So I ask myself throughout the day, how can I give the children an opportunity for this wonder, through the use of beauty. Like in most things, each child has their own sense of beauty. So I have the rare opportunity to test out what they find beautiful. Sometimes it changes quickly, or, my favorite, it stays the same and allows us an in depth investigation. I like to leave small, unique things around the room to either entice a child to explore an area or to introduce a new texture. Soft, furry cloths with a wooden bird on top. A tray of water and rose petals. Ice cubes with paint inside. A wicker box with a lid. What is inside? What does it feel like? What if I taste it? How does it change?
Monday, May 27, 2013
The Wonder in Beauty
So I ask myself throughout the day, how can I give the children an opportunity for this wonder, through the use of beauty. Like in most things, each child has their own sense of beauty. So I have the rare opportunity to test out what they find beautiful. Sometimes it changes quickly, or, my favorite, it stays the same and allows us an in depth investigation. I like to leave small, unique things around the room to either entice a child to explore an area or to introduce a new texture. Soft, furry cloths with a wooden bird on top. A tray of water and rose petals. Ice cubes with paint inside. A wicker box with a lid. What is inside? What does it feel like? What if I taste it? How does it change?
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Movement: A Link to Limits and Challenges
"No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world." - Robin Williams

With all the focus on families and homes lately, it may seem as though we've let go of our past focus: movement. Of course, movement is an ongoing exploration for... well, for everyone. Babies begin discovering movement when they are still in utero. As we grow into wobblers, we learn to not only command the basic movements of our fingers and arms but how to balance and affect gravity. Toddlers focus their discovery on the cause and effect of their movements. What happens if I push my friend? What if I don't move out of the way for someone who is walking past? Can I sit on a dog/cat/baby? Children continue this discovery of movement into their adulthood and adults continue it until the day they die. How far can I push my body? When I reach that point where I feel exhausted from running/working/playing, can I catch a second wind? The questions change over time, but the intent is still: Where are the limits to what I can do?
We seek out limits for so many reasons. Limits are comforting. It's nice to know where the boundaries lay and what to expect. It also sets us up for success. Knowing that it's important for you to have at least X hours of sleep per night helps you plan your day accordingly. Understanding that your body will ache if you don't get in your daily run is important to your mental and physical health. Remembering that you like to have fifteen minutes to yourself in the morning before you start your day is important. Each of these little limits that we know about ourselves helps us to be the best version of ourselves.

We stay up too late to see if our sleep cycle can survive a night that we don't want to miss. The toddler pushes his friend off the ottoman to see how their friend will react. The preschool tests the limits of their own body by jumping from the FOURTH step up instead of the second. Can I make it? Can I push myself that extra bit? This fairly simple opportunity to challenge a limit is how we build the confidence and ability to challenge the limits set around us later in life.
I am so very, very passionate about encouraging children to be active participants in our community. To ask not only "What is the limit? Where do we draw the line? What rules exist?" but "Why? What's the logical reasoning behind this? Why not this other limit instead?" Most importantly, though, I hope they ask, "Can it be different than it is? Can it be better than it is?"
So, no, movement hasn't left our classroom. We are still discovering it, challenging it, and second guessing why it works the way it does.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Warm Weather Provocations
collecting |
reaching |
feeling |
The most interesting thing I noticed through our exploration was there were two common behaviors that happened with the children: collection and full body exploration.
The other way the children explored this provocation, was to lay or sit on the tray or use their hands to splash and feel the water. This contrasts from the finer motions of collecting objects as they navigate their whole body on and off the tray and then experimented with this idea of water-ness: what is water? this is wet! what happens when I hit it? taste it? Look at it? And the list of their interactions goes on and on.
Are sprinklers next?
Wonder is the heaviest element on the periodic table. Even a tiny fleck of it stops time. Diane Ackerman
Saturday, May 18, 2013
How We Build Community
At the Preschool House, there are many moments throughout the day that bring our school together and help us grow closer as a community. Having basic trust in the preschoolers allows these moments to occur more and more each day. We build up our community by:

Working together to keep our school clean.
Listening to a hurt
friend and giving them
what they need in that
moment.
Collaborating on rules and voting on projects.
York, Germany, and other stops along the way.
Connecting objects to one another to
create an endless road shared by all!
Communicating when something doesn't work.
Becoming a team to take care of our gardens and help create new life.
Rejoicing in a song before we share our meals together.
How did you build community today?
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Building Nests






Sunday, May 12, 2013
Oh to Feel...
“I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.”
-Oscar Wilde
This to me is a huge part of what we do at Tumbleweed. We encourage children to feel. We revel in children expressing what they need, when they feel. We empower children by giving them the opportunity to feel angry, upset, happy, frustrated, embarrassed, afraid and never judge those feelings. These are the emotions that make each of us who we are and if we cannot fully feel them and learn to understand them from birth, how are we to become emotionally capable and intelligent individuals?
There is nothing greater than watching Bob say, "I'm frustrated that I can't have that bowl," and in another instance Sally say, "I can tell you're frustrated, but I'm still using this bowl." Labeling emotions. Understanding emotions. Being there and being empathic. Feeling. Being free to feel and being validated for that feeling. Really, there is nothing greater.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Fitting Perfectly
In a Montessori classroom, the cylinder blocks give a child the opportunity to practice their visual discrimination of shape and size. The solid, cylinders have insets that fit perfectly and attractive knobs that simply beg to be grasped.
I introduced these into my infant classroom to see what would happen. They have not only been well received, but now a favorite gathering spot for all of the children. There is something about this material that draws the child in, both to fitting the cylinders and also to watching the roll around the room.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Mixing Mediums
I don't have a lot to say about this art provocation. I set it up thinking it would be neat to mix the materials we've been using together: string, shaving cream, and paint.

I had no idea for sure where the children would go with it. I thought maybe they'd make the strings into little nest-like patches as that's how we'd used them the previous week when talking about homes.

Some of the children did not join in so I stepped away from the art provocation to be available for everyone. I was near the table if I was needed, though. Those that did join in were intent and driven by their own internal ideas.

I wasn't needed. Not until the very end. And the result was more amazing than anything I would have guided into reality.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I had no idea for sure where the children would go with it. I thought maybe they'd make the strings into little nest-like patches as that's how we'd used them the previous week when talking about homes.

Some of the children did not join in so I stepped away from the art provocation to be available for everyone. I was near the table if I was needed, though. Those that did join in were intent and driven by their own internal ideas.

I wasn't needed. Not until the very end. And the result was more amazing than anything I would have guided into reality.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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