I hope you've all been enjoying this snowy Sunday! This week I wanted to write a little more about intentional language. One of my favorite early childhood theorists is Lev Vygotsky, who pioneered a theory of social learning which emphasized the importance of social context in learning. All of our knowledge originates in interactions with and observations of other people. To Vygotsky, language is the tool that mediates between ideas in our head and the outside world, so by consciously shaping our language we can both re-frame our internal thoughts and ensure that we are accurately conveying what we mean to say.
Another one of the phrases that Scott Noyes discussed with us last week was "nice job." I myself am frequently guilty of giving generalized praise with the best of intentions, but it's become evident that such praise can actually be pretty harmful to children, giving them an unrealistic self-concept and actually working against that resiliency characteristic that we now know is so important. Over-praising a child can make them underestimate the importance of effort and overestimate the importance of inherent skills and talent, leaving them unprepared for challenges and failure. Yet, obviously it is important for us as adults to give children feedback, given the social origins of learning described above. The type of feedback that is most useful is specific, detailed, and prescriptive; instead of saying, "Good job getting your coat on!" we could say, "I saw you worked really hard to get that zipper started all by yourself." The tricky thing here is that in order to give such feedback, we really have to be focused and in-tune with our children's abilities, what they are struggling with, and what specific encouragement would be most useful in overcoming whatever challenge they are working on. It ties back to a favorite theme in working with young children: the importance of close observation, and using those observations to shape how we support them. A classic article on praise by Po Bronson is available here: http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/
We also wanted to share that this past Tuesday, Carly went to Montpelier to represent MVS at the Leading Change for Children Advocacy Conference organized by Let's Grow Kids. She joined 100+ advocates for affordable, high quality early childhood education as well as Vermont Senate Majority Leader Becca Balint and Representative Jessica Brumstead to discuss the power of advocacy in effecting policy change and plan for the upcoming legislative session. It was a positive, high-energy day filled with much emotion and heart. Save the date: the annual Early Childhood Day at the Legislature will be Wednesday, March 18!
(Carly with Representative Jessica Brumstead. Photo credit: Let's Grow Kids)
Classroom Updates
Infant I
This week we were thrilled to welcome another MVS sibling to our class. So glad to have you, L! Several of our younger children developed new interests in grasping toys such as rings and spoons, while others continue to joyfully get lost in scarves. Flipping the climber over elicited many requests of "Row, Row" and our older children have spent lots of time exploring how to rock the boat, especially when two or more are sitting in it together. Finally, at the end of the week we received our new half wall and gate separating the sleeping area from the rest of the room, and all of the rearranging has resulted in lots more space to play! On Friday our children felt very spread out, and it will be interesting to see how this new space affects social dynamics in the room.
The new set-up of our classroom has been a big hit. The children have really been enjoying the layout which allows for more space and places to play. The climber has seen much more use and is the new spot to play chase. The children have been experimenting with different ways to go down the slide. Jumping and sitting in mud puddles outside has been lots of fun. We have also been working hard as a class this week on our manners at meal times.
Toddlers
We had an active and lively week. We continue to enjoy story time and reading books throughout the day. Books with trucks and vehicles have been very popular, as have books that encourage independence (a common theme in our room!). This week we have focused on using language and words to express our thoughts and needs when interacting with peers. We have also worked consistently on being gentle and kind with each other. When we noticed our crew getting a little too rough and spirited, we have been working on giving high fives, fist bumps, and handshakes. this is a great approach to work on at home as well. Using crayons with our fingers and hands has also been very popular this week. Intentional marks and scribbles on paper while identifying the color of the crayons was observed often.
Preschool I
Despite a stomach bug in the classroom. we had quite a productive week! The children have really enjoyed the book A Snowy Surprise where a generous bear, Sam, helps his mother bake and deliver cakes for his friends. Interest in numbers waned slightly but was replaced with voracious interest in reading and writing letters. Most students are beginning to recognize and name letters in their own names. Other children know many letters. They really enjoy tracing letters with dry erase markers. Sorting buttons by shape and color has been another popular activity. Don't worry, we still see an abundance of dramatic play–one child wrapped a towel around a baby doll toy and said proudly, "Now the baby has a cape and she can fly!"
Our focus shifted this week to academic skills like letter and number identification, pattern recognition. and hand writing. Along with writing our names and identifying letters, we have had a budding interest in the sounds of letters. This week we also found a great book about the author of a long time class favorite book Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel. The new book, Big Machines, showed us how Virginia Lee Burton created the art for her books, from simple lines to shading, coloring, and painting to bring the art alive. We compared the illustrations in Big Machines to other Burton books we like to read including Mike Mulligan, The Little House, and Katy the Snow Plow. Finally, in this season of giving we made a holiday list of things we would like to give away.
This week we celebrated another PreK 5 year birthday! Happy 5th year around the sun FP. In other news... we've been practicing writing our names (almost) every morning. Children have become interested in counting and comparing the number of letters in their names and are noticing when two names have the same letters. I often hear things like, "What? You have an e in your name too?! No way! Let's tell Jen!" We brought out the ice cream shop and added Santa hats, jingle bells and festive lights to enhance dramatic play themes. We revisited an art project many children had started a few weeks ago, adding paint and new materials. We are also getting into the holiday spirit working on our Solstice lanterns and stringing cranberries to decorate around school. The addition of a couple new cars has really rekindled our interest in block building. Twice this week we've used every one of the blocks on our shelves! We are getting better and better at putting them back on the shelves where they belong, using pictures to guide us.
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