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

Joining Hands (and Hearts) as Professionals: Part 2

A couple months ago I posted Joining Hands as Professionals about a new adventure in my learning journey

On September 19th five amazing people, Kimberley, Jerome, Annette, Amy, and Sally adventured here as "Team Maine" from England and I got to watch months of planning become real. My experience at the Play Iceland 2014 conference played a huge role in how I chose to plan and organize this next step of the journey.  I knew the importance of visiting different settings, but also ensuring there was time to reflect and compare notes with others at the end of each day.

When we work together, we can climb mountains.

The knowledge and experiences I gained from this would make a list far too long to share. I think overall the highlights of the experience were meeting, sharing, and collaborating with new early childhood practitioners from both near and far! I was able to reach out to and visit new settings and have visitors in my setting who had different perspectives. Forming a unique bond with a small group of individuals who can now extend the knowledge we gained back into other early years opportunities. I strongly believe we all grew as professionals and advocates for childhood, but also as individuals.

The group that was formed was an international one, but this type of professional development could be easily planned with a local group of providers.


My planning process and suggestions:

The Planning

I reached out to programs in a more populated area of my state. They were far enough away from my setting that there was not as much worry about being the competition. I think some of the appeal was having visitors from England visit their school, but there is no reason you can't form a small group of practitioners (or even just yourself) to visit other early childhood programs. It was easier for me to connect with these programs, because I was organizing for an outside group, but realized what a valuable experience this would be for anybody to do. These are beautiful programs right here at home, that I would never have experienced on my own and I had to ask myself "Why?"

I met several of the people in person ahead of time. It seems to be a growing trend that daycare providers and directors form small groups to meet with once a month to network and share ideas. I was able to sit in on one of these meetings in the area we would be visiting. I became familiar with many of the providers that we would be visiting.

I set up specific dates and times with the programs during a three day period. And made sure that I was clear what type of involvement they wanted us to have while we were visiting. Some of the programs allowed us to be involved with the children's activities, while others preferred we sit quietly and take notes. Some allowed photos with children and others asked us to take photos without. We visited in pairs, so that we wouldn't overwhelm the staff or children, but would still be able to reflect with somebody after the visit.

The Visits

The team made time at the end of each day to discuss how our visits went and what we were going to take back to our own classrooms. It was so helpful to have a the small group of people to reflect with about the visits. I am happy that we mostly visited settings in pairs, so that we came to the "table" with more than one perspective on each setting.

Reflection

One of the directors (The Children's Center) was so enthusiastic about our visits that she and I planned an evening mixer where we could meet with her staff and have a chance to talk. "Team Maine" shared a video presentation of their settings at Child First Day Nurseries. It was a magical evening filled with inspiration and like-minded individuals who all shared the same passion for working with children.

Hosting Visitors

Another important part of the experience was having visitors observe and spend time with me at my preschool. They were able to share ideas, suggestions and feedback on our philosophies and daily routines. The relationships that were formed during our week together made it so easy to have them come into my classroom. I was so worried about the way the children would respond to so many new adult faces. Everybody was so comfortable with being there together. The children still ask about them and we have a picture hanging in our classroom. The impact that they left on us teachers and the children will never be forgotten.

The Grand Finale: Joining Hands

At the end of the week, I hosted a free event at my preschool and invited about 15 other practitioners to attend. The attendees were Team Maine, teachers from the some of the settings we had spent time in and also colleagues of mine from another state who were able to share photos and information about their settings. 

 I had a tie-dyeing activity available in the middle of the day to give people a chance to be creative and to continue their discussions during a break. Everybody brought food to contribute for lunch.

We had three different speakers and time in between to talk and share. I asked that people bring any paperwork they were willing to share including: handbooks, assessments, planning sheets, etc. We had time scheduled in for small group discussions and brainstorming, but unfortunately ran out of time. I think in the future two speakers would be sufficient at this type of workshop.

There is just something about a room full of people talking about their love for children that will stick in your heart for a long time. Everybody just seemed so relaxed and happy to be there together sharing conversations about why we do what we do!

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -Margaret Mead

A special THANK YOU! to all the people who were involved in this amazing experience, including Tom Shea, Team Maine, all the settings that welcomed visitors into your programs, our wonderful speakers, and all of the teachers and providers who joined us in the evening and on a Saturday to share your passion!




Stay tuned for more information on Play Iceland 2016 (now Play International)! Iceland, UK, Australia and USA.

Preschool Around the World: Sweden

I have asked several of my international friends to write a guest post about what preschool is like in their part of the world.

Suzanne Axelson lives in Sweden and is the writer behind the blog Interaction Imagination.  Suzanne and I were in the same group during Play Iceland 2014 and had a lot fun discussing and learning with each other on our journey. She is also one of the people behind the International Fairy Tea Party that we take part in every September. 

Is preschool private or public?

In Sweden there are a mix of private and public preschools... but all are funded by the state and all parents regardless of what type of preschool they send their children to pay the exact same amount of money - 1,260kr per month being the maximum amount a parent will pay for the youngest child in the family - 840kr for the next youngest, then 420kr for the next and any other children are cost-free. This is for full-time preschool (preschools are legally required to provide care between 6:30 and 18:30) - parents with a household income of less than 42,000kr per month are entitled to reduced preschool fees. Parents who are on parental leave (there is a generous parental leave in Sweden (you can read more about it here.)

These children in Stockholm can be at preschool for 30 hours per week (at a reduced cost) while in most parts of Sweden children with infant siblings may attend preschool for 15 hours per week.

I have worked at both public and private preschools - and these can have as much differences between the same sector as they can have similarities across the sector. There are Reggio, Montessori, Ur och Skur (outdoor/forest preschool), traditional Swedish, Waldorf - there are also parent co-operatives and teacher co-operatives.

My children attended a parent co-operative preschool, where we as parents contributed to the running of the preschool. Right now I am working at a private preschool, Filosofiska - we also happen to be Sweden's truly only non-profit preschool (and this includes the public sector - as they can be sold at a profit).



What does a typical day look like?

Children will start arriving between 6:30 and 9:00 in the morning... so there is free play when most children arrive. The group that I have just now (those turning 5 and 6 this year) are also a group that tend to turn up late... so I have not been getting going with our morning routines until 9:30, to ensure that it is an inclusive group.

Preschool is not something children HAVE to do, so I feel that I should not be forcing them to get up early - let them have their slow mornings for as long as possible, as school will start between 8:00 and 8:30 - so there will be plenty of early morning to come in their future.
We start with a morning meeting with a sandwich or fruit snack, where we talk about what we will be doing during the day. Then we have our morning activity... which could be anything from art, to philosophy, to dance, to outdoor excursions... but by lunch at 12:00 we have completed the activity and played outside - we are outside for at least an hour every day... often longer.

After lunch we have rest time. We lie down and relax, listening to stories or just daydreaming for 30 minutes.. those who sleep have the opportunity to do so... and yes we have 5 year olds who regularly sleep and are healthier and happier for it. 

Having a sleep research husband means I see great value in rest and sleep.

In the afternoon until 14:30 we have quiet play and then we eat snack. After snack there is free play... either indoors or outdoors.

ALL of the activities we do are based on the children's play and interests... we have a basic plan for what we hope to do, and we have the curriculum to guide us on the learning outcomes we as teachers need to be scaffolding in order to enable the children to reach their potential.

We work at Filosofiska in a philosophical way... the children and teachers alike... this being that we are a community of learners. if you would like to learn more about how we work with philosophy then please check out http://interactionimagination.blogspot.se/2015/03/philosophy-and-prephilosophy-with.html

Of course, it is not common practice to use philosophy with children here in Sweden, especially with preschoolers.

As preschools are open long days we teachers work shifts.. this means we are only fully manned between 9-15 every day - so even if the ratio sounds great there are times when the child-adult ratio is not as fantastic. Some preschools have a great ratio - we at Filosofiska have a 1:5.5 ratio while there are those with many more children per teacher. Also when we need to do our planning it also means that we leave the child-group, and there is no replacement teacher while we do this. Teachers get often 2 hours of planning reflection time a week, assistants get an hour - this can vary from preschool to preschool, but on the whole this is what I have worked with the most. 

Once a week we get a 30 minute planning as a team (each class/group teachers getting the chance to plan and reflect together). This too can vary from preschool to preschool, sometimes it has been an hour each week, sometimes 90 minutes every second week. When I interviewed preschool teachers as part of my masters thesis all of them had concern for planning/reflection time - as they all felt there was a huge need to be able to plan TOGETHER to be able to offer a great learning environment, but at the same time felt guilty that the child-teacher ratio was so affected. 

This is something that teachers in school do not experience as they have other teachers that take care of the children (with the same or even better ratios) when they have their planning. They also get more planning days than teachers in preschools... I assume this is due to the fact the preschool is still viewed as care compared to school.

Our preschool does not have its own yard... this of course means that we have no outdoor space to develop with the children... which makes me a little sad, I have to admit, BUT it does mean that we are a part of the community we are in... the square is right outside our window, and is a place the children play in... there are many parks and the forest to visit... which means we can meet their play needs in many different ways. AND we see just how competent children are, even from the age of one, managing to go out on excursions every day... many preschools I have worked at have said 1-2 year olds were too young to be able to go on excursions.

We work hard on the children being able to do things themselves... a hand just behind, as a safety net, to allow them to feel safe, but also to discover just how much they can do themselves.

The great thing in Sweden is that we do not have to write risk asessments to be able to go on excursions... if the children say we need to go to the forest to look for fairies we can up and go to the forest...

In Sweden the weather requires us to wrap up a lot... either in full rain gear to deal with the cold puddles...

or wrapped up warm to deal with the snow and minus degrees... We are usually wearing winter gear between early October and late April (sometimes even early May)

We also take part in International Fairy Tea Party every year - the first year just being a small one group celebration... and last year all the children in both the preschools celebrated... and they are all looking forward to celebrating again this September... it is so much fun to see how the celebration inspires their play and learning... they have learned to see and appreciate the small and insignificant things - and to see magic in the everyday.

We always try to make use of everything... like when a big delivery arrives the boxes become a maze with so much play potential. We are lucky to have a large room specifically for movement on a big scale.

How old are the children?

Preschools serve children aged between 1 year and 6 years. These can be divided up in mixed age groups, in groups with each year in their own group (like the school system) there are sibling groups... which means that there is a 1-3 group and a 3-6 group. There is no one way to have a preschool.
The year children turn 6 is the year they will start a preschool class in a school environment in August. The year after, the year they turn 7 is when they officially start school.

The routines of starting school should be a smooth transistion, but experience has taught me that some schools are better than others at reaching out to the preschools. Some will insist on meeting the children in their preschool environment before school starts and check with the preschool teachers about any possible strategies that would enable the children to transistion better, some schools only have contact with the parents and the children visit before hand with their parents... although when we contact the school we are welcome to visit as a preschool, and then there are sadly some preschools that just ignore us in preschool altogether...




Like most places in the world, preschool is not valued in the way that it should be and more focus is placed on the importance of school. But hopefully this is something that will slowly change.

Dining Inspiration

Meal time has always been a work in progress at Inch By Inch. It is a very important part of our day. We have two snacks together and lunch. We have tried different styles of serving and presentation. Currently our children use ceramic plates, glass cups and glass pitchers. Most of the time the children serve their own water, but teachers serve the food. We have tried passing food around the table family style, but have struggled with making it work. 

Lunch at Inch By Inch

When I attended Play Iceland recently I was able to see two different types of meal presentation. Both were lovely and inspired me to keep experimenting. It has encouraged me to look more closely at other ways to allow the children more independence during meal time. 

Lunch at Leikskólinn Stekkjarás

Both of our tours took place mostly in the morning. We were able to see the set up at the first playschool, but didn't actually see the lunch in progress. I loved the place settings at Stekkjaras, especially the food carts and serving dishes.  We were told that in most of the classrooms, the children serve themselves. 

In Iceland the playschools have a high focus on healthy eating and the slow food movement. 

The playschool has a chef who makes the food from scratch daily including the bread.

I loved the plates, they would be great for soup or as a regular plate. 

Lunch at Leikskólinn Aðalþing

Adalthing has over a 100 students, who all share this unique dining room. This dining room is in the center of the school and can seat 29 children. Only 26 children are allowed to be in the dining room at any given time. This means that the child entering the dining room always has a choice about where they sit. During a certain period of time, children are allowed to leave their classroom to walk down and have their lunch. There is a buffet (on the far right wall) where children can serve their own food and then take a seat where they please. When the children are finished they clear their settings and walk back to their rooms. There are usually three teachers in the room who supervise the safety of the children and occasionally explain new offerings on the buffet. 

Children are able to make choices about what they eat and how many helpings they need. Staff have found the children are more engaged and relaxed at the table.

I simply fell in love with the idea of all these different tables and seating options. I know several children in my group who would gain more socially from sitting with smaller groups, without teachers at the table. My plan is to slowly eliminate one of my bigger tables and include several different height and size tables.

Suzanne from Interaction Imagination was with me during my visit and has included more details in her post here

. 

As I was brainstorming about this post, I decided to also include photos from a couple other smaller settings that have inspired me with their meal times. 

Lunch at Today's Play

Tammy at Today's Play values family style meals.  The first photo is a typical lunch time at her small Home Child Care. She always has the most beautiful centerpieces and provides real plates and utensils. 

The bottom photo is an example of one of her buffet style meals. This is a "Pasta Salad Bar" where the children can select and serve themselves the items they want in their Pasta Salad. She has also done a Yogurt Bar, where children can select from granola, fruit and other healthy toppings. 

I would love to include more centerpieces. 

I also love her divided Corelle plates. 

Breakfast Bar at Exploration Child Care

Careese has found a great breakfast system for her In-Home Child Care. Every morning she has a selection of items prepared and displayed on her counter. At drop-off time parents help the child select their breakfast and then follow them to the table before they say good-bye. This allows the caregiver more time to help prepare bottles for the infants and speak with parents. It has created a much smoother transition in her program. 

What a great morning ritual for the children and their parents!

Play Iceland 2014: Simplicity

This is my second post following my adventure to Play Iceland 2014. My first post can be found here.

Two of the days in Iceland were spent visiting "playschools." The schools were much different than most that we have in the US. The buildings I visited looked similar to a miniature elementary school. They had about eight classrooms with children ages two to six years old. Both schools that I visited were incorporating inspiration from Reggio Emilia schools of Italy.

The major thing that I noticed right away was the simplicity of  the materials in the classroom. Actually what I noticed was the lack of things. The classrooms seemed bare.

Later when I had a chance to reflect on my photos, I realized that the "things" that really caught my eye were mostly re-purposed and simple. 

Almost every room had some sort of beautiful chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Some were made from natural materials and others were created from "Beautiful Stuff."

Leikskólinn Aðalþing 

This playschool had a lot of building materials that were made from recycled stuff. The room that stands out in my mind the most had lots of boxes and tubes for the children to build with. The young group that was playing in this room was enjoying building towers (taller than themselves) and knocking them down. There were photos on the shelves to help the children organize the materials back into their places.

Leikskólinn Stekkjarás 

This playschool had a room that was based on the idea of Reggio Emilia's Remida. A whole room full of organized collections of things to create from and learn with. This was a room that teachers could use for gathering resources, but also children could visit to collect things they need for artwork and projects. There were bicycle wheels, fabric, jars, cardboard, wood, broken electronics, and so much more. I would like to have been left alone in that room for hours.

Remida Inspired Room

Lesley from Takoma Park was part of Play Iceland 2013 and wrote about her experience with materials. Materials #playiceland