This is a Blog.

A blog, short for "web-log" is an online journal. Its different from a regular website with the advantage that as new items or journal entries are published on it, the old ones are archived along the way. This means that when you visit our blog, the first entry that you see at the top of the page is the most recent one posted. As you scroll down, you will find the entries which preceeded it. For entires that go even further back, all you have to do is look at the "Blog Archive" section in the left-hand column. Clicking on the arrow next to the Months will show all of the journal entry titles for that month, making it easy to find what you're looking for. It also makes it easy for us to track what has happened in our classroom over a long period of time. Here are some other features we espescially enjoy:

PHOTOGRAPHS

One of the things we love most about using this blog is the ease with which we can share photogrpahs from our day on it. The photographs appear in a smaller size in the actual journal entry, however, clicking on the photograph will bring up the full size image in a new screen. When you have a full-sized image pulled up, you can right-click on the image with your mouse and choose "Save", or choose "Save" from the Edit menu of your web-browser. Doing this will give you the opportunity to save the image on your own computer, where you can print it out or save it for your own use. Some of our photographs are hosted on an external photo-sharing site, www.flickr.com. When you click on these images, it will bring you to our flickr.com accounts, where you can actually order prints of the photograph directly from the website. Coupled to the joy of seeing what your child's day looks like while he or she is at school is our desire that these photographs tell a story as well. Sometimes they are stories about blossoming friendships, sometimes they are stories about new discoveries. We hope that the stories these photographs tell will help exhibit the kind of learning and relationship-building taking palce in our classroom, as well as display the joy we share in spending our days together.

COMMENTS

After each journal entry, there is a link that says "Comments" on it. Clicking on this link will provide you with the opportunity to respond to what you are reading about or seeing. This is so important to us! You can use this as a chance to tell us what you think about what's happening in the classroom, ask us questions about why we choose the activity we do, or give suggestions about what we might add. YOU are the number one expert on your child, and by using the Comments sections of our blog, we can enter into dialogue about which directions to pursue next in our learning and play. We welcome comments and questions here- feel free to talk about what you see and read!

Creative Spaces Pt. 2 - A Sensory Rich Environment

This next series of photographs shows Celia, Jordan, Matthew, Landon, and Boone playing in the classroom "fort". This is another space in the classroom that seeks to draw children into playful and collaborative interactions with one another. Additionally, this space is one among several attempts in the classroom to create a sensory-rich experience for the children to interact with. The developmental psychologist Jean Piaget refered to the cognitive development of infants at this age as being in a "Sensori-Motor" period, meaning that there is much brain activity and development focued around sense perception and the use of the senses, as well as motor development. It makes sense when you consider the way infants and toddlers love to feel materials, exploring the properties of a piece of paper as the crush and crinkle it, or deligting in the soft and weightless properties of a feather. The fort's walls are covered with sensory experiences, noisy bubble wrap and tin foil, fabric that glows orange in the right sun light- but the most popular part of the fort by far was the overhanging network of paper flags. (Funny side story- the inspiration for the flags came one evening in a Mexican bar in San Francisco as another preschool teacher friend of mine and I admired the paper flags overhead- we came to the same conclusion simultaneously: "Those would look great in the classroom!" Always on the look-out for new ideas.) In the pictures below, you can see Landon and Boone pulling on a string attached to the fort. When the string is pulled, the entire network of flags above shakes, which is then attached to chimes in another corner of the room, which begin to ring. The kids loved feeling like they could manipulate such a vast space above their heads with a simple tug. It was a fun way to learn about action and response.

Creative Spaces

Hey folks, sorry for the long pause (the end of the semester is always a hectic time)- I'll try to play catch-up with some of the photographs I've told you about.

Here are the first in a series of photographs I took to explore some of the creative spaces in the classroom. We've had several great opportunities this year to create some interesting spaces for the kids that they've really responded to. A big focus in the assessment of environmental standards for infant and toddler care is on the variety and ammount of objects contained in the care environment. While manipulative and sensory objects in the infant-toddler environment are essential, when they become the focus of the child's exploration conflict inevitably ensues. Because objects are easily possessed and accumulated, they can often make relationships with other children competitive, or threatening, no matter how many of a given object are located in the space. By contrast, large, open spaces invite children into relationship with each other, rather than into a focus on a toy. In the pictures below, a simple cardboard box with windows cuts out draws the children into games of hide and seek with one another as they surprise and laugh at one another, delighted at the smiling and familiar faces they find around each corner. While we will work with our kids on sharing toys and objects and playing collaboratively with them when the time becomes developmentally appropraite to do so, a simpler, more appropriate step in the meantime is to introduce them to spaces and opportunities where that kind of collaborative play occurs naturally. In the pictures below, you can see Boone, Jordan, Celia, Matthew, and Benjamin all interact with each other with fun and ease.