Apples, pumpkins, Thanksgiving, and Hallowe’en are interests that children revisit year after year each fall. In an effort to support learning in literacy and music and movement, our team introduces shared poems and songs that we sing with the children each day for one week. We also send a copy home for families to reinforce… Read More Fall Poems Shared on Google Drive
Let’s begin with a story. A year 2(senior kindergarten) student enters the outdoor classroom on the first day of school with his mom smiling quietly behind him. His first words are, “Look Mrs Max. I found a worm in my peach pit at breakfast. I wonder why he’s in there?” Some might think, he didn’t… Read More Creating a Culture of Curiosity in Kindergarten
Before transforming our yard into our outdoor learning playspace, our early years team shared our hopes and dreams for the children in the space. We wanted it to provide opportunities for children to develop curiosity, exploration, creativity, innovation, resilience, problem-solving skills, risk-taking, collaboration, oral language skills, mathematical understanding, and connect with nature. We also kept… Read More Planning Outdoor Learning Playspaces For All Seasons
As I continue to learn from and with my early learners, I find myself increasingly curious as to why children are often innately drawn to types of learning that they would benefit from. For years now my early years team has observed children with lower language abilities drawn to language rich activities like small world… Read More Creating Meaningful Small World Play that Supports Language Development
It’s exciting to reflect on the year gone by not only to support forward thinking for the new year, but also to appreciate precious moments and memories. My Top Nine Photos on Instagram of 2017. Handle: meljmaxwell Spatial Reasoning Provocation A clear plastic table cloth with Sharpie paint pen shapes drawn on it invites children… Read More Best Nine Photos of 2017 on Instagram
We are thrilled for our littles to take these rustic Christmas tree gifts home for their families this holiday season. They are each creative, unique and very much reflective of the young artists that they are. We often use loose parts in our classroom for open-ended exploration, but the children get excited when we bring… Read More Holiday Tree Art
Many children share their excitement for the holiday season with us and we are equally enthusiastic to provide them with opportunity to encounter learning through invitations to play and learn with a holiday spin. Below are some of the festive playful learning experiences that we’ve offered where children can bump into literacy and math throughout… Read More Playful Christmas and Holiday Invitations to Learn
Subitizing is ability to instantly see or recognize how many without counting. It helps develop fluency in number sense and it supports further understanding of more elaborate counting(e.g., skip counting) and addition/subtraction. Douglas Clements says in Subitizing: What Is It? Why Teach It?, “Students can use pattern recognition to discover essential properties of numbers, such as… Read More Subitizing Experiences with Freebies
“And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.” – John Muir As huge supporters and advocates for outdoor learning our team always looks forward to learning opportunities that extend beyond our classroom to the entire school. Take Me Outside Day and Outdoor Classroom Day are exciting opportunities to spend time… Read More Take Me Outside Day
Hallowe’en is such a fun time of the year for children and such a great opportunity for educators to leverage intentional learning based on child-led interests. Below are some experiences that we’ve provided to support problem-solving and creativity, literacy, math, sensory, and art. Loose Parts Play This qtip skeleton provocation became a loose parts hit… Read More Spooky Hallowe’en Provocations
inspired by play 