ELC

As we approached closer to the day of our Sports Day, the children were eager to know when it was actually going to happen.  “Is it today?” they would ask with inquisitive eyes. When we finally reached the day that it was going to be ‘one more sleep’ one can imagine the excitement in the air!  Hurray!

It was a joy for us to witness the smiling faces of the children and the parents, where there was such a rich experience of relationships taking place through both observation and action. Observation, as the parents followed the skills and strengths of the children from the bleachers, and action by taking part in the throwing and catching of beanbags with each other, having a length of uninterrupted time and space together.

We hope you will enjoy viewing the short slideshow below to revisit our morning together.

SPORTS DAY-Medium from YIS ELC on Vimeo.

Today was the ELC Sports Day, a celebration of their physical skills and the multi-faceted role that movement provides in their development. Children have a natural appetite for moving, a physical need and motivation to move. Movement is a central part of the children’s action, thinking and feeling, and highlights the pleasure and sense of well-being which is experienced as they are helped to realise their bodily potential. The children demonstrated body control and spatial awareness, an understanding of the concept of playing a game and were collaborative and cooperative.The opportunity to explore the more adventurous obstacle course demonstrated an ‘I can do it’ attitude, a willingness to try things out and take risks, which are important characteristics of effective learners. The smiles on the children’s faces and their laughter showed us how much joy sharing this special time with their parents brought. We hope that the children continue to develop a strong sense of self-efficacy and relish challenges and that we as teachers, continue to view movement as vital to children’s learning, that children’s thought process, expressive and social behaviour can also be looked at through ‘movement eyes’.

As observers of children, we anchor the view of humanness in children, and ourselves, as makers and remakers of a human world – we are drawers, story tellers, painters, sculptors, gardeners, the list continues.  We observe the children and try to describe them with the aim of making visible the children’s active engagement with the world, with other persons, with making things and with learning.  A descriptive review, created by Patricia Carini, has helped us to observe and to describe the child by asking ourselves questions, as much as possible, that is clear of evaluative language and free of being judgmental.  We look closely at their physical presence and gesture, disposition and temperament, connections with other people, strong interests and preferences, and their modes of thinking and learning.  As you read the E2 blog, we can begin to look at the child’s mode of thinking and learning through this question:  How does the child gain a firm understanding or internalize knowledge or inclined to figure things out?  From the E1 blog as the children relate and connect with each other with and through the entire ELC community and environment, we can ask ourselves:  “How does the child locate him/herself in relation to the larger community of children? And from the Atelier blog, looking closely at the child’s disposition and temperament, “What does the child care for deeply and what seems to stir this feeling?”

We are fortunate to be able to observe the relationships the children cultivated with their surroundings, materials and tools in which they use and explore on a daily basis. Through careful observation, we can see these relationships develop throughout the year. The children seem to have an innate desire to explore new ways of understanding the world around them. A simple way in which to learn more about something is to be persistent (being persistent plays a major part in learning more about something.)  We observe the children take such pleasure in newfound skills and tools to manipulate all sorts of materials.  The beaming joy the children display when they accomplish something is remarkable to witness. Their motivation is purposeful, self-directed and self-gratified as their ability and understanding increase.

One of many great examples that we would like to share is about a child who comes into class one day with an idea in mind.  She has been using clay and feels quite comfortable with it.  She automatically chooses clay as her medium and begins to work on her creation.  She starts with oil clay and creates her first model using all sorts of tools to explore boundaries of clay.  After many attempts to form a freestanding sculpture, she realizes that oil clay does not offer the rigidity her creation needs. The next day she tries again with white clay then she adds small beads to her sculpture.  Her sculpture does not flop; it stands up the way she molds them.  She seems very happy with the outcome.  The teacher tells her that it still needs to dry before she can paint it.  She nods and puts her creation away to dry. Her willingness to wait shows that she is developing an understanding of clay property in both its moist and dry state.

This experience enriches the child’s ongoing relationship with clay; it increases her understanding about how clay works and how different tools can be used to manipulate clay to create something meaningful. The child is able to transform a conceptual idea into a physical form; expressing herself in a language that she is gradually becoming more fluent.

FIRST ATTEMPT:

SECOND ATTEMPT:

At this time of year, the excitement and inquiry that naturally appears during morning exploration is somehow deepened into a time that carries greater bonds, interactions, and concentration. The weather allows for the opening of spaces and the children reflect in their play how their friendships, their confidence, and their interests have developed and matured throughout the year. At times, E1 and E2 children choose to explore in each other’s classrooms, to play together or side by side. Outside play increases and events such as the blooming of the roses in the park add another dimension to the explorations. Last week the E1 class was in awe of the roses on their way back from the library. The walk through the rosegarden has become a part of our Friday experience and the transformation over the course of a couple weeks from buds to a rainbow of blossoms was astounding to us all.

This week a few E1 and E2 children chose to return to the garden, taking in the many colors and smells and enjoying a time for reflective observation and drawing. The inquiry that goes through a child’s mind during play or sustained concentration can not always be known or documented, but the contentment and happiness that arises can be sensed and noticed. These are feeling that we are all familiar with, when we are with people and in an environment that we know and care about. This is the essence of the ELC and the environment that surrounds us.

Whenever children go for walks, they often stop and crouch down low as something catches their eye. We never know what treasures they will find on the ground, it can be flower petals, leaves, sticks, pinecones, stones, feathers and other precious things. What do they do with these treasures when they go back home or return to school?

A child visited the Atelier with a uniquely shaped branch and he wanted to  paint it. He found this treasure on his way to the ELC that morning. He first mixed several colors of paint in a jar to make the right color he needed. He carefully stroked the branch with a brush until it was all covered with the paint. He also found joy in looking at the paint dripping from the branch into the tray below. He spent the whole morning exploration time painting the branch.

The following day, he brought in two rolly-pollies to school, which he also found on his way to school. He was excited to continue working on his branch, this time for the rolly-pollies, and his branch treasure progressed into making a house for them. An E2 child was sitting next to him and shared with him her idea on how to make the branch stand up right. “You can make a ball (with clay), put it in the middle and stick it on!” He tried as she described and it worked out well.

He was perhaps inspired by the red birdhouse (Atelier blog on May 10), which may have influenced his choice to paint the base in red. Then he released his two rolly-pollies there. “He likes the tree and he likes the paint!” One of them climbed up on the top of the branch and the other one walked around the ground.

We thought about what kinds of things rolly-pollies would like for their house. He chose some natural materials and placed them on the red ground of his tree house, like designing a garden. I appreciated that moment in time as we sat in front of the house and spent a quiet time together, looking at the rolly pollies in this space that morning.

In our daily work with the children, we experience the joy of constructing a  communicative relationship between the children’s and teacher’s learning in the space which lies between the predictable and the unexpected, for surely learning is stunted when one already knows the endpoint of that learning journey.  It is in this orientative and relational space where questions arise through dialogue and discovery, and where the comparison of ideas are situated.  The children constantly remind us of the importance given to the element of surprise, where learning becomes so much more meaningful and joyful.  What surprise can one strawberry bring to a group of 16 children in E2?  What surprise stirs the interest of the E1 children when uncovering the cover of the sandbox, a course of action and learning totally unexpected for the teacher?  What surprise meaning is hidden behind a child’s design of a leaf slope on a birdhouse? I hope you will join me in seeing how the element of surprise expands the quality of our learning.

The weather has changed, and with it, new explorations have been occurring in our outdoor environments: Bob has emerged from his hibernation, the snap peas have grown big enough to be eaten off the stalk, the violas and pansies have turned to seed.

With this change, both old and new spaces begin to be used in different ways. The opening of the small sand play area in the back of the ELC leads to new surprises and discoveries.

“Shall we open up the sand area in the back?”

“Yeah!”

“I want to go there!”

“Let’s bring some shovels and buckets!”

A small group of children choose to play in the back sand area, ready with shovels and buckets, yet a surprise waits for everyone.

The large white tarps are lifted and secured and below the tarp the teacher immediately notices the large plastic basket that already contains shovels and buckets.

The children, on the other hand, immediately notice something completely different: Rolly Pollies!

The conversations and careful play that ensue do not require buckets or spades: the small little woodlice, the rolly pollies, take center stage.

“Look! Look! Rolly pollies!”

“I see a baby one!” “It’s so cute!”

“I see a daddy one!”

“I like it!” (as the child lets the woodlouse crawl on her hand) “It is a little bit ouchy!”

“Ouchy? Can I try?” (the teacher follows the lead of the child to see if the woodlouse’s trek on skin might be ouchy.) “Oh, I see, a little ouchy to you, a little ticklish to me!”

“It’s dead, look look!” ( A dead woodlouse is found)

“Maybe somebody have a knife!” “Somebody go like this! (child indicates the chop of a knife)

“There are so many! Look look!”

“Do you want to try? I’ll help you.” (child encourages another child to try holding the rolly polly)

The tentative child briefly allows the woodlouse to crawl on his hand and says, “It’s ouchy.” “I scary.” The child who originally said “It’s ouchy,” now changes her position and description, “It’s not ouchy!”

The joyous conversation continues as different permutations of rolly polly locations and sizes change, and as more insects are discovered. The care with which the children cradle the rolly pollies or show them to each other is transferred to others as new children enter the space or as new insects are discovered.

“Don’t kill it”

“Be gentle!”

The original intention of the uncovering of the sand box, which was playing in the sand, receives some attention, but it is the connection to the natural world and the creatures within it, that captures the attention of all and allows the natural flow of discovery and inquiry to flow, with children sharing their knowledge about the world as well as expanding their knowledge through their conversations and interactions. Encounters such as these allow for development in so many areas: inquiry, knowledge building, respect, caring, risk taking, collaboration, communication, empathy, and tolerance, and the drive behind all of this is the enthusiasm brought on by the children, the focus brought on by surprise, and the unexplainable connections we make to the natural world and to each other.

The child who previously worked on his red birdhouse (Atelier blog on April 26) has completed this long term project by installing it in the dining area where the E2 children have created a family of trees. There is a new addition to the birdhouse: a chain of leaf drawings that the E2 children drew last autumn. He stapled these leaves to create a gentle slope from the birdhouse to the ground.

He explained his work to me, “So the birds don’t have to fly here (the birdhouse). They just have to walk here (leaves). So if their wings are too tired they just have to walk.”

I was deeply touched by the thought of his design, for to me, this chain of leaves is not only a helpful implement for birds but a beautiful representation of the child and his gentleness when he was designing it.  If I were a bird, I would, of course, appreciate having wings to fly in the sky but how wonderful to be able to walk on such a beautiful leaf slope leading me to a breathtaking red colored birdhouse.

One strawberry has been harvested from our strawberry plants in the garden. With beaming smiles the children bring it to the meeting to discuss the possibilities for what to do with it. At first the teachers worried that there might be tears and arguments about who would eat the strawberry but as usual the children surprised us. There was no tension, without even words there seemed to be a shared understanding amongst the children that they would find a way to share this precious fruit. The first idea was to bake a strawberry cake, which everyone agreed would be the perfect way to ensure that everybody could eat some of the strawberry.

“We can collect some more and make strawberry cake. There’s heaps out there. Maybe we can go out and pick them.” 
“Maybe now, we can find some strawberry now and put them in. One tiny look.” 
“We need lots of strawberries to make s cake. When it was my 3rd birthday, my mum made me s cake and she used lots and lots of it.” 
“We have to know how to make more strawberries.” 
“Put tiny bit of water a day, wait a little while and put more water in.” 
“Water put in and grow up up up. Give it little bit top, put not so much. Bug is come. It might be little bit broken but bumblebee help growing up strawberries.” 
“Do we have an oven?”
“Yeah, in the Piazza.” 
“We don’t have all the ingredients. We need sugar,” 
“Everyone bring the things.” 
“Do we got butter?”
“And eggs.” 
“We don’t need oven for a cake. We don’t need to cook a cake because if we cook cake, it won’t be yummy.” 
“My mum cooked my strawberry cake and we need strawberry icing. It’s really important. If you don’t cook a cake it’s still batter. If you taste not good batter in real life you’ll get sick. We can make a big cake and share. We need lots of lots of batter.” 
“Maybe carrot cake because Nicky likes carrot.”
“Strawberry cake for the ones who like strawberry and carrot cake for the ones who like carrots.” 
“How about we do it like the big park. Before the park we have to make it. We need a big bag because it’s a big cake. We can make chocolate cup cake for Nicky.” 

It is then determined that one large cake with lots of icing maybe difficult to carry and that a box containing smaller cupcakes maybe a better plan.

“We will make a lot, we will need a lot of sugar.” 
“Can we make it today?” 
“No we can’t make them today because if it’s not on the list for today then we can’t make it.” 

“It takes a long time to make, it’s a surprise so we have to make a big present for them.” 

The dialogue was heartfelt and the teachers felt the respect and the empathy that the children held for each other. The conversation was beautiful in the directions it took, from initially understanding that everyone had a desire to eat the strawberry, leading to baking enough cake for the class, to knowing some children so well as to recognise a love of carrots rather than strawberries which needed to be accommodated and finally a deep wish to include the mums and dads and our special weekend trip to Shikinomori  Koen. The final agreement, that the cupcakes should be a surprise was unanimous, as that feeling of wonder and surprise is essential to preserve in children and adults both. The children wish the parents to experience the joy of opening an unexpected delicious treat on a special occasion.

Over the next few days the children keep vigil on the strawberry plants, protecting them from bugs or other predators and pick the fruit when it is ripe and red. Eventually there are enough to bake strawberry cupcakes.