Development in Mark Making

This week we are talking about our families and who lives in our houses. The children all did black pen drawings of their families. We made sure to talk about facial features and other body parts that we could include in the drawings. Some children even included pets!
I've posted some of the children's drawings here to show different stages in the development and progress of mark-marking.

Although this drawing shows the added development of actual writing, the drawing itself depicts very basic features. Children often focus on the face and leave out the rest of the body when they are in the early stages of drawing people. I call this the "floating heads" stage.

This one cracks me up!

This is quite a common stage in drawing people as well - the legs growing straight out of the head.

"The preschematic stage stage of drawing is the first conscious creation of form which provides a tangible record of the child's thinking process. The first representational attempt is a person, usually with circle for head and two vertical lines for legs. Later other forms develop, clearly recognizable and often quite complex. Children continually search for new concepts so symbols constantly change." -learning design

This week, we are taking photos of the children with the person who drops them off to continue our families display. We've also asked parents to bring in photos of their families to help with "family vocabulary" like "brother," "sister," "uncle," and "grandmother."

As a result of some of the drawings that lack body parts, we are going to be tracing our bodies to create a display. We will label basic body parts, take photos of our hands, legs, feet, elbows, etc. and discuss where we can put them on the body tracing. We will also use mirrors again to help us become more familiar with what our bodies look like. I can't wait to see their drawings after all this focus!

A Seashell

J. found a shell in the garden! What a great discovery. He noticed the lines on the shell, and imagined it came from a place called "Shell-land."

J. found another shell in the sand pit. It had dirt stuck inside it. He used the first shell as a spade to dig it out, and rinsed them in the sink.

At Circle Time, the children gathered to look at, feel, and smell the shell. Some children said they've seen shells at the beach, others said the shell felt rough and had lots of lines. We had some great discussion about what the children like to do at the beach and who they go with. We even had some discussion about how the seashell came to be in the garden. Some children thought a seagull dropped it there. All the children had something to contribute because it was something they could all relate to. It was great having an impromptu Circle Time with the children about one of their own discoveries. That's was Pre-School should be about.

Class Tour - better photos

I took some better photos of my new classroom this week!

This shot is looking to the story corner, construction center, and art table.

Small World and puzzles table, with the role play corner behind it. To the right, there's a door to the Nursery garden! I love that we have direct access from the classroom to the outdoor space.

The story corner has a lovely new carpet. The children like to choose a minibeast to sit on. I love that we have a Smartboard, too. I'm so excited to integrate it into the children's experiences!

The art/writing area is so organized, thanks to my Nursery Nurse! Hopefully it stays this way! I've really been on at the kids this week to make sure they look at where materials belong and put them back in the right spot. I really think it's important to make the children responsible for their space.

There's a huge whiteboard right by the art table. The children have decided to put up some of their drawings from the first week of school. I have some talented artists on my hands!

We have a HUGE role play corner. The children are quite imaginative compared to my class last year. They love role play. It's interesting to watch them interact with each other.

I love this shelf. One side holds resources for the water table, one side holds resources for the sand table. The children choose for themselves what they want to use and take it to the sensory tables themselves. I'm striving for the children to be independent in their learning experiences and in the general operation of the classroom.

Since my classroom is massive this year, I have the luxury of having this great double easel! One side is for painting and the other is a whiteboard. I love that 3 children can work easily and comfortably at the easel.

The resource boxes are clearly labeled with text AND photos so the children know where things belong and can put away resources independently. It's important for children to see the text as well, despite not being able to read yet. I strive for my classroom to be a text-rich environment so children become familiar with it as they begin to mark-make and write.

Every class in the school received their own huge floorbook to contribute to throughout the year. My children are heavily involved in deciding what goes into it and what they want it to say. This particular page documents our class trip to the Bear Factory where we chose a new outfit for our class bear, Dora. We took a city bus into town and everything! The children were able to talk about waiting for the bus, how to cross the street, and what landmarks the recognized on the way to town.

Here's Dora, our class bear! She has QUITE the wardrobe! What you see here isn't the half of it! The kids love dressing her up and using her in role play.

This year, we've started a new teeth-brushing method with Brush Buses! I LOVE these. They are so much better than the children having individual boxes with their toothbrush in it. Each child has a picture (apple, milk, strawberry, etc.) that corresponds with a toothbrush with the same picture. They have been really good with putting their brushes back in the right spot!

That's it for the updated tour with better photos!

"The Rules"

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Ah the dreaded First Week of School when you need to start right back at the beginning. You forget how much work it is to get back into a routine, settle the children into school, and establish "The Rules." My school actually has established Golden Rules that are to be followed by the whole school, but I still think it's important to discuss your own class rules so everyone knows what the expectations are for the classroom. So how do you go about doing that?

I've seen this done in different ways. Of course, there's the list of "don'ts" that clearly state your aversion to gum chewing and interruptions. Naturally, you want children to know what they aren't allowed to do in class, but in my experience, kids already know the don'ts, and they don't like hearing the word "no." Children respond to positive language. Don't you?

Be Positive.

Keep your "rules" positive. Instead of saying "Don't hit others," simply change that to "Be kind to others." That simple statement covers a multitude of sins (hitting, name-calling, exclusion, etc.), that way you don't need to list every little offense that a child might commit. One teacher I know only has two rules in the class. They are 1. Show respect (to yourself, to others, to property) and 2. Do your best (best teamwork, best work, best thinking). I love that the kids only have two things to remember, and the rules are broad enough to cover almost everything.

Include the Children.

This may be old news to most of you, but I still think it's worth talking about. Establishing the rules of the room should be led by the children, not you the teacher. Kids know to put up their hand to talk. They know not to hurt people. They know they need to try their best. They know not to eat the glue (for the most part). They will give you EVERYTHING you want to hear. And if you give them the responsibility to remind YOU and EACH OTHER of what those rules are, they will take that responsibility VERY seriously. What they come up with may need a little narrowing down, and that's where you come in. I don't think it's necessary to put "no picking your nose" on the final copy (or maybe it is?).

Rules.

To be honest, I'm not really a fan of the word "rules." I'd much prefer to go about this task in a more positive manner, telling the children that we are creating a Class Promise or Full Value Contract or Code of Conduct (depending on the age of your class). Despite the age, I think it's important to get the children to "sign" the Promise, even if they are still at the pre-writing stage.

Consequences

I'm a firm believer in natural consequences. I hate the idea of time out (I do believe in taking a break, but I will get to that in a minute). If a child is doing something where they could potentially get hurt (like balancing on blocks), and they eventually fall and get hurt, that is a natural consequence. I wouldn't take them away from the blocks; they would have learned already that balancing on blocks can be dangerous and to be more careful next time. Let children learn from their mistakes. Side-note: As as adult, I would obviously not let a child take a risk that I felt was dangerous.

Obviously, if a child is hurting someone else, I would take them away from the situation, but not to a time out. In my experience time outs aren't very effective. They are a temporary solution where the adult rarely puts any input into the solving of the problem. Even for 3 year olds, it's important to talk about what happened, remind them of the Class Promise, and relocate them to something or someone different, NOT to a specified "time out". Sometimes kids just need a break from each other. I have a "Breath Box" in my class, if necessary. It's full of things like playdough, stress balls, photographs depicting different emotions, sensory bottles, paper/crayons, bubbles, etc. Sometimes, a child just needs a few minutes to themselves to regroup, breath, and exert some of that emotion on some playdough.

With older children, I would even have a go at having them come up with some consequences. Sometimes, they can be a little more harsh that I would ever be! If they decide on the consequences, they may be even more likely to behave according to the class's Code of Conduct (or Promise, or Full Value Contract...).

Rewards.

I don't want to dwell too much on consequences because I think it's even more important to focus on, and reward those who are doing exactly what they should be. I'm not talking about a Treasure Chest of Poundland rubbish, but about natural or non-tangible rewards. Sounds exciting, right? It can be! A simple, "my you're sitting smartly!" can sometimes be all it takes to motivate a child to continue doing what they're doing (and encourage those around them to as well). Sometimes it can be easy to forget about those children who are always following the "rules" because they aren't being disruptive. Don't forget to see those kids and recognise that they are fulfilling the Class Promise.

See Behaviour 101 for some other ideas on how to manage behaviour in your class.

How do you establish "The Rules" in your class?

New Classroom Tour

It's that time of year again when it's time to drag your feet back into the classroom to set up! Much to my delight, when I walked into my new room, most of it was already done! A couple of the Nursery Nurses at my school worked through the summer, so they took the liberty of organizing toys, labeling boxes (complete with pictures of what's in the box!), and generally setting up the furniture. When I first walked in, I thought, "Oh, but I wanted to set up the room," but after looking around, it was really the only way for the room to be set up anyway because of where the carpeted flooring and linoleum flooring was, and where the Smartboard was already mounted. Those things really dictate how you can set up a room. So, even though I didn't get to set up the room, I am delighted with how it looks!

This year I am teaching Nursery (that's Kindergarden for all you North Americans!). I have two classes - AM & PM - adding up to 40 children in total! That will be interesting during report writing time!

Here are some poor quality mobile phone photos to show what the room looks like so far, before the children have stormed through.

Really, the only major thing that I needed to do was organize the filing cabinet. It still had some things in there from 2007 (not as bad as my classroom last year that had files lying around from 1998!). The filing cabinet is really the only place in the room for me to keep personal files/resources, as well as general office supplies (scissors, pens, stapler, etc.), so I spent some time reorganizing so I know exactly where everything is.

I'm almost finished organizing files. I've used folder dividers to subdivide paperwork, masters, resources, etc. This way it's easy for me to find or file things quickly. Hopefully it will stay this organized for the year! We'll see...

Have you been into your classroom yet?