As the students in my classroom watched the inauguration, my assistant
cried. (Just a little bit.) It was an amazing thing to see history in
the making. It affected everyone in our economically challenged urban
elementary school. Yesterday, as I listened to the post-party coverage
and people talking on their cell phones in the grocery store, I was
struck by how many people are concerned about President Obama moving
left or right of where they think he stood on issues. This morning I
heard a radio comment that now is the time for everyone to make their
opinions known and that they should remind our president of where he
has come from. So here is my "don't forget the pre-k" post-it note for
President Obama.
We seem to be on the right track. The House
economic stimulus package in Congress already has 2.1 billion for Head
Start in it as described in this Wall Street Journal article about the loads of promises the president made on the campaign trail.
President
Obama has mentioned funding early childhood
education many times since 2007. So in the spirit of David Letterman, I
give you President Barack Obama's Top 10 quotes on early childhood
education as found on the website On the Issues. and Youtube.
10 Obama
supports increasing funding for the Head Start program for preschool
children. Obama has called on states to replicate the Illinois model of
Preschool for All.
Campaign website, BarackObama.com, "Resource Flyers" Aug 26, 2007
9 We can
start by investing $10 billion to guarantee access to quality,
affordable, early childhood education for every child in America. Every
dollar that we spend on these programs puts our children on a path to
success, while saving us as much as $10 in reduced health care costs,
crime, and welfare later on.
8Put billions of dollars into early childhood education
Latinos
have such a high dropout rate. What you see consistently are children
at a very early age are starting school already behind. That’s why I’ve
said that I’m going to put billions of dollars into early childhood
education that makes sure that our African-American youth, Latino
youth, poor youth of every race, are getting the kind of help that they
need so that they know their numbers, their colors, their letters.
Every dollar that we spend in early childhood education, we get $10
back in reduced dropout rates, improved reading scores. That’s the kind
of commitment we have to make early on.
7 Teachers
don’t go in to education to get rich. They don’t go in to education
because they don’t believe in their children. They want their children
to succeed, but we’ve got to give them the tools. Invest in early
childhood education. Invest in our teachers and our children will
succeed.
6 If you’re
a progressive, you’ve got to be worried about how the federal
government is spending its revenue, because we don’t have enough money
to spend on things like early childhood education that are so
important.
5 Children’s First Agenda: zero to five early education
High-Quality
Zero to Five Early Education: Obama will launch a Children’s First
Agenda that provides care, learning and support to families with
children from birth up to five years old.
3 We’ll invest in early childhood
education programs so that our kids don’t begin the race of life behind
the starting line and offer a $4,000 tax credit to make college
affordable for anyone who wants to go. Because as the NAACP knows
better than anyone, the fight for social justice and economic justice
begins in the classroom.
2 Michelle and I are here only because we were given a
chance at an education. I will not settle for an America where some
kids don’t have that chance. I’ll invest in early childhood education. Source: Speech at 2008 Democratic National Convention Aug 27, 2008
1 This clip really seems to show where his heart is on the issue of voluntary Pre-K. Hopefully, he won't forget.
For the past two weeks, we have been deeply immersed in a study of "Markets and Food" in our classroom. We have set up a grocery store in the dramatic play center, stocked up on food magazines in the library center, grocery store circulars in the art center, and plastic food and water to make "soup" in the sand and water tables. We have been reading books about grocery stores, markets, and shopping, and my students are eager to learn more about the subject.
Last week we took a field trip to Eastern Market, a well known farmers market in Washington, DC. In the days preceding the trip, I was careful to make explicit connections between what we had been learning about in class and what we would see at the market. We read several books about markets, including To Market, To Market by Anne Miranda, Market Day by Lois Elhert, A Day at the Market by Sara Anderson, and Markets by Pamela Chanko. We talked at length about items typically sold at markets, how vendors acquire their goods, how customers purchase items, and why markets are important.
The day before our trip, during center time, I was re-reading To Market, To Market with Mayala. We were discussing everything we saw in the illustrations and what we might see at Eastern Market. Suddenly everything seemed to come together for her; her eyes lit up and she looked at me with excitement – "You mean Eastern Market is gonna be real?!" she asked in disbelief.
To Mayala, Eastern Market was simply an abstract concept. She understood plenty about markets and food – she could tell you what people buy in markets, that food is stored in a warehouse before it reaches a grocery store, that people need money to buy food – but she didn't understand that Eastern Market, this elusive place that we had been talking about, was actually real and right in her backyard.
This short conversation reminded me of the importance of purposeful planning in pre-k. I designed everything about our unit – from the topic to the materials to the field trips – to build upon my students' current knowledge and expand their understandings about the world. Mayala was familiar with the concepts of food and grocery stores before our unit began, and throughout the unit she has developed an understanding of markets and basic economic concepts. Our trip to Eastern Market helped solidify her newfound knowledge and make it meaningful to her. Now, as we come to the end of our unit, Mayala will have the experiences and materials necessary to build upon her knowledge and draw important connections from her learning.
The School Readiness and some of the Early Childhood Special Education teachers had the opportunity to host a “vertical alignment” inservice last week. We met with the kindergarten teachers in our district. This was not only an opportunity to meet each other and share curriculum ideas, but also an opportunity to show them our classrooms and give them a chance to see what we do every day.
Our meeting started with a tour of our classrooms. They were impressed to see a word wall, a break chair, and opportunities for students to work with their name, readers and writer's workshop. They were pleased to hear we are following our state standards and encouraging our students to play!
After the tour we settled into a conference room for discussion. Surprisingly, their questions were not about our curriculum, teaching strategies or philosophies. Instead, they were eager to compliment our programs while quickly asking, “How can we get every kindergartener to come to you first?” I replied, “What a great question!”
Some of the teachers were concerned about the screening process. Students are required to complete an Early Childhood Screening within the first thirty days of starting kindergarten. As with most things, it is encouraged that children participate in this screening at age three years, six months. This way we can suggest various pre-kindergarten or special education opportunities as needed. However, it seems that when a child comes to kindergarten after the beginning of the year, and does not pass their screening, they should be referred to our pre-k programming. But, because enrollment is always an issue, this sometimes doesn’t happen. In addition, it is sometimes hard to convince families that a 2 hour program, without breakfast, lunch or transportation is actually going to be better for their family.
Our program is growing with leaps and bounds and with the recognition of key members of our district it has such great potential to reach even more families. Now all I have to do is hope that our governor and our state's legislative bodies will see the greatness that is happening one four-year-old at a time!
I'm not sure if it's because I teach in Washington, DC, or because this was arguably the most historic presidential election ever, but my students have all become infatuated with Barack Obama. He has become the topic of informal conversations during center time, lunch time, and on the playground. My students draw pictures and write about him in their journals, and love reading books about the Obama family. I am continually impressed by their knowledge about President Obama, the election process, and the job of president of the United States in general. Here are some snippets of conversations that took place in my classroom:
Mayala, while describing a picture that she drew in her journal: "This is Barack Obama, and he's turning door knob at his big White House. He's so big because he won. This is John McCain. He's small because he losed. He's sad."
Makiera: "Barack Obama's gonna live in the White House with grandaddy." (Her grandfather works at the White House)
Suniah, the week before inauguration: "Barack Obama's not the president yet. He's going to be president on Tuesday. Then he'll be in charge!"
Jose: "Barack Obama's got muscles. I saw him without his shirt. He beat up John McCain." (I corrected the "beat up" vs. "beat" confusion. I think the muscles comment stemmed from the photos from the Obama's vacation in Hawaii.)
Julia: "Barack Obama has kids like me? And they go to school like me?"
Suniah: "George Bush isn't the president anymore. Now it's Barack Obama's turn."
Mayala, while coloring a picture of Barack Obama with a pink marker: "Barack Obama's not really pink, he's brown like me. He's light brown."
I have truly enjoyed taking my students enthusiasm about the election and using these informal conversations as "teachable moments" in our classroom. For example, as we were walking past a photograph of Barack Obama in the hallway, the following conversation occurred:
Aaliyah: "Is the real Barack Obama gonna come to school?"
Me: "No, he's busy working hard to get ready to be our president!"
Aaliyah: "Like we work hard to learn to read?"
Me: "Yes, Barack Obama works very hard just like you. He worked hard and learned how to read and be the president."
Aaliyah: "I'm gonna learn to read just like Barack Obama!"
Essentially my students are taking what they are learning about politics and fitting it into schema that are familiar to them. They want to know about the Obama family, what the president does all day, and how people felt during the election. Approaching politics from this angle -- with a focus on families, jobs, and feelings -- helps make a complex topic accessible and interesting to my three- and four-year-old students. The results have been remarkable thus far, and I'm excited to see how my students' knowledge about the Obama presidency continues to develop.
Tuesday will mark a
historic first for our country, the swearing in of an African-American
as president of the United States. How will you celebrate this historic
event in your classroom? In our class, we will continue our regular
school day. We will do letter sound activities and sing our alphabet songs (we have five). One of the letters for the day will be O for Obama. We will also cut out a mask of President Obama
photo copied on multi-cultural paper. The image came from HeadCandy
on the Chicago
Tribune website. We will try to maintain the same high
expectations we do each day for our students. We will likely also talk about Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement because it is the day after King's birthday. When it gets close to
time for the actual inauguration, we will stream the video from CNN
or C-Span.
Here are some of the
questions I will ask my students:
What does it mean to be
the president?
What does inauguration
mean?
What are some reasons
we are watching this today?
Hopefully we will get
some interesting conversation. Do you have any good questions to ask?
I figure that you, yes you
dear reader, did not know that you, and again I do mean you, could
actually publish the funny, cute, wise, and interesting things your
child says on our website. If you just click the Post a Kids Quote >>
link. It will take you to a blog where you can leave a comment. That is
how your comment shows up over there in the blue section of our blog.
Here are some of our earliest posts that you may not have seen.
"My sister gave me this cough, but I don't like it, so I think I'm gonna give it back to her."
"I went to the beach! And I was in the water, and I was moving my
legs and arms like this, and then I was like, 'Ohmygosh, I'm swimming!'
Did you know it? I was really swimming!"
Mirrielle, lying on the pillows with an outstretched arm: "Samson, you want to lie here and watch the sunset with me?"
"Mmmm...my mitten tastes good!" (when referencing a peppermint)
"Ms. Rosenbaum, I'm never gonna leave. I'm gonna sneak in your car, then climb in your house, and sleep in your bed!"
"This sand feels like pancakes!"
"Scissors! My mom said don't cut your hair."
"Its not a belly button Ms. Rosenbaum! It's a navel!"
I know you have
just finished reading these amazing and funny quotes and you are thinking, "What
was that funny thing my kids said yesterday?" Well, when you think of
it just come back and click the link over there
======>>>>>> and let us read it too.
We have a student who has been in the hospital. Although he is very new to our class, other students have noticed. Today I explained his situation. All of the sudden, a fairly quiet, reserved and sometimes day-dreamy student gasped and with a twinkle in his eye, he said, “I know! With all of your help we can make a card to send to Brian! I know we can do it!” And with great confidence, he set off to make a difference.
There is another student in my class that requires assistance from a special education assistant. She, too, has captured the hearts of my other students. My favorite observation occurred before our winter break. Every day we have a circle time when we greet each student. The greeting we were working on starts with the students having to find their name stick on the carpet. Then as I sing a song, they come and put the stick in my container. I have a student who speaks very little English but, for some reason, that day he was very intent on helping Laura. When I called her name he pointed at her stick and then stood up, took her hand and helped her up. From that day on, he has helped her do her jobs in our classroom, plays with her, and asks about her when she is not at school. I am not sure what sparked this connection but it continually affirms that love and kindness are universal and unconditional. It doesn’t matter what language you speak or what challenges you are facing, you are able to show others that you care.
The story in the Pre-K Now video conference from Eau Claire, Wisconsin struck me as an incredibly realistic portrayal of the process of expanding pre-k. The section of the video on Eau Claire starts about 20
minutes into the webcast. Watch the webcast and think about what working together really looks like.
I attended similar
meetings to the one presented in the conference when I worked with Gov.
Tim Kaine's Start Strong Initiative. The great thing about community
based reform is that people who really care get the opportunity to make
a difference in the lives of people they know. The hard part is that
when people are talking about their own communities and changes they
want to see happen, they can get passionate. It was great to see one of
the team members question the process of how this new pre-k initiative
is going to take shape in the "Listening Session" hosted in the
community. Stakeholders were able to express their fears. One
participant said, "I am a little frustrated because I came tonight to
to hear the plan." The process facilitator replied, "This meeting is to
have your views expressed." Another participant asked, "How are we
going to maintain quality?" These are the types of exchanges
communities need to have in order to create better early education experiences for young children.
Here are a couple questions to get you started thinking about how pre-k could be expanded in your community. What strengths do we have in our community? Are there successes in our community/state on which we can build or scale up? Who could support a new vision for expanded high quality early childhood education? Who needs to be at the table?
My wife and I threw my daughter a birthday party over winter
break. It was a fairy themed party designed around the idea of
creating fairy houses. I decided to use some of the strategies I
discovered in the book Childhood and Nature: Design Principles for Educators. The book written by David Sobel, the director of Teacher Certification Programs
in the Department of Education at Antioch University, is a wonderful bridge
for educators to cross from standards based education to the magic and
wonder of place based education. It provides guidance on how to design,
implement, and evaluate highly imaginative lessons within the context
of high stakes assessment in schools.
We went on a fairy scavenger hunt along a creek in our local park. We
followed clues written on miniature scrolls that talked about the sun,
rocks, plants, and trees. Each clue led to one of three
"fairy houses" hidden in a hollow tree trunk, a rotted log, and under
stacked rocks. I was really nervous because, we had a 4
year-old boy, nine 8 year-old girls, one 8 year-old boy, and a 12
year-old girl. You might think that with that broad a range someone
would be bored. The beauty of the situation, though, was that everyone
had a great time. The 4 year-old boy was just as excited about building
a miniature home for a fairy as the 12 year-old girl.
David Sobel, the author, talks about this aspect of
outdoor play as building small worlds. In the book, he describes how
8th grade students used a creek near their school to create a miniature
of the town they lived in, including bridges, a mill, and houses. This
book is probably the most spiritually sound book on teaching practice I
have ever encountered. The practical design principals that Sobel describes
include: Adventure, Fantasy & Imagination, Animal Allies, Maps
& Paths, Special Places, Small Worlds, and Hunting & Gathering.
In one section Sobel describes the "Ecology of Authentic Curriculum" as
drawing on play, fascination, group chemistry, serendipity, teacher
capitalization, and the collective unconscious.
This book can be seen as the practical companion to Richard Louv's influential book Last Child in the Woods and the bill currently moving through congress, No Child Left Inside.
If NCLI becomes law this book could be the way it is implemented to
support effective and compassionate teaching in our schools.
I highly recommend this book because every time I pick it up it makes me want to take my class outside to learn.
It
is this natural blending of imagination, creativity, and hands-on
learning that preschool excels at producing for children. How do you
incorporate the outdoors in your day?
This review and other education book reviews by teachers can be found on the Teacher Leaders Network.
I am sitting in my living room trying to digest comments made in our local paper. The Minneapolis Star Tribune has been buzzing with several articles about Early Childhood Education and the impact it has on our economy. One of the most recent is titled, Kids not ready for kindergarten cost Minnesota schools $113 million a year. As I read I am thinking, this is great! Our voices are being heard; more and more business professionals, policymakers and researchers understand the financial support needed to prepare and support our youngest learners. I have heard that language learners have to be exposed to a new word 150 times before it really sinks in and becomes mastered. The more press coverage we are able to get the better, right?
Then, I get to the comments. I don’t know where to start. I am concerned for our neighbors that think that early childhood opportunities are a way for the government to abuse their power. I am saddened that a child’s future and productive addition to our society is less important than an individual’s tax savings. I am appalled that people blame parents but are not willing to fund or support programs that teach the whole family. I am angry that a nation that promotes freedom and democracy would have arrogant individuals who punish 4 year olds for their parent’s lack of English skills.
Here are my recommendations…
Take time meet with quality early childhood and family educators before deciding their job is glorified babysitting.
Observe a quality early childhood program. Notice the ratio of academic to social/emotional learning that takes place.
Think long and hard about the future – which path to you prefer? Supporting pro-active programs like early childhood education or assisting adults who drop out, are criminals and/or on welfare?
Spend time thinking of others – it makes most people feel good inside!
Remember, early childhood education is not a replacement for a family unit. It is an opportunity to support and nurture future generations.
Pre-K Now is a public
education and advocacy organization that advances high-quality, voluntary
pre-kindergarten for all three and four year olds.
Visit Pre-K Now >
"My sister gave me this cough, but I don't like it, so I think I'm gonna give it back to her."