What Makes a Project a Project?

What children learn does not follow as an automatic result from what is taught, 

rather, it is in large part due to the children’s own doing, 

as a consequence of their activities and our resources.

—Loris Malaguzzi, The Hundred Languages of Children

Project work has begun in The Nest.  The Sky and Trees Class students have been working through the first steps of a study of castles and an investigation of Medieval times.  The Rocks and Rivers Class students have been thinking about exploring the idea of cooking.

Both groups are in an initial stage of inquiry through classroom activities, books, and play.  As children engage here, teachers help them to record what they already know and to begin to develop a guiding set of questions.  

As the projects develop, there are several components you can look for in the documentation of the children’s work found on the blogs, on the classroom walls, and in the Daily Journals.  These components are what makes a project a deep, rich, and meaningful learning experience for children.

Student Initiation: Teachers are listening to the children and observing their play.  They find themes in the work of the children and begin to have ideas about topics the children might be interested in learning more about.

Provocations: Teachers will introduce an item or experience into the classroom environment designed to arouse interest and to initiate curiosity.  For the Sky and Trees Classes, a very fancy pop-up castle has served this purpose along with stories of knights and such.  In the Rocks and Rivers Classes, language experiences centering on surprising foods (“Pease Porridge Hot,” The Little Red Hen, books about pancakes, and “Sing a Song of Sixpence”) have left children giggling and wondering.  

Metacognition and Research: Teachers will work to make learning visible for the children.  Charts or concept maps will be developed to record what children know before beginning the project, what they want to know and are curious about, and the new facts they learn through their research and exploration.  Teachers help children begin to think about how to think and the process of learning. This helps children extend the work of the project into other settings where they may encounter questions.  They not only gather content knowledge about castles or cooking tools, they learn how to develop questions, seek resources, and record observations and data.  They learn how to learn.

Celebrations and Culminations: Children will use their new knowledge to create something authentic and to share it with an audience.  These final activities help the children know that they are doing real and important work.  They will work in groups to make plans and designs, to execute them as a team, and then to present what they have made.  We never know what the end result of a project will be, as the children will find something along the way that really excites them and the teachers will follow that lead.  Maybe it will be a feast or a cookbook or a clay kingdom or a coat of arms.  In a project, learning is never in a vacuum.  The social nature of learning is emphasized through the group work and sharing of a culminating creation or event.  

A final key component of project work is the involvement of Experts. Young children are not yet readers and so they often need face-to-face interaction with experts and other resources in order to find answers to their questions.  As you watch the projects develop, please let teachers know if you have access to an expert, local site or experience, or a tool or material that might enhance the work the class is doing.  The learning will be stronger if we surround the children with diverse resources.  

Peace,

Emily Sytsma

Talking About Tough Topics

I have been struck and quite moved by a piece of art created in the Thunder and Lightning Class, Mustard Seed School’s fourth and fifth grade combined class.  These students lead the K-8 annual celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and this work was created for that event.  Have you seen it yet?

I think I was struck because this artwork expresses something that has been on my heart lately.  When I look at the work of these students, I am reminded that the eyes of the children are on us. On all of us. I am reminded of some of the more weighty responsibilities we have as parents and educators.  

In 2008, I awoke the morning after the Presidential Election to hear the confirmed news of Barack Obama’s election.  It felt like a historical moment, a teachable moment. It occurred to me that there was a parental responsibility to express the importance of this news to our son, who was then four years-old.  When he woke up, I announced to him in a serious voice, “We have a new President and it is important. This is the first time in history that our nation has chosen a President who is African American and whose skin is not white.”  He looked at me and said, “But, Mom, you said that it’s rude to talk about the color of someone’s skin.”  And I knew right then that I was not quite getting it right.  

I have tried to do better in my parenting since then, but I still miss the mark.  Maybe you can relate to the struggle to know how to approach the big topics like race, differences, injustice, and poverty.  

I do not think that there are any right things to say.  But I do know that if we say nothing, our silence will leave a hole.  Many people say that young children do not notice race or difference.  But they do notice; noticing is one of the things young children do best.  Differences do not carry as much weight for them, often, as they do for adults. But they do notice. And they notice when we hesitate to talk about something.  

I hope that we all can find ways to talk with the children, because if they do not hear from us on the big topics, they will surely hear from others.  Maybe we can start with the stories of our own lives, the things we have seen, and the mistakes we have made. The good choices as well. And what we value and hope for.  We can read books together or visit museums.  We can look to scripture and the voices of those whom we admire.  I do not think that it matters all that much how the conversations happen.  What matters is that we get into the habit of talking.  

Looking back at the artwork above, I wonder what the world looks like to all of these young eyes.  And I wonder what they will see as they grow up.  I wonder what they might dream.

Peace,

Emily Sytsma

P.S. The artwork above was created in art class under the guidance of Clara Buckley, who spends part of each week leading the Rocks Class and the rest teaching Upper School children in art and STEAM.  

Light and Transparency

Dear Families,

While the cold has arrived and winter still has us in its grasp, this is also a season of light for us.  We have celebrated Epiphany and, as in the hispanic tradition, the Three Kings came bearing gifts to each class in the school.  We celebrate the light of Christ coming into the world and our lives.  This is the time when we look for new insight, epiphanies that will show us how to live the life that God has given us.  

We are a preschool that has been inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach.  One of the Reggio Emilia concepts is to create transparency through light.  This fits so well as we enter this season of light.  You can notice this focus on light in our environment.  Mirrors are placed at different levels and angles to encourage children to literally see things from different perspectives.  They encourage opportunities to pause, to reflect, to consider possibilities. 

We also use glass jars in paint and for holding other materials that children use.  The transparency of glass allows for greater visibility, and we want children to see, to notice, to look intently.  Light tables are another part of the curriculum.  Children use a variety of materials on the light tables to view, to build, to design, to see in move vivid ways.

When light is present things are open, available, and infused with more possibility than when they are hidden in obscurity.  This is what we hope for our students also.  As they start this winter term, we want them to see in new ways the possibilities that are available to them, to see the world in a new light.  We are giving them opportunities and materials that can expand their skills and thinking and engagement with learning.  

Blessings.

Welcome!

Dear Families,

Welcome to a new communications format that we are adopting here at The Nest. Each Friday, you will continue to receive The Whistle but it is coming as a new, mobile-friendly summary. Included in The Whistle will be key information and upcoming dates as well as links to classroom blogs.

At a listening conference this fall, a parent answered my question about hopes for the year by saying that he just wanted to continue to stay informed about what happens at school.  The family remarked that they did not expect to know as much as they do about what happens in their child's days here.   They enjoy receiving The Whistle and using the Daily Journal in the classroom to stay connected.

Parent communication is one of the tenants of programs inspired by the work of the educators in Reggio Emilia.  There is, in Reggio-inspired education, a great hope for a sharing of ideas and values by the adults who surround the children in their learning.
This type of home and school collaboration has shaped our program. Teachers document the work of the classroom in order to share it with the families.  In this way, teachers and parents together validate the importance of the children and their ideas. Parents and teachers reflect on the documentation and each have opportunities to provide extensions for the children's exploration. Learning is a shared experience.

I cannot count the number of times when a comment or offer from a parent helped spin a child's idea into a whole class project.  Or how many generous parents (and grandparents and uncles and neighbors and brothers and sisters) have visited as experts in order to help young children, who cannot yet read or write, engage in authentic and purposeful research in an area of developing passion. 

We hope that the new communications format will provide opportunities for continued and deepened interactions among families, teachers, and the work of the children.  Please continue to read the Daily Journals in the classrooms and spend time with the documentation on the classroom walls.  We look forward to discovering how this digital format of the classroom blogs will offer new possibilities for our partnership, new ways to express the ideas of the children, and to develop meaningful experiences for them.

In these blogs, you will continue to find the photographs, stories and descriptions of students working that you have always found in The Whistle.  The blogs will record important updates and will link you to resources like the Parent Handbook and snack lists.  And the blogs are open to all families, so you will still be able to click over to follow the work of other classrooms as well.


Peace,
Emily Ford Sytsma