First day of holidays!!! 3 weeks to regroup, plan, create, 'spring' clean, garden, write, blog, work on my book, recover, finish some things from my last job and plan for my new one!
Early morning sleep in plans thwarted by the Teacher's Ink. Quality Control Officer (aka gorgeous side kick).
And since the world didn't end, I'll have to do the dishes after all.
The online journal of an early childhood teacher working in Australia ... Somewhere.
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Monday, December 3, 2012
Reflection Flashback circa 2009: What Happens if ... You Give A Child A Camera?
Well, I gave the children a camera
and answered that question! It was during
rest time while the adults were putting children to sleep. A, M, and YH were doing quiet activities at
the table. YH had used the camera to take a photo of his letters. YH then
spread the love and took pictures of M and A. He then shared the camera with
them. They posed, took pictures of one another from close up and from far away.
They took pictures through the window of outside where the rain was bucketing
down. They took abstract photos of objects in the learning environment. My
colleague L grabbed our other camera to take pictures of the children using the
camera.
What prompted this? Well, I had
previously been to a conference where a presenter had made the point that we diligently
photo document the children’s work. She questioned us as to when do we give the
right and responsibility of documentation to the children? When do we give them permission to use the camera so they can share their own perspective? I thought that this was FABULOUS so I tried it with
great success.
As my colleague and I looked
through the children’s photos we were impressed with their creativity both in
posing, almost as characters for the camera, but also in documenting their
unique perspectives of the world around them.
The previous story happened way back in 2009. I thought I would just share it with
you because it was a beautiful moment that made it into my personal reflections. It also marked a shift in my
professional development as a practicing teacher. It was a moment where I chose to view the children as
powerful and capable. It was a moment that created change in our learning environment.
This could be a story for the child's portoflio along with the images that they took. It certainly links to the EYLF in many ways although it happened in a time before the EYLF was even published. This story is the child's voice! It shows the children as actively involved in their own learning! The children are sharing their knowledge with each other! They are sharing and negotiating taking turns which in turn is about the relationship that they have with each other! It's the children not only exploring technology, but also using it successfully! They are transfering what they have learned in one context into another. They are learning through play!
There is more than one way to observe and document.
I think in a perfect world, we
would have cameras for the children so that they could share their ‘voice’ more
readily!
© Teacher’s Ink. 2012 All Rights
Reserved
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Repurposing: Art Tray
The tray is from my uncle. He won it at a tournament a great many moons ago. It's an engraved trophy. The tin cans, well, you all know where they came from and I've posted about making cans safe before in my post: Sustainable Recycled Repurposed Home Corner Resources. The materials are simply what you might have at an art table or possibly even in a writing or drawing area. This was so simple and easy to put together. You could also have materials for a playdough table. Hmmm that gives my my next idea!
If you don't have the materials to "recycle" you can easily buy metal trays from any number of discount stores if you want to head down this specific path. Weekend market stalls where they sell homewares have them in many different sizes. I've also seen them many times at opportunity shops (Salvation Army or St. Vincents or Anglicare Op shops). Or if you want a wooden look - wooden trays are readily available from Ikea or Kmart or any other number of stores.
©
Teacher’s Ink. 2012 All Rights Reserved
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Using Real Resources in Home Corner
I also make “food bottles” ... I have found at Kmart for $2
for a set of 3 small screw top jars. They are made from BPA-free plastic and
they are affordable and small enough for little hands. AND you can glue them
closed! I used to make them out of different sorts of bottles from the $2/Discount
stores, but they are not the safest plastics to use. I much prefer the Kmart
ones now!
Basically, fill your containers with different sorts of
dried food products: pasta, lentils, rice, beans, oats, flour, etc and then
glue the lid on tightly. The end! You could add labels to the front if you
wanted to add a literacy component to it, but I haven’t done this as yet. It’s
on the list for later!
barley
polenta
rice
spaghetti
red lentils in action!
red lentils
One might argue that it’s irresponsible and disrespectful to
use food as a “toy” ... I say that you can justify in any number of ways:
a) Firstly, you can use products that are out of
date and would otherwise be discarded.
b) You can explain that we are using the food, in
small amounts, to educate children to the importance of healthy eating.
c) We
are showing the children respect by providing something “real” that they can
relate to and to hopefully dispel any apprehension they might have about eating
different sorts of foods.
d) It
is something that will last years rather than moments, so the food is not being
wasted, it is simply just not being eaten - and you are only using a small amount.
PLEASE NOTE:
1. It’s
important that you are aware of any allergies in your learning space. For
example, you wouldn’t use peanuts or a product that contains peanuts inside the
jars.
2. Make sure that you use low-allergy foods and
make sure they are closed tightly and I suggest using a hot glue gun, or
possibly a very strong construction adhesive. Just be wary of fumes, the hot
glue etc and do not do this part with the children. You can fill the containers
with them, and talk about the contents and what types of foods are healthy.
3. Also
please label the containers on the bottom with permanent marker with the date.
4. You
might also want to freeze the contents for a couple of weeks to make sure you
kill any possible insect eggs so that you don’t have to throw away the jars
post filling due to infestation! It happens to the cleanest of kitchens!
(c) Teacher's Ink. 2012 All Rights Reserved
Paper Dolls = Home Made Felt Board Resource
I was playing online with Google looking for some inspiration for discovery bottles (there wasn’t a huge amount that really caught my eye ( I think I’ll have to create a post on that myself!) ... and I accidentally found this blog post on her "Shiny Happy Paper People":
I was really inspired by this blogger and she’s very kindly
given me permission to do this post about her dolls! The ones that I have made are
quite large! They are going to be good for the toddlers and preschoolers
together ... If I make them again, I’ll make them smaller, and I’ll also
explore other patterns! These are things that an educator could easily make for
their own teaching bag!
Since I had brought some scrap booking paper to work for
another project – this is something we were able to do immediately! It’s been
evolving over a few weeks – and the ones displayed in this blog are the ones
that I’ve made ... the kid’s ones were awesome and I wish I could show them!
Some children took them home, some let me keep them for our own collection.
We are using them as
resources that we’ve made ourselves – which ties in with being creative,
inventive, following the children’s interest (in collage and making things!),
supports the children as capable and resourceful, used budget friendly
materials (recycled donated cardboard + donated scrapbook paper).
The children can use them in block play or on the bulletin
board where they will stick with some hook-Velcro ... It’s just a resource that
we’ve done ourselves – that represent us or people we know or care about – and
is something that will give us an opportunity to play! The children could even
use them to create stories of their own which we could write down and document
with photographs! The children might want to make some other items to help
provision the play? Who knows where the children will want to take it ... it
might just stay where it is!
(c) Teacher's Ink. 2012 All Rights Reserved
Friday, November 9, 2012
Sustainable Recycled Repurposed Home Corner Resources
We all know the buzz buzz buzz about being sustainable and
environmental in the EYLF and the NQS ... Well, I know I've mentioned this
before, but I thought I would do a whole post on it! I've been slowly saving up some more cans ... and I have a few more that are still at work!
1) Collect your cans! Try and have a variety, that is colourful, has a balance of image and text.
2) Wash your cans out... be careful as most of the lift top lids leave a sharp edge.
3) Have your "smooth edge" can opener ready - remove the inner lip of the can and discard.
4) Run your finger carefully along the inner edge and make sure its smooth - again, be careful!
5) Re-attach your label if you removed it from can (I did this as I didnt eat all that food in one go - and I used pet food tins which I use daily as the base). You can do this with sticky tape. Just make sure it lines up evenly.
6) Cut a piece of clear contact adhesive slightly longer than your can so that it sits on the bottom of the can and over laps the top.
7) Remove the cover of the contact adhesive and carefully smooth over the label of the can.
8) When the can is fully covered, make a few small cuts at the top over lapping adhesive cover and then fold them into the can and smooth them out. This gives extra protection from the rim (which should be smooth anyway!). If you are particular about the safety of these cans, use some silver duct/gaffa tape to line the top of the can.
9) Ta! Da! You now have some unique, made by yourself, economical, resourceful, creative, recycled resources that can be used to support children's creative and imaginative play!
10) Sit back and watch the magic ...
(c) Teacher's Ink. 2012 All Rights Reserved
My Trusty Side Kick @ Photo Shoot
So ... Now I'll get to work!
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