So, let me be very clear, this project scared me. As I went over the project for the day from the Mother Goose Time Lesson plan book I had a deep sense of "OMG MY FLOOOORS!!!". I had to figure out how to adjust the project so that I could save my floors. I became the superhero of my own dreams and took all my chairs outside the classroom taped the paper to the bottom of the chairs and out the door we went! It was great! They laid on their backs and were concentrating so hard on their masterpieces. They felt like real painters. The part I did not think about was that children like to overload their paint brushes with paint and it began to fall on them! Some of them did go home with paint in their hair. I'm sure their parents really loved that! The important part of them learning about murals is showing them that art is not limited to paper or canvas. They were able to see that you can do art outside and that buildings can be art. Hopefully this encourages them to seek out different ways to do art and to see the art in the world around them. This was messy...and the destruction of tons of baby wipes happened along with the use of a hose to clean off the chairs, because they didn't just paint the paper, they gifted my chairs with paint also. It was hard work, but I am very glad that we did it. I will do it again next year. It's what Superheroes do. Check out my Youtube channel and remember...... Live Long and Keep Teaching! -Ms. Tessie One of the best parts of this week, has been watching the faces of my preschoolers as they learned about the Mona Lisa. I wasn't sure if it would go over their head. But it turns out that they enjoyed the entire lesson on Portraits. The activity from Mother Goose Time was the portrait flip book. Which they LOVED! They spent the entire time after coloring flipping and making up stories about the different people they created as they flipped through the book. One of my students wasn't feeling the activity at first, and only colored the front. Until they were able to see what the book did after it was completed. Then he sat down and colored the book so that he too could make up a story about his flip book. After working on the flip book we talked about difference between self portraits and portraits and I felt this was a good time to have the conversation about what we have that is the same, such as eyes, nose, teeth and hair. Then we spoke about what is different about all of these things. This is an important conversation to have because children see early the differences between all of us, avoiding speaking about it does nothing. But being able to celebrate the fact that all our classmates are different and awesome means that they know that being themselves and being different is truly OK. Which is why the Mona Lisa portrait that came with the curriculum was so important. This was a painting of a woman that isn't smiling but she isn't frowning, she just sitting and being herself. They should see that being themselves is OK and I think a portrait project is the perfect way to illustrate this project. The best part of the project was them telling their parents that they made the Mona Lisa and telling them all about it. If you are looking for a way to show children about the Louvre and to show them the Mona Lisa here is a link to the video I used with my classroom. They really enjoyed it, especially since I told them about all the things I saw when I went. I hope you find a way to introduce Mona Lisa to your classroom and..... Live Long and Keep Teaching! Ms. Tessie When we speak of equity, we tend to automatically think about how to make public schools in all neighborhoods have equal access to resources and the same goals for all children. But family childcare has a role to play in trying to level the playing field for all children. Family childcare still has a way to go when it comes to others seeing us as the professionals that we are, but we do not need to wait for them to see us as professionals for us to ACT like it. We are in the best positions possible to create a change and help children excel in school. We have small classrooms and we can get to know our students in a way that most teachers wish they could but can’t because they are saddled with so much extra responsibility. The pit falls of the career is that we do not have the same access to the resources of a public or private school. So how do we create equity for the children in care when we often are left in the dark about the resources that can help our students before they enter the public or private school system? We. Get. Loud. With many parents having to have two working parents in the home and often having to choose between quality and affordability for their children it is an honor that we can provide the high quality for them. That means having a list of resources ready to go for children who may need it. Allowing speech and physical therapist into our homes during work hours to work with one of our children. Providing special accommodations for children who may need it. These things can make a huge difference in the life of a child who may have otherwise started out behind in their Kindergarten classrooms. More than anything we want the children we care for to excel. To do that we have to acknowledge that not all children get equal and fair treatment. Children of color are often treated worst, expelled more and expected to act older than their ages. Children with disabilities often must fight for their access to resources and help. Family Child Care Providers can help parents by holding parent engagement nights that teaches parents their rights as they navigate the public-school system. Giving them updates lists of local and national resources and encouraging them to join associations like NAFCC or NAEYC so that they can have a voice and learn what they can about the school system and its laws. Equity in education isn’t just for the K-12 school system. We are teachers too, and as the second teachers (parents are the first) young children encounter we owe it to them to start fighting for equity from the very beginning. Fight for Equity and Always Live Long and Keep Teaching! Ms. Tessie You know that book We're Going on a bear Hunt? Well, I was inspired by that book to take my class out on a Caterpillar Egg Hunt. We took our magnifying glasses and our curiosity and went to search for eggs that we could bring back to the classroom. There are huge trees all over the neighborhood that we all thought might be good places for butterflies to lay their eggs. Some of the children even thought that the butterflies could have laid them around the bottom of the trees. 5'4 me had to walk around on my tip toes and try to grab some leaves for each of the children to examine. They all thought it was super funny that Ms. Tessie couldn't reach very far up in the trees. Since I was unable to reach super high it meant our search was going to come up empty. But I didn't want to discourage them at least trying and it was good lesson on enjoying the journey and not just the end result. Lucky for us, we had lady bugs and butterflies in our classroom to release. The Butterflies and Bees theme for the month had tons of ways for us to branch outside of the classroom. Which in my opinion is the best way to learn. I hope you go out and search for caterpillar eggs with your children and remember...... Live Long and Keep Teaching! Ms. Tessie Learning to Sign Introducing new languages to children is important. It teaches them early about the world outside of their own. That there are people who speak and look different and to appreciate those differences. This month for Mother Goose Time we are talking about the Alphabet. Which ordinarily would not be fun since most of my kids already know their letters, sounds and are on their way to reading. Mother Goose Time made it fun my introducing new animals into the mix. The animals have been super fun to learn, especially since we are adding sign language into the mix. I learned how to sign the letters as a teen because we got detention for passing notes. This is not the most noble reason for learning sign language BUT it did spark my interest in the language. Which I am now passing on to the children in my classroom. Everyday we are learning a new sign and practicing the ones that came before hand. I am encouraging them to use the sign every time we speak about the animals as a way to help them keep the prior skills we have learned. I am also encouraging them to show the signs to their families. I introduced the learning of signs by teaching them the reasons someone might use signs and reminding them that sign language IS a language that is used by people who want to communicate just like those of us who use our voice. Something that is important to let children know, is that deaf and blind people can do the things that we sighted, and hearing people can do. For example I explained to them how deaf people are able to be dancers, how they may some who were able to speak and that blind people were able to learn to read.
I am enjoying myself with this lesson immensely. Especially since I am learning more signs right along with them. My hope is that I have inspired one child to learn sign language as another language and that the children are able to at least communicate socially with those who use it. For now remember….. Live Long and Keep Teaching!! |