Relationship is the Basis of Learning
Relationship is the basis of all learning. The strongest relationships in the classroom result in the most learning for those students. Children show us that they can regulate emotions and behavior in an environment where they are seen as trusted and capable members of a shared community. When we value the presence of the children they thrive.
As early educators we have to put all our stereotypes and negative emotions on hold while we see each child for their unique traits. If we experience a non supportive behavior in ourselves during a child’s emotional journey, we should be honest in naming our feelings and make retribution in this relationship as in all relationships. We have to capitalize on finding and keeping the best qualities of each of us and each child at the forefront to build the best relationships and thus the most supportive learning environment.
As a strength based child led program we strive to find the positive and uniqueness in each individual both children and adults alike. It is very honest to recognize when a relationship is hard to maintain and seek the help of another educator to work through the frustration that inevitably crops up. We all have had that “one” child or parent that has tested our abilities and forced us to grow.
The work is worth it when you see the child make great strides in their social emotional development in the classroom.
Gender Neutrality
As we continue to evolve in our practice, we strive to recognize and value each and every human being exactly as they are. One way we can achieve this is by using the person’s name and not assuming a gender unless we are expressly told one. At Friendship Garden we try to avoid using gender for separating children into groups for management and prefer to use alternatives for this. Proximity is one way to be neutral. Group names might be another. Using other identifying characteristics like hair color can be a slippery slope.
Taking this a little farther away from gender specifically, we believe all equipment and activities, all colors, and all toys are for all children to use and explore equally. It is very difficult to break these stereotypes especially when people at home may be reinforcing traditional gender roles and telling children they must be/act in a specific manner. There is a balance between home and school where we must be respectful and also support an inclusive community at school.
The more we become aware of our stereotypes and remain open to people that help us see our blind spots the more equitable we become as a team.
What are some ways you are gender and otherwise equitable in your classroom?
Standard Operating Procedures
I used to think this was a boring and useless topic. I did not see the relevance of having things “out of my head” after all my successor at some point will want to “do their own thing”. And then several years ago I was working with a business coach (I highly recommend doing so) and he recommended writing Standard Operating Procedures.
We began to outline Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to help the business run smoothly when ANY key player is absent for a period of time. I completed a comprehensive outline and set it on the back burner. Fast forward to fall 2024. I slipped and broke my wrist in 2 places and have been slowly recovering from that break! This episode opened my eyes to being prepared to be unavailable or unable to work.
I have been slowly adding the meat to the bones of the documents. I started by re-tracing my daily activities as well as the actions of other early childhood educators everyday to write a comprehensive document for Administration and one for Educators.
The outcome so far is a deeper understanding of how I spend my time during the day and better time management as a result of this. Documenting this important information has freed up my time to see where process improvements could be made. The document also makes me feel more secure that in case of an emergency there are protocols and procedures that anyone could follow.
My takeaway is do the “boring stuff” it could really save the day!
Nutrition or the Lack Thereof
Has anyone noticed the decline of actual nutritious whole food in lunchboxes and elsewhere?
There is so much processed and pre-packaged food on the market making it very easy for parents to grab and go, which is a good for busy families. The downside to this ease is too much sugar, sodium and chemicals AND very little nutrition. Understanding that parents are used to this convenience as a part of their own history is also important.
Anecdotally, we see a clear difference in the children’s behavior. The children that primarily eat prepackaged food are more dis-regulated in their emotions and behavior than children that have home made items and whole fruits and vegetables.
How should we approach this nutrition crisis? Parents have enough on their plates to make a lot of changes, therefore we need to support them in making small changes at a time. One switch might be substituting one prepackaged item with a banana or apple to a lunchbox. One small change at a time can add up to a more nutritious lunch and health changes.
Here are some in our opinion good lunch examples:
Wasting Time
Two families in the past two months reminded me that I need to blog again! After a two year hiatus, it is appropriate that my first blog back is about “time”.
It’s been 2 years since I’ve put up a post.
How do we ensure we, adults’, are not wasting children’s time?
I am reminded that time is fleeting and we must not waste time on/in activities that do not serve the child at their current ages. We cannot hurry development nor can we teach a child to be older/ready sooner/faster.
At Friendship Garden we are a play based and child led program. Research indicates that this is appropriate for this stage of child development.
Several weeks ago, I was watching, specifically, three children on the playground. They had taken hold of the child sized rake which was out with the purpose of raking leaves. As teachers we show the children how the rake works and how to be safe while using it. As researchers and observers we see the three children all together on one rake, “riding” it like it was a hobby horse. What coordination, cooperation and communication it took for this to happen and all three of these children are under the age of three!!
How many teachers would stop this learning activity and “waste” the children’s time on a “proper” leaf raking lesson? What would the children have lost vs what might they have gained? there interest was clearly in working out a collaborative activity which I applaud and whole heartedly support.
It’s good to be back at the keyboard sharing my thoughts with you!
Patience and Waiting
What is your fine line between doing something for a child and letting them experience doing it themselves? How long do you let a child work it out before stepping in and helping out?
Some examples:
Putting on shoes. It’s easy to watch the self-directed child that wants to do it themselves. How long do you wait on the distracted child? What about the frustrated child?
Engaging in an altercation with a classmate. How do you determine the threshold both can take before frustrations run too high or it gets physical?
Here are some things to consider.
Are you asking the child to do something or is the child self-motivated?
What will the child learn from the experience?
Match the age of the child to the task. Set reasonable expectations.
If you are a teacher, make sure that the family’s values are matched to yours.
Know your own threshold and make sure your threshold is not too high or too low.
Do you have time or do you have somewhere to be and need to make a quick decision.
Children need time to work things out on their own. We cannot be in a hurry if we want them to have agency and learn to make good choices. Step back and let learning happen!
Skills and Natural Exploration
Readiness Skills and Natural Exploration with a nod to Susan Gallagher for beginning this list
Fine Motor Skills:
- Pick up small acorns, pebbles, sticks, and pinecone
- Find small invertebrates, insects
- Draw in dirt/sand with sticks
- Scissor skills
- Cut or hole punch leaves
- Cut Grass
- Cut garden plants
Gross Motor Skills:
- Open space for running, jumping freely
- Climb a low tree
- Play with a ball
- Move tires and stumps
- Jump in leaves
- Sled
Eye-Hand Coordination:
- Toss a ball through a hoop, into a basket, or to a person
- Dig and dump
- Stack sticks to make structures
Language and Literacy Skills:
- Letter Recognition, Upper and Lower case
- Letter sound walk
- Read books
- Look for letter shapes in nature
- Make a nature alphabet book
- Draw letters in the sand/dirt/air
- Sequencing
- Talk about the order of doing things
- Discuss being prepared for outside in all weather
- Discuss how animals forage for and store food for winter
- Look for pinecones that have been nibbled on
- Matching
- Match natural items by color, size, shape and sound
- Opposites
- Explore a variety of textures in nature and describe them
- Visual Discrimination
- Classify and group objects
- Same and different
- Positional words
- Use words to describe, above, below, up, down, next to
- Rhyming
- Sing nature related songs and fingerplays
- Make up songs
Math Skills
- Counting
- Count natural objects, sticks, rocks, pinecones, leaves, acorns, seeds, flowers, trees
- Sorting
- Collect and sort natural objects
- Graphing
- If you can collect it, you can graph it
- Graph how something feels
- Graph experiences
- Graph flavors if you’ve grown vegetables
- Measuring
- Bring measuring outside, rulers, cups, thermometer, rain gauge
- Use a balance and a scale
- Number recognition
- Draw numbers in the sand/dirt/air
- Count objects you find
- Use natural objects to create numbers
- Size recognition
- Compare natural objects
- Patterns
- Look for patterns, scales a pinecone, the rings on a tree stump
- Makea nature pattern, one acorn, one pinecone, try more difficult patterns
- Shapes
- Have a shape scavenger hunt
Science
- Properties of water in different seasons
- Watch the tree, plant, insect, animal, and water cycles
- Explore temperature
- Watch the clouds
- Plant a garden
- Name the parts of plants, animals
Self Help Skills
- Hang up coat
- Put on coat, mittens, hats
- Carry food bag
- Open food containers, wrappers
- Clean up
Exploring Big Feelings
How do big feelings present in toddlers and preschoolers and how do adults support these feelings?
Children should be allowed to express their feelings in a safe place as they learn self-control. What does this look like for a child? It might be falling down on the ground and flailing about. It might include screaming, yelling, and/or crying. Commonly called a temper tantrum! There could be an element of being physical in the form of biting, scratching, hitting, kicking or destroying property. This is all a form of communication. We must check in with ourselves and handle our own emotions first. We must help children negotiate these feelings instead of breaking down ourselves.
First, allowing big feelings is important, this is the way a child learns to communicate. We do not like it if someone tells us, “You are OK”, or “to get over it”, or to stop feeling a certain way. We do not want to be told to “stop it” so why should a child be able to negotiate accepting this. We must check our own feelings first and then support theirs very calmly by naming their feelings and accepting them. We are supportive in positive feelings but tend to shut down the negative emotions.
While the latter is not ideal, we still need to provide a safe place for the expression of feelings. Sometimes we must step back and let them be physical in a safe place as they negotiate these big feelings.
Reach out if you want to discuss further!
Do you have questions about child led curriculum?
This is how we “do” curriculum at FG. Our curriculum is child-led and play based meaning the children choose or show interest in topics and with our support the delivery is through play. First, we observe the children. Next, we consider the season that we are experiencing in our outdoor program. We then make a rough outline for the week. We include activities that incorporate the MA Learning Guidelines and Standards in the areas of small and gross motor skills, the arts, language and literacy, self-help and science. We add activities that we think the children will find interesting based on our observations. If they do not, we might re-introduce an idea or we might watch and choose to scrap it.
We continue to observe and introduce new elements that might extend play and learning. This looks like children playing all day with not much teacher intervention. The children make hypotheses and test theory. They explore natural and man-made sensory experiences. They are read to and read to each other. They paint and draw with many mediums. They listen to music, they play music. They explore sound with their own voices and objects or they use objects to make sound!
They eat when they are hungry. They get emotional and explore feelings both with adults and each other.
If you have any questions about our curriculum, please ask us.
Why Play?
Why do we have such a hard time accepting that play is learning for young children? Schools want to prepare children for what’s next. Play does this by allowing children to construct knowledge and learn conflict resolution and cooperation. Play is innate, automatic and hard hired. Adult imposition stops learning through play cold in its tracks. Why would we deliberately want to stop a child’s learning?
We have no way of knowing what jobs will be available in 15 years. It is best to allow children the freedom to innovate and be independent thinkers rather than force them into an outdated system of education based on the factory that no longer exists. We are trying to mass produce a child’s education by having them in lines and grading them. There is a better way through play.
Children will play, just try to stop them! I witnessed while in Yellowstone National Park at a picnic site, several children moving a large log up onto a stationary structure thus creating a seesaw. I have no way of knowing if these children were related but they found a way to play. Let them play!