Rest Time
I often see early educators ask on different platforms how to handle non-sleepers at rest time. Most teachers seem to ask because it is very stressful time of day in a classroom. Responses often include quoting a state requirement for rest and also the range of answers from giving children “busy bags” or books to listening to audio stories to not requiring a rest time. All fine ideas that one would hope does not add to the stress that occurs for educators during “rest” time.
Some people claim rest time to be for curriculum planning and breaks. In my opinion this is what creates a hardship. The teachers have an agenda for themselves so it gets SO frustrating if they can’t accomplish what they expect. The expectation that teachers plan or break during rest is doomed to failure.
You need to know what your philosophy of rest time is. We should not see it as controlling children. There are schools that allow children to choose to rest where other children do not choose to rest. This is when you need to define your philosophy. We believe that everyone needs down time, a time to slow down, re-set and self regulate. We help our children to rest by setting the stage for rest. We cover the toys, dim the lights, and start with quiet music. We model our own rest time by quietly reading a book, writing notes, working on portfolios or messaging parents. We do not scurry about the room but rather sit quietly attending to our tasks. We use big pieces of flat cardboard to make partitions between children if needed.
We need to trust that children know their own bodies and we also need to help them to see that a resting period is healthy.
“Bad” Words
This post was written in part by Delaney Driscoll , Friendship Garden Nursery School Educator
You are not alone if you experience your child expressing themselves using bad or swear words!
Children hear the language being used around them, think about what you said when getting cut off in traffic, or dropping a bag in a hurry getting out the door. Children repeat this in and out of context. We appreciate that they are using their words to communicate how they feel, and also we’re trying to model for them more descriptive, appropriate replacement exclamations when we can.
We say silly things or use constructive language depending on the situation, children are usually not trying to be hurtful or “bad” they are being expressive. We appreciate families that help us explain why we can’t use those words since we can’t give meaning or explanation to them.
Next time you find yourself in a stressful situation, what will you say?
Re-Thinking Loose Parts
There is so much written about loose parts. I have recently enjoyed reading about loose parts in an “untraditional” way. As I am wondering about and embracing the philosophy that nearly everything can be a loose part, I find it’s really a mindset for your classroom rather than about any specific materials.
When we think of loose parts we are likely thinking of those objects we add to the environment rather than the environment itself. Tree cookies, velcro hair rollers, sticks, boxes, clips, and tires quickly come to mind as materials that children can use any way they can imagine. But what about tables, chairs, all weather and even art materials.
If we are not directing children as to how they must use these materials they will undoubtedly use them as loose parts. As always there are safety guidelines that need to be followed.
How will you see your child care surroundings differently?
Recharge and Renew
How do you practice self care? Is it enough to fill your cup and recharge you for the role of caregiver?
I find more and more people with more and more on their plates from caring for parents or raising grandchildren, to having an ill family member to working while going to school full time.
How do you plan for the R and R that all staff needs while operating a full time center? It is true we have a negative attitude when an educator needs to call out. Often for personal reasons or one has fallen ill due to the stress of life/work or let’s face it, winter illness and finally burnout. We need to regroup and see this as a valuable time for our colleagues to recharge! What about teachers who are also parents? We all need the time to recharge and renew to come back to work ready to work. Let’s try to put a positive spin on teacher’s finding time to take care of themselves.
An empty caregiver cannot “care’ at all. Take care.
Patience and Waiting
What is your fine line between doing something for a child and letting them experience doing it themselves? How long do you let a child work it out before stepping in and helping out?
Some examples:
Putting on shoes. It’s easy to watch the self-directed child that wants to do it themselves. How long do you wait on the distracted child? What about the frustrated child?
Engaging in an altercation with a classmate. How do you determine the threshold both can take before frustrations run too high or it gets physical?
Here are some things to consider.
Are you asking the child to do something or is the child self-motivated?
What will the child learn from the experience?
Match the age of the child to the task. Set reasonable expectations.
If you are a teacher, make sure that the family’s values are matched to yours.
Know your own threshold and make sure your threshold is not too high or too low.
Do you have time or do you have somewhere to be and need to make a quick decision.
Children need time to work things out on their own. We cannot be in a hurry if we want them to have agency and learn to make good choices. Step back and let learning happen!
Exploring Big Feelings
How do big feelings present in toddlers and preschoolers and how do adults support these feelings?
Children should be allowed to express their feelings in a safe place as they learn self-control. What does this look like for a child? It might be falling down on the ground and flailing about. It might include screaming, yelling, and/or crying. Commonly called a temper tantrum! There could be an element of being physical in the form of biting, scratching, hitting, kicking or destroying property. This is all a form of communication. We must check in with ourselves and handle our own emotions first. We must help children negotiate these feelings instead of breaking down ourselves.
First, allowing big feelings is important, this is the way a child learns to communicate. We do not like it if someone tells us, “You are OK”, or “to get over it”, or to stop feeling a certain way. We do not want to be told to “stop it” so why should a child be able to negotiate accepting this. We must check our own feelings first and then support theirs very calmly by naming their feelings and accepting them. We are supportive in positive feelings but tend to shut down the negative emotions.
While the latter is not ideal, we still need to provide a safe place for the expression of feelings. Sometimes we must step back and let them be physical in a safe place as they negotiate these big feelings.
Reach out if you want to discuss further!
Program Director Reflection
This post is a reflection assignment for my Financial Management of Early Childhood Programs class at the University of Alaska.
After reading The National Association of Education for Young Children’s, Program Administrator Definition and Competencies, NAEYC, 2007 https://oldweb.naeyc.org/academy/criteria/core_competencies.html and the article, “Is Your Work a Calling? An interview with Kimberly Cothran” by Margie Carter, EXCHANGE, September/October 2016 Is Your Work a Calling_Kim Cothran.pdf I have summarized my own skills as follows.
Three personal qualities I possess that allow me to be a good director are first, organizational skills, second, interpersonal skills and third, analytical skills.
The first skill, organization, helps to ensure that all certifications and record keeping, and policy and procedure up to date and easily accessible. Organization allows me to prioritize daily duties and make sure that each classroom is staffed and functioning at a high level. Organizational skills help to ensure that the environment is beautiful and safe. At the end of the day, organizational skills assure that another person could fairly easily pick up where I left off. This is important to me to know that operations would continue smoothly if I were absent.
The second set of skills, interpersonal skills, allow me to listen and respond to children, teachers and families to meet their needs with competence and knowledge. These skills include an ability to suspend judgement and value each person individually. Compassion and empathy allow me to communicate with both families and the teachers I work with. Fairness in negotiation and evaluation of teachers is an important interpersonal skill. Meeting people “where they are” and looking for the good in any situation help me to be a good director.
Analytical skills are the third set of skills that allow me to perform as a director. These skills involve the ability to understand the fiscal aspects of the business to be able to respond to cash flow, profitability and budgeting. Remaining current in the field by attending workshops, conferences, enrolling in class and reading and understanding current research and trends in early childhood in important to my success as a director.
Three responsibilities of a director that these qualities allow me to excel in are leadership, mentoring and advocacy.
Leadership to me is the ability to walk away from my job knowing that I have left people empowered to continue where I have left off. It is providing direction and vision to the organization. Leadership includes the ability to motivate and inspire those around you to provide the best customer service in a positive environment. Leadership also means surrounding myself with people smarter than me and being humble to them.
The second responsibility of a director is to be a mentor as well as a mentee. It is important to be a continual learner, learning from each other in this role. Being a mentor involves elevating people in their own journey and allowing them to do the same for you. It is a way to identify for yourself and your teachers individual and collective goals and objectives.
Lastly, being a director means advocating for children, families and the child care provider on a daily basis both at the local, state and national level. Advocacy happens in the center every day, we need to see ourselves as advocates and help teachers take it to the next level whether it be community, state or national.
In conclusion the director must wear many hats all the while being cognoscente of his/her own well-being and taking care to replenish his/her energy.
A Learning Community
What is a learning community? How do you fit in? Community is defined as the experience of belonging to a group including a feeling of unity with those in the group and a commitment to the functioning of the group. How is an adult community the same as a children’s’ classroom community?
I belong to many different communities of adult learners. The community that best meets my emotional, social, intellectual, and physical needs are simultaneously the groups I am comfortable in and I learn and enjoy myself. Many of my communities overlap. There are some groups that I belong to that only partially meet my needs and my commitment to these groups is less strong.
I reflect about the need for community as follows as I compare the groups I belong to and the classrooms I see daily.
As an adult in a community, I want to feel a sense of belonging to meet my emotional needs. This unifying sense is what has me coming back again and again. This can be accomplished by the way I am greeted and addressed and if I am given a name tag and offered a place for my things. Being offered food and drink and a place to sit would go a long way in making me feel welcome in the community. A familiar face helps me feel secure. This translates to the children’s environment as well.
In a learning community the children and parents are pleasantly greeted by someone familiar and the children have a labeled space for their things in a defined classroom. Around the classrooms, posted in various locations are family photographs and photographs of the children. In several classrooms these photographs are in frames the children can carry around with them. Some play objects such as boxes and blocks are adorned with the children’s photographs. The children are ushered into a favorite spot or into a familiar ritual with their caregiver as the parent leaves. Each classroom is equipped with an appropriate sized place for an adult and child to sit. In the perfect learning community teacher turn over would be very minimal and many personalized objects would be in each classroom. Lowered ceilings and soft elements would add additional emotional security in the environment.
My social needs as an adult are met by having someone introduce me to a person with interests similar to mine within a community. I want to be heard and respected for my view even if it is in opposition to another’s point of view. In the children’s classroom, the teachers encourage children with similar interests to play together. Social interventions are modeled and practiced.
In an intellectual community I want to be challenged to learn something new. I want to believe I can fail and still be supported. Ideally, I commit to working collaboratively and cooperatively within the group. This requires a commitment to a common goal. In children’s learning communities the teachers support the children in actively exploring the environment indoors and outdoors. The teacher allows for risk and failure. The teacher scaffolds the children’s learning in the classroom.
I feel part of a community when my basic physical needs are met. The community meets my need for shelter, a comfortable temperature, rest and activity, a bathroom and food. In the classroom community teachers allow for meeting these basic physical needs as well as the need for physical activity. Children are dressed in appropriate clothing for indoor and outdoor temperatures. The teachers provide for active and quite activities. The children have their diapers changed and they are fed regularly and often fed on demand! Teachers allow children to take physical risks within the confines of comfort. I encourage teachers to trust that the children know their abilities and limitations.
In conclusion in comparing adult communities with early learning classrooms in the most successful communities our emotional, social, intellectual, and physical needs are the same throughout and met in a similar way!
Reading and Constructivist Theory
A Reflection on Reading a Story and Constructivist Theory
Definitions
Constructivist Theory: A theory which states that children construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences.
Physical knowledge: Physical knowledge is discovered using one’s senses to explore objects and notice their qualities. It forms the basis of logical-mathematical knowledge.
Logical-Mathematical Knowledge: Logical-Mathematical Knowledge is constructed by each individual, inside his or her own head. It cannot be taught. It cannot be seen, heard, felt or told.
Social Knowledge: Social Knowledge must be told or taught by others.
A second reflection on the construction of knowledge.
In an interaction with two children, age 3.5 year old, one male and one female, the female grabbed a book off the shelf. She brought it to the chair I was sitting in, she thrust it into my lap and hoisted herself into my lap as well. She simply stated, “read this”.
Before I could read the book, she looked at, it opened it up and set it right side up (physical knowledge). She told me what the book was about by naming objects on the cover. I began to read the book. She interrupted with comments and an occasional question.
I continued to read the book adding a little commentary (social knowledge) to which she responded, “no, no not like that”. (logical –mathematical knowledge) I remembered to ask open ended questions and require her to find her own answers to which she did not respond.
I observed that the community culture of how to read a book must be an experience of turning pages then talking about the illustrations on the page and expecting certain answers. It seemed as though she had an expected answer for each page as she turned it. She answered her own questions and asked me for a confirmation from me and then she turned the page.
I occasionally added to her vocabulary (social knowledge). In actuality, she was reading the book, not I. I pictured in my mind what “reading” meant to her at this age and what “reading” means to me. Again, I was reminded to accept the child’s discovery of a book on her own terms. She was constructing a knowledge of reading and I was constructing a new knowledge of “reading a book”.
Upon continued reflection I thought about how many times I stopped learning from happening. My past cultural expectation is that we sit quietly listening to a reader read a book. My former community culture was to “sit quietly” which was a constraint of my mind only. The worry about interruption or “finishing the story” did not allow for authentic interactions and learning. The constraint of listening did not allow for the child’s meaningful, purposeful task.
The idea of not interrupting children’s learning is coming into the forefront of my observations of myself and other educator’s.
I am constructing new knowledge scaffolding on the old and accommodating a new idea into my practice. I accept the challenge of figuring out when to add social knowledge and when it is not necessary to interrupt what he child is constructing.
I recognize that this is an ongoing quandary since we are always imposing our own timeframe, observation, prejudice and bias to create our community culture. How do we know that the moment that we chose to speak or move is the precise moment that the child is on the edge of his/her own assimilation of knowledge. Are we scaffolding or interrupting? This is my current inquiry.
A Leaf in the Hot Tub
A Leaf in the Hot Tub
A Reflection on Constructivist Theory
Definitions
Constructivist Theory: A theory which states that children construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences.
Physical knowledge: Physical knowledge is discovered using one’s senses to explore objects and notice their qualities. It forms the basis of logical-mathematical knowledge.
Logical-Mathematical Knowledge: Logical-Mathematical Knowledge is constructed by each individual, inside his or her own head. It cannot be taught. It cannot be seen, heard, felt or told.
Social Knowledge: Social Knowledge must be told or taught by others.
This weekend, I was watching two 3.5 year old children, one male and one female. They were swimming in the hot tub when the boy grabbed a leaf off of a nearby plant. My first thought was I hope he does not put that in the hot tub, I’ll have to clean it up.
Fortunately, I stopped that thought from coming out of my mouth. For goodness sake it was a small leaf! The leaf was brown and dry. He floated it on the water and watched it for a few minutes (physical knowledge, intrinsically motivated).
He then tried to pick it up at which point it disintegrated in his hand, he looked at it, turned his hand over and tried to shake it off. He finally asked me to help him get it off his hand. At this point I wiped away what was the leaf and put it on the edge of the tub. He briefly looked at it and turned away. I explained that he leaf had disintegrated (social knowledge). I said this at a time where there was no inquiry or curiosity. He was not interested.
He picked another leaf of the bush. He repeated the same process with the same results, until he exclaimed that the leaf had fallen apart when put in the water (logical-mathematical knowledge). I again used the term disintegrated. I mimicked as before that the whole leaf was now in pieces, it fell apart. He said, “disintegrated” and put a few more leaves in the water.
He continued this process of watching the leaves fall apart. He constructed a knowledge about the relationship between the water and the dry leaves (logical-mathematical). He repeated his process exclaiming the same results.
Later I had to take the filter cover off to check it for cleaning. We discovered the leaf debris and started a whole new inquiry about filtering the pool water and keeping debris out (social knowledge). He inquired whether these were the same leaves. It appeared perhaps he assimilated this information. We placed the pile of debris on the table and he briefly poked it and then tossed it. The inquiry ended there for the time. The other child did not have any involvement in this exploration. She was engaged in her own underwater pursuits.
Upon reflection I thought about how many times I stopped learning from happening. My past cultural expectation that we keep the hot tub water free of avoidable debris. I further expose that my former community culture was to quickly clean up “messes” was a constraint of my mind only.
The worry about an accident, injury or extra work did not allow for authentic interactions and learning. The constraint of listening did not allow for the child’s meaningful, purposeful task.
The idea of not interrupting children’s learning is coming into the forefront of my observations of myself and other educator’s. I am constructing new knowledge scaffolding on the old and accommodating a new idea into my practice.
I accept the challenge of figuring out when to add social knowledge and when it is not necessary to interrupt what he child is constructing. I recognize that this is an ongoing quandary since we are always imposing our own timeframe, observation, prejudice and bias to create our community culture. How do we know that the moment that we chose to speak or move is the precise moment that the child is on the edge of his/her own assimilation of knowledge. Are we scaffolding or interrupting? This is my current inquiry.