Building Courage
1/27/2019
Teaching young children to be courageous comes in many different forms. They need to be able to stand up for themselves and others, be bold to do what others are not and do the right thing, even when everyone around them tells them otherwise. Courage requires confidence, because without confidence, it is difficult to have the courage to take on intimidating tasks. When I think back to the first week of school and singing songs where each child takes a turn to dance, jump or act silly, many of the Beginners would not participate. But through the weeks and months, we've created a culture within our classroom where it is fun and exciting to be put in the spotlight. We encourage uniqueness and accept each other for their silliest moments and their hardest moments. I truly believe that this acceptance helps build confidence and, therefore, creates children who are courageous and bold. Our performing arts program is designed to build confidence and courage by encouraging the children to step out of their comfort zone. Here is there performance of Tooty Ta at the Brown Bag Concert. At PNA, our mission is to education students to be exceptional learners and independent thinkers of vision, courage, and integrity. Encouraging even the youngest of children to step out of their comfort zone just a little bit now can give them the confidence to stand up for something big later.
When the Beginners begin a new study, the first thing that we have to do is determine what the children already know about the topic and then use that to drive the study to explore what they are interested in learning more about. This week, the Beginners started a new study on clothing. After looking at different types of clothing and making a chart, it is apparent that the Beginners have a good basic understanding of why we need clothes and what purpose different parts of them have (i.e we need pockets to hold things). One thing that we want to learn more about in the next few weeks is how is clothing made and where does it come from? We hope to explore this by making some of our own pieces soon. On Monday, the Beginners wrote a journal entry about the clothes they were wearing that day. We talked about the different colors and materials of clothes and where they were on our bodies. We used “Mat Man” to help us visualize the different parts of the body in order to draw accurate representations, and then each child added clothes to their picture. Some children even added small details, like fingers! The Dramatic Play center was extra busy this week with the children wanting to play “family,” and "doctor." They were excited about the re-introduction of dresses, vests, and hats to the center, as well as career costumes, like police and fireman jackets. It was very exciting to watch them create scenarios and use the props to mimic what they see adults doing at home and at school. At the start of the school year, the Beginners shied away from the Dramatic Play area because they hadn’t yet learned to work together to develop cohesive play scenarios. Now, they are able to assign roles, share toys and make compromises to make their play smooth and cheerful. One of the books we focused on this week is called Caps For Sale, by Esphyr Slobodkina. Caps For Sale is a story of a Peddler who sells hats while carrying them on his head, instead of his back. The book is repetitive and simple, makings it a fun and interactive experience. We read the story once while looking at the pictures, then, we read it several more times using the Beginners as actors to portray the story! The Beginners really enjoyed playing both roles of the story, and it was particularly enjoyable to watch.
Welcome back
1/11/2019
After a 2 week break from school, the children were so excited to see their friends and get back into the school routine. This week, we revisited our classroom rules and how to be a good friend to our classmates. We used books by Mo Willems to explore friendship and use examples from characters on what makes a good friend. We also used these books to learn about books in general.
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Annalee JohnsonEK Teacher Archives
January 2021
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