Monday, November 11, 2013

“In the child – and even in the infant – there is, by nature, an inexhaustible and ever increasing interest in the world and in himself.  It is not necessary to ‘entertain’ an infant.  He does not need complicated toys.  For hours, days, and even for months he plays with the most simple of objects which he happens to get hold of.  He plays with these simple objects with the greatest attention, interest and pleasure.”  --From Mary Alice Roche’s summary of Magda Gerber’s Peaceful Babies—Contented Mothers in the Sensory Awareness Foundation’s Bulletin #14

11 November 2013
We see the children using the sensory mobile space as a place for community.  But what is “community” to an infant? In this area we see children’s definition of community as they interact, build relationships, problem solve together and simply enjoy each other’s company.  In their small infant community children are learning from each other to further their own personal learning. 

Two weeks ago, our entire school community did a study of fall, leaves, and the outdoors.  We observed children engaging and interacting with the leaves.  With this study we experienced the joy of “just being:” just being outside, just being with our peers, just being by ourselves.  Children smiled and laughed as they felt the leaves on their hands, the grass between their toes, and the wind on their faces.  We were able to curiously explore our surroundings. 

Recently, we’ve added flowers to the mirror under the sensory mobile.  Children are engaging with the flowers and with the mirror in the following ways…







We have also been exploring sunflowers…






 
Young children are natural explorers.  Every moment is an opportunity for children to see, touch and do new things; it is an opportunity for them to make meaning of the world around them.  Because children are such natural explorers it is important to expose children to the everyday world around them.  Our infants are able to think, draw conclusions, make predictions, look for explanations; our infants are competent, and capable individuals.  Through this type of exploration they are also developing muscle control, language, early math concepts and social interactions. 

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Planting ...

It's almost time to start our school garden, so we introduced planting and vegetable seeds to the toddlers.
























Friday, April 5, 2013

Community...

Building our community...
During small group time children were able to socialize, practice taking turns, and build relationships with one another.


Children sat together while talking and laughing. Teachers watched from a distance while these toddlers showed a genuine interests in each others company.

















Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Crawling Through

After observing the children crawling over the climbing structure and under the cribs, we decided to follow their interests and created a crawl through/texture box for them to explore and learn.  

Some of the children crawled through the box right away, while others needed to explore the outside of the box before deciding to crawl through it or not.


Ellis was at first reserved about entering the box but after observing it she crawled into it.  While she was in there she played Peek-a-Boo with the turtle hanging from the center with teacher Jessica and would laugh.  Ellis also interacted with the other children and the streamers hanging down.    


Angelica explored the texture in the box and played Peek-a-Boo through the windows.


Serenity observed the box and interacted with the other children while playing with the streamers.

Joshua explored the streamers and the tissue paper at the ends of the crawl box.  He succeeded in ripping a piece of the tissue paper off to explore it closer.