Rolling on the River

Last summer I led a themed, 2-week long "session" of my school's summer program that was loosely centered around the Hudson River and the New York Harbor. Pete Seeger's Sloop Clearwater was sailing down river to dock in Brooklyn for a couple of days in the summer, so I took advantage of the opportunity and put together a session entitled "Rolling on the River". My school is in a neighborhood that is directly on the Brooklyn waterfront, so we had easy access to waterfront piers and parks.

To pull the unit together I decided to turn our classroom into the New York Harbor, by creating a large harbor mural that would cover an entire wall of the classroom. During the first week of the session, we visited the nearby parks and piers, and talked about what we could see in the harbor. We read stories about rivers and animals that live in rivers and, as a group, we wrote our own story about a whale that gets lost in the New York Harbor (based on true events!) During the second week, we went for a ride on the Staten Island Ferry and visited the Sloop Clearwater.

The kids did a fantastic job painting our mural, deciding what needed to go in our harbor, crafting the parts, and writing the labels (with the teachers help for spelling). We had cranes:


boats:

the Verrazano Bridge:

the Brooklyn Bridge:

and, of course, the Statue of Liberty:

We also used streamers, thick ribbons, and fabric to create the East River and the Hudson River, which extended from the harbor wall to other walls in the classroom. The children posted these handy labels as a guide, which delighted the mapper in me:



In addition to getting to do all of this artwork, the session ended up being a great way to get outside during the summer, to explore our school's neighborhood, and go on some fun field trips!

vacation...

as much as i love my work, i also love my vacation. thus far as a teacher, i've worked for six school years and three summers. i spent last summer finishing up graduate school which, though enjoyable, was not a vacation. this will be my second summer almost completely off (i'm working a mere two weeks) and it's been wonderful.

i'm three weeks into my time off, which has been enough time to adjust to a day-to-day life in which i have 0-3 things on my mind as opposed to 25 - infinity. i have time to take leisurely bike rides and trips to the beach:


time to climb on the rocks, and scamper over kelp and wet sand when the tide is out:


and time to run my toes through the warm sand when the sun is out:


ahhh..... vacation!

change is good: new play spaces

in between rediscovering the charms and wonders of our school's neighborhood and rearranging our classroom, we found an exciting alternative to our local playground.

(our local playground):


within easy walking distance of our school we discovered structures and sites in which the children could climb, run, hide, and engage in dramatic play as far as their imaginations could stretch.

behold, the log ramps at the IKEA river walk:

the children love to run, climb, and jump across these log covered ramps. it's great exercise, but even greater fodder for the imagination.

adjacent to the ramps is this highly intriguing structure:

a ship's engine? a cannon? a battleship? though this particular structure isn't for climbing it serves as excellent inspiration for dramatic play.

this old pier, while also not suitable for climbing, running or even walking on, is nonetheless an intriguing backdrop to any game, as is the surrounding harbor:


adding to the charm of this play space are these abandoned warehouses, water taxis, and the not-too-distant statue of liberty:


finally, just across the river walk path we have an expansive field of grass upon which the children can run, hide, tumble, wrestle, roll, jump and, well.... play!

change is good: rearrangements

many times during a school year, i get the urge to make a series of changes to my classroom. these changes can take many forms. they can be simple changes, such as a slight change in schedule, a rearrangement of a couple of areas in the classroom, or the addition of some new work to the shelves. they could be mid-level changes, such as changing the morning routine, adding a new shelf to the classroom, or introducing a new rule, such as "you can't say you can't play". or they could be more major changes, like altering the daily schedule, rearranging the classroom, or introducing a new area of the curriculum.

children are sensitive to change, and disrupting the daily routines they have so carefully cultivated at school can throw off the equilibrium of the classroom. it's important to make sure that any change to the classroom environment, curriculum, or daily routine suit the childrens' needs at the time.

our neighborhood walk provided the boost of energy and inspiration i needed to get started on the classroom rearrangements i had in mind. i'd been so pleased with the initial arrangement of my classroom that, for the first time in several years, i hadn't felt the need to make any changes since september. by late april, however, it was clear that the children had grown too accustomed to the arrangement of shelves, tables, and chairs. instead of steadily climbing and changing, their work seemed a bit stuck in place. it was time to shake things up.

i'll refer to the first routine i wanted to change as the "art clump". the children had taken to gathering around the art shelf at the beginning of morning work time, positioning themselves at the largest table in the classroom (also at the center of the classroom) , and camping out for an entire work period. what was once a site of fresh and imaginative work had now grown into more of a social gathering area. as art work and social interaction are both very important elements of the preschool curriculum, my goal was not to put an end to this part of the children's day but to alter it so as to challenge and extend these experiences.

the other goal of the rearrangement was to encourage more language work. this had been an all too often overlooked area of the classroom, perhaps in part due to the language shelf's location on the outskirts of the room. thus, the necessary rearrangement was apparent - switch the language shelf with the art shelf. putting art on the outskirts wouldn't be a problem, because children would flock to it anywhere. placing the language shelf squarely in the center of the room made it more visible, more cozily situated, and more social. voila!

the new art space:

the new language space:

not only did the changes work - the children's art flourished and changed, and language work began in earnest - but the classroom felt larger and more open.

a breath of fresh air:

change is good: first steps

with the arrival of spring, i felt it was time to make some big changes to our classroom. after a long winter i found that the children, as well as myself, had become a bit stuck in our routines. i had a lot of changes in mind but was somewhat daunted by my growing list of ideas. what would be the first step?

it turns out the answer was simple, and presented itself organically. on a gray, rainy-ish, april morning we decided to take the kids out for a walk around the neighborhood. our first stop was our community farm, where we may soon be able to plant some seedlings in a shared "ed bed" for schools in the neighborhood:

it was locked! but we still got to take a peek inside. we also noticed the plants and flowers that were growing just outside of the farm's gates...

next stop, the IKEA park:
we passed by this crane, which provided excellent fodder for the imaginative minds of my three, four, and five year olds. what could it be? if only they could climb it...

the tracks were particularly intriguing...

on our way back to school we took some time to admire the spring colors in the neighborhood:

this tree is a block from our school. we admired it's white blossoms and bright green leaves.

we were also enchanted by the way the bus stop sign was shrouded by the branches, blossoms, and leaves of the tree:

and we loved the way the green and white blossoms mixed with the purple and pink blossoms on these trees. just a few blocks down from this corner is the waterfront. i can't imagine a more well-situated school, to be located within close walking distance of a community farm, a waterfront, and urban green spaces:


our walk gave me the burst of energy and inspiration i needed to embark on my series of spring changes. it was wonderful to take a fresh look at the neighborhood i've come to know so well, and be reminded of all it has to offer.

classroom design: shared rooms

my little one-room schoolhouse that could will, eventually, be growing into a two-room schoolhouse. in thinking about how to design this new space, i have been very excited (and overwhelmed) by all the creative possibilities. i am also acutely aware of the constraints of time, budget, and space. viewed in one light, these constraints could be seen as burdensome and limiting. viewed in a more optimistic light, however, these constraints can be seen as lending some structure and boundary (two things i am quite fond of as a preschool teacher!) to an otherwise limitless set of possibilities.

the expansion of my school will involve moving from having one mixed-age classroom to having two classrooms. the classrooms might be two equally mixed-age classrooms, or may be divided by age. though these two classrooms will be separated...

(perhaps like this)

... i am really interested in the idea of creating common spaces for children from both classes to work together. i especially like the idea of common work spaces where children at different ages can come together to exchange ideas. the common work space suits my educational philosophy and approach and, i expect, will fit nicely within my school's space and budget constraints.

here are the common work spaces i have in mind:

an art area, inspired by the reggio atelier:


a dramatic play area:


and a block area (picture a much bigger space, filled with many such buildings!):

classroom design: secrets, small spaces, and special places

this post over at Global Mama got me thinking about how little nooks and crannies are often what make the biggest impression on those who inhabit a space. i've always loved small spaces - i feel cozy in them, i feel safe in them, and i feel like i know every inch of the space. there's something about a small space to me and, i've observed, to children, that feels extra special and almost wondrous. i know a child who has spent many hours creating beautiful drawings and mixed-media collages, only to then fold them into one tiny piece, shroud them in layers of paper and tape, and give them away as presents. she calls these presents "a secret." and that's just how a small space feels to me. like a secret. something that i can call my own, and only i know all the ins and outs of it, the special nooks and crannies, the beauty that lies in the corners and the shadows.

for children, i think part of the magic of a nook, a cranny, a small, enclosed space is that it provides a stage for their dramatic play, a place where their imagination can unfold, and their ideas can develop. in thinking about designing a new classroom, i find myself wanting to create these little spaces for children - spaces that will fit the children's desire to act our their fantasies and will also inspire them and arouse their senses.

whenever i visit new places, i find myself taking photographs of windows, doors, gates, and paths. these are the things that pop out to me in a new place: the special spaces, the nooks and crannies. they inspire me, they activate my imagination, and they provide a backdrop for my fantasies. i love a good window, both how it looks and what it looks upon:

windows in homes:



old church windows:



and nature's windows:



i also love doors, gates, fences, and archways. they can be inviting, welcoming, charming, partly hidden, and well-situated:





they can stand alone:


they can tell a story:


and they can lead you down a path: