Can it get any more natural than this?!

 I snapped this picture of my almost five year old daughter engaged in the wonder of learning.

What do you see happening in this picture?  What skills and/or concepts is she developing or practicing?

Let’s build a list!

1.       Experimenting with balance

2.       Experiencing texture

3.       Enhancing vocabulary

Add what you see…..

Knowing how and when to ask questions to a child engaged in play can make the experience more meaningful and rich. For example, when noticing a child is stuck, a thoughtful question might move him along. Asking open-ended questions lead to problem solving, as well as, helps children consider another point of view.

Types of questions that foster inquiry:

What do you think will happen if…
I wonder why….
How do you think that happened?
What do you know about….?
How many ways can you…?
How do you think ___and ____ are alike/different?
Do you have some ideas about…?
Can you think of a way to….?
How do you feel about….?

What questions do you ask to foster inquiry during play? Please share in the comments below.

Announcing an upcoming Twitter Town Hall (TTH) on parent communication. The TTH will be facilitated by Jane Thornthwaite, Parliamentary Secretary for Student Support and Parent Engagement and is hosted by the Ministry of Education.

Tuesday, January 22, 7-8 pm

How the Twitter chat will work:
• Parliamentary Secretary for Student Support and Parent Engagement Jane Thornthwaite (@jthornthwaite) will take your questions via Twitter on parent engagement in BC education. She will answer as many questions as possible. Obviously it will be impossible for her to answer all of them in the time we have available.
• Ministry of Education staff will help moderate the chat via the @bcedplan Twitter account. Their job is to ensure the conversation runs smoothly, stays on topic and is on time. They will also provide brief summaries of each topic/question after it closes and a more detailed summary after the Twitter chat.

How to participate:
• To follow the conversation go to https://twitter.com/search?q=%23bcparent or enter #bcparent into your chosen Twitter client (e.g., Hootsuite, TweetDeck). This will give you the feed of all the tweets for our event
• To tweet a question or a comment you will need to have your own Twitter account.
• When you tweet, please use the hashtag #bcparent. If you don’t your tweet won’t appear in our feed and we can’t respond. It also won’t appear in our archive at the end of the event
• When responding to a tweet, please use the “reply” button to ensure conversations remain threaded
• To send a tweet to Parliamentary Secretary Jane Thornthwaite use her handle @jthornthwaite and include #bcparent
• One popular tool for participating in twitter chats is http://www.tweetchat.com. You don’t need a special account, but you will need to connect your twitter account to send tweets
• The Twitter town hall will be a live event, so it may not be possible to respond to all questions received

As many of you know, the early years team at the Ministry of Education are currently in conversation with each District hearing about all the great things that are happening related to early learning in our province!

Many Districts have shared that they are engaged in some type of social media related to early years in their schools. Some have blogs, other are proficient tweeters, some have Facebook pages.

We would like to extend the invitation to share any District based social media here on this blog. There are some wonderful networking and information sharing opportunities here…let’s take advantage of tapping into the wonderful things happening in our province.

If your District, StrongStart BC program, school, elementary teacher has a blog, or twitter feed, or Facebook page related to early learning in B.C., please provide a link in the comments below!

We look forward to checking them out!!

The Early Years Staff at the Ministry of Education are currently chatting with each district across the province about StrongStart BC Early Learning Programs. One strongly emerging theme is that of reaching out to vulnerable families in their community.

How is your program, school or district actively engaging these young families?

In what ways are you ensuring that programs are welcoming and accessible?

Please share your innovative practice!!

I think most teachers and educators would agree with me when I say that New Years Eve is Labour Day not December 31st. In educator-land, as autumn approaches, it is a mark of a fresh start. A classroom refresh to create an inspiring  environment for the children and the educator is a great way to start anew.

In the Full Day Kindergarten Guide, we offer the following practical tips to make Kindergarten environments more inviting. Inspiring K classrooms have the following characteristics:

• A comfortable atmosphere. Soft areas with rugs and cushions will help children feel more comfortable and can also absorb the sound of noisy play.

• Displays of children’s artwork. Displaying children’s artwork in a variety of places that extend beyond the classroom into hallways, including at low levels, will enable children to see their creations.

• Culturally relevant materials. Materials should reflect the communities and cultures of the children in the class. To ensure these are authentic, teachers should consult with parents, other family members, and local cultural organizations, as well as with designated experts or advisors. For example, every BC school district has an Aboriginal Education coordinator who can provide information about local Aboriginal protocols, including any specific permissions that may be required to use or display cultural materials in the classroom.

• Attractive and aesthetic appeal. The Kindergarten environment should be appealing to the senses with colour, light, and textures. Both bright colours and pastels can be appealing, as well as soft and hard textures, but too many colours and textures can over-stimulate the senses and make it difficult for children to focus.

• Open-ended activities. Activities that are open-ended allow children to carry on their learning through multiple days and to add their personal interest to activities. Allow space for children to keep their long-term projects.

• Varying levels of stimulation. Ensure the environment has places for both noisy and quiet activities.

• Cozy, quiet spaces encourage intimate conversations.

 In the StrongStart BC Operations Guide, we suggest the following to create a welcoming environment for both the children and their families.

• A Home-like Atmosphere – Providing soft areas, such as couches, rugs, and cushions, arocking chair for nursing, and adding a coffee or tea station, can create a sense of warmth and familiarity. This home-like setting will help people feel more comfortable in a school program. Soft furnishings can also absorb the sound of noisy play. Displaying children’s art in a variety of places, including at low levels, will enable children to see their creations.
• Attractive and Aesthetically Appealing – the StrongStart BC environment should be appealing to the senses with colour, light, and textures. Both bright colours and pastels can be appealing, as well as soft and hard textures, but too many colours and textures can make it difficult for children to focus due to over-stimulation of the senses.
• Open-ended – Activities that are open-ended allow children to carry on their learning through multiple days and to add their personal interest to activities. Allow space for children to keep their long-term projects.

• Varying Levels of Stimulation – Ensure the environment has places for both noisy and quiet activities.Cozy, quiet spaces encourage intimate conversations among children and adults and allow for calm interludes between more boisterous activities.

Discussion:

1. As early years educators, what are your favourite ways to create an inviting and inspiring space?
2. What does your class look like?
3. Where do you pull your inspiration from?

Provincial and territorial ministers of education (Council of Ministers of Education Canada, CMEC) have released a statement on the intrinsic value of play-based learning. The following bullets outline this pan-Canadian statement.

• Learning through play is supported by science.
• Learning through play is supported by experts.
• Learning through play is supported by children and parents.
• When children are playing, children are learning.

B.C.’s own Early Learning Framework was cited as part of the statement:

 In play, children represent and transform the world around them, providing other children and adults with a window into their thoughts and perceptions, and often helping adults to see the world in new ways.

(BC Early Learning Framework, 2008)

 Read the full  statement here.

If you would like more information visit www.cmec.ca or contact Colin Bailey at 416.962.8100 or c.bailey@cmec.ca

Join the Nature Action Collaborative for Children and the World Forum community by celebrating Mud Day wherever you live.  Plan to play in the mud with us on June 29, 2012 — the second international celebration of this World Forum event.

Last year adults and children around the world kicked off the very first Mud Day.  You can view photos and stories  about these celebrations on the World Forum website.  Now you can organize your own activities, invite children and families to participate, take photos and write your story, share resources on mud play and outdoor experiences.  But most of all we invite you to go outdoors with a playful spirit and muck about with children.

~excerpt from Child Care Exchange

In preparation for Mud Day, a mud pie kitchen was created by one of the early years coordinators here at the Ministry of Education.  We hope you are inspired by the photos of this wonderfully messy and rich experience for children.

What do you see going on in these pictures? What is this experience supporting?

Journey of Possibilities – Reggio Inspirations in the Early Years (3-8 years) is happening July 4 & 5 2012 in Burnaby, B.C.

Celebrated author Lillian Katz will be providing an evening session, as well as, keynote addresses from Ann Pelo and Karyn Callaghan.

Workshops include:

• Practical Strategies for Keeping Documentation Meaningful and Simple – Tom Kertes
• Place-based, Imaginative, & Ecological Education – Maple Ridge Outdoor School
• Rough and Tumble Play: Supporting Social Understanding – Dr. Michelle Tannock
• What’s the Rush? Why we need to Put Play Back Into the Lives of Our Children – Barb Mathieson
• Images of Design: Rethinking Environments and Materials – Kim Atkinson and Danielle Davis
• Social Justice Teaching and Reggio-Inspired Pedagogy – Ann Pelo

…and many more engaging sessions.

Registration information can be obtained through YMCA Child Care Resource and Referral triccrr@vanymca.org or phone :604-931-3400 ext 0

Proceeds of this professional development will be going to the Wonder of Learning exhibit.

Please enjoy this article written by Bridgitte at Natural Pod on the benefits of natural play.

The wonders of natural play

 More play and less structure. That may seem like an oxymoron for many of you. After all, aren’t you as teachers here to help children succeed? Parents turn to you to help set up the foundations for children to become tomorrow’s doctors, lawyers, politicians, scientists and corporate leaders. So one would think that offering less playtime and more focus on academic learning would be the recipe for success. Not quite so.

 Welcome to the world of natural play, where children enjoy unstructured and uninhibited playtime using items found in nature and basic, open-ended toys. Natural play is pure bliss for children and is ideal for their brain development (and yes, it can lay better foundations for success in their adult years).

 As an educator, you are in an exciting position.You have the ability to incorporate simple items from nature into your classrooms, and see your students thrive. Watch children’s imagination, creativity and sensory exploration come alive while playing with nature’s toys like pebbles, pinecones, twigs, leaves, and the list of items is wonderfully long.

 Allow your children to explore and play with these simple objects from nature and you will see that this form of play sparks curiosity, imagination and builds a sense of wonder, which is a substantial motivator for life-long learning. Natural play also allows children to think symbolically, learn cooperative skills, and teaches self regulation.

 Children get to be creative and active at the same time. They love to build teepees out of twigs, fortresses out of wooden blocks, or study the colours and shapes in rocks.  This hands-on exploration helps with the development of understanding and inventiveness. As you know, children live through their senses, and with natural play, they discover with all their senses, which is a source of sensory stimulation, an essential element for healthy development of an interior life.

 Connecting to the natural world helps increase self-esteem and acts as a buffer to stresses in life. Studies have shown that children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have a reduction in symptoms when exposed to natural play. 

 The most wondrous thing to note is the exploration and invitation to natural play starts with you and all it takes is very simple objects. Bring in that stack of twigs from outside and see the creative play that takes place in your classroom today!

~Bridgitte Alomes

Natural Pod

CEO of Play/Co-founder 

bridgitte@naturalpod.com