The People. The Message. The Magic.

 

    

I haven't written a real blog post in about seven years. This blog has just been sitting here.

  

But I just spent a week with a wonderful group of early years educators at 

INTERNATIONAL PLAY ICELAND. 

My mind and heart are bursting with love for all things early childhood!

So here I am feeling thankful and blessed to be so inspired by so many amazing conversations. 

I needed somewhere to put it. 

“Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good 
put together that overwhelm the world.” 
― Desmond Tutu

I first attended International Play Iceland in 2014. It was a huge step out of my comfort zone to travel alone to another country to spend a week with strangers. It was worth it. I made wonderful connections that I still maintain eight years later.

When I arrived this time, my good friend Tom Shea asked, "What made you come back?"

I wasn't even really sure how to answer. I just said, "It was time."

By the second day I remembered all the reasons that I came back. 

The People. The Message. The Magic. 

The People.

There were forty of us travelling from England, Australia, US, and more. We were there to spend the week together sharing, reflecting and learning from our visits to Icelandic playschools, but also about our own careers and settings back home. We walked away knowing not only about Icelandic culture, but the culture of the other members of the group and how those places value early childhood education and PLAY.

I remembered that when I left in 2014, I had a million pictures, but it was the conversations that I wanted to remember. It was the relationships that formed through the close experience of being together from sunrise to beyond sunset every day with these people. I took far less pictures and a lot more notes this time. 

We also had several different opportunities to share and reflect with the educators working in Iceland. We hosted a small event at the city hall, where children could bring their adults to play for a couple hours with activities we have provided throughout the room. 

And then we had the opportunity to gather for an evening with many Icelandic teachers and hear inspiring talks from a panel of play advocates. 

The amount of passion and compassion for defending play and childhood in this group brought more than one person to tears before the week was over. 

The Message.

The importance of children and the importance of play is combined with the relaxed and unhurried culture of the Icelandic people, which is apparent everywhere you go. The message comes from within the group and all the interactions throughout the week. 

Play is the message. The crucial need for time to allow uninterrupted play and the freedom to choose and explore.  

A few of us joined a group of five year olds, who spent a couple hours exploring off school property. We walked to a public playground where the children could wander and explore as they pleased. Eventually a few of them wandered closer and closer to the fjord and the black sand beach just beyond the playground. Here they once again were able to wander and explore, uninterrupted. They walked through the water. Broke chunks of ice out of the tidal pools. They explored the icy crust that had formed on the very top layer of the sand. The children are given time. 

I watched as another playschool teacher handed out lumps of playdough to a whole table full of three and four year olds. The children could squish the playdough,  but they also had paint, glue, macaroni, glitter and many other items to add to it. The teacher calmly chatted with them while they reached and worked and spilled and decorated. She was so calm and so were they. There was no agenda, just exploration and play. They could leave when they were done or stay and get a second lump if they wanted. The children are given choice. 

The next two pictures are facing opposite directions. One picture is from the playground balcony on the second story of a school for ages two to ten years old. The other photo is on a hill from the far side of the playground looking back at the school. This is only half of the playground. There are swings, hills, sand, trees, rocks, hiding places, digging places, climbing places. They children are given space. 

The Magic.

On our last day together we spent the day driving through the country on a tour bus. Seeing the beautiful sites that make Iceland so unique. Everything feels magical. Mossy rocks, volcanoes, steam coming out of the ground on mountainside, waterfalls. 

But the real magic comes from the togetherness that has been created all week. We are woven now. We are all in awe together. We are in awe of this beautiful part of our Earth. We are in awe of each other and ourselves. We are in awe of children. We are in awe of the opportunity to be in Iceland surrounded by people who are so passionate about children, play and the future! We are given hope. 

And that's what made me come back. 

Please check out more from International Play Iceland Here:

 

PLAYed Video

Group Block Building

Today we practiced a lot of skills at our group meeting time. 

We had a platform in the middle of the rug that the children were gathered around.

Each child waited for their name to be called (mostly in groups of 3 or 4) and they sneaked through our secret entrance into the block area to choose two blocks to add to a group structure. 

My goals were for children to practice patience, turn taking and to create something as a team.

As I watched and guided the activity I realized that there were so many more skills being practiced. 

We talked about what we thought the structure reminded us of.

 Most children agreed with each other that it was either a maze or a city.

Making space and taking turns through our secret entrance.

I learned a lot about a few personalities when I realized many children were choosing only certain blocks from certain shelves, while a few were more interested in finding something unique to add.

As the city continued to become more complex, children needed to be more aware of other blocks that were already in place. 

Several children knocked over blocks which started a chain reaction of other blocks. Some children took the time to set other people's blocks back where they were. Only a couple children almost became upset when they knocked a block over or when something they had placed was knocked over. Some interesting observations about their social emotional development.

Some children reached very carefully through blocks to try and retrieve those that had been knocked, while others were unaware and knocked several more over in the process. Lots of observations about spatial awareness.

We talked about when you work together as a team on something, than everybody has to decide together when is the right time to knock it all over. We took a vote and destruction hit the city along with laughter and giggles.

Clean up and sorting. The children all worked together to deliver and sort the blocks on to their proper shelves. They continued to manage squeezing through the secret entrance. Not only were we managing our bodies and focus in a small busy space, we were practicing to put things away where they belong. 

Blocks are one of the items in the classroom that can be frustrating and overwhelming for children to clean up, but suddenly it was fun.

Pizza Project

Today we made pizza, but we didn't eat it. Actually we did eat pizza, just not these ones. 

We were just Preeee-tending. :)  Lots of silly conversations about the differences

between making these pizzas and real pizzas. 

First you spread on the sauce. Some people like more sauce than others.

Then we added the cheese.

Then you add the toppings that you like best.

Some like to make  their pizza fast. Some take lots of extra time.

Place them in the oven to cook. 

Make sure you set the timer. 

Pizza is a great conversation starter.
They all look so different!

Every year it happens...

Every year around January, I start to panic about the children who will 

leave us for Kindergarten in the Fall. 

Where did the time go? Did I do enough?

Are they ready? Am I ready?

Do they know enough letters? Can they write their name?

Do they express their feelings? Are they too shy?

Am I just being overprotective?

Will they adjust to a larger group?

How will the group change without them?

Every April and May they grow up!
 Suddenly, like somebody has flipped a switch. 

They are too big for preschool.

Are they bored?  Are they anxious about Kindergarten?

They are wild. They are independent.

They are READY!

Their last week comes...

They are ready. We are ready. It's time.

Their last day comes....

They are ready.

I am not ready.

The last hug comes...

The door closes...

Tears come...

I am thankful that they don't all leave me at once, like many preschool programs. 

I am so thankful to live in a small community where it is nearly impossible to 

lose touch with these children. 

I am thankful for Facebook that helps me see their First Day of School photos year after year. 

I am thankful for families that want to bring them by to visit. 

I am thankful for being part of their lives.

Most of all I am thankful that they are part of mine.

Woven Preschool Philosophy: Reflection and Intention

Several years ago I read the phrase "Woven Philosophy" and fell in love. 

I have grown to embrace the phrase and pride in the fact that our preschool isn't labelled under any specific curriculum or philosophy. The children and program are continuously growing and changing. This means that our approach, environment, and opportunities should be changing along with them. Instead of saying we are Montessori, Waldorf, Play-based, High Scope, Reggio Inspired or any other system of teaching, we belong to a Woven Philosophy. A method that takes pieces and parts from any philosophy to fit with the children's changing goals and growth.

I love aspects of all of these philosophies and many schools do follow them exclusively and that works for them! I don't feel there is a need in our community (or for myself) to create a focus or label for our preschool.

If you put two adults and twelve children into a room together, you are going to have so many different learning styles, strengths, weaknesses, abilities, and interests. People say variety is the spice of life and I think this is true in the classroom. If I only offer activities in a certain way, then I am possibly excluding certain children who need me to present it in a different way. Some children are going to miss out on certain skills if they are not interested in the activities offered, unless I encourage them through multiple approaches.

Intention and Reflection are the most important pieces to making my work successful. If I am not constantly reflecting on my day, conversations, interactions and activities, then I will never know what is working for my current group. I then need to intentionally plan the environment and routines based on the children's personalities, learning styles, personal goals, and relationships with their classmates.

Know the children and their backgrounds.

Know the families and community.

Be thoughtful about the environment.

Be thoughtful about the materials.

Find a balance that meets the needs of the group you are with.

Here are three of my favorite blog posts that demonstrate further how being intentional and reflecting make a difference in working with children.


Not Just Cute: Intentional Deficit Disorder
"Consider what you really hope for and turn that into intention.  Use your intentions and purposes as filters.  We can simplify our classrooms and our homes by knowing our intentions and living and teaching by them.    Begin to recognize that we don’t have to do everything.  We just have to do what matters most." -Amanda Morgan (Not Just Cute)

Interaction Imagination: Do Templates Kill Creativity?

"Can templates be a skeleton for children to hang their own creative skins on? Or do templates kill creativity?" -Suzanne Axelson  (Interaction Imagination)

Child Central Station: Sometimes We Craft.

"I have spent a lot of time in my journey has an early childhood educator exploring, growing, and learning, coming to conclusions of what I believe to be true, and the best path for the children I work with."  -Amy Ahola (Child Central Station)