Really a conference on nature....get real

So I'm sitting here looking at six full pages of notes from my first day at the 12th annual  Design Institute sponsored by the Natural Learning Initiative and trying to wrap my mind around why we did to come to a conference to get children back in nature.

How did this happen? Why do we need this? Why do our children need this? Why is it so important for us, our children, and our future? No I'm being serious...this is seriously important for our future.

I met other nature minded people who attended this conference for the pure fact that we have to "get back in the woods" or our future will be very bleak. Ok so here's the facts...who taught our children to think of this place that is full of experiments, observations, and experiences as a mucky, nasty, bug and critter infected area that should be off limits to children and especially why they need it for learning?

You see, children are not born with these words in their vocabulary and especially how they describe their environment around them. Try this experiment:  Take your children outside and have them lay on their backs so they have their backs in the grass and their eyes to the sky and clouds. Have them describe what they feel, what they see, what they hear, and how it makes them feel.  Watch out because your mind will be blown.

If you have a child that is younger in age (2 to 5 years), they will tell you all about the world around them. (If it's an infant or toddler, most of them will try to move around and explore the area.) They will tell you what they see, hear, feel, etc. without the usage of many negative ideas. 

If you have a child that is older than 5 years and in school, they will tell you why they can't lay down, what might bit or hurt them, and what is going to go wrong.  Why does this happen and who told them about all this negativity? The media, the older people in their lives, their school, and anywhere besides outdoors.  When a child engages outdoors, they find their own therapy space.

So how does an adult introduce a child to these interesting idea of being outside...STEP OUT YOUR DOOR and find some green space.  In my conference, we were allowed to find our own therapy in the mud. YES MUD!!!! Look what happens when you give mud to adults who have been deprived of it for too long,,,well you get mud throwing, mud art made from mud, mud walking, and mud body painting. Yes, it was messy but we were the happiest people at the whole conference after our class.

So how do you bring something that wonderful and show it to kids who may not have that experience any other time....you take them to the woods.  Our class visited the natural class located at Partners and we took nothing from the class or anything that could stimulate them in any way.  So what did they do or learn?  Well let's take a look....

You let them explore and show you the items that they find and what they think they came from or how they could use them. Lots of leaves and sticks and talking about where it comes from and why they are falling were many of the discussions that we heard while exploring.

The kids then used the path beams not for walking in between but on top of and trying to balance themselves. They then discovered that one of the beams were rotten and they started talking about what things rot and why they rot. All introduced by a child with no adult input just adults asking questions.

When was the last time that you ran in a meadow??? For some of these kids, they didn't know what a meadow was and the only time that they had seen it was on "My Little Pony" shows (bad technology, bad). So now they became the ponies, then bumble bes, then snowmen then we turned to something else's...

When was the last time that you did a flip...ok so that is pushing it for adults but have you ever showed your children how to do it?  For some of kids, they had never experienced it and had to have some help with starting to learn this task. After some of us got stuck in our flip, we learned how to walk like a wheelbarrow with help from friends of course. All of this was child friendly and guess what they were so in contact with nature that they never saw the negative .

I'm not saying just let your child run wild through the woods but if you knew that it was a safe place and that children could explore the limits at their own risk...would you let them? We are the ones with the negative agenda with the nature around us but for kids, they learn how manipulate the natural setting to be productive, safe and "explorable" in their minds. What they have to expereince teaches them how to set their own limits and make safe choices....cough cough...they can make these choices and learn while doing it.  No adult to stop the play because they know the limits of themselves. LET THEM OUTSIDE and see what happens!!!!!  You may even get some nature stuck in your head as well as your child's!!!!

Why did the chicken cross the road??

Why did the chicken cross the road? Well, if you ask one of the little sweeties in my classroom, it was so he could get to the slide. 

Then when he tells another child, that chicken was on his way to get ice cream with his mommy.  Now while to you and I these jokes aren't particularly ha-ha funny, to a preschool teacher these little jokes present opprotunities.

When the kids in our class present us with these little funnies, then we can start a conversation to get those little brains thinking about bigger things then just why that chicken crossed the road.  We can ask them what else that chicken did after he used the slide.  We can ask them how they think the chicken felt when it finished it's journey.  We can even ask them to draw us a picture or a map to show us the route the chicken took. 

Who knew a silly joke could turn in to such a unique teachable moment? Not to mention the laughs :)

Crystal Drye

NC PreK Assistant

Fire safety week

Today the Dolphin class is learning about the letter 'F f.' We talked about all the things we know that start with the letter and then we placed them on our 'word wall.' 

And that brought us to what our theme of the week is 'Fire Safety'

The Dolphins then made the start of a KWL chart. This is what we Know, what we What to find out, and what we have Learned about the topic of fire safety.

Through out the week each child will play the role of a Safety Officer. The Safety Officer will be on the look out for anything that is "unsafe" in the classroom or outside on the playground.

In dramatic play acting out the role of a firefighter is so much fun, while they are making and interpreting representations of the many things a firefighter does and how they work at the fire station.

In blocks center the children are demonstrating how to build a fire station.

Learning about fire safety in very important. Talking about this topic will help keep us safe, have awareness of the many duties of a firefighter and how they can help us in an emergency.  Talk with your child at home as well and have a plan in place just in case of an emergency.

The Changing Weather

Well, it's that time of year again. That time when it's early fall, but still feels like summer. Then it feels like fall again. This weekend is supposed to be the perfect example of this. Sometimes we have a hard time deciding how we dress our children for their day at school. Easy way to do this is to just have them wear a light sweater, jacket, or hoodie to school. It also doesn't hurt to have some extra clothes at school for them, should the weather really fool us and get very warm in the afternoon. Living in the south, this happens often. 

The extra clothes is also a great idea for every day. Children are attracted to water, dirt, side walk chalk, and paint just to name a few "messy" things. Also remember when taking extra clothes, don't forget an extra pair of shoes! An extra light weight jacket, sweater is also a good idea. 

This is also the time of year to check your child's cubby and begin switching warm weather clothes to cool weather clothes. It's best to have at least one change of warm weather clothing for your child, if needed, until the end of October. Maybe even until the middle of November. Like I said, living in the south, things can change quickly. 

Along with the change of weather, comes cold and flu season. So, with those extra clothes, an extra box of tissues is also a great idea. This is also a great time to go over proper ways to help protect our children from germs. 

Covering our mouth when we cough and/or sneeze is just one way to keep germs down. I taught my children to cover their mouth by coughing/sneezing into their elbow. But then I had one of them ask me how can they cover their mouth with their elbow? I hadn't really thought about that until then. He told me, that would take talent. So I just told him to cover his mouth with the bend in his elbow. And as with other things I wanted them to do, I modeled the way I taught them to cover their mouth.

                                                HAND WASHING IS A MUST!!!!

Even though it may be getting cooler, it's still a good idea for sunscreen and bug spray. 

So, here's to a smooth transition from summer to fall and to keeping those pesky germs away!! 

HOW CAN WE HELP OUR CHILDREN MANAGE TECHNOLOGY?

Technology is everywhere. Our children are using technology at earlier and earlier ages. But can there be too much technology?  Can it interfer with other things? Children as young as two years old are learning how to work phones and play games. There is no doubt that technology is important and that it is definitely the future. Sometimes though, we tend to lose ourselves in technology. We are constantly checking our phones, working on our computers. We play games and have made our computers portable with laptops, tablets and I-pads. So, you might ask, What's the problem? I'm getting more things done and taken care of.

Well, its simple, really. We tend to finish our work, then we tend to browse around and before we know it, hours may have passed us by. Our children may finish homework, or a project, then they end up playing games. Before we know it, it's time for dinner, bath and bed. We may end up grabbing something to eat real quick, or we don't even eat at the same time. Our conversations are short, maybe just a hi, how was your day, and good night.

So, what can we do? And what can be lost by too much technology? Well we lose communication and close connections with our families. We don't share as much quality time as we may have in the past. As parents we lead by example, our children become reflections of us. If we are not taking the time to put our technology down, they will not either. Children learn social skills by interactions with those around them. These are skills that they will always need, even in the 21st century. It may be hard for us to take a time out from technology. We can start simple, for example, no phones at dinner. Start with just one dinner a week, take time and show interest in each others day. Plan an activity, a short one to start with. maybe just a walk, or a board game. Let friends and family know that during dinner, unless its an emergency, that you won't be answering the phone. As you begin to find ways to spend quality time together with your children, you may find that balancing technology is easier than you thought.