What Are Children Learning When
They Play
(http://users.stargate.net/~cokids/Borden.html) |
Circle Time
Generally
teachers begin this group time with a specific topic for discussion. It may be
a topic related to a project the class is working on, or it may focus on a
specific skill. For example, in the beginning of the year, the teacher may play
games to help the children learn the names of each of their classmates.
Students may also use the time for "show and tell." Teachers often also include
music appreciation, group sings, and creative movement during circle time.
Some teachers
hold circle time first thing in the morning as a way of organizing the class
and the morning activities.
What's Learned
These "chats" are an opportunity for the youngsters to learn how to organize
their thoughts. As they talk about their experiences, children learn how to
tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end. When a child learns the words
to "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" or "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly," this is
an important part of a child's informal education. This is "shared
knowledge"--that is information that society assumes you know. For example,
other children assume you know the words to familiar folk songs.
Music
Appreciation/Creative Movement
Children enjoy
both listening to music and making their own. Whether it's a group sing-along,
marching in a percussion band, playing a triangle, or making up new lyrics to
old favorite tunes, music is the universal language. Creative movement,
learning to move your body through space, in time to the music or while
pretending to be a falling leaf, is a creative way to tap into a child's
imagination and artistic side.
What's Learned
Music helps children connect the outer world of movement and sound with the
inner world of feelings and observations. Playing games or moving to music is a
powerful first experience in the artistic process. Children learn music the
same way they learn language--by listening and imitating.
Finger play
promotes language development, fine-motor skills, and coordination, as well as
self-esteem. Young children are proud when they sing a song and can do the
accompanying finger movements.
Listening to
music also teaches important prereading skills. As youngsters use small drums
or other percussion instruments (homemade or store-bought), they can play the
rhythmic pattern of words. They can learn to hear the differences between fast
and slow, loud and soft, one at a time and together, etc. When they try new
instruments, they notice how each variation changes the music.
Creative
movement expands a child's imagination. It's also a fun method of physical
fitness--an important goal of child development.
Art
Projects
Some art
projects are part of a theme that the class is studying. For example, as part
of the seasons' curriculum, the children might gather pinecones, leaves, and
acorns during a fall nature walk. They will later use them in art projects,
such as to make leaf rubbings, to assemble in collages, or to use as
decorations for picture frames.
A good art
corner will be stocked with materials that can be used in a variety of ways for
projects. There should also be easels for painting individually (although
sometimes two children will work at the same easel to create a painting
together).
What's Learned
A good art project teaches a child that his creativity is limited only by his
own imagination. By transforming everyday objects, such as empty paper towel
rolls and egg cartons into sculptures, imaginary bugs, or spyglasses, a child
discovers that he can create a world of play.
Using materials
in an art project reinforces and expands on the information a child has already
learned in other contexts. For example, let's assume that the art project of
the day is to make rubbings of leaves collected during a nature walk the day
before. If from a pile on the table, the child selects a dry leaf that crumbles
easily, the youngster learns, in a concrete way, about life cycles in nature.
Through trial and error, just like the scientist in a lab, the student might
find that green leaves or shiny leaves hold up better for this art project.
Another art
project might have the youngsters create a fall mural by pasting leaves,
pinecones, and acorns on a large roll of paper. They might organize the project
by sorting and classifying the leaves, by color, shape, and size. These are
prereading and premath skills--as well as fun. In this same project, the group
also learns social skills such as cooperative and group dynamics. Do the
three-year-olds know this as they happily create a fall mural--probably not,
but their teachers certainly do.
Art projects are
also excellent for developing a child's fine-motor skills. It takes
small-muscle control in order to manipulate clay, cut with scissors, paint with
a brush, and color with markers or crayons. As these skills are practiced, they
help a child gain mastery to cut with a knife, button his own shirt, and print
his name.
Art projects
build a child's self-esteem. The finished product, on display on the
refrigerator, validates a child's sense of worth. It's another opportunity for
a child to say, "I can do it!"
The process, not
the product, is the most important element of preschool art projects.
Outdoors
Play
Running,
swinging, climbing, jumping, hopping, biking, digging in the sand--outdoor fun
is one of the favorite parts of any young child's day. A good preschool
playground will have enough space and sturdy equipment that a child can use his
imagination while exercising. For example, the jungle gym structure might have
connecting slides, firefighter poles to shimmy down and then inch up, tunnels
to crawl through, a swinging bridge that connects one side of the apparatus to
the other. A child will use multiple skills and create dozens of scenarios as
he plays on this one structure. There should be equipment for digging, hauling,
building, and riding.
What's Learned
Outdoors play refines a child's gross-motor (large-muscle) skills. The
cross-lateral movement (right arm/left leg and vice versa) involved is critical
to a child's later success in reading and writing. Playground time is also an
opportunity to explore and manipulate a different environment.
Youngsters also
love outdoor play because they can let loose their imaginations while getting
physical. They can turn the jungle gym into a rocket ship, a castle, a
firehouse--anything they choose.
Cooking
Children enjoy
cooking. Sometimes they like the product, but even if they don't, they always
appreciate the process. It's fun to do something that is a grown-up
activity--and discover that kids can do it too!
Preschools often
tie cooking projects to other themes the class is working on. For example, in
the fall, a class may take a pumpkin and use it in a variety of ways. For a
large pumpkin, the class may first decorate it with markers and use the pumpkin
as a centerpiece on the classroom table. Later, the teacher will cut open the
pumpkin and the students can estimate how many seeds are in the pumpkin. Later
the class can count the seeds and compare the total to the estimates. The class
can also roast the pumpkin seeds for snack, and finally bake pumpkin bread.
What's Learned
Since cooking is a
basic life skill, it fosters a child's sense of competence and independence
when he can do it. Math skills are also an important part of the process, as
the cook needs to count and measure the ingredients. Cooking also refines
small-motor skills as a child stirs, dices, and adds ingredients. It also
teaches about nutrition-foods that are good for you and help you grow.
A child also discovers how things change if you alter the environment: liquid batter becomes a cake when baked; juice cups become Popsicles when frozen. Cooking also helps a child's reasoning ability. He learns cause and effect. "If I don't put the juice cups in the freezer, they won't become Popsicles."
Snack
Time
What do you
remember as the highlight of your own school day--lunch time and recess? It's
not all that different for preschoolers.
Snack time is an
important part of the preschool experience. Whether the food is provided by the
school, or on a rotating basis by the parents, or cooked by the students
themselves, snack time--just like mealtime in your own home--is an opportunity
to "break bread," share, and communicate. The snack is usually simple, crackers
or a piece of fruit and juice.
Snack time can
also be an opportunity for children to try new foods. One little boy brought in
the usual graham crackers and apple juice for the class snack, but also brought
in his personal favorite green olives. Surprisingly, several of the children
were willing to taste the new delicacy!
What's Learned
Snack time is an
opportunity for a child to learn social skills as she chats with her friend in
the seat next to her. Passing out the snack and distributing a napkin and cup
to each child teaches one-to-one correspondence and counting skills. Pouring
the juice from a small pitcher to an individual cup requires small-motor
control. Cleanup time after snack is another educational opportunity. Again, a
child's sense of competence and independence are reinforced. Snack time is also
an opportunity for a child to associate mealtime with pleasant feelings.
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