Exploring small group work ...

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.    

 

 

Busy Builders

The toddler room has been busy building with many different mediums. This study began when teachers noticed that children were very engaged in building with every material they used. They did this individually and in small groups.

One afternoon children work cooperatively to construct a fort out of the large fabric in the classroom, afterword's they enjoyed sitting together inside the fort admiring what they had done.

After the fort building teacher set up opportunities for individual children to build with different mediums, both large and small scale. During this time children built many tall, short, small, and large structures.

Teachers  noticed children building outside as well. During this time children worked cooperatively to build towers with large Legos. When  building outside teachers observed children being interested in how to build together but more interested in building concepts with one another especially the concept of shadow.  After this observation teachers decided to work with children in small groups in the studio to build structures and create shadows. During this time children engaged in different ways; for some it was about the act of building and putting objects inside one another, understanding how large blocks need to be on the bottom and small block on to top.  

Teachers followed the natural progression of children‘s play. During this time teachers set up play opportunities that were inquiry based and an opportunity to express knowledge through creativity  expression and open ended materials.

This study of Building engaged children in all NM Early Learning Domains: Beginning to Know About Ourselves and Other, Beginning to Communicate, Beginning to Move and Do, Beginning to Build Concepts and Approaches to Learning.

 

Light Exploration

Over the last couple of week our toddlers explored the following questions:

What is the source of the light?

Can we manipulate the light?

Can I use my body to manipulate the light? (Create a shadow)

Some might say our exploration started with 5 flashlights and a room full of toddlers… but when you look deeper we can see how our weekly explorations evolved into our curiosity about lights.  If you remember, weeks ago we studied magnets… that exploration grew into building and further evolved into ramps.  We found ourselves inside a life size ramp, when large tunnels were introduced into the classroom.  At first we attempted to elevate the tunnel and slide materials (and ourselves) through the tunnels.  When teachers added more mirrors to the classroom, we watched as the mirrors complimented the tunnels.  Children were crawling out of the mirrors and noticing their reflections.  While we were exploring the ramps, we were also outside noticing the sun and the moon. So we added flashlights to our tunnel exploration.  We covered one end of the tunnel as we sat inside the tunnel using our flashlight to investigate the insides of the tunnels.  When we put the two tunnels together, we noticed the light shining in through the cracks of the tunnel.  We wondered if we could cover that light.  Teachers added large and small, dark and light material to the classroom.  We used this material to attempt to shine light through the sheet.  We were beginning to notice that we needed to turn off the classroom lights in order for the flashlights to be most effective.  Inside the flashlight exploration we remember children’s interest in mirrors.  Children rolled on, danced in front of, and moved with the mirrors.  Teachers began to ask “how can we replicate their interest in movement and their interest in lights”... Light Projector!  We then began to dig deeper and revisit our questions about lights…

We Know…

We know that every light has its own source.  We know this because we explored outdoor light, flashlights, light project, and by visiting some shadows. 

We know that we can manipulate the light with our bodies, with objects, and by experimenting with different sources of light. 

We learned this by…

Exploring light through many different approaches… we explored light through flashlights, light projector, and a large shadow screen.  We did this with tunnels, sheets, shadow puppets, markers, sand, our bodies, and different materials in the classroom.  We worked through this exploration in small groups and with peers at the same concept level. 

We met the following Early Learning Guidelines…

Beginning to know about ourselves and others: As we worked in small groups with our peers we also worked with a consistent teacher.  We are learning to build relationships with those around us, small groups help us do that.  Also in small groups we are learning about self-regulation: taking turns, helping ourselves, and demonstrating/regulating different emotions. 

Beginning to Communicate: As we explored light we communicated.  We understand the words stand for objects, we are asking simple questions, and we are following directions.  Some of us and combining words (2-4 word sentences), we are expressing ideas, and we are participating in singing, fingerplays, and reading stories. 

Beginning to Build Concepts:  We noticed and sometimes described how things are the same and different. We explored concepts of space as we crawled in and over the tunnels.  We are able to problem solve and experiment with cause and effect. 

Beginning to Move and Do: We demonstrated both large and fine motor skills as we explored light.  We used our gross motor skills to move and rotate and crawl through the tunnels.  We used our fine motor skills to manipulate and change the light through the light projector and flash lights. 

Approaches to Learning: We demonstrated curiosity, initiative, imagination and problem solving.  We used our senses to explore the environment, we made independent choices, and we actively attempted to learn new things about the environment. 

Art! Art! Art!

Art is an essential building block of development for toddlers and helps them bridge learning with many other subject areas. For the past few weeks toddlers have been creating and looking at art, which benefits them in many ways. We have been incorporating many different art materials into the toddler room. 

One of the activities done was painting clear plastic water bottles with marbles and paper.  Toddlers shook, rolled and spun the bottles, the end product looked very much like stained glass and each paper was very different.  Toddlers worked hard putting marbles into their bottles while looking inside to see what was happening on the paper.

Painting with golf balls was another fun activity. Toddlers worked together as a team to move the large tubes rolling the golf balls in all directions. They laughed as the balls jumped around in the tub and onto the table and floor.

Toddlers also experienced the properties of heat by using a hot plate to melt crayons.   At first children were hesitant to participate because of the heat but as soon as realized that they would not get hurt they became very interested. They moved the crayon in a circular motion as they watched the crayon melt onto the paper.

Toddler also created clear collages using contact paper with many different materials.  One day children went walking on the path to collect natural materials for the collage back in the classroom they worked together to arrange the materials onto the contact paper. They also created a collage using small pieces of paper. They were using their fine motor skills to pick up the small pieces of paper.   The last collage toddlers did was a mix of materials using papers, fathers, confetti, and plastic lace. When toddlers first worked with the contact paper they were very interested in the feeling of the sticky contact paper, they put their hand on it and laughed as they tried to pull their hand off.  Not only were these activities exposing them to many different art mediums but also helped children understand cause and affect.

Over all these art activities have been an excellent opportunity for children to be creative, nurture friendships and take part in unique experiences.

 

   

 

Sand Art

After observing children being so engaged in the sand table we thought it would be great to continue with sand art!  We set up different colors of sand, cardboard and glue in the studio. Right away the toddler class was fully amused in the project as they figured out how to get the sand to stick to the cardboard. The toddlers worked in many different ways to create their project, some took small amounts of sand and slowly dropped it onto their cardboard, where as others dumped the whole plate of sand and then smeared it around, some even used their mouths to manipulate the paint brush. All together this art project was GREAT FUN!!