Professor Elkind's Blog - Just Ask Baby

Professor David Elkind's blog. The blog part is free. Check it out

Professor Elkind's Blog - Just Ask Baby

Early Childhood Exchange: World Forum and Bonnie's Blog

Interestingly enough, Bonnie Neugebauer from Early Childhood Exchange and a founder of the Nature Collaboration began a blog about the same time as I did this fall. In the age of accountability and pressure, I have been asked by a few, what is the purpose of this blog, what are we supposed to do with it, who is it for? I was reading Bonnie's blog today and here is what she says about starting a blog. Debra Sullivan shared thoughts with me about community:  ”We don’t know what amazing and powerful things we might be able to accomplish if we create strong communities.”  How do we create these communities in our world today?  It occurs to me that this blog might be one way . . . 


This blog maybe part of a solution and a response to 21st century learners. We need to create strong communities that care for all of the members, regardless of age or status equally. We shall see. pam

Light and Shadow: More inspirations from Turtlewings

More studies from Turtlewings Creativity Studio. The children were using the overhead as a storytelling experience. Here you see she created the setting and a very elaborate drawing of her character to project. See how nicely the drawing is illuminated. The expectation is that when projected the details will show up.

But there is a problem with the expectation. The shadow of the character does not capture the detail. She continues to experiment realizing that what is related to the shadow is the shape of the paper cutout not the details in the drawing. What do you do as the adult?

What do we focus on?

Even if you successfully separate your personal life from your professional life  :+( , does it feel like there is too much coming at you to prioritize? Let's think... what do I need to do today to meet the needs of one child, tomorrow to meet the needs of some children, next week to meet the needs of the group,  Let's start there. Now give yourself permission to focus on that until it is accomplished. We need to start to check things off our list before we move onto the next item. Have a Great Weekend.
pam

Exploring Light and Shadow from Turtlewings

My class at Early Childhood Institute is titled the Young Investigator and Mathematician. This week we will begin the study of light and shadows. Sounds cool right....well, my sister already hosted this study with children in Brussels. I will post updates to this strand on this page but wanted to get you started with some inspiration from Europe. Check out her blog here!

When adults play

Play workshop at the Iowa AEYC conference.
When adults play with loose parts (recyclables) amazing things happen.
Check out the entire slide show!

Allow yourself to reconnect with process orientated play and remember your earliest play experiences. Consider the setting...where were you? Consider the playmates...were there any adults around? Consider the materials...Did you need a power source?
How can we fully support the children in our programs to learn through play?

What is the true value of play? How can we connect it in our adult minds to Early Learning Standards so that we can support each child through sustained interactions with rich materials?

My Sister Company: From Dandelions to Turtlewings

As some of you know I work both as a public and private consultant. My company is Dandelion Consultation. My sister has an amazing Design Firm in Brussels, Belgium called Turtlewings.  Her company focuses on the design aspects of early childhood education from the physical design of the environment to materials workshops with teachers and children. Please follow our amazing journey with parents, teachers, and most importantly children.

www.turtlewings.be

pam

Using your curriculum to fully support Standards.

Here is the first of what I hope to be many posts that strike a chord with Early Childhood Educators.
Creative Curriculum from Teaching Strategies provides an alignment with the NAEYC program standards. This in turn helps you as you work towards implementing the Iowa Quality Preschool Program Standards as they align with NAEYC's program standards. So....you can use this alignment document as you consider how your curriculum and assessment materials meet the standards.

Creative Curriculum crosswalk with NAEYC standards

I will add to this as we get going through the standards, but print this document and keep it handy.