Teaching Mama

[theteachingmama]

MOMO’S BOOKSHELF: “Tumble Bumble,” “The Best Mouse Cookie,” and “The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear” I’ve decided to write down the books that were a hit with my 16-month-old baby, Momo. I’m hoping other moms will find it useful. Honestly I feel quite lucky to be both a mother and a teacher. I honestly don’t think I would have known about these books if I wasn’t a teacher –- at a preschool, no less! The three books I chose for this blog entry are Momo’s current favorites. TUMBLE BUMBLE It features a lot of different animals, which means we can review the sound each one makes (if any!). And in the end it’s fun to say, “Hurray!” THE BEST MOUSE COOKIE Momo loves cookies so that was the initial draw. But the illustrations are fun and there are lots of things to zoom into so it keeps her interested. Eventually, perhaps it would inspire her to try baking her own cookies. Plus it talks about sharing and perhaps because of this book and “The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry….” Momo likes to “share.” She’ll be eating a cookie and she’ll suddenly and rather brusquely put it to your closed mouth and say, “share!” She doesn’t actually let go of the cookie so it falls into your mouth but still. I hope it’s a habit she retains as she grows older. THE LITTLE MOUSE THE RED RIPE STRAWBERRY AND THE BIG HUNGRY BEAR When I brought home this book I didn’t think she’d like it. I felt maybe she wasn’t ready for it. The visuals don’t match the text. You don’t actually see the bear, just a Mouse reacting to it. To date, I haven’t introduced bears as scary to Momo. They’re mostly teddy bears. So I really didn’t think she would like this book. I can tell when Momo doesn’t like a book because halfway through she’ll try to stand up from my lap and leave. But the first time I read it, she sat through the whole thing. Then she asked me to reread it five times! And now, sometimes she randomly says, “Boom boom boom! Bear!” Since she loved the book so much, I bought her strawberries. She tried to eat them before but she spit them out. This time though I read the book first then showed her the strawberries, to make the connection. Now it’s one of her favorite fruits. Not only does it taste good but it also has the memory of a book she loves.

[theteachingmama]

All I want for Christmas...well not really...is a subscription to Young Children. It's actually cheaper to be an NAEYC member because you get more for your money. It's US$80 for a 1-year international membership. There are other perks, like discounts to conferences and the like. But just looking at the journals you get, membership comes with 5 print issues of Young Children AND 5 issues of Teaching Young Children. PLUS 5 digital issues of Young Children, NEXT for Young Children, and Tesoros y Colores. If I get the subscription alone, it's $95 to get just 5 print issues of Young Children. And that's it. Sigh. All I want for Christmas...is less wants. :p

[theteachingmama]

Science Part of the Transdisciplinary skills we try to assess for and thereby instill in the children is Research and Questioning. Plus as a play-based program – inquiry IS our program. Also our curriculum is emergent-negotiated. So if the kids don’t ask questions, we have no lessons! ☺ But of course part of why the kids ask questions is through the set-ups the teacher prepare. My favorite ones to date are the volcanoes and the magnets.

[theteachingmama]

Social Sciences I think as a play-based preschool, we inherently teach social sciences. Whenever we discuss a topic we always try to relate it back to the child – what he has experienced to date, what he understands about that topic, what he wants to know about the topic. When you are there playing, the experience itself lends to discussions of who you are, your place in the world, how different you are. The fact that we are an international school; there’s the added dimension of culture, race. What is okay in one culture may not be okay in another culture but since we’re all under one roof, how do we get along? What’s great is that we do celebrate these differences as part of being respectful of the children. In fact, I think it’s at ISM that I learned to be truly respectful of children – not to think of them as “lower” than adults and undermine their skills and capacities. I think this shows best in how I was taught to problem solve or process with the kids. When an unpleasant incident happens, we sit down with the concerned parties and together we try to find a “solution.” (The schedule is flexible enough to allow time to talk.) I can’t say, well this is “wrong.” It’s more of trying to understand why what happened is a problem. How did it make the concerned parties feel? So as a teacher you really have to be absolutely aware of the values you want to impart – versus just getting the kids to get along or stopping them from crying. The vocabulary can come later but they have to understand what it means to be fair, to be responsible, to be kind, to be a good friend. And when they are able to do this with one another, its easy to cascade these values to everything else – to their academics, to how they view the environment, their community etc… I wish the things I’m teaching the kids now – somebody had taught me when I was that age. Like saying please and thank you. Listening to your body: rest when you’re tired, drink water when it’s too hot, be sun-safe and wear a hat, make sure to eat when it’s time to eat. The biggest thing for me: Use your words, not your hands. I’ve always said that preschool is like a microcosm of the world at large. Heck, many adults still need to be taught these things.

[theteachingmama]

The Other Specials: Library, Music, Art, IT Aside from PE, our other specialists’ schedules are as follows:

Art with Ms. L is every Monday and Wednesday.

Music with Ms. M is every Tuesday and Thursday.

Library with Ms. J is every Friday.

IT is whenever we have the opportunity with Mr. S.

ART For the past few weeks we have been thinking about clothing. First we drew each other wearing different costumes provided by Ms. L. The students paired up and we looked at the details on each other’s costumes. Then we painted our drawings. The following week we then practiced designing clothes. Ms. L gave us cut-outs of shirts, pants, skirts, socks and even underwear. We were able to think about the designs we want, draw them unto the cut-out, paint on it and glue one sparkles and buttons. After that we were able to practice drawing and painting on cloth. We discovered that it was a little bit harder because the cloth would move as we put our paintbrush on them. So we had to think of how to still make our designs with the moving cloth. Finally we got to make designs on an extra white piece of clothing that was sent in by our mommies and daddies. When they’re dry, we will hang them on wire lines by the preschool’s small playground. It will be a mural of clothing. What’s great about art with Ms. L is she’s able to give just the right amount of instruction with the kids. She discusses what she likes to do with the materials given but she gives them enough inspiration to think of how else the children can manipulate or apply them. MUSIC Every Tuesday we go up to Ms. M’s room for music and we do station. The children are put into groups of five and they get to go through all the stations. One station would have xylophones, another would have boom wackers. There was a week when Ms. M put different kinds of hats in one station. The last station is always with Ms. Marnie, where she sits them in a circle and she teaches them different kinds of music from different parts of the world. My favorites to date are the African song “Funga Alafia” and the Maori song “Epo I Tai Tai E.” If I remember correctly, “Funga Alafia” is a welcoming song and “Epo I Tai Tai” is a song about being happy. Every Thursday, Ms. M goes down to our classroom and leads our circle. Sometimes we do a sort of song-game, i.e. the song asks you to do a particular movement or sound. We have the “Bean Bag Dance” where you have to put the beanbag on a particular part of your body. Or “Animal Action,” where the song asks you to pretend to be different kinds of animals. Sometimes we also do fingerplays and rhymes. LIBRARY Each Library session starts with Ms. J reading a book. Then each child gets to choose a book he can take home. The students return their book during the following week’s library time. There’s a wide selection of great children’s books. When a child has chose a book to take home, he can sit down on a beanbag or pillow to read it or he can choose another book for the shelf. It’s been nice having a bit of quiet time to read. Sometimes I have a line of 8 kids waiting for me to read their book. Most recently our Grade 2 buddies visit us during our library time. It’s great because each child has an older buddy to help them read their book. IT Although we don’t have a formal IT time with Mr. S, he comes down to the Preschool every now and then to check on the equipment and discuss with the teachers new ways we can integrate IT into our program. Each class has a Promethean Board which our class is currently using to discuss the calendar, look at who’s present or absent and find out more about space through videos and websites. In general we’ve also been using it as our whiteboard – when we need to draw something or make a list. We also have 6 iPads we share amongst the four Preschool classes. It’s been quite useful for documentation and when we have the time, the children love exploring the apps – especially the music ones. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OTHER EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES Within the Preschool Community:

Sing-a-long – Every Monday, all four classes gather at the piazza to sing 2 songs each.

Cooking – For our class, we try to have cooking every Thursday. We’ve even had parents come in to cook with the class.

Field Trips – Last year we went to Manila Ocean Park. We try to have more but the logistics are a nightmare.

Costume Day – The kids get to wear any costume or special clothes they have. They can make their own or buy from a store. It can also just be special hair or special hair clips or hats.

Pajama Day – Sleepwear, blankies, stuffed animals.

Water Play Day – You don’t need to be in swim wear but as long as you have an extra set of clothes to change into, you’re good.

School-wide:

International Day

Sports Day

Filipiniana Day

[theteachingmama]

Assessment and Evaluation Our preschool is play-based and our curriculum is emergent-negotiated. That means that everything we discuss comes from the children. If there’s a particular topic they are interested in, we will support this and discuss with them what particular aspect of this topic we can explore. So throughout the year we will have a few major projects or inquiries. For example, our first project for this year is, “Where does the water go?” The children were playing by the sandbox and a child noticed one of the drains. A few others started gathering around the drain. They then asked what happened to the water after it went down the drain. From this we had activities and classroom set-ups that tried to guide and facilitate their inquiry.

Where does the water go 2 from MrsJuteau

And so we assess the children through the skills that they demonstrate through these projects or inquiries. We look for Transdisciplinary Skills: Self-Management, Collaboration, Communication – Language Arts, Communication – Creative Expression, Thinking, Thinking – Mathematics, Research and Questioning and Physical Development. Each skill has a set of more specific attributes or goals for each student as seen in the Transdisciplinary Skills Matrix. We have Parent-Teacher Conferences during which we align with the parents according to the Transdisciplinary Skills matrix as to what skills they have already “mastered” and what skills they are still working on. The primary output we produce is a Learning Journal, which shows all the documentation we’ve made/collected from the projects as well as some other mini-projects, major school-wide events (such as Filipiniana Day or Sports Day) plus the children’s artwork. Our goal for the Learning Journal this year is to have the kids more heavily involved into what goes into the journal and to reflect more on their work. The Learning Journal goes home with the parents at the end of each semester. (We have two semesters in a school year. The 1st semester just ended this December.) Aside from the Learning Journals and Transdisciplinary Skills Matrix, we are constantly in communication with the parents about their children. We have weekly emails and blog posts. In the morning and during pick-up, the parents are more than welcome to come talk to us about their kids. We also have a Student-Led Conference, wherein the kids are the ones talking about their Learning Journals. I feel I can’t say much and that perhaps I’m not doing our assessment process justice. It’s just that although I’m not aware of any official rule from my school saying I can’t reveal how exactly we document and what are the actual items in the Transdisciplinary Matrix; this is still another person’s work. (Or another group’s work.) I feel it’s not my place to show it in my blog as what I do. The school may also feel that such knowledge is proprietary and is part of what the parents pay for when they enroll in our school. What I can say is that I’m very proud of each and every Learning Journal and each and every PTC I’ve been a part of. The Learning Journal especially, is a lot of pages with a lot of detail and it entailed a lot of hard work. I feel it really shows what a child does when he comes to school. Especially for us as a play-based program, it’s so important to document and to show parents what the children get out of play. What the children are LEARNING from play.

[theteachingmama]

20

I have exactly 20 preschool students, the same number of children that had died at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut today. It was 5am in the Philippines when news broke of the tragedy. I had to wake up my husband because I was so upset. I asked him if I was over reacting. Connecticut is very far from Manila. It didn’t make sense that I was crying. He killed his mom. She was a kindergarten teacher. I’m the mother of a one-year-old girl. I teach children ages 3 to 5 years old. The running joke amongst teachers in my school is that children of teachers are actually worse off because their parents are busy taking care of other children. Someone told me that many of the teachers’ children at our school have behavioral issues; some need learning support or extra therapy. Could that be why he killed all those children? He was jealous of his mother’s class? What of my own child? Will she be the same? Will she hate my students because I’ll spend more time with them that with her? The whole day it gnaws at me. It still gnaws at me. This immense sadness over the death of these 20 children that I have never seen and will never have the chance to get to know. What would I have done? Could I have saved those twenty if I had been there? If my baby had been one of the students there, what would I have done? I hugged my baby extra tight today. My smart and beautiful baby girl.

[theteachingmama]

Singapore-Lah! Last November 27 until December 1, I visited 3 preschools in Singapore as part of my practicum program. I think this trip really enlightened me as to the necessary element of collaboration amongst educators. I love how as we go through different schools, there are similar concerns: special needs children, difficult parents, assessment, training/ professional development (or the lack of). But clearly each school has a different way of talking about and addressing these concerns. Although some perspectives, or even some problems are similar -- the proposed solutions may be different. It's always good to see another point of view. How are we the same? How are we different? (I've decided not to mention the name of the preschools because they have been very gracious to receive me and my group. These are just my personal opinions as part of the requirements for my practicum program. They are said in the quest to exercise critical thinking and to not just accept what's presented. But not at the cost of hurting these school's reputation. I do not want to disparage them in any way. They are all wonderful schools, each in their own way. Each child is different and I am glad that there are different options available for what each parent feels their child needs.) School 1: M • Good school for the typical working Singaporean parents. It has multiple locations in the metro. Parents can leave their children from 7am-7pm. Their marketing is based on “success” and being a “champion” – having a champion mindset • They call themselves “progressive” however the children for most part do not look like they are from progressive schools. They line up and sit on the mat perfectly. They wear uniforms. During the observed class activities, the teacher is in front giving direction. The location is ideal for working parents, however it does not make outdoor play easily accessible. They do try to address this by having an indoor gym but it still doesn’t compare to actual fresh air, being in touch with nature. • The only thing that seems progressive is that the curriculum is emergent under pre-set units of inquiry. They still have set “subjects” which are their proprietary programs: Writing Made Fun, Love for Chinese Language, Numeracy Strategies, Gourmet Moments etc. • It appears that they have found a marketable mix of “progressive” as well as traditional curriculum to appease Singaporean parents. In fact looking at one of their brochures, the testimonial from one set of parents states, “M_____________ Preschool also prepared C_______ and D_____ for Primary 1. In fact they achieved grades 90% for their 3 main subjects.” This DOES NOT sound like parents endorsing a progressive school. There is a clear disjoint in values versus looking at the parents who created the Reggio Emilia school in Italy. • Clearly it is a BRAND. A product aimed at a target market. Everything is very professional looking and obviously came from a marketing machine. • To be honest, I would bring this school to the Philippines. As I was going through the tour, as a parent I liked what I saw. If I had enrolled my child in this school, everything that they are presenting to me would reassure me that my child is getting a wholistic education. School 2: B • For me it was the highlight of the whole trip. ☺ Even before the trip it was the one I was really excited about and now that it’s done it’s the school I remembered the most. • Upon entering the place, you feel calm. The entire place exuded peace, calm. Everything was so beautifully organized and coordinated. We asked Barbara and she said everything follows the rule of three: a base color plus two more (so blue, green and white), three items on a table etc…What was good though is that it wasn’t aesthetics for the sake of just that. Barbara says that their philosophy is chaotic classroom = chaotic child. Truly it was the environment as the third teacher. • I loved how everything seems so collaborative. The teachers said they met twice a week (?) to talk about what was happening in each other’s classrooms. And how they know what each teacher is capable of and it seems they try to utilize each other’s talents as much as they can. Like Barbara said when asked how do they come up with the art – she said they try to have at least one “creative” teacher for arts given that they don’t have a resident atelierista (?). • I loved how they really emphasized that they are a Reggio Emilio “INSPIRED” school and how it’s really open to interpretation. Whether it’s a school in a building deep in the city or on a tree deep in the jungle, it’s really how you imbibe the spirit of Reggio. I’ve talked to some teachers who perhaps have gotten caught up in the details of how a Reggio school supposedly “should” be. But really there’s not shoulds and shouldnts. It’s really how you adapt your resources to create the best program for the children. School 3: C • Although the Principal appeared (or tried to be?) very welcoming, we were only able to make inferences from what we were able to observe. We were not given a walking tour of the campus. Instead we were told to simply ask any teacher as we roamed around campus. • From what we see it appears that C________ is the closest to a traditional setting amongst the schools visited, very mindful of goals and standards. • In one kindergarten classroom, we observed piles of worksheets. Students were divided into smaller groups. The other groups were able to go into other play areas or centers as one group is with the teacher as she talks them through the worksheets. In two other classroom of older children (perhaps Grade 4) they were again accomplishing worksheets with their teacher. • I think as with any school, teachers are the most valuable resource. It could be a very traditional school. But if the teacher believes that there's more than one way to teach a child, his classroom will be an enriching experience for his students. Again it was a wonderful and amazing experience to see how other schools in another country teach. What I realized is that it is truly amazing to see teachers who are inspired. Their enthusiasm is catching. It is obvious. Teachers who are inspired and love what they do are really creative. It shows in the kind of activities they do with the kids, their demeanor with the kids. They look physically better -- healthier. I'm beginning to believe that the best teachers run on coffee and inspiration alone. I have to remember through the hardest days with my students, look for inspiration. Be inspired. Would I do this trip again even though it was quite financially straining? Most definitely. It is different to see the teachers in action. To be able to ask the questions and conform follow up questions based on their responses. To look these people in the eye and be able to run your anti-b*llsh*t meter on it. It's real life. I think it's been said, but really this is not something one can read in a book.

[theteachingmama]

Physical Development and Play: Physical Education I think because our preschool is play-based and I’ve been explaining how we do that, I’ll focus on our PE program as a way of explaining how we “teach” physical development. Aside from the hour of Outdoor Play the children get to do every day, we also have an hour of PE, twice a week. We rotate from playing at the Elementary School Gym, Gymnastics Gym, Swimming Pool and Elementary School Field so the children get to experience different kids of equipment, different environments to play on. At the start of every PE session the children are “required” to run around or skip freely till the song stops. Then we have a Circle Time where Coach P____ show us how to use the equipment set ups safely. And then the children go have a safe play. They are free to just get and use the equipment on their own. Sometimes the Circle Time is used to do a quick game where the children learn certain movements. For example there was a day when somebody had a birthday and donated 100 balloons to the PE department. Coach P_____ then used those balloons to teach the children “volleying” and they volleyed to classical music. It was fun seeing the children and the balloons in the air dancing to the mellow music. It’s also great that we have a lot of cool equipment. In the Gymnastics Gym we have a giant trampoline and swing ropes where even the teachers can pretend to be like Tarzan. In the ES gym we have scooters, a rock climbing wall, giant inflatable balls the size of an adult, hopper balls, a giant Velcro target with Velcro balls to shoot into it…and many more that I can't describe. Aside from regular PE days we also have Sports Day. The whole day we’re out of the classroom. The entire field is set up with obstacle courses. The parents and siblings come and participate. Same goes for Water Play Day but the equipment s different. (Sometimes we have it in the field, sometimes just in the small playground beside the preschool.) We have sliders, buckets of water, a water dunk tank etc. I remember last year one of the kids said, “This is the best day ever!” The kids just love it. What I love about the program is that the children get to use the “Physical Education vocabulary” as they move their bodies – underhand throws, hop vs. skip, forwards rolls etc. But really they’re learning about how their bodies work, they figure out how to be safe, to balance, to coordinate their movements or test their strength. There are opportunities to do free play as well as play games with rules. So they learn how to handle disappointment, follow directions and work with their classmates. To them it’s just PE just another time to play and have fun but, again they’re learning!

[theteachingmama]

Filipiniana Day October 25 was our last day before the mid-term break and… ...it was FILIPINIANA DAY! Woot woot! Many of us came in our best traditional Filipino attire or anything we felt represented the Philippines. Some had t-shirts with the map of the Philippines. Some wore their souvenir t-shirts from places they’ve visited in the Philippines such as Bohol, Cebu or Boracay. Everybody looked “pogi” (handsome) and “maganda” (pretty). First thing in the morning, we had an assembly with the entire Elementary School. We saw students and teachers from different grade levels perform Filipino songs and traditional dances. Our principal and vice-principal even read a book about Filipino food and towards the latter part tried to talk in Filipino. Well, tried. ☺ Then we got to teach “Paa, Tuhod” (“Feet, knees” -- Filipino version of Head Shoulders Knees & Toes) to the rest of Elementary School. After the assembly we got to ride a jeepney! Our jeepney driver’s name is Edgar. We practiced saying “Para!” (Stop) and “Salamat po!” (Thank you!) After our ride, we had ice cream or “Sorbetes”! This is the local version, the kind sold from rolling street carts. We got to choose the flavor we wanted. Chocolate, cheese or both! When we finished our ice-cream we walked back to preschool and saw a Taho man waiting for us. We got to have as much Taho as we liked. Plus we had Filipino snacks with our moms and dads. The teachers prepared vegetarian pancit (noodles, the regular kind has pork and/or shrimp), puto and kutsinta(rice cakes), chichacorn (corn chips) and everybody’s favorite, pork barbecue. To cap off our day, after our big snack we went back to the theater to watch shadow puppets! A group called Anino Shadowplay Collective performed Filipino folk tales. One was about why crabs walk along the ocean shore trying to catch the tide. After the show they showed us their puppets and they were made with recycled materials: old magazines, posters and the like. It was a long but super fun day celebrating the Philippines!

[theteachingmama]

This Week with the ButterSpiders October 22-24 This week was all about celebrating the Philippines! • Monday Sing-along – This Monday Sing-along was quite special because we got to model the costumes we made last week! Everybody thought we looked super cool. We also got to practice our song, “Paa Tuhod” for the Filipiniana Day Assembly. On Friday (from our seats) we get to teach it to the rest of Elementary School. • Natural Materials – The teachers put a selection of natural materials native to the Philippines such as leaves, shells, coconut husk, coconut trunk, stones. The children were able to experiment using these materials on the weighing scale. We had conversations about how one material is the same weight as a lot of other small materials. Some also just liked to touch them and to put them together in interesting configurations, rather like installation art. • Banderitas Making, Jeepney Coloring and Tagalog Words Book Making • Jeepney Making – We got a big piece of cardboard and made our own ButterSpiders jeepney in preparation for riding the real jeepney on Filipiniana Day. • Cooking Filipino Food – We cooked Maja Blanca, microwaved chicaron, cut up some dried coconut and mango, and boiled some sotanghon and bihon. We then voted on which one we liked the best. • Sari-Sari Store – The F-store in the dramatic area was transformed into a sari-sari store, with items labeled their Filipino names. • Miniature Fruit Basket Making – We got some of the fruits from the sari-sari store and tried to make mini versions with modeling clay. We got to put our mini-fruits in a real mini basket! • Art – We saw how the colors blend together as we used droppers on tissue paper.

[theteachingmama]

Literacy and Numeracy • How does it work in a play-based curriculum? It’s never the main goal of an activity. It’s never, “Today we will talk about the letter A and practice writing the letter A. ” It’s only the means to a desired end result. “Tomorrow is Mr. Potato Head’s birthday so I want to make him a birthday card. How do I write, ‘Happy Birthday?’ What letters do I need?” • We use the set-ups and conversations to “teach” the lessons. For example, last week we had a sari-sari store. The kids realized that they didn’t know how much they were selling the items for. One of the older boys E_____ decided to make a sign for how much the items were. He didn’t know how to write “Pesos” so he took one of the play money and copied it from there. Everyday interactions are the best source of learning. • Cooking is the best! We measure the ingredients. We read the recipe and the labels. It’s literacy and numeracy but fun! • Voting is also a great activity! Having an opinion counts in more than one way! We count how many want something. We ask which option has more votes, which has less. We can add or subtract if a person decides to change his mind. Again we’re learning but it’s fun! • All around the classroom there are numbers and letters. And they all make sense to the student. They’re not just displayed as reference. We have number steps from 1-20. The students choose a number to form a line. The Helper Chart has the names of all the students alphabetically arranged so we sing the ABC song to figure out who’s the helper of the day. The block area has unifix cubes and we’ve used them to “measure” things around them. How many unifix cubes long are your feet? • There are books all around In the classroom, almost everyday at Circle Time we read a story and we have a book reading corner with a couch. Plus have Library one hour every week and our librarian also reads them a book. Then they get to choose a book to take home. • What do you do with overzealous parents who want their kids to be “advanced”? We do interviews before the child is officially enrolled. The child plays and gets observed by a teacher while the other teacher talks to the parents. We ask what the parents expect out of the program and we tell them what we do. We explain that we do not necessarily “teach” ABCs, 123s. What we do focus on is critical thinking skills, social skills, a love of learning. If they’re okay with our program, they proceed with enrollment. A week or two after the first day of school we still have an open house where we explain again what we do, how play/ inquiry based works. Even after this, we still get parents who want different things. We try to work with them without compromising the program. But the best way for them to buy into the program is for them to spend a day with us and see how it works. Parents are always welcome in our classroom.

[theteachingmama]

This Week with the ButterSpiders October 15-19 • Costume Making – Last week, A_____ brought her mermaid bra made of paper plates. Inspired by this we got some fabric, ribbon and whatever else we thought could make a good costume for Halloween. Some of the boys made capes (i.e. like Batman or Superman) and many of the girls made skirts and dresses. • Where is Knuffle Bunny? – In the book “Knuffle Bunny Free”, Knuffle Bunny got lost and wandered around the world. We were looking for Knuffle Bunny when he unexpectedly “emailed” me about where he’s been. We looked at the pictures and the children talked about the countries they were from and other places they’ve visited. • Mr. Potato Head’s Birthday – We’ve been practicing our writing making Mr. Potato Head’s birthday cards. We finally got to celebrate on the 18th of October. Our birthday tradition is to hold our inflatable globe and walk around our yellow, plastic, happy-face, sun. Go around as many years you've been on Earth. So if you're three, you go around three times. But Mr. Potato Head is 37 years old. So we just counted by tens and then the seven. For snack Mr. Potato Head brought some popcorn as a special birthday treat. • PE – It’s our first week of gymnastics. We got to explore the giant swing, jumping on the trampoline and climbing levels. • Art – The clay sculpture we made two weeks ago have been baked and are now rock hard. This week we got to paint on them. • Picture Day – Along with Mr. Potato Head’s birthday we also had picture day! Each student came in with their best smile for their individual shots. For the group shots we got to do a serious pose, a hugging pose and a wacky pose. • Planning for the Filipiniana Party – Next week Thursday is our school's Filipiniana Day. So we looked at what we needed for our celebration: pictures of Filipino food, decorations and games.

[theteachingmama]

He gave me a cheeky smile as he said it. "Yeah that's it! God made it that way. Write that down!"

[theteachingmama]

TeachingMama: Maybe you should take off your helmet first. Isn't it hard to eat while you're wearing it? AstroBoy: Nope. See! (Sticks a fry into the helmet.) TeachingMama: Hmm. Okaaay.

[theteachingmama]

Week #2: The Children Some Boring Stuff: Key Demographics

20 kids: 5 three-year olds, 14 four-year olds, 1 five-year old

Mostly kids of diplomats, expats working in international companies

Come from the ff countries: America, Canada, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Israel, Japan, China, Poland and of course the Philippines

A Mixed Age Group Obviously the mixed age group is also a mixed bag. The kids are aware that there are younger friends and older friends. But when they play, most of the time they don’t seem to discriminate based on age. If anything they group according to interests and/or personality. The girls thankfully all bonded together because they all love art; drawing the same things like flowers, hearts and rainbows. I’ve got a group of rowdy boys and a group of intellectual boys. The rowdy group likes building structures and then destroying them. They always do more rough play. They find ways to make something either unsafe or too messy. My intellectual boys do less rowdy dramatic play, stop and actually help with the clean-up and sometimes like to just read books. But the two groups can play together – like when we had the fire station. I’ve also got some drifters. They like to play on their own and join when they like an activity, regardless of who is doing it, and then leave when they get bored. I’ve got two threes who are always drifters (J and O) but the others are part of a group or at least has a BFF of sorts. They’re surprisingly independent for such young threes. Three of them just turned three last August or September. You can pick them out in the group. They look a bit smaller; their features are still really baby-ish. During Circle Time they all still have trouble staying on topic. My two drifters…well drift away all the time. They like to walk away and wander off in the middle of circle or out of the line when we’re on our way to specials. I love my threes. They’re really adorable. However, with five of them and only three teachers plus my rowdy kids, it can be too much. Sometimes I heave a sigh of relief when the threes go. The younger friends leave a little bit earlier, 11:15 a.m. dismissal for the threes and 12nn for the fours. What Are They Like? I find that most, if not all of them express themselves very well. During Circle Time most of them have something to say without needing to be prompted. If anything, sometimes we can’t seem to stop them from talking. We ask them to reflect a lot: at the start of the week, after or during an activity, at the end of the week. We try to get to understand why they made what they made. We have super active friends. They love being outdoors or any opportunity to use their whole body. They love action songs. They love water play! The teachers ask the parents to always pack extra clothes because there are days we allow them to play with water in the sandbox. We’ve had a water play day. We had a slip-and-slide. We had big buckets of water and the children sank into them. They blew bubbles. It was A LOT of fun. They love building things, creating things. We’ve read a lot of Mo Willems’ books and so far they seem to be the favorites. Especially Elephant and Piggie. The teachers cut fruit in the morning. The fruits are from the parents, each family gives three pieces of fruit to share. My class is not adventurous when it comes to food. I tried to put dragon fruit and kiwi but only a few ate. They eat a lot of apples, oranges and bananas. Especially on days we have P.E. they eat a lot of fruit plus their snacks and lunch from home. Because our program is play-based there are a lot of opportunities to learn socio-emotional skills. They learn how to resolve their own issues, with and without adult intervention. They think about their friendships. We have some friends who had trouble understanding that just because your best friend plays with other friends doesn’t mean they stop being your friend. We’ve talked about excluding because we’ve had boys saying, “Girls are not allowed here.” We talk a lot about using your words instead of your hands. Saying “Stop I don’t like it.” Using kind words. Also learning to deal with rejection or disappointment. Everyday there’s always these issues that we are able to talk about with the kids as they are experiencing it. I find socio-emotional development to be one of the best things the children get out of play-based learning/ inquiry learning. I often wished that someone taught me the things I’m teaching my students now. They will have the rest of their educational life to learn the 3Rs but I think a good foundation is a strong character. And definitely we are working on building this with my class.

[theteachingmama]

I love smelling my daughter’s hands. More often than not, they inexplicably smell like chocolate chip cookies.