Image of the Child

The ‘Image of the Child’ is where you can begin!

I’m so excited to share with you our Reggio Inspired Teacher Playbook, written by Megan Haynes and me!

This past Friday, my husband SJ and I got to spend time with our granddaughters, Grace and Lillian. They are 10 months old and are developing so differently and have such distinctive interests. Grace is crawling and has been for some time, she stands by pulling herself up on almost anything. She is determined and her main focus is physical development - getting anywhere she wants to go or getting to anything she wants. She is so interested in other people and children. If we are at a restaurant she will try to engage with people at tables close to us. If we are at a park or swimming pool and there are children near by she makes cute little noises to get their attention and wants to engage with them.

Gracadilla

Lilly is gentle, and for me personally, seems like she can look right into my soul. She has this power of being present, examining everything about me or anyone she is with. She is sitting up and loves to clap. She has always had beautiful hand movements. Lilly also loves to talk, very loudly. She says mama, dada, baby, etc. She really wants to be moving her body more and loves to take your hands and stand up. She also loves sitting on the big exercise ball and being bounced up and down.

Lilly Beans and Rice

They both love music and hearing people sing. Their parents, Chelsea and Matt, sing to them all the time and they also have dance parties. Grace laughs a lot when Matt dances. They love going on walks and swinging on the swings at the park. They have started to interact with each other and that is exciting to see. When I sing to them, I add hand motions and they love it. It totally gets their attention and helps with transitions.

Grace rocking Lilly in her car seat and Lilly laughing!

What I have observed that feels new to me is the ways in which both of the girls imitate and create. Lilly will watch someone clap and immediately imitate and practice the movement. Grace imitates her parents waving and now says “hi” when she waves. Imitation is very important for babies and young children - it is how they learn to do something, how they learn new skills that will be important for them to know for their lifetime. I have noticed that Grace loves to create with her body. We were at a store the other day and there was music playing. She pulled herself up on a coffee table and started dancing. It was the first time I saw her do that. Right now Lillian creates more with her sounds. She loves to talk and create different sounds. I find the idea of babies creating something fascinating. I would like to know more about it and how to cultivate and encourage it. Creating is essential to human development. My ‘Image of the Child’ definitely got an upgrade when Grace and Lillian came into this world!   

Chelsea, Lilly, and Grace at the Farm in Fort Collins, Colorado

Creating a Mud Kitchen in a Protected Space

Even children of very different ages enjoy the mud kitchen together!

Children learn through their senses. It is so important that we (parents, teachers, and other adults) create environments that provide resources so young children can explore, create, and transform sensory materials. Water and sand are excellent examples of sensory materials for children to play with. Better yet, mixing and transforming dirt and water into mud is even more exciting for children. Above is a picture of my great nephews in the mud kitchen in our backyard, which I created after going to a week-long study tour on ‘nature pedagogy’ with Claire Warden in Scotland. I didn’t want the mud kitchen to be expensive, so everything in the mud kitchen came from a second hand store or was free. I included different types of thongs, hand mixers, chopsticks, utensils for small motor development.  I tried to have all natural materials with very little plastic to make it aesthetically pleasing. The mud kitchen is in the back corner of our yard behind the gazebo. It has a large umbrella over the area for shade and definition. It is a protected space. According to Robin Christie, https://childspace.nz/about-us/, protected spaces are any spaces where children can play without interruption. These spaces don’t have to be large, can be in small corners of a yard or indoor area, and out of the main flow of traffic. They are calming spaces and allow for self-regulation. It allows children to put time and effort into their play. Children will stay engaged longer in a protected space with sensory materials.

The mud kitchen is located in the corner of my yard behind the gazebo and there is a large umbrella to define the space and add shade. This creates a protected space for children to play uninterrupted.

Benefits of Sensory Play

·       It helps to build nerve connections in the brain.

·       It encourages the development of fine and gross motor skills.

·       It supports language development.

·       It encourages 'scientific thinking' and problem solving.

·       It supports cognitive development.

·       It is inclusive - there’s no right or wrong way to engage in sensory-rich play. Sensory activities especially benefit children with special needs, with children learning a second language, and children who enjoy a practical approach to learning.

·       It aids in developing and enhancing memory.

·       Problem-solving, exploration, and creativity are all benefits of sensory activities.

·       Children who are agitated calm down when engaged in sensory play.

·       It assists children in learning differences and attributes.

The joys of a mud kitchen!

What sensory materials do you have readily available? What sensory materials does your child love to experiment with? Where is a place in your indoor or outdoor environment where you can create a protected space for the children in your life? Are there materials that you can mix, and transform into something new? How can you get your child/children involved in creating protected spaces that provide opportunities for sensory experiences?

What sensory materials do you have readily available?

Bonus – Playdough Recipe, don’t buy playdough - make it!

2 cups flour

2 cup water

1 cup salt

1 T oil

2 T cream of tartar

Cook and stir the ingredients constantly in a medium sized sauce pan over medium heat. The dough will get very thick and dry looking and will be hard to stir. Take it out of the pan and let it cool. You can add food coloring of your choice and an extract (orange/almond) if you want the playdough to have a smell (for very young children the smell might give them the urge to eat it although it is not toxic). 

ENJOY!

Reggio Inspired Educational Documentation

A central feature of the Reggio Emilia approach is extensive documentation through observation, reflection, and analysis by teachers of children’s development and behavior. Documentation records the experiences of children in the classroom. It makes children’s learning visible and encourages them to become central to their own learning. Documenting children’s learning processes within a learning group helps to make learning evident and shapes the learning that takes place. The information can be used for reflection by teachers and children to extend and enhance learning and to explain the steps and details of a long-term project or investigation. Long-term projects are focused on collaborations between children and teachers, and teachers’ reflections on their own practice. Documentation is educational, professional, and purposeful. You can document projects, show progress, the process, and the product produced. Documentation is the on-going process of the teacher’s observations. It is a work in progress. It is constantly being created and re-created by the children’s growth and progress and the teacher’s reflections. It is displayed in the classroom or school. 

Documentation panels are the product of a long-term project or investigation and still considered open-ended and unfinished. Reggio Emilia is famous for their documentation panels and they are displayed in many different countries and states in the US. The educators in Reggio Emilia understand the importance of documentation as a form of research and how to make the learning of children visible for all to see. Teachers usually start a long-term project with a research question and the question is displayed in the classroom or school. Documentation can take the form of daily, child-specific observations related to individual children’s learning goals. 

Ideas for a documentation display: 

• Research question 

• Pictures/video 

• Quotes from children 

• Quotes and excerpts from textbooks and professional articles 

• Children’s artwork 

• Children’s writing 

• Descriptions and explanations of the project (always attempting to answer the initial research question) 

• Teachers’ reflections on their own learning and wonderings

My Personal Experience with Reggio Inspired Educational Documentation:

While working at the Early Childhood Center at Colorado State University, I was in charge of professional development (PD) for the college intern students that were selected to work at our school for a 16 week semester. My initial investigation question was – How do you build deep, trusting relationships with intern students in 16 weeks? Through the documentation process, I created a new vision for the intern students’ PD experience that included implementing Reggio principles. I provoked intern students with articles, TED talks, videos, etc. We had thoughtful and heart-felt group discussions about the information presented. This experience was very different from the theme-formatted, lecture-based PD provided previously. I had intern students answer questions I created to reflect on their learning and so I could see what they were curious about, what they wanted to learn more about, and where they need more information and learning. It became a socially constructivist approach to PD, creating the next PD experience from previous discussions and the interns’ reflections. I was co-constructing learning with intern students and their mentor teachers. I let go of planning out all of the PD meetings for the semester in advance. I listened deeply to what the intern students and mentor teachers shared during discussions. I became comfortable with the unknown and continue to grow and learn myself. Even though this documentation wasn’t created in a classroom with children, the process is very similar.

While documenting this investigation on developing positive relationships, I kept coming back to the question of, ‘What about the relationship with yourself?’ I had Brene Brown’s quote in my head, “You can’t give others what you don’t have.” How could I develop deeper selflove, positive self-image, self-esteem, and self-confidence? I decided to start a meditation practice and it has been a profound change in my life. It has been over ten years ago that I created this documentation and I’m still meditating. It helps me to stay ‘in the present.’ I always tell teachers who create documentation that there is something in the investigation/documentation process that is for them to learn, experience, or practice.

Learning Stories coming soon!