The focus of the toddler room through the fall semester has been on relationships. Teachers were intentional in grouping children together to explore common interest. Our intention doing this was that all children would feel as a member of the classroom. First we grouped children together based on age; we learned that this didn't always work because it only widened the gap in relationships between younger and older toddlers. We reevaluated our intentions and figured out that our goal was to connect older toddlers with young toddlers. So we began working on finding children's common interest, then grouping them based on their interests. This helped toddlers to find common ground with each other and start their relationships from there.
Throughout the semester we explored sculptures in small groups. We visited the sculptures around the UNM campus up to three times per week. We took the same small group (4-5) of children each time to visit the sculptures. On our sculpture walks children were able to share a love for the sculpture. They talked about what they saw and ran and walked together; sometimes holding hands and laughing. Toddlers with higher levels of language helped younger toddlers with less language understand and see what was going on and helped them to be able to understand the process.
We also explored art in small groups. Toddlers would visit the art studio twice a week to explore some sort of art experience. Art experiences were chosen based on the children's interest (painting car tracks, other experiences were based on seasonal experiences (pumpkin painting). these experiences encouraged toddlers relationships as they talked to each other, as they practiced taking turns, and as they expressed themselves through the art.
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