising and doing many literacy activities of their own free will and choice. Children love writing and scribbling in the sand pit or in the mud.. So I added a black board underneath our tree house. I took measurements and bought 2 boards of plywood for €23 and a pot of outdoor chalk paint for €12. I was very adventurous and did the whole job ALL BY MYSELF! It took me HOURS!!!! But the children loved it and it was all worth it.

I also re-purposed old slate roof shingle for chalk board and laid them plainly on our gravel path...

5. Add tree trumps everywhere

We have big tall pine trees around our site and over the years, many of them had to be cut off. Hence the plentiful supply of tree trumps. What can you do with them? Tables, stools, stepping stone course etc... You get my drift. It's free, natural and very effective.

6. Add colour and art to your garden

I wanted to add colour to our garden (other than all the flowers growing in our flower beds). I needed the children to be part of the process. Once again, I turned to our burrow to pick up a big driftwood/branch. I let it dry for a few days by our fireplace and sanded it. I then brought the children outside and got them to paint sections of the branch with whatever colour they chose. The children really took to this art activity and their concentration was amazing. We let it dry for a day and I varnished it. We then had a chat on where it should go (the front of our preschool) and we still have to decide on how to display it. At the moment, it is just standing against the front wall but I will have to either put it in concrete or hand it directly to the wall.

The children called it the "Friendship Branch"!

There are many other ways to add colours to your naturalistic garden. This is just an idea. If you have any more ideas, please share with us and leave a comment below. I would love to hear about it. If you have missed the previous 2 posts on our "Naturalistic outdoor areas" series, please check below.

Creating naturalistic play areas: INTRODUCTION

Creating naturalistic play areas: Introduction Creating naturalistic play areas: ADD SAND & GRAVEL

Reggio Emilia: HOW TO GET STARTED IN YOUR SETTING

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Fri, 27 May 2016 22:17:00 +0000

I am sharing with you today an unusual tutorial video for all of you wishing to redesign your classrom according to the principles of the Reggio Emilia approach. It's straight forward and it gives you lots of examples.

Click on the link below or watch the video directly from this blog.

YouTube video: "Reggio Emilia: How to get started"

Reggio Emilia and Playful Maths ideas - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Sun, 22 May 2016 20:22:00 +0000

Those for have been following on this blog will know that I love creating or thinking of new activities using open-ended materials such as pebbles, shells, sticks, buttons etc... following the ideas of the Reggio Emilia approach.

This year, I added two activities on our shelves.

Associate Numerals to Quantity

The first one is an activity helping children to associate numerals to quantities. The manipulatives are very appealing to the children.

Collect loose parts (don't forget to include natural loose materials such as pebbles here or even shells). I used small wooden cookies to display the loose parts clearly but you could use curtain big rings or even scallop shells (the flat part). I collected pebbles on the beach and wrote numerals on each single on of them before varnishing them. The child playing that game picks a pebble, places it on top of a wooden cookie and picks his/her loose parts. He/she then needs to place the right amount of loose parts on the cookie, according to the numeral he/she picked. Simple but extremely effective. The children love this game because they are creating their own learning and their own rules with the loose parts while their senses of touch and sight are being tingled.

Numeral recognition with pebbles

A very simple number pebble game for the younger kids to help them with their number recognition.

Once again, I use the pebbles I collected at my local beach. I placed them in basket and showed the children how to use them during at circle time. It's a very simple activity but it helps children still struggling with their numbers. All the children need to do is to sort out the pebbles according to the numbers written on them. Each time they pick one pebble, the teacher calls the number and they then match it with the correct row of pebbles. Simple. But effective as the children love that type of manipulatives.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this post. Please share your own experience below in the comment box. I would love to hear from you.

Check our post about children using pebbles to draw pictures or in coordination with the Montessori long rods. Click here

A new title to our blog: The Guilletots Playful Learning

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Sat, 21 May 2016 23:21:00 +0000

So, I have been thinking.... And thinking...

Those of you who read this blog regularly will remember when in 2013, I found myself wishing for more room to manoeuvre within the Montessori curriculum, wishing for more flexibility .... Wishing for more freedom!! I was not turning my back on the Montessori method of education. I still believed in its benefits and had no intention to get rid of it. I simply felt that the children 's experiences could be enriched further if I allowed for "transformation" and "adaptation". So, after observing the children closely, it became clear that there was not enough space in my setting for creativity, for adventure and for freedom. The children were getting frustrated and were wandering a little too much during our sessions, even if I always made sure to rotate the materials and activities all around the year.

My main question at that stage was: how could I reconceptualise my practice as a means to inspire a sense of wonder in the children I work with? I believe that truly reflective practitioners are always re-evaluating their work with children and looking for new inspiration from the world around them. If we ourselves can live with a sense of wonder and discovery then we are bound to foster children who are inquisitive and critical thinkers. Right?

Reggio Emilia Approach

Well, that's what triggered by attraction to a new approach : the Reggio Emilia approach. Very few people in Ireland would have heard about it. Professional practitioners would of course but not parents. So what am I talking about here?

The Reggio Emilia approach is known for regarding the environment as the third teacher.

Materials are easily accessible and uncluttered and inviting. Every resource is carefully considered for it's purpose. Beauty, calmness, respect, comfort and tranquility are the key words for a Reggio inspired environment.

Materials are very important too

Not only must they appeal to the child, but they must stimulate his senses. In a Reggio-inspired classroom, materials must be inviting, natural and authentic (no plastic please, which Montessori also advocated). So, for instance, we use materials such wooden blocks and throw in pebbles, sticks, corks, scarves, corks, bottle caps, stumps, material scraps and ceramic tiles: children will see the potential in these objects and make the most of them.

Above all, materials must be open-ended. That's what I like and this is what differs from the Montessori method. "Open-ended" basically means "that can be transformed". Open-minded materials are the ones that entice the child to use his imagination or his own experiences to shape them into something completely different. For instance, a wooden car can not be anything else but a car, while a wooden block offers a multitude of possibilities to the child when he uses his imagination (the block can become a car, a bridge, a road, a tower etc..

Reggio-inspired teachers also use different types of mirrors as backgrounds, surfaces, loose parts, tiles for clay or other art experiences and investigations

What I really like about the Reggio approach, is that children are allowed to use many different ways to express themselves, to show their understanding of the world around them, to show their creativity, to discover and to learn: drawing, sculpting, painting, music and movement and finally pretend play.

Pretend Play

O lala.. Pretend play. Here is something that has bothered me a lot too..

Maria Montessori and her followers do not believe that a child aged 0-5 is capable of abstract thinking and that he is unable to know what is real and what isn't. Montessorian teachers firmly believe that a child needs to know and understand the real world before he can appreciate and participate in a made up world of fantasy. And this is why there is no home corner or dressing up area in a pure Montessorian classroom.

I have always struggled with this aspect of Montessori education. It has been proven by research that dramatic/fantasy play and pretend play are very good for cognitive development:

Such type of play requires the ability to transform objects into symbols: using pine cones and pretend they are potatoes for dinner, for instance.

Children learnt to develop their receptive and expressive language skills (our local primary principal has stressed numerous times during meetings that children nowadays are lacking the skills of listening and communicating).

Children learn how to deal with other children and create strategies to cope

Children learn how to solve problems by themselves

They learn more vocabulary and develop their speech

They use maths concepts such as sorting, counting, classifying, analysing, building etc..

They increase their attention and can concentrate over longer period of time

So, 6 years after opening my setting, I re-evaluated my teaching methods. I would have been a fool if I had kept on ascribing to a single philosophy, forsaking all others. I love Montessori teachings but I fell under the spell of the Reggio approach. I have read a lot about it, compared information, taken notes and though there is actually no course I can take to be officially recognise as a trained Reggio teacher, I feel confident when I say that I have introduced the approach in my classroom progressively but effectively as I saw a positive change in the children's play.

And this is why I decided to change the title of my blog from "My Montessori Preschool" from "The Guilletots Playful Learning" (the Guilletots is the actual name of my settin here in Ireland).

You see now why I needed to change the title of this blog. This is no longer just "My Montessori Preschool". This is a teaching journey and I want to practice a mixed bag of Montessori and Reggio along with my own special "sauce" while teaching these kids who come through my classroom's doorstep. So here it is to new beginnings (keep checking the new few posts which will detail and picture every step I am taking to transform my classroom and my curriculum). And here it is too to "The Hundred languages of children - Montessori based and Reggio inspired learning and teaching ".... What do you think?

Creating naturalistic play areas - Part 1: ADDING SAND AND GRAVEL

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Thu, 19 May 2016 16:15:00 +0000

Creating a natural playscape for a childcare setting can be quite an investment. As tempted as we may be by all the ideas swarming Pinterest, the reality is that many of us cannot afford such fantastic features or don't have the time nor the skills to design them. That's why I've started writing about easy, simple and cost-effective ways to implement outdoor play ideas using mainly natural materials or recycled materials.

Welcome to Part 1 of our new series "Creating Naturalistic play areas": Adding sand and gravel.

If you have missed the introduction post to this series, click right here: Creating naturalistic play areas

So.... today, it's going to be all about Sand pit and gravel pit.

Sand and gravel are fantastic open-ended materials you can find abundantly in Nature. And they appeal to all children no matter how old they are.

In my setting, these are definitely two of the main attractions in the garden. I have always had a sand pit. I started with one children could jump in. Unfortunately, I can't find any pictures of our intial sandpit but here are some similar ones:

I love the way they have used tree logs to mark the border of their sand pit. The picture comes from the Elite Childcare Solutions

I wish I could have one like this with a tree right in the middle

Now, my first sandpit was not as good as the two in the photos above. No way. But it did the trick for a while. As we live in a rural area by the sea, there are lots of unwanted creatures wandering our grounds at night time. I needed to have a cover but our sand pit had a funny shape and was too large to cover. So I decided to get a big sandpit on legs, wide enough for lots of fun but with a proper wooden cover. OK kids didn't have the pleasure anymore of jumping in feet first in the sand but they still loved it. My husband recycled left over ship lap planking to make it. He made a big square box added legs, a splash of paint. And voilà!
Now, I can hear a question coming: "what to add to a sandpit?". Loose materials is my answer. And I would also add very strongly: ALTERNATE!! Don't leave the same materials laying in the pit. The children need diversity and change to go further in their play. Challenge their imagination. Challenge their problem-solving skills. Use the season to choose what type of loose materials you will use. For instance in Autumn time, add leaves and why not small gourds to the sandpit? In Spring, add empty bird nests if you come across one. (We have lots of birds nesting in our trees and many of them end up on the ground during storms). Or even freshly picked wild flowers. The possibilities are endless.

After a year or so, the sand started seeping through the bottom of the pit. I got in touch with one of the children's fathers who was a carpenter and who recommended MARINE PLYWOOD. Marine plywood is a little more pricy , I admit, but it is durable and performs much better and much longer when exposed to moisture. With our very wet weather here in Ireland, that's exactly what I needed. All in all I think I paid €95 for the wood. Once again I relied on my husband 's DIY skills to make our new sandpit. Here is our new sand pit today:

As you can see there is nothing fancy about it but it is big, and at least 8 children can play happily around it without being squished and squashed! If there is a garage nearby, ask for any old tyres and use them as individual little sand pits too, just like the one below:

Or leave you sand pit on the ground and make its boundaries with tree logs or rocks as seen above. It doesn't have to be a sand pit on legs. But before you create your sand pit area, think about how you can cover it up. If your pit has a funny shape or if it is too big, finding a way to cover it up might tricky or expensive. Here are some examples of what can be done as a cover:

Attach a dowel rod at the end of the tarp with zip ties through the grommets to use as a roller/stretcher.

After a while I realised that the children were adding gravel from the ground to the sandpit and I thought "why don't you add another pit but fill it up with gravel this time?". No need to make a new one. Our old sand pit was laying there completely redundant. Gravel would not seep through its bottom, so there we go! I asked my dear husband if he could make a new cover for it as the old one was pretty heavy. This time he decided to use clear lights (transparent corrugated sheeting).

We recycled some left over from a building site nearby so it only cost me €14 altogether for the wooden frame and the screws. I added pieces of wood, bigger rocks bark, shovels trucks .. and plastic animals at the request of the children (we also had plastic dinosaurs for a while). Oh Boy!! It became such a big hit among the children.

The sensorial experiences are infinite and imagination runs riot around these 2 pits. Children suggest, guess, estimate, compromise, solve problems among themselves all the time. The benefits are limitless and yet, 90% of the materials used are completely natural.

For more ideas for easy built /easy made sand pits and gravel pits, check up my Pinterest board below. Again, there are tons of different ways to make a sand/gravel pit. Some require more work and money than others. The idea is to keep it simple I think and to use nature as a canvas.

Click here for my Pinterest board

Again, there are tons of different ways to make a sand/gravel pit. Some require more work and money than others. The idea is to keep it simple I think and to use nature as a canvas.

And please, please share with me anything you may have done at home or in your own setting. I would love to hear how you created a sand/gravel area to your outdoor space. Leave a comment below. Thank you.

In this series : Introduction to Creating naturalistic play areas
Other: Our preschool's new tree house and Oh happy days

Creating naturalistic play areas

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Tue, 17 May 2016 22:11:00 +0000

We all know that letting children play outside is a must.
Research has been done and we have all heard about the benefits of outdoor playing. It builds up the children's immune system, provides physical exercise, stimulates imagination, develops problem-solving skills etc.. The list goes on.

Now there is a huge gap between what I call modern "fixed" outdoor play areas and "naturalistic" playgrounds. Because of new demanding safety guidelines from Health and Safety executives, many childcare outdoor environments today consist of isolated pieces of equipment in a "monoculture" of grass, concrete or rubber tiles. Yerk! Though that type of outdoor play area is better than none, I agree, I find them depressing. They might offer slides and swings, climbing apparatus and monkey bars. But where is the learning in it? There is no creativity involved in the play for the children, no real cooperation, no challenge (apart from physical maybe), no flexibility.

But if you install natural materials and other natural landscape features and if you give room for Nature to take over, then the children's spatial cognitiviness starts shifting. The children start socialising more and pretend more.They estimate, build, and compromise. They make their outdoor play more constructive while improving their physical skills and competences.

In a perfect world, childcare settings would be set up beside a forest, a meadow, or by a stream allowing the children to experience untouched natural environments. Actually, my friend Karen works in a preschool in Evansville, Indiana (check their Facebook page). Their outdoor area is right beside a stream and some woodland. They are so so lucky! It must be pure Magic to watch the kids play outside!

The truth is that many of us are not so lucky. Many of us don't have a wild natural environment right at their doorstep. And many of us have had to start their outdoor play spaces from scratch and very often on a tight budget (and that's the understatement of the year!). But we can still create nature-filled outdoor areas that will allow children to learn and experience the world around them.

I have been lucky as a private provider. I have been able to use my private back garden as our preschool outdoor area. And it's quite a big one! But I have had to be patient and to think hard to turn our garden into a natural environment that can provide the children with a wide range of opportunities to connect with their natural surroundings. As I mentioned above, you can't expect children to make new experiences with just grass and plastic toy cars! Yet, this is what I started with (especially after my back garden was turned completely upside down when I build the preschool!). How boring when you compare it with Karen's outdoor setting (as shown above).

Our garden about 5 years ago

It has been a long road to transform our garden. Am I happy with our garden yet? Of course not! There is still much more to do. It's an ever-evolving process.

There are many examples of what can be done or what has been done on Pinterest. Some of them are absolutely out of this world. But let 's face it: my budget is tight and I am not a great DIY person. I am crafty but I am not good with a chain saw and not great at all with a shovel.

A NEW SERIES

Over the next few weeks I will share with you my vision of what I call "Naturalistic play areas". I am by no means a gardener, a landscaper nor am I an ecologist. I just know as an Early Childhood educator that children learn through their senses and become more creative while playing in natural environments. That's how they gain their awareness of how the world works and of their own capabilities.

What I call "naturalistic play areas" are basically man-made play spaces /gardens /environments but which are using Nature as a canvas and a provider to engage children.

In the next series of posts, I will reflect on what I have done so far in my own setting. The key word is simple, and cost-effective and nature-filled. Some ideas are inspired by Pinterest or by other bloggers ; others were more spontaneous ones. I have seen great structures with good engineering designs. Yet, they require (unfortunately) too much money: hiring a digger, buying new materials, and paying some professionals to do job. I am trying to find ideas which are easy to implement on a tight budget, which involve recycling (when possible) and which I can do myself (with the help of my husband of course!)

Nature is in general a great provider. And when Nature cannot provide, I search for discarded materials or scavenger car boot sales around the area. You just need to follow your instincts. Nothing is too small to start with. "From small things Mamma, big things one day come" as the song goes!

So stay tuned for our first post in this series on "creating naturalistic play areas".

Check our next post in this series: Part1 - Sand and Gravel pits

Learning French in the classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Sun, 01 May 2016 18:26:00 +0000

Over the past few weeks, I have started teaching a few words in French to the children in my classroom. The response from the children was actually quite amazing and I never expected them to take to it so well and so easily. I used the format of our circle time to start teaching them how to say hello, good-bye, "my name is.." and at the moment we are learning numbers.

To make it more interesting and to enrich the learning experience, I started researching the web for resources or ideas And I thought "why not sharing it with you all"?

French Learning programmes

There is actually much meaningful resources out there unless you are ready to spend money on programme such as:

French for pre-schoolers

Muzzy (more geared towards the home learning environment)

Professor Toto (a cartoon character that engages and speaks to children).

To be honest I am not interested personally into these programmes but they might be what you are looking for. The idea for our setting is not for the children to become fluent in French but to explore another language and open up their mind to the world around them. It is also a nice extension to our geography study on the continents.

YouTube videos

Below are a list of YouTube videos for pre-schoolers which I started using. They might sound boring to you but believe me the children do like them. They reinforce what I teach them in an interactive and fun way.

French greeting songs

Counting in French

Needless to say that the best thing to do is to try using the greetings and the numbers as often as possible throughout the session: greet the children in French when they arrive, wave them good-bye in French, count how many children are standing on the line in French etc... or even using the Montessori sandpaper number cards, apply the Three-period lesson to help the children remember the numbers in French.

Easy Songs and rhymes

Expose the children as much as possible to the sound of the language.

Au Clair de la lune

Frère Jacques

Il était un petit navire

Ainsi font font font les petites marionnettes

Tourne tourne le petit moulin

Meunier tu dors

Free download - spring flowers 3 part card game

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 20:07:00 +0000

And because today's weather was glorious but exceptionally cold for a 29th April, I felt like sharing one of the 3 part-card game we are currently using in our classroom for our study on Spring. The children line up the cards then need to match pictures to pictures (remembering the names of each flower if possible). For those a bit older, we add another difficulty by matching the word cards to the pictures. So just click right here to view file for free. And please, if it doesn't actually work, please let me know in the comments below. I am quite new at that "game" and I am a slow learner as far as technology is involved.

daisies

Transition bags (also called "quiet" bags)

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 16:38:00 +0000

Transition times in our classroom have always been an exercise that required tact organisation, patience and swiftness. What are transition times I hear some of you ask?Transitions are those periods of time when the children are moving from one activity to the next. In our setting the main transition causing chaos is usually the one after snack time when we need to clean up the tables and help the children putting their snack boxes away in their bag and put on their coats in preparation for our outdoor activities. Well, let me tell you that kids at that time especially get quite excited about going outside. They usually tend to talk louder, mess with each other, and some would run and jump too! We tried different methods in the past:

we always give plenty of warning before any transition so the children are well aware of what's next.

though we are very flexible with our time, we always follow the same pattern as children usually respond well to it.

we use songs such as "clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere, clean up, clean up everybody do your share!"

we have a helper and a leader designated every morning. One of their jobs is to point at what still needs to be tidied up, showing the example. They are also the ones giving the snack boxes to each kid as well as table mats. They are also the ones who stand in the front of the line when we go out and who make sure everybody is standing in the line correctly.

Though we are still using these "techniques", this year I thought I needed something else to focus their attention during this transition time after snack time.

So I came across the idea of "quiet bags" on Pinterest (what did we do before Pinterest?)Basically, it’s a small bag containing a re-usable activity for your child to do independently and QUIETLY! And it works! It doesn't have to be a specific manufactured material. It can be anything from lollipop sticks, to sponges to wooden cubes, etc.. And although they are called "bags", you could also use plastic or wooden boxes. I would love to be able to find cheap fabric bags for mine rather than plastic sandwich bags. Why? First for aesthetical reasons. Second because children wouldn't be able to see what's inside, and we could call them the "mystery" bags adding even more drama and fun to them (so if you have any idea, please let me know where I can get them cheap! And so that you know, I am not really good at sewing!!) The children at my setting are always looking forward to these bags. Why are they so popular? Probably because the materials on offer in these bags are not on the shelves and are not available to the children all the time. They also like the fact that they receive a random bag and it's always a bit of a surprise." What will I get today?" My assistant usually hands out the bags randomly so there is no fighting among the children. When they are finished with their bag, they can go and return it to the big basket where we hold them and pick another one. Another way to distribute the bags is to label each bag with a number or a letter. Have cards made out with the same number/letter and give the children a card each during snack time. Once they have tidied up their snack, the children can go and retrieve the bag with the same number/letter as their card. Here is another good matching exercise for them and it also develops their number/letter recognition!!

I have taken a few pictures today of some of the bags we have in our setting. I was a bit rushed by time so the list below is not exhaustive but I am sure I will be writing about these transition bags again in the nearer future and I will make sure to add more photos. Anyway, as I said before, the possibilities are endless and if you have short of ideas, I have gathered a few other ideas on my Pinterest board (have a look for yourself).

Geometry in Art & Craft

noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 15:06:00 +0000

In our classroom, children regularly use the Montessori Constructive Triangles Boxes. These boxes contain various triangles of different colours and they are used to form plane figures. They help children to refine the discrimination of geometric form and prepares them for geometry. I wrote a great post a few years ago about geometry and you can check it out right here if you re interested in knowing more about how children learn about shapes in our setting.

I find that engaging children with geometry through art & craft is often the best way to connect what they learn with the Montessori materials to their surroundings and to their environment. Arts and crafts can make learning hand-on and this particularly true with the next activity I am about to show you.

So, here is what we did as an extension of their work with the constructive triangles (and lets be honest , it also tied in nicely with our current topic "the weather in Springtime : the wind"). We simply got the children to figure out how to make a kite out of several paper triangles I had pre-cut the day before. Believe me, not always as easy as it seems for some!! The children needed a little bit of time to adapt from what they were so accustomed to do with the constructive triangles to this activity requiring them to create an object they could find at home.

Once the kites were finished, we asked the children to tell us where they would like to fly if they were a kite... Some of the responses were quite unexpected 😋 But this made our exercise even more interesting and added value to it as it became a good language exercise : the children used good imagination and expressed their ideas very clearly. Have a look at our display wall.

* note to myself : there is no H in palaeontologist!!!!!!!!!

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noreply@blogger.com (Foreword from the Reader) — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 20:34:00 +0000

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