Adding Art into the Curriculum

I wanted to share one of the ways we are trying to work the arts into our curriculum.  We are concentrating on the letter "A" and the sound it makes.  So we thought we would pick an artist whose name started with the letter "A".  Who better than Ansel Adams?  We showed the children some pictures of Ansel Adams work.  Here are a few of his pictures.

After showing the students the pictures of Ansel Adam's work, we then took them outside with a digital camera and let them look for what they thought would make good subjects for their pictures.  They were then given the digital camera and were told to snap away.  These are some of the pictures they took.  I did use PhotoShop to increase the contrast, crop and make the pictures black and white, but the pictures were taken by the children.  I encourage you to give your student's the camera and see the world through their perspective.  Don't forget that the camera is a powerful form of artistic expression.  I included one or two color pictures they took for the before and after effect.

going buggy

the other day a student brought in an insect he found at mcdonalds (outside not inside).  the class was very excited!  as teachers we had to be able to adjust our day away from our lesson plan and take advantage of this wonderful learning opportunity.  the insect came to class complete with the bug box (you can tell this little guy catches lots of bugs).  the students took time to study the insect closely.  the student who brought in the insect was able to be the "teacher" for one of the daily activities.  he glowed!  he was confident.  he was the envy of the classroom.  now, as teachers what could we do to make this lesson even richer?

one of our goals is to add more literacy to the class and to make journaling more relevant to the students.  so out came the journals and the scientific journey continued.  students began drawing what they were seeing.  they dictated words and sentences to the teachers.  some worked for a long time on their documentation. some where not interested.  as early childhood teachers who want to be developmentally appropriate we have to embrace the fact that it is ok that every child is not wowed by insects.  but, for many children the chance to take something cool like an insect, and want to write about it, well, that is how a love for literacy starts.  when writing is a joy, and not a chore, children develop a desire to write, a desire to participate in the process of scientific discovery, and begin to learn how to research.

so, next time your day takes an unexpected turn, embrace the opportunity.  if i had not participated in some wonderful workshops, networked with other creative teachers, and if i had not started reading The Intentional Teacher i don't think i would have been prepared enough ready to enrich this  learning opportunity for the children.  so, moral of this blog entry, keep learning just like we want our students to do!

environmental print

in my afternoon class i am trying to add environmental print around the room.  a mom ask if these were supposed to be healthy food choices.  the other teacher answered no, these were supposed to be items they would recognize the print.  most kids know PopTarts.  sometimes when we are playing in dramatic play we will ask the children to "read" the boxes on the wall.  we then let them know that they are indeed "reading".  i am trying to come up with additional ways to add environmental print to the classroom.  i would love it if those of you out there would leave some comments with ideas on how to expand this literacy connection.

Another great resources

Peggy's Pictures

if you are like me and work with children that may need visual supports a good friend and wonderful teacher where i work has this awesome site that is full of picture cue cards and other techniques to help children with language needs.  i personally feel all young children can benifit from using visual supports.  sometimes as teachers we forget that very young children can't read yet.  we need classrooms that are print rich, but we also need to provide children with the picture that represents the word.  i am also a firm believer that it is best to borrow from those that have gone before you and have created wonderful teaching tools.  this is just such a resource.  a special thank you goes out to  Peggy for being willing to share her hard work and creativity with other teachers.  i hope you will add more visual supports and other teaching tools to your site.

Added Pictures click here on the title to see them! The title is the link!

just wanted to let you all know that i added a flickr slideshow to the blog.  i hope you will join me in adding pictures of your great ideas for the classroom.  you can email me the pictures and i will add them to the slideshow.  or just email me the pictures and a description and i will post them in the main body of the blog.  the pictures i added are of a science tree we made with the kids in the classroom.  hope you enjoy!

Welcome and Intent

if you have stumbled across this site you are probably a preschool professional looking for new ideas. or maybe you have great ideas to share with others in the field. one of the things i have found is as educators we are lost in the world of our classrooms and long to have the opportunity to communicate, share and pick the brains of our peers. due to the nature of our profession we get very little time out of our classrooms to accomplish this task. with the advancement of technology we can create communities where we can reach out to other like-minded professionals who have little time, immense creativity and the need for conversation with someone over the age of five!

this is my small attempt to create a playground for preschool educators. a place where you can swing high on ideas, share your see-saw journey with others who work with behaviorally challenged children, slide through a difficult day with someone who has already "been there and done that", jump rope through the intricate maze of working with children with special needs, climb the monkey bars of creating challenging activities for gifted children or just relaxing under a shade tree sharing lemonade and cookies with other friends who want to day dream about having the best classroom for all children regardless of age, ability, socio-economic level, geographic area, cultural backgrounds or parents (who may or may not want to play in your sandbox).

my dream is to create a place where we can share lesson plans, themes, links to other resources, articles and research, templates and pictures of our best ideas and accomplishments. although the playground is small now, i hope soon we can create a wondrous world were we all play together in this incredible playground called early childhood education.

for the safety and integrity of this blog, all comments will be moderated. please leave comments, suggest links, books, articles, submit lesson plans, send pictures to add to the slide show and just hang out and discuss the latest research and policy. but......be safe, be kind and be responsible in your submissions. i will not accept any submission of any kind that have pictures of children in them. it is a strange world and as professionals we have to do everything we can to protect the children and preserve their confidentiality.

with all that being said, let's start building this wonderful preschool playground for us all to enjoy!

sincerely,

carole dawn arrendale, mba, m.ed.

p.s. i know i am typing all in lower case. i know better, but it makes typing so much faster and easier! thanks for understanding.