The Family Wall

I got news last week that I passed my couse on Equality and Diversity with high distinction. I was happy but I thought I would share with you all what had happened during the course of our last workshops. Maybe some of you will comment and let me know what they think.

At some stage during this last workshop, the use of a "family wall" was mentioned, as a tool to promote self-esteem. What is it? The children bring a picture of their family to school and we put them all together on a wall in our classroom and refer to it regularly. I have used a family wall in my setting since the very first year I opened up (I should have had a post written about it but for some reason, I never took the time to do so) . I was quite pleased to see that it was highly recommended by the Anti-bias Approach as a tool to promote inclusion, identity and a sense of belonging for all the children (and their family). I have since learnt in more details  to realise that when children feel that their relationships with their family, friends and community are valued and recognised, they feel more secure, more included and respected. So high 5 for me! I have been working in the right direction! The course has shown us how important it is to try to get to know each child individually. It was obvious to me from the beginning but the training voiced my beliefs loud and clear and reassured me that I was indeed being respectful in a very powerful way. Children love talking about their parents and what they do at home or what they do with their siblings. And real pictures are much more empowering than anything else. I love photography and have taken a few course in photography that concurred this statement. This is why I try to work with photos or any other “real” pictures as much as possible. The Family wall is a fantastic means to open up discussions among the children and to make them explore their own identity. It helps children to identify the various types of families in our society and our community: single-parent family, families living with the grandparents, divorced/separated parents etc… I also found that it is a great way for Rachel and I to get to know the parents better and to connect with them as they come in and have a look at our family wall.

During the discussion with other practitioners, I was asked if I could think of any other benefits of the family wall. I explained that we use it straight away in September to make the connection between home and the preschool. It is used as a bridge to reassure newcomers. If they are missing their mams or dads, we show them the wall and let them talk about their family. However, when I mentioned that we don’t keep the family wall on our wall in the classroom all year long, our tutor objected strongly, vehemently insisting that I HAD to keep it up all the time. I disagreed explaining that it was my own experience (and Rachel’s) that children get “bored” of the Family wall after a while and don’t actually look at it anymore, which usually prompt us to move on to another inclusive way  or activity to promote identity and belonging. For example, this next September, we are going to use a teddy as a little mascot and we will ask each child to bring it home with him/her and take pictures of something that he/she did with the teddy during their daily routine. We will get the parents on board and provide them with a little camera. We will ask parents to write a quick summary describing the picture they took together. Once each child has had a turn with the teddy and the camera, I will have the pictures printed and I will bind them in a little book with all the corresponding notes. I really hope that this will be popular among the children and the parents. And you can be sure to find a post about this next September or October.  Anyway, this was one of the example I gave our group.

Yet, our tutor that day blatantly criticised my decision not to have the wall up all year long. She didn’t give me much chance to express myself and the other practitioners were basically asked to side with her or with me!  I found it very peculiar as we have been talking all along about accepting other people’s opinions and ways. After all, isn’t it what the course is about? It was shocking to be honest. Being trained in equality and Diversity has taught me to be more open and to be reflective. We have worked very hard to critically assess ourselves and to ditch our blinkers. This course is only a beginning for all us but little steps matter as Louise Derman-Sparks mentioned in her article “Education without prejudice”. Yet, I truly and honestly believe that I am doing the right thing by diversifying my approaches in the classroom to ensure the children feel included, valued and respected. I am not a one-trick pony and there are many other ways to reach these goals.  I felt chastised for not using the family Wall all year long. So this knocked me a little bit off course and confused me. I expected the journey on this course to have its ups and downs but this “incident” rattled my confidence and got me thinking “am I doing it right? Am I completely off the rails?”. Since that day, I have been thinking and I stick to my guns. The Family Wall is a wonderful tool but it wouldn’t work in our setting if I was to leave it up all the time. We need diversity too in the way we approach the topic!

see my post "Inclusive practice is good practice" right here.

Sport Day

God ! What a week we've had! Between organising our portfolios (which took me ages) and our graduation party, I haven't had time to breathe!!! But holidays have now started and I can relax and catch up on my blog!!

So today, I will share with you the photographs I took during our Sport Day with the "graduating" children. It was so much fun and for once, the sun was shining!

Egg race

Running backwards

I have many other pictures but it would take me ages to download them all. After the races, we presented the children with Oympic medals... They were so proud!

Ocean theme

10 days away from our summer holidays.... Where has the time gone?  I surely can't believe it! Anyway, last week and this week, we’ve been working on our Ocean unit. Things are looking good. The kids are loving talking about sea animals. Talking about the ocean and beach is really getting them amped for summer. Me too!!!

I added a few activities to our practical life shelves to complement our unit:

I got the glass fish shaped dish at the field day the other day and I knew straight away what I was going to use it for. A great transferring activity to refine motor skills.

And I also found this scallop dish!!! The kids were instantly attracted to the exercise and kept admiring the dish! I could have used real scallop shells but this was so much more effective!!

In Maths, I also introduced new exercises to the children (3-4 years olds):

A pattern game using cards I made up using my clip Art board.

A counting game from Pre-K

And we have also been using flashcards from Montessori for everyone:

                                                                                            

And of course, we did a bit of art & craft. The children used sponges to create an ocean on white paper. Then, we traced their hands. They cut their hands out (with some help) and coloured them. We then glued them on their ocean background and I love the end result: a smily octopus!!

Bugs are superheroes!

We all know it: bugs intrigue children. Who didn’t have a baby food jar with air holes punched into the lid and a few crawlers collected from the backyard inside? Some of my preschoolers brought some last March and the children were delighted to be able to observe them.

And here, you can see how excited the children were when they discovered several ladybirds on the decking after winter!!

More than half of all living things in the world are insects – and they can be fascinating creatures. So these past few weeks, as we are talking about summer and what changes we see outside, we discussed about interesting facts about bugs. I presented the children with lots of photos I had downloaded from the internet and we talked about them during circle time:

Insects come from eggs. Baby insects are usually called larvae.

An insect has six legs and a jointed body: the head, thorax (middle body), and abdomen. A good example of this is the ant. 

Most winged insects have four wings (two pairs).

Their antennae detect odors, sound waves,  and are used for touch.

Some insects are useful as they produce foods we eat, pollinate plants, eat other insects which are harmful, and are a source of food for many animals.

Then I introduced the kids to 3 part cards as seen below.

These cards are a fantastic tool and addition to any classroom. They are very interesting as they are a visual representation of what we were learning.

Finally, I added a bit more fun to our studies by talking about extraordinary bugs doing extraordinary things. Did the hildren know that some spiders in South America could build webs longer than the preschool? Or that some of them can actually walk on water? Or did they know that a cockroach could live a full week without a head. I explained that ants were extremely strong and could carry up to 20 times their own weight etc... Slowly, I came to my point: insect are super cool and have super powers.. like some of our super heroes.

Spider Man

Fly Man

Ant Man

 

The children were so interested to compare bugs with superheroes. I asked them at the end which super power they would like to have if they could and which bug they would like to be? One little girl in particular, said she would love to be a butterfly and her superpower would be to throw rainbow colours from her wings to kill the baddies!!! What a great imagination!! Boys felt closer to spider man but some of them wanted extra power (like the ones the  Power Rangers have!!).

Then it was time for arts and crafts.. I had gathered lots of pebbles at the beach. The children icked one each and painted it all in red. Twice.

So you can imagine how much patience was required for this project!! It took 2 days for the 2 coats of aint to be applied and to dry properly. I painted the head in black and traced the wings.

The children chose to paint blue and green dots on the back of their butterfly to make it more interested!! Once it was dried, I varnish them. We added the goggly eyes and voila!! They were all so proud!

Superwoman will be back soon!!

Ok, I have  absent for  while. Between camogie matches, basketball matches, drama shows, kickboxing lessons, piano lessons and athletics, I haven't had a minute! And these activities aren't mine!!! I literally have to split myself between my 4 kids!! In the meantime, I also have to keep the house clean and organised, cook dinner, do the laundry (though my eldest daughter is a great help), as well as do night classes for a Child Protection Course and finish my assessment on my Equality and Diversity course. And of course, I am currently working on the children's end-of-the-year portfolios!!

Anyway, I AM going to catch with everything we have done. I will be writing a few posts over the week-end. So come back and have a look! Thanks for your patience...

Arts & Crafts and going on adventures...

God! Time is flying and I can't find the time to post anymore. So I am just taking a few minutes to show you what the children have been crafting in the classroom since last week.

First, we tried a different type of painting. We had used our hands in the past, sponges and leaves. I decided to show the children how to paint with empty toilet paper rolls!! I thought this would be interesting to see what the children would make out of it. Most of them were actually very oderly in the way they printed the circles onto the sheet. Most of them didn't want to overlap them. The effect was lovely and they took great pride!

To conclude our study on seeds and plants, we did collage, using cut green and orange peas, mixed beans and chick peas. I drew the template of the owl and photocopied it. And this is what it looked like.

And here is something that has nothing to do with arts and crafts: setting up a fire camp!! (Well, a pretend one!). The children have demonstrated great survival skills in our garden lately.. And I guess we owe it all to the children's new hero: Bear Grylls. Bear Grylls Born Survivor is a program on the Discovery channel that  stars Edward Grylls (alias Bear Grylls), travelling all over the globe, from Nambia to Zambia, and from the Arctic Circle to China, in the most inhospitable environments possible. The children love the show as they learn how to make tents, beds out of nothing, how to hunt, protect themselves from mosquito bites etc.. Bear Grylls is able to light fires by rubbing wood sticks against one another and the idea really appealed to the kids, who have since then pretended to be going on adventures in our preschool garden!!!!

International Cultural Exchange - part 3

Our international exchange is very slow at taking shape. Response is very slow .... Is there nobody interested in adding to their cultural boxes? This is such a simple and fun way to learn about the rest of the world! If you are interested in joining the exchange, please email me at mymontessoripreschool@yahoo.com

Have a look at the details in this post right here.

International Cultural Exchange ... Part 2

I have had a few people interested in this exchange.. but not enough yet to make it work.. So please, if you are interested, please leave me a message on mymontessoripreschool@yahoo.com. This is a lot of fun and doesn't need to be costy at all! Things you will find around your house will be sufficient to make your package interested to any kid! Check out the post on the exchange right here!!!

Promoting outdoor play

Here is an article published in April this year which I thought I would share with you:

“A new National Trust report has found that evidence of a long-term and dramatic decline in children's relationship with the outdoors is 'overwhelming' and urgent action is needed to bridge this growing gap before it's too late.

In his Natural Childhood report* naturalist, author and TV producer Stephen Moss charts years of academic research and a steady stream of surveys on the subject, highlighting how a generation of children is finally losing touch with the natural world.

The report outlines a clear need to tackle the rise of 'Nature Deficit Disorder', a term coined by the US based writer Richard Louv, to describe a growing dislocation between children and nature.

Report author Stephen Moss, said: "We all know the benefits being outdoors can bring, and as parents we want our children to spend more time outdoors than they do.

"But despite this overwhelming evidence and the different initiatives and schemes run by organisations across the UK, our kids are spending less and less time in the outdoors.

"The time to act is now, whilst we still have a generation of parents and grandparents who grew up outdoors and can pass on their experience and whilst there remains a determination to do something positive in this area."

A two-month inquiry, facilitated by the National Trust, will take evidence from leading experts and the public to look at how we can reconnect this and future generations of children with the natural world.

The National Trust is working alongside Arla, the NHS Sustainable Development Unit and film-makers Green Lions, to organise a summit this summer to bring together a range of experts to develop a roadmap for reconnecting children and nature.

Fiona Reynolds, Director-General of the National Trust, said: "Getting outdoors and closer to nature has all sorts of benefits for our children. It keeps them fit, they can learn about the world around them and, most of all, it's fun.

"That's why it's so worrying that so many children today don't have the opportunity to experience the outdoors and nature. Building a den, picking flowers, climbing trees - the outdoors is a treasure trove, rich in imagination. It brings huge benefits that we believe every child should have the opportunity to experience and there are huge costs when they don't."

During the last decade conservation groups, academics, social and health professionals and the media have charted the rise of so-called 'cotton-wool kids' and countless examples of what is going wrong.

Authority figures and layers of bureaucracy have combined in a climate of 'don't do that' to create an environment where fewer children play in the outdoors. This has led to a situation where kids having fun in the outdoors are painted as showing signs of anti-social behaviour.

The research shows that capturing children before they enter the teenage years is crucial with the research clearly showing if kids get hooked before they reach twelve years old, they will develop a lifelong passion for the environment and outdoors activities.”

I would like to refer you here to 2 of the wonderful posts written by Karen on her blog Little Acorns. She shows us how she and the children she teaches are reconnecting with nature on a daily basis and how she is able to incorporate Nature in her Early childhood program. Her work is fantastic. Check her posts here and here.

To your dustpans and brushes!!

“She [Dr. Montessori] described this environment as a nourishing place for the child.  It is designed to meet his needs for self-construction and to reveal his personality and growth pattern to us…Not only must it contain what the child needs in a positive sense, but all obstacles to his growth must be removed from it as well.” ( Lillard, Montessori  A  Modern approach, Chap 3, The Montessori Method, page 50)

Why am I quoting Montessori here? Because I want to introduce our new Practical Life activity to you all: using a brush and dustpan. Many of you who have a Montessori preschool or are following the Montessorian guidelines would probably have this type of activity on your shelf. Yet, I can see a few eyebrows frowning among my preschool parents. Don’t worry, I am not actually teaching your kids to clean the classroom…. though that could be an idea!!! Mind you, they have been polishing my silver for the past 6 months, so why not?

Joke aside, the activity I just mentioned is actually quite important and representative of what the Practical Life exercises are all about (or many of them anyway!). Dr. Montessori once referred to a child on a beach with a shovel in hand. Suddenly, the child starts digging without being asked.  The child makes mistakes as he uses the shovel but keeps trying as he digs into the sand again and again and again. By constant repetition of the motions, the child strengthens his muscles, perfects his coordination, and gains confidence in a particular skill. No one had told the child that he had to shovel sand; it was instinctive, natural. Dr. Montessori used this natural inclination of the child to structure several classroom exercises (Practical Life) to help the child satisfy the need for meaningful activity.

So you may think that learning how to use a brush and dustpan is meaningless. Wrong! These types of simple exercises, performed by all adults on a daily basis, are at the basis of the practical life curriculum. The adults’ purpose for doing those daily tasks is purely conservative and utilitarian. But a child is attracted to them because they are constructive and help to his development. Since birth, the child has been observing his man-made environment and as he/she grows up, he/she offers to help. Why? Because these tasks promote order, independence and offer freedom (freedom to work as long as he/she wants to, freedom to do it on his own, freedom to repeat the exercise whenever he/she wants to).

So here is what I did. Using coloured electrical tape, I taped a square at the bottom of a plastic tray.

I placed coffee beans in a pot and added a dustpan and brush to the tray. I showed the children how to spill the beans on the tray,

then  gather them inside the square with the brush and use the dustpan to put them back into the pot.

Simple but very effective. They are queuing for this new activity now and it is a pleasure to see them practice their skills in courtesy too!!