Early Learning—Manipulatives Area

This week, we’ll talk about the Manipulatives Area.  Manipulatives, also known as Table Toys, are great because they can be very appealing to children and can teach a lot of different skills.  While this area can contain a huge variety of materials, it’s best to keep it well-stocked but not overwhelming.  It’s also best to rotate materials so that children do not become bored with them.  Some items to include in your Manipulatives Area are:

• Building materials like bristle blocks and Legos
• Geoboards
• Pegboards and pegs
• A variety of puzzles (variety in subject matter, size, material, and difficulty); don’t forget floor puzzles
• A variety of counters and sorting containers
• Games (lotto, bingo, etc. for numbers, color, shapes)
• Gear boards
• Pattern cards
• Dressing frames
• Sequencing activities
• Tanagrams
• Beads and laces

As you can see, there are a ton of things you can put in your Manipulatives Area.  If you see a child falling behind in one area of learning, there is probably something you can add to your Manipulatives Area to help that child.  For example, if a child is having difficulty with learning the sounds of letters, you could add an activity in which the child matches the letter with small items beginning with that sound. Oh, and one of the really cool things about manipulatives is that you can make a lot of them yourself!

Some of the skills and concepts that are learned in the Manipulatives Area include:

• Fine motor skills
• Eye-hand coordination
• Shapes and colors
• Matching and classifying
• Following directions
• Visual discrimination
• Sequencing
• Identifying patterns
• Problem solving
• Concentration

Because this is an area that could promote teamwork in some activities, and the play could become a little louder, it’s best to locate it away from your quietest areas.  Ideally, your Manipulatives Area would have both a table and a rug where children could work.  The materials should be on low shelves, well organized and clearly labeled so that children can return the materials to the proper place.

Next week, we’ll talk about Sensory Play.

Misty

Early Learning—Art Area

After a few weeks of talking about different learning areas, we finally come to an area that most parents appreciate—the Art Area.  Parents love to have artwork from their children.  The trick with the Art Area is to help the parents to understand that this, like the other areas, is an area for learning.  The first place where this may arise is when the parent doesn’t understand the child’s art work.  (“What is it?”, “Why did you let him make the sky green?”) It is our job to teach the parent that our focus in early education is on the process, not the product.  Therefore, the product may not be exactly what the parent was expecting.  But, in the process, their child may have learned:

• Creativity
• Fine motor skills
• Hand/eye coordination
• Self-expression
• Vocabulary
• Confidence

Ideally, your Art Area will be located near a window to allow for natural lighting.  The flooring should be a hard surface, not carpeting.  If this is not possible, plastic mats can help save your carpet.  It also should be located as near to a sink as possible to allow for easier cleanup and less tracking of mess through your classroom. 

As for materials, again, we are looking for open-ended activities which provide for creative expression.  We’re not after 25 Christmas cards that each look just like a model provided by the teacher, or an insect made from a craft kit.  Your art materials should reflect your philosophy.  Some suggestions are (keeping in mind that age-appropriateness is very important in the Art Area):

• A variety of paper—large and small, colored and white, construction paper, newsprint, finger paint paper, cardboard, lined and unlined
• A variety of materials for drawing and writing—pencils, crayons, markers
• Scissors and hole punches
• Glue and tape
• Collage materials
• Paint brushes and sponges
• A variety of paints—tempera, watercolor, finger paint
• Smocks
• Modeling/sensory materials—playdough, shaving cream, cookie cutters, rolling pins, plastic knives
• Seasonal materials—used greeting cards, natural materials—acorns, pine cones, leaves, etc.
• Recycled materials—plastic cups, bottles, etc.

Your Art Area should also include appropriate tables and chairs, easels, and drying racks or somewhere that the art projects can be protected while they dry.  Keep in mind, too, that your Art Area can easily be extended outdoors as well.

Next week, we’ll move on to manipulatives.

Misty

Early Learning—Dramatic Play Area

Last week we talked about your Block Area and how it’s sometimes difficult for parents to see what their children are learning in that area.  This week, we take on an even bigger challenge; the Dramatic Play Area.  “Seeing” learning in a Dramatic Play Area can be difficult.  Parents can also feel challenged when their child is choosing an activity that does not meet the parent’s expectation of gender appropriateness.  I once had a father become very upset because his son chose to play with a baby doll.  Of course, what this father didn’t see was that his son was trying out a role and practicing caring for someone else.  

So, other than caring skills and empathy, what else can children learn in a Dramatic Play Area?

• Compromise and problem-solving skills.  If two children both want the same role, but it wouldn’t be appropriate, or we just don’t have enough materials for it, how do they decide who gets to play which role?  How do you keep the play going if there is a conflict?
• Fine and gross-motor skills.  Putting on costumes can be tricky, as can working with various props.
• Language.  Certain language is appropriate for certain situations.  Children learn to use the right vocabulary and phrasing for their make-believe situation.
• Writing.  If your Dramatic Play Area is a restaurant this week, someone will need to write down the customers’ orders.
• Empathy.  Children can learn to understand how they are feeling about a situation and how their classmate is feeling as well.
• Creativity.  We can provide the best space in the world, but the children still need to develop their own story in using the space and the props.

Speaking of space and props, what will that look like?

• Like the Block Area, the Dramatic Play Area needs to be away from your quiet areas. 
• The space needs to be well-defined, but not necessarily by shelves.  A shelf for materials can be quite useful, but a lot of Dramatic Play Areas will have kitchen furniture (stove, refrigerator, etc.) and some sort of coat rack or other method of hanging clothes/costumes.
• The space needs to be well-organized.  Dramatic Play Areas can become overwhelming with too many materials that are not easily accessible.  A few items on hooks will be used much more than a huge box of random clothes. 
• Provide a variety of materials—pants, shirts, dresses, hats (that can be easily and regularly washed), shoes, accessories, household items, writing materials.
• Rotate your materials.  As much fun as dramatic play can be, it can also get boring if it’s always the same items.  This is another great place to bring in props related to your current theme.  This will extend learning on your theme and keep your Dramatic Play Area from becoming boring.  

Next week, we’ll talk about an Art Area.

Misty

Early Learning—Block Area

We’re in the midst of a series of articles about setting up environments in early learning.  Last week we talked about a Literacy Area; this week we’ll dig into the Block Area.

A Block Area is often very popular with the children, but not so much with the parents.  They often have a hard time seeing the learning experiences their children are having in the Block Area.  Does it really matter if a child can build with blocks?  We have to be able to explain why it is important; and even more, what else the child is learning during this process.

• Frequently, block play is accomplished with a partner.  This is a great place for children to learn the give-and-take required when working with someone else.
• Just like in your Literacy Area, your Block Area can help children to develop their vocabulary.  They can learn what an arch is and how to describe what it is they are doing.  Props can be especially helpful in enhancing vocabulary.
• Number awareness—“How many blocks did you stack?”  “How many blocks do you think you will need to do that?”
• Geometry—what a perfect place to learn the names of the shapes!  How do squares differ from rectangles?  What’s the difference between a triangle and a pyramid?
• Relationship between size and shape.
• Planning—what blocks can stack on others and which will fall over?
• Motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
• Color names.
• Color matching.
• Making or identifying patterns.

The location of the Block Area in the classroom is not critical.  The main considerations are that you don’t want it near your quiet area and it needs to be in an area where it can be physically separated from other areas to help keep creations from being accidentally knocked over.  So, what do you need in your block area?

• Low shelves to hold the materials and to protect the area from passersby.
• Ideally, both a space with hard flooring and another space with a low-pile rug.
• A wide variety of blocks in different sizes, shapes, colors, and materials.
• Props—especially helpful if they are related to any theme that you might be learning.  Props can include vehicles, people, signs, and books.
• An organizational system to keep the blocks in the right place.  This will also help the children with matching skills; make sure you put the blocks away properly.

Hopefully, once you explain to parents everything their children are learning in this area, they will be pleased when they see their children building a creation.  Next week, we’ll talk about a Dramatic Play Area.

Misty

Early Learning—Literacy Area

Last week, I started talking about developmentally-appropriate environments in early childhood programs.  Now we’ll start getting into specifics; some activities/materials that can be included in each learning area and what the children will learn from them.  Before I do that, though, I do need to clear up one issue.  I received an email from a family child care provider who reminded me that family child care should always look like a home rather than a center.  I couldn’t agree more (and, thanks, Irene for reminding me that I should include this).  However, I do think these articles can be useful to family child care providers also as they examine their programs and think about their curriculum.  We need to all, centers or family day cares, make sure that our programs and facilities are set up in ways to provide developmentally-appropriate learning activities and that we understand developmentally-appropriate education well enough to be able to explain it to the parents of the children in our care.

The first area is the Literacy area.  (Yes, I’m choosing this area first, in part, because I’m also a reading specialist.)  Literacy is a pretty easy sell to parents as learning to read is frequently one of parents’ top priorities for their children.  The problem, though, is that they are often focused on “when will my child learn to read”, without understanding the skills that have to be acquired before a child can read.

In setting up your Literacy area, the first consideration is where it’s located.  It should be in the quietest section of the room so that children can enjoy books without a lot of distractions.  Also, keep it as far away from the messy areas like Art and Sensory Play to protect your books.  If it can be placed near a window, natural light is nice.  A floor or table lamp is also a nice touch.

Your Literacy area should be comfortable; a place where children can relax.  If the area is not carpeted, a small rug will do the trick.  You will need chairs, bean bags, a small sofa, or some other comfortable place for children to sit.  A small table is also helpful for writing activities, keeping in mind that Literacy involves writing as well as reading.

Some things to include in your Literacy area are:

• Books!! 
• A wide variety of books, along with magazines and even newspapers. 
• Reading materials should be at a variety of reading levels so that there is appropriate reading material for each student. 
• New reading materials should be added periodically to keep the children’s interest and to correspond with your other learning objectives (theme of the week, etc.)
• Low shelves so that children can easily reach the books.
• Recordings with accompanying books.  (with headphones)
• Puppets, flannel board stories, or other literacy props.
• Literacy games—match objects to the objects that begin with the same sound or with the letter with which they start; rhyming; matching capital letters with lower-case letters; sight words
• Different types of paper (for drawing and writing); pencils, crayons, and markers

As children explore the Literacy area, we can help parents understand that their children are learning:

• vocabulary
• books are read from front to back and pages are read from top to bottom, left to right
• some words sound the same at the beginning and others at the end
• sounds are represented by letters and letters form words
• children can use letters to express their thoughts
• reading is an enjoyable activity

Next week, we’ll talk about a Block area.

Misty

Early Learning—A Developmentally-Appropriate Environment

I have spent a lot of time over the years talking with both parents and staff about child care environments.  For parents, we talk about how to recognize an appropriate environment for their child.  For staff, it’s about how to set up and maintain an appropriate environment.  But, for both groups, we talk about why the environment is set up the way it is and what children will learn through that environment and the activities that we provide.

Parents often want to see concrete examples of what their children are learning in our program.  They want to see them reading, doing worksheets, bringing home cute artwork, etc.  Our job, along with teaching the children in a developmentally-appropriate manner, is to educate the parents on appropriate education.  We do that by designing our environment correctly and by working directly with the parents, helping them understand our design and our learning activities.

Typically, an early learning program will have a gathering area where children and teachers can meet throughout the day to work on large group activities.  It can be a rug, a circle, or just a specific area that is set aside.  In this area, you may meet in the morning to talk about the upcoming day, including the day of the week and date, the weather, anything special about that day, and plans for the day.  Perhaps you can meet together before lunch and read a big-book together.  This is also a good place to wrap up your day together. 

Along with a gathering area, most programs will have specific areas set aside for:

• Literacy
• Blocks
• Dramatic Play
• Art
• Manipulatives
• Sensory Play
• Science
• Gross Motor

Some programs may also include a specific computer area, but care must be taken to ensure that the software is educational and appropriate and that screen-time recommendations are followed.

Over the next several weeks, we will discuss each of these learning areas in-depth; what it looks like and what the children will learn from it.  Make sure your staff  and parents all understand these ‘whats’ and ‘whys’.

Misty

Happy New Year!

Sorry to be absent for a few weeks; things have been a bit crazy.  Thanks for not giving up on my coming back.

If you haven’t already made New Year’s resolutions, or at least haven’t made any for work yet, let’s get to it.  While the new year is a great chance to re-examine your life and see what kind of improvements you could make, it’s also a great time to assess your program and make an improvement plan.

If you choose to set some resolutions for your program, here are some suggestions to consider:

Your Paperwork--are your tax files complete (and have you claimed all possible expenses!)?  Are your child and staff files complete and well-organized?  Review your contract, policies, forms, etc.  Pay particular attention to any areas that were problems during the previous year and tighten it up for the future.

Your Environment--is everything clean and organized?  Do you have daily and weekly cleaning and sanitizing schedules?  Check your toys and materials and see if any of them need to be repaired or replaced.

Your Program--is your program meeting the needs of the children?  Pull a few random developmental checklists, or whatever you use to track children's progress, and make sure you are seeing appropriate growth.  Review some lesson plans from each program to ensure that they are complete, well-thought-out, and developmentally appropriate.

Your Finances--how is your program's financial health?  Is your budget balanced and are you financially prepared for changes in the market, unexpected events, or anticipated changes?  Is it time to increase your fees?  Is your staff paid in such a manner to allow you to maintain high-quality employees?

Your Marketing Program--are you regularly attracting new clients?  Do you have a plan in place to market your program and, if so, how well is it working?  If it is costing you money, are you getting a fair return on your investment?

Your Health and Safety Basics--take time to check your fire extinguishers, replenish your first aid kits, and put new batteries in your smoke detectors.

Your Relationships--how is your relationship with the parents and your staff?  Are there areas that could use improvement?

Yourself--is there anything about yourself that needs to be changed to allow you to function better?  How's your diet, your weight, your exercise, your stress level?  Challenge yourself to improve professionally; enroll in a class or plan to attend a conference.

Remember, the goal of any New Year's resolution is improvement.  Make sure that your goals are reasonable and not so overly ambitious that you don't stand a chance of achieving them.  Good luck and Happy New Year!

Misty