We were all looking forward to visiting Paulik Park again, a hidden little gem within our own city. Last time, we had a lot of fun exploring and seeing things for the first time. I wondered what the children would remember. What made an impression? Was it Jeanette Lee's art? Was it the garden stones inlaid with poetry? The unique and diverse forest of trees? Was it the playground?

Our team discussed ways to make the trip go a bit deeper, perhaps setting out with an intention. Many ideas were tossed around and then Bonnie came up with a great idea. She took photos of park elements to create a sort of "scavenger hunt". Children would be put into pairs and tasked to find the 'real' item. We thought this would support learning around the idea of 'looking closely' as well as create new friendships.


The teams sat together on the bus and it was a really great choice. The bonding started immediately and teams were secure before the game even commenced. The teams were as follows and upon looking at their photos, this is what they said they were looking for:

Emma & Matias: a birdhouse
Kahlen & Koltyn: flowers
Joban & Makena: bench
Connor & Miele: a tangly tree
Kensie & Grace: golf thingy
Rhys & Addie: pokey plants
Jack & Sebastian: bird nest
Rhyan & Jordyn: cut down tree

We walked amongst the trails together trying to find our picture clues. This activity proved to be mostly successful but not entirely. Sometimes they were very attentive, other times they seemed disinterested and just wanted to do their own thing. I wonder if we had divided into smaller groups if the focus might have been different. Or perhaps we should have played freely first and then tried to focus on the game. I think it is important to reflect on our programming and come to terms with the fact that not all our plans work out as we hope.









However, what did come out of this activity was very interesting. Some of the teams bonded in very new ways and created a seemingly instantaneous friendship. For example, Miele and Connor played together the whole rest of the day, laughing, holding hands, sliding down the slide with their bodies tangled. It really was very, very lovely.

There were so many wonderful comments and conversation made throughout the day. I will try to share a few snippets of them.


They discovered some logs piled up and then Rhyan shouted "We found a beaver dam!"  to which  Addie exclaimed proudly "We are making a beaver dam!" I love this connection to our last inquiry!

And then a new idea about the logs–

Jack: It's kinda like camping.
Emma: I've been camping before.
Miele: Me too.
Sebastian: I went camping in a motor home.
Emma: I was a little scared of the dark.
Miele: I love dark.

Connor looked up and saw a shoe, dangling by its lace, from a tall branch.


The shoe instigated the following comments:

Connor: Someone died.
Makena: A shoe, a shoe ( telling everyone)
Rhys: Or maybe somebody got burnt by a fire and jumped up there.

Emma found a piece from a pair of sunglasses. She commented on it catching the light.

Children made music on the tree- did this connect to our music making at snack the other day?

Sebastian said "This is like rosemary."- how cool!

Makena cleverly connected this orange painted leaf to an orange painted X we saw last time we  came.

The X. She ran over to show us the link between the two.

Loving the mud. Quite slippery one might say… slippery enough for two children to fall in!

We found a "fairy house". Children made up a short story and Addie said that Jeanette made it.

They spied these animals through a fence. They live in a  backyard in the house next door.

We ended our day at the playground and we enjoyed watching the children as their energy exploded. It really was something! They all seemed to be playing a pirate game with sharks and snow queens. I am amazed at their ability to work together in a  game and yet also be able to have their own agenda. I think this is a fascinating skill- they find ways to hold their own place, character and yet somehow relate to the game. It was so nice to see that everyone was included in their own way. They are a tight group indeed.

The week was full, beginning with Snowy Monday! The snow was perfect for creating a wide variety of snow creations- chairs, slides, angels, castles, forts, humongous balls, and tiny balls. Snow was tasted by many little tongues, reaching out to feel its coldness, its lightness, its whiteness. Eyes gazed up at me, looking for approval or disapproval– I let them decide for themselves if this was a good choice. I think we need to allow them time and power to make small decisions for themselves.

Children are often given what I term 'calculated choices' such as "Do you want to brush your teeth before or after your bed time story?" or "Do you want to wear your black pants or your jeans?"but often we do not allow them to make on the spot choices about their own safety, health or social interactions. I am concerned about our need to protect them from everything– what implications will this have down the road? As children grow and enter into the 'real' world, they will be faced with many dilemmas and decisions that they will need to make without a guardian angel whispering in their ear. Don't we want to arm them with their own power and integrity so they can make sound decisions for themselves? Choices that affect them and others positively, without harming themselves, others or their environment? I believe we do, so yes, I allowed them to taste the snow if they felt that was a good option. As an educator, I am always balancing being an experienced adult around an inexperienced child. I am here to keep them safe but I am also here to support their learning in all areas. There are many grey areas– how do you as parents manage these grey areas? I would love to hear!

Another moment of epiphany for me happened yesterday, completely out of the blue. Emma was eating snack and then she tapped her spoon on her thermos. Then she tapped it on her fruit cup. Then on her ice pack. Then on the table. You know where this is going! A natural rhythm developed. She stood up. She shook her hips and bum, wiggling to the beat. Then Jack tapped his hand on his water bottle, then he took the lid from his tiffin and banged it on his water bottle. Then Rhys started to tap his spoon on his container. Miele emptied her berries onto the table so she could use the container as a drum. Connor slapped his hand on the table creating a louder beat. Suddenly we found ourselves in a band! I danced to their rhythms. I asked Emma to stop and start the music so I could play "Freeze". We had so much fun!

And, then, naturally, it stopped. Snacks were tidied up and put away and children moved on to the other activities. At lunch, a few little taps were made but it did not carry the weight or interest from the morning snack. Later I thought about this moment and felt very happy and truthfully, proud. I feel that I have come to a place where I can honestly say I am a responsive educator. I am able to let learning occur as it arises without fearing every possible consequence. Could this have gotten out of hand? Yes! Could this become a problem at other meals? Yes. But did it? No! And, if it did, could I not, as their teacher, mentor, and friend, settle it down to the point where it is acceptable again?  Yes! I am feeling so so wonderful about where I am in my teaching. I have so much room to grow and I believe I am on exciting personal journey as an educator.

Emma beginning the rhythms.

Jack and Rhys joining in.

Jack banging his tiffin lid.

Miele lining up her containers to make music.

Connor using his hand to drum.

Here are some other moments from our day–

Bingo has been very popular this week after playing with our grandpals on Wednesday.

Grace developing her fine motor skills.

Addie and Matias enjoyed the challenge of following 'instructions'.

The children are independently getting clipboards and working. This is a raccoon.

Jordyn spent a long time creating these designs and adding details.

Connor used his own hand to paint the raccoon's hand. He bridged his learning from circle as we talked about the similarities between human and raccoon hands.

We looked at all the figures for our community art project.

We emptied the compost together.

Thanks to all for a wonderful week!

Emily

I thought to myself  "I don't have anything special to write about this week". But the truth is, I have been finding everything special in our class. Each and every moment, there is a child doing something interesting.

What is interesting?

• Building with Keva planks
• Washing paint off hands and arms
• Changing from boots to shoes
• Pretending to sell fruits and vegetables
• Arguing over the cash register
• Reading a book alone on a couch
• Tearing masking tape off its roll
• Drawing raccoons
• Opening a snack container
• Eating noodles without spilling them all over the floor
• Creating a shopping list for making sushi tomorrow
• Running, jumping, leaping, falling on the turf
• Playing football ( yes, football complete with proper ball and teams!)
• Going to the bathroom so independently
• Taking turns, sometimes with ease, sometimes with great difficulty
• Listening in group discussion time
• Sharing their thoughts in group discussion time
• Negotiating who sits where and with whom at lunch time
• Organizing their bags, coats and other stuff in their cubbies

and listening to their conversations like this one-

Jack: You cannot marry someone you met a long time ago.
Kahlen: You can't marry someone in your family.
Miele: I want to marry my baby brother. She (pointing at Emma) is not going to marry Jack.
Kahlen: She wants to marry Jack but he doesn't want to marry her.
Jack: You just can't marry someone you knew for a long time (does he repeat this out of necessity?)
Emma: (looking at me) That's not even true, right?
Kahlen: When we marry, can you wear whatever you want? The flower girl has to match the bridesmaid dress.
Jack: Last wedding when mom and dad married, my mom threw the flowers.
Kahlen: I'm going to be a flower girl for my auntie's wedding.









The joy of teaching.

Emily

 Rising….the title of our community art project. In embarking on this art project, I made a pledge to myself that I would not lose focus on the process and become too product oriented. The idea that started small became large and although I was excited and grateful for the opportunity to work with an accomplished artist, I really did not want to lose sight of the goal of the project; to create a unique, visually appealing, vibrant piece of art that involved our community and made a statement about our centre. And, happily, this is exactly how this project is shaping up!

Jeanette Lee, our resident artist, is truly amazing on all fronts. She is dedicated more then one could have imagined; her attention to detail is exemplary; her commitment to the student's ideas is solid and respectful; her ability to conceptualize the piece using their ideas and drawings is brilliant. Honestly, I could not have asked for a better fit to work with our Preschoolers, Out of School children, Youth and Older Adults.

Thus far the process has been wonderful. Jeanette has worked with each age group on several occasions and the children feel very comfortable with her. The preschoolers had the unique opportunity to see her sculptures and have made deep and meaningful connections to our community through this relationship. The older students have asked many questions- about materials, the process, and threw out lots of "how's" and "what "if's". The Youth group is a mix of many different students, some of whom did not really know each other prior to starting this project. I have watched as they have muddled their way through finding a common ground. They had to work together, making artistic decisions in some kind of democratic way. I am impressed by their ability to unionize their ideas despite their differences.

Each group worked in their own way to come up with their design to paint on their figure. I was concerned about our preschoolers- how could their ideas be represented? We had talked about painting shapes on the figure but what shapes? In our class, I decided to cut out an exact replica of the figure onto paper and see what shapes the children generated. Nicole drew the figures and the children worked in teams of four to design the figures, coming up with some very interesting free form shapes. Jess and Barbi's class decided to let each child draw a shape on a small piece of paper. We then gave all of these drawings to Jeanette and she transferred them to the steel figures by outlining them. When we showed the children the designs, they were elated to find 'their' shape! I am so pleased that there is a piece of each individual on these figures.

One of the four paper figures used to design shapes.

We always love celebrating Chinese New Year! The community is abuzz with the excitement of a new year in the Lunar calendar. Bonnie was tasked with organizing all the activities and she did a wonderful job! She set up lots of different stations for the children to explore.

Lantern making

Cooking

Figures to act out stories

Chinese character writing

Food in dress-up area

Treasures

One of my favourite stations was the "Build your own Lion Dance Head". Rather than offer them something already with a predicted artistic outcome, Bonnie put out materials to create a piece they could use in a lion dance. Boxes, tape, toilet paper rolls, cotton, markers, scissors and shiny red paper were placed on a table for the children to use as they needed.

Kahlen worked hard! She wanted pointy teeth!

The Lion Dance

 I overheard the following snippets of conversation at this station:

Miele: We needs lots of tape.
Kahlen: We needs lots and lots of tape. And fur.
Jack: It's like opening a present (referring to covering the box with red tissue paper)
Rhyan: Where are the horns? Do you need a tail?
Miele: We need a lot of fur. But not get the glue all furry.
Kahlen: I will cut triangles for teeth.

As the food was cooking I heard Jack say " It smells delish!" to which Emma replied "That's the noodles." Jack then said " Instead of delicious we say delish". He sported a huge grin when telling me this fact!

Response to the fried noodles with Chinese cabbage, carrots, bbq pork, soya sauce and garlic was positive.

Koltyn: Can I get more?
Joban: I like it (he even surprised himself!). Yummy! I like the yellow thing. (the noodle)
Sebastian: I like it. I like the cabbage.
Makena: I don't like it. Wait, I changed my mind. I do like it.
Jack: I like it. This kind of noodle is at the mall.
Rhys: I like it.
Rhyan: I like the noodles.
Jordyn: I like it. I like the pork.
Addie: I don't like pork. I like the noodles.
Kahlen: I like the pork.
Miele: I don't like it, I LOVE it! I'm eating the whole plate!
Emma: I love everything. I want more!

Bonnie told an engaging story about the animals in the calendar and I was amazed at how much information the children already knew. I like the idea of introducing them to new calendars; it opens up our thinking. What do they understand about time? What meaning does a day have? A week? A year? What do they need to understand about our calendar? Is this valuable for them and if so…how? I find myself always grappling with these concepts.

Other wonderful moments in our day…

Rhys is knitting!

Rhys was thrilled to use this big broom to sweep sand.

Makena joined in the sweeping fun.

Hard at work digging BIG holes!

Emma making 'moon cakes' for Chinese New Year.

Gung Hay Fat Choi! May we all have a prosperous and joyous year!

Emily