Even though September 21st marks the “official” end of summer, I always think of the end of August as the end of summer – and then I am completely surprised when it continues to be hot until October. Last week we talked about change and how to prepare children for it, so this week I thought […]
In this article entitled “Why Preschool Shouldn’t Be Like School” the author, Alison Gopnik, makes an interesting argument about the value of exploration. She references two other studies that had remarkably similar results – children who were allowed to explore materials without direct teaching about those materials explored and discovered more of the material’s attributes than […]
This time of the year we are reminded that life is filled with hellos and goodbyes, with going away and coming back. Young children do not have enough experience in and with the world to be completely sure that the people who love them always come back. It may take years for some children to […]
When autonomy becomes the aim of education, educators will attempt to increase the areas of overlap between the area of overlap between the two circles. In Chapter 2 of Number in Preschool & Kindergarten, Kamii lays out one of the most basic principles of Piagetian theory. According to Piaget, the goal of education must […]
What does 50 years mean to you? I have only been alive for 47 years and I have little to no memory of the first 5- so let’s say I have about 42 years of memory. I have known, been aware of, studied, explored and celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech […]
Peg boards are cool. There are all sorts, but I really like the open-ended variety shown below. They usually come with an assortment of colors and each peg is designed to fit into the holes on the boards as well as into each other. That way children can fill the holes or stack the pegs […]
Lori is a very old friend of mine from high school. We went to college together where she studied to become a teacher. I knew I wanted her to complete the questionnaire because she was always very dedicated to education although she chose to specialize in English/Writing and working with teenagers (which I could NEVER […]
There is so much teacher bashing out there, I thought I should share this post about how generous teachers are. Anecdotally, I have know this for years. I know teachers who pay for children to attend field trips. I know teachers who buy clothes so everyone has a cubby with an extra set. I know […]
This article popped up on my Facebook page yesterday (Isn’t it amazing that Facebook and other like sites, know what you do, what you are interested in, and what you will click on?). 25 Books to Read Aloud to Toddlers It is a pretty good list. Some might say a “Must-Have” list of mostly classics […]
Last week we took a look at hopscotch as a fun summer gross-motor activity that also incorporates several math concepts. Today, I thought we could simply look at “chalk” as a very inexpensive tool that teachers can use to promote skills in every developmental domain. Sidewalk chalk can be bought for next to nothing. I […]