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My favorite apporach to "teaching" young children:
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i am loving it too!!!
so are all of my parents!! i am so glad they are all on board with the changes i've made.
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Crystal and Melskids -
I really like this approach and would love to make a move to this approach by the Fall.
Have either of you ever attended a conference or seminar to help with setting up your area and to gain ideas? I'd love to find a conference this summer to attend.
I found this site with a few conferences but didn't know if you guys had any other info. http://www.reggioalliance.org/Comment
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When I was a director of a preschool, we used some elements of this approach and were really trying to move toward this approach (while still following the basics of high scope). I would really like to do more with this in my current preschool...thanks for the links Crystal!
I have discovered so many awesome websites in the last couple of weeks since more people have been posting, it's awesome! I've really been spending too much time just reading through everything, it's been great.
Crystal and anyone else that currently does the project approach, I would love to hear an example of one of the studies that you've done from start to finish. How did it start? What kinds of things did you do to learn about it? How long was the process? How did you document it? Thanks!!Comment
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I too have been reading up on this approach and the montessori approach. They are almost similar in approaches. Both focus on children learning from experience and learning basic needs in daily life. I like that (esp learning by experience because thats what I teach my own children) I too have been slowly switching over. But what kind of stuff are you ladies doing.
I need to buy some plants, but what kind (the re method suggests plants)
also hanging childrens art work up (I love this)
small areas
bright painted walls (I have that)Comment
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We actually had some landscapers come out this week and in the next few days they are going to give us a little flower bed along our house and some landscaping for our raised veggie garden. It'll really add to our backyard.
Once all that is in place I can't wait to take the kids out to start planting some flowers in our flower bed and veggies in the garden.
I think as all those things start to grow it'll be great for the kids to feel like they are helping to take care of them and can really start to learn where their food comes from and what makes things grow, etc.
I'm also heading out this evening to get some plants for around the house to really add to the inside and I'm going to be adding some fish friends over the weekend.
I also need to start hanging the kids' artwork. What creative ways have you come up with the display their art? I'm thinking maybe clothes lines somehow but would love other ideas or pictures as well.
My goal is to be done with the packaged curriculum (currently MGT) in May and mostly nature-based, Reggio, etc. by the Fall.Comment
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I have the clothes line for their art projects, I bought it at the dollarstore and it came with clothes pins too. Mine hangs infront of the window. But I was thinking that if I bought some cheap frames I can hang them on my wall, but use the hooks that you can remove (I think its made by rubbermaid)
I see they use painting alot, I'm kinda wondering if it would work here. I have a small cart on wheels that is full of art stuff for the kids to use any time they want, and omgosh they love it, and they keep it clean.
I can't do anything outside right now because everything is burried under snow, but I think getting flowers in pots would be great.Comment
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I really like those rubbermaid hooks too and I think framing a few would look great! I just found this and it would be so easy! I have the ribbon and clothes pins already...just need to pick up some thumb tacks.
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someone posted once a site about having a natural backyard. Well what she did was buy those flower planters, you know the brown ones you use for flowers. And she planted tomatoes in them, so the kids were all responsible for their own planter. I'm thinking of doing this too. Not only would it be easy but you can put them anywhere.Comment
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i WISH i could find a conference, or a training, or anything in my area. so far, ive just read anythig i could get my hands on, and searches online.
right now, i just have young ones here during the day. they are all two and under. so we haven't had alot of long term, in depth studies yet. some are a week, some just a day, depending on their attention spans.
one day last week when we were outside playing in the snow, they were amazed by our icicles on the roof. (they were literally the whole height of the house, some touched the ground !!!) so we brought some inside and put them in the sensory table, and on a shower curtain on the floor ( you should have seen me struggle with an 8 foot icicle, trying to get it in the door:
they touched and played with them for quite awhile. we poured hot water on them, painted with them, watched them melt, tasted them, hammered on them with chisels (the outside is kind of foggy, but the insides are clear like glass), measured them, pretty much anything you could think of to do with ice. (we put some in the freezer to pull out in the summer!!!!!) i took notes on what they were learning, and some of the things they said, and took lots of pictures. then i took a posterboard, and pretty much "scrapbooked" it. ( i typed the words so it looked neat and tidy) it hangs on the wall that faces the door, so the parents can see it as soon as they walk in. and its down a little low, so the kids can see it as well. (they really love to see themselves in pictures!!!)
now, during this time, they were, (and still are), hooked on trains. so we had two "studies" going on at once.Comment
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I have all boys and one girl that i watch, well lately they've been playing with the dolls, dressing them, changing them. Can you imagine taking pictures and hanging them up so their dads can see them playing with the dolls.Comment
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But observe what they are doing with the dolls. taking them to the store? or the doctors? or on a train ride? is it the clothes they are interested in? a lesson in washing laundry may be in order
whatever they are doing with them is what i would play off of.
of course, if they're anything like my boys, they're swinging them around like light sabers, or hanging them off the chair by their ankles, pretending they are shark bait
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I agree with MelsKids. There are a lot of lessons that can go with playing with dolls. Are they dressing the dolls and improving their fine motor coordination? Are they pretending to be their mommies and answering their cries, feeding them and taking care of them? You could write down what they're talking about with their babies and hang it up next to the pictures. Or could could make a chart about what babies need. You could even invite in a parent who has a little baby (if you don't have any in childcare) and have them be a special guest, talking about how they take care of their baby.Comment
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Last fall one of the children said " I wish I could go inside of my body so I can see what it looks like"
We ran with it. By the time we completed this (over three months) the children could tell you about their heart, how it works and what it does. They learned about bones, including what happens when one gets broken and they were provided REAL cast materials and casted each other as well as dolls and broken sticks. They could tell you the function of the brain and what it looks like. Our environment became a docotrs office, an xray techs room, etc. We provided them with REAL medical tools and they also learned about the importance of proper nutrition, exercise, etc. There is so much detail I don't have time to share it all, but by the time we ended the study (over 3 months after we started) these children were like little med experts!
We ALWAYS start with a comment or question from a child or group of children. Then we use a web to plan ideas for each area of the program. Then we decide what we need to accomplish our goals. Then we enlist parents to bring in materials - for instance with this particular project our EMT parent brought in xrays and cast materials, a DR. parent brought in tools and skeletons, etc. and was a guest visitor for the children to ask questions and discuss things with.. We continue the project for as long as the children are interested and usually end up branching off into other projects along the way.
I document with LOTS of pictures. And, artwork - lots of writing and artwork. The children will then dictate theirt stories to me and I'll write it on a separate paper, make a frame and hang it up.
We are currently learning about artic animals and global warming. A child saw on television that the polar ice is melting and asked me "what happens to the polar bears when all the ice melts?"
Often times we have more than one study happening, as different groups of children have differing interests.
Use your imagination when planning and preparing.....children are capable of learning far more than we give thme credit for, as long as we provide them the resources!
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BTW, photo documentation does not need to take up lots of space.
Photo albums are great for telling the story.
buy old small standing desktop calendars when they are like 10 cents and make litlle scrapbooks out of them - just cover each page, front and back with cutouts and then add the picture and a little note about what is happening. Then they are a standing flipbook of phots.
Make accordion style stand up frames out of posterboard and add photos.
websites are great resources for this....I really need to get mine back up.Comment
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