Fine Motor Skills

Fine motor skills need to be developed for all our children. Working with floam, playdough, sand, clay and other sensorial materials is so important for our kids to develop their muscle strength and dexterity. As we learn to roll, stretch, cut, shape into balls and long forms, we are developing our hand arches, wrist extensions, finger/thumb opposition, etc.






These fine motor abilities make writing, cutting, gluing, lacing and eating easy. However, each child has their own ability level, some of them are still deciding which hand to use and some are cutting with their hands upside-down and not with a dominant hand. Multiple-age classroom are great because the older kids are modeling cutting and writing skills for our kids.






Opening bottle tops and gluing require muscles to be strong and developed. Using the glue brush also hones fine motor control.



Lacing is again a fine motor skill our kids are developing. They are all on a different developmental level. For some, just getting the string through the hole is a triumph. For others, the activity becomes a chance to practice up-down patterning, planning ahead to reach all the holes before running out of string, or making a deliberate design with the string.



It is amazing to see the hand control for painting and counting, even though J.'s left hand is busy holding a drill. :)

There is no doubt that writing is a developmental process and each child is at his own stage.
However three basic things before kindergarten that they should develop:
1. Palmar arching (ability to cup their hands)
2. Using the index finger and thumb to hold an item, using ring and middle fingers to stabilize the hand, especially while writing.
3. Making a round shape with thumb and index finger (an open web space).


Here, a young 2-year-old is being mentored by a 4-year-old.



Brothers dress alike and look alike but are very different developmentally.






Writing with pipe cleaners, yeah! I can do it.

Some other pictures from last week and this week


























All these activities have a developmental and school-readiness purpose, but are always based on the children's interests. If you ask them what they are doing, they won't say, "Improving my fine motor skills." They'll tell you they're making a picture of their family, building a dinosaur, or playing with gak. Learning through play -- that's Reggio in action! Enjoy!

January 15th , Purple room

Last two weeks in the Purple Room....

Writing is a developmental task-- learning to hold the pencil, making marks on paper, going from left to right and top to bottom are all tasks which we do unconsciously, but which our children have to learn before they can write. Our children are still experimenting  how much pressure to apply with their fingers when writing with crayons, pencils , markers, glue or paint.  They are also discovering that different pressure is needed when writing on copy paper, construction paper, cardboard and even fabric. They learn these skills by experimenting, instruction and watching their peers and teachers role model.

Wikki Stix (flexible colored wax sticks) were hard for children to curve and fit to letter shapes. They had to learn to use sometimes more than one stick to make a letter. Chenille wires (pipe cleaners) were a little bit easier for them to curve, however sticking them on paper was difficult until someone pulled out the clear tape. Besides fine motor skills, children also problem solve when learning to write. All the play dough, sand and clay work, cutting, painting, and other art and sensory activities have helped our kids strengthen their fine motor skills.

Math concepts these past two weeks have involved special work with pattern blocks. The children are learning to classify and sort the colors and shapes, and each child is working on their own developmental level. Some are working with one color, some are sorting colors and some are making intricate designs with different shapes. 

The Montessori size cylinders also intrigued the children and they all wanted to try them. This is a great material to understand size discrimination and estimating. Counting with dots was a big satisfaction too.

Thank you parents for volunteering:)

Enjoy!! Don’t forget to check Flickr, where you'll find loads and loads of pictures!

Teacher Richa's first blog with lots of help from Jennifer........

Last week in the Purple Room, the kids were counting at the math station and practicing one-to-one correspondence. It is a foundational skill on which other math skills will be building later. It is a skill that needs repetition and abstract thinking, since it is not just rote learning and recitation.

They each had a mat with numbers from 1 to 9 and were to count out the counters to put on each square. Some of the older kids are starting to get that concept and the younger ones are just getting ready. They have to still learn that 2 is less than 5 and should have fewer counters than 5. The three children at the table in this picture are at very different developmental stages...

Learning to spell………..

In this picture, A. is  learning to spell, trying to spell out her sister's name. She started by sounding out the name and got the first 3 letters of her sister’s name…Yeah!

At the same time, some of the younger kids are exploring these letters too. They weren't ready to sound out words. Instead, they linked letters together and asked the teachers to read the made-up word. This, too, is a step in learning basic phonics and word-building concepts.

Reggio-inspired programs incorporate exploration everywhere, even into phonics and learning to spell. Hooray for Purple room :)

- Teacher Richa

Reggio Emilia at Creative Minds

Dear Parents,
As the new year approaches and we look ahead to another group of children graduating and going to kindergarten this summer, a recent topic of conversation among our preschool teachers has been: How can we make sure that our Reggio curriculum is appropriate for both younger preschoolers and older children preparing for kindergarten? How can we make sure our play-based program is preparing them for academic kindergarten? Also, how can we communicate the significance of what our children are doing when there sometimes is no tangible "take-home" from an activity?




In talking to kindergarten teachers, we've found that the most important "kindergarten prep" is actually the social-emotional development at least as much as the academic readiness. Our children really shine in this area. Our program places a strong emphasis on respect, community, and communication, all of which help build the self-esteem and confidence in relationships that facilitate future learning both in and out of school. In addition, our activities throughout the day are designed to incorporate letter awareness, writing skills, math concepts, and other academic elements, all in a play-based context. 3- and 4-year-old children learn best when they can integrate multiple sensory experiences, move their bodies, get creative, and work together. Worksheets and rigid academics can come later.




One important thing to keep in mind is that a Reggio program is focused on "process over product," meaning that children's experiences are more important to us than the tangible end result. An art project may not come out looking like anything recognizable, but it doesn't have to. The child had the fine motor experience of drawing, or of sculpting the clay, and had the opportunity to express themselves through that medium. A young child's writing may not be legible yet, but they are learning to hold a pencil, to write from left to right, to see writing as a way of recording language and ideas, etc. It will become more legible as they get older and have more practice.




The other important thing to remember about a Reggio program is that play-based learning is what's most appropriate for children at this age. A 4-year-old is not half of an 8-year-old. They are a 4-year-old. Their brain is actually different than that of an older child, so the best way to help them learn is to gear our expectations and activities to their current level, not just give them a watered-down version of what we would expect of an older child. The children who have come up through our program show the value of this play-based learning. For example, just last week, Teacher Aimee was reading a book called "I Like Me!" to the class at circle time. Later in the day, we saw three children reading it fluently to each other. These three children were all 4-year-olds who have been in our program for some time. The "learn-by-doing" approach of the Reggio program planted the seeds, and when they were ready, they took off on their own. The same pattern can be seen in the children's ever-blossoming skills in math, construction, art, fine motor, language, and social interactions.




There are many approaches to early childhood education. We are passionate about the Reggio philosophy because of its tremendous power to help the whole child develop in a vibrant, balanced way according to their own needs and interests. Through the Reggio emphasis on respect, creativity, and child-directed learning, our goal is for our children to enter kindergarten feeling excited to learn and confident in their abilities. This positive approach to school will serve them throughout their lives. Thank you for being a part of our community!

Dino month

Graduation and Big Moves: Learning How to Say Goodbye and Welcome New Faces

As Purple Room friends and family know, we are experiencing a lot of changes in the coming weeks and months. On Friday, we had a fun and entertaining (though rather hot) ceremony to acknowledge all our friends moving off to Kindergarten in the fall. We are extremely proud of them, and we have no doubt they will go on to do great things. But our Kindergartners are not the only ones our friends will have to say goodbye to as the summer progresses. We have several friends moving on to different schools, and both Teacher Kate and I (Teacher Susan) will be leaving as well. While we are thrilled for the opportunities we have been presented, Creative Minds and the community we are leaving behind here will be sorely missed.

Our departure, along with the influx of some exciting new teachers, presents a unique opportunity to talk to friends about how we say goodbye to the old and welcome new faces into the community. We will be discussing this theme throughout the month, hearing from friends about times that they have moved away or even left family after a visit. How did you feel? Did you know when you would see them again? How did you handle it? What can you do to stay in touch? What did you do to say goodbye?

This week is not about us but about them- helping them to accept the changes that are happening and making their transition as easy as possible. Our staggered departures (mine this week, Teacher Kate's at the end of the month, students' throughout the summer) will allow the transition to be gradual. Children will be able to take time to deal with each individual loss and adapt to new faces and new interactions on a case by case basis.

We are preparing the children for the feelings and experiences they are likely to be having in the coming months while trying not to draw out the process of the loss itself. By focusing on past experiences and coping mechanisms as an overarching concept, we can avoid pointing repeatedly to the individual losses.

We are encouraging students to celebrate where friends and teachers are going, rather than dwell on the sadness of our leaving. Graduation was not only a ceremony, but a party- celebrating the accomplishments of the past and embracing the future and their undoubted success in Kindergarten and beyond. On Friday, we will be having a party to celebrate my departure as well- focusing on my exciting future endeavors in grad school while also acknowledging how much I will miss my friends. When Teacher Kate departs, she will be helping friends to understand how important it is for her- personally and professionally- to go with her family. In understanding why people are leaving, we can alleviate feelings of fault and abandonment.

As new adults join us in the Purple Room (Make sure you get to know Teacher Maria and Teacher Cecilia!), we want to make sure students are accepting them not as replacements for us but as new and interesting teachers, caregivers, and friends. As new friends come in, we want them to be welcomed with open arms, ready to jump in, never left on the outside as "newcomers". We celebrate their arrival, then treat them as if they've always been there.

In focusing on the future both here and for those who are leaving, we can keep friends feeling positive about changes and allow them to adapt more seamlessly to whatever comes their way.

Painters!

You may have noticed a new gallery of art around the classroom the past couple weeks. We are currently working on the letter "P", and we decided to do a series of painters and mimic their styles/ methods. We were very excited to start the project, and we have been extremely impressed to see what they've done with it.

We used a variety of painters throughout history, each with his own unique style and point of view. We wanted to make sure that the projects stayed fresh and interesting throughout the week. Children had the opportunity to use water colors, tempera paint, and paint textured with shaving cream; as well as exploring different application techniques and materials.

For Monet, children drew inspiration from "Water Lilies" to create dot-by-dot water color images of our vase of daffodils. They used wide tipped sponges to apply the color for a bright and bold look without the dripping.

Van Gogh's "Starry Night" offered us the opportunity to experiment with texture. We mixed liquid water color with shaving cream and glue to mimic the soft, raised impressions of the stars, and we gave children the opportunity to experiment with different swirling techniques to bring in the breezy nature of the sky.

We delved into color mixing to find just the right hues and tones for portraits with Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa". Friends worked together in palettes mixing white paint with peach, brown, and yellow water colors. They were encouraged to look at their friends around the table and consider how the different areas of the face can be conveyed with different shades and strokes. While the final projects may have turned out more abstract, the intention behind the works they produced was actually quite careful and precise.

We also returned to a previous project with Michelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel. We did a group project this time, creating a communal mural to place on the ceiling of our own classroom. Friends negotiated space under the table and worked together to create a work that all the artists could agree on and be proud of.

Andy Warhol brought us into the modern art era with his photos of Marilyn Monroe. We used our own photos as the canvas and added those splashes of color with crayon. While some friends used broad, undefined strokes of color, others worked diligently to fill in every line of the face and hair in a particular way with a particular color. Each face offered its own unique character, and friends were excited to be such an integral part of their own art.

In honor of Jackson Pollack, our friends had a very fun and exciting day of splatter painting. Friends stood about a foot away from a piece of white cloth on the ground and splattered tempera paints with their paint brushes. We considered how art can be anything you want it to be. It can be messy, or it can be tidy. It can be bright, or it can be dull. It can look like real things, or it can be completely abstract. And, it doesn't have to be what anyone else expects.

Please make sure to check out our gallery on the windows (and ceiling!) throughout the classroom!