That was my week this week. One of the best in a long time! Such a positive force and confidence-builder!
It's been a whole month of reworking our system of classroom management, repetitive redirecting, and sticking to our word. All out of love and care, and for the sake of the kids' growth and our own sanity. Moments of lots of fun and moments of not so much fun. But it's all been worth it. My assistant, Kate, and I can both see and feel the growth. And it's so wonderful to hear that other staff can also see the development of our class. Some say we've done a complete 180, which makes all of our hard work so rewarding.
New habits take 21 days to form. On February 5th, Kate and I began our "classroom boot-camp overhaul". Only 18 school days later, and we know that our class is a completely different place of learning and thriving than it was at the beginning of February. Our classroom is a living testimony that you can rework your whole managerial system, and see major results if you stick to your plan of action!
Case in point: Kate and I both knew that precious minutes of learning and discovery were lost everyday because of our lengthy transitions. One simple change we made was to come up with a way to get them to clean their areas of work and play IMMEDIATELY when we asked and try to see who could go the quickest. All it took was a simple cleaning jingle and a set of jingle bells. When we introduced the jingle, we began singing and bell-ringing:
(tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat)
Ring, ring, ring your bell,
So everyone can hear!
Time to gather all around,
Circle-time is here!
And the first person we saw sitting on their carpet letter, with their area clean, would get to ring the jingle bells! The first time this happened, we made the hugest deal out of the fact that someone got such an honor to ring the bell for us! You bet that the rest of those kids were fumbling frantically to get their area cleaned up ASAP! We explained that we only give the jingle bells to the first few kids sitting quietly on their letters with their spot clean. Now after 18 days of this routine, they only need to hear the sound of jingle bells and immediately they begin cleaning! Like clockwork. Teaching success.
On to the SUPER FUN week that we just had: Masterpiece Artists!
I'm going to be honest and say that I wasn't sure how this week was going to go over with the kids. The plan was to explore the art of Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Claude Monet, and Michelangelo. Even as I was printing out pictures and artwork of the artists in the teacher lounge, some of the other teachers were even asking "What kind of theme are you having this week?!", as they saw pictures of the old, hairy men coming out of the printer.
Each day we focused on the artist, a little bit about him, and his style of artistry. On Friday, to my surprise, the kids remembered the artists and even examples of their work that we had explored all week!
Monday was Van Gogh Day. We spoke of "Sunflowers" and "Starry Night", and we created our own versions with crepe paper sunflowers and oil pastel swirly night skies. "Unique" was a word that we used when looking at each one of our "Sunflowers" creations because we all used the same materials but each created something so different and beautiful in their own way. Pictures of their amazing Van Gogh artwork to come!
Tuesday was all Picasso! Words of the day were "unique" and "portrait". They learned that Picasso loved to paint pictures of people, but he made them look a little strange using colors that aren't real on people. In our class discussion, I demonstrated how we would each make a "Picasso Portrait", starting first with only a black oil pastel. We drew the outline of our head, hair and facial features. It was important to tell them we wouldn't color in anything on our face because Picasso wanted us to paint each section a different color. The kids did such an excellent job of listening to directions, but still created something that was so unique and special! They were very proud of the masterpieces they created and couldn't wait show their parents!
Warhol Wednesday came next! Kate took this day upon herself, and the art project she had them create turned out to be one of the coolest projects! She explained that we would be making "pop art" like Andy Warhol, but we would be using our own handprints as the "pop art" instead of things like Coke bottles and Campbell's soup cans! Photos of our Andy Warhol bulletin will be posted after I take pictures on Monday! On Andy Warhol day, I learned that his name is one of the toughest artist names for a 4- or 5-year-old to say! Seriously wouldn't have guessed it!
Thursday was our beautiful, "impressionist" Monet day. We explained that Monet especially enjoyed painting ponds, lily pads, and bridges, and he painted in a style called "impressionism". He painted real things, but he didn't use crazy colors like Picasso, and he didn't paint one block of color at a time like Andy Warhol. Monet mixed the color in his paintings and made it kind of like a fuzzy photograph from a camera. That's what made Monet's art style "unique". We could tell that the kids were really grasping how each artist's style was different in their own way! They enjoyed fingerpainting their own "Bridge" Monet art!
Friday Fun Day was taken to a whole new level of fun! We learned about our last artist, Michelangelo, and explained that he was famous for painting the inside of a huge church. Not the walls. Not the floor. The ceiling. As soon as I said, "ceiling", I could see the little wheels in their heads turning and thinking "Are WE gonna paint our CEILING?!" We talked about that and decided that was crazy talk. But we were going to do our version of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. I taped large white pieces of mural-sized paper to the underside of our two work tables. When I explained that we would be pretending to be Michelangelo today and taking turns laying on our backs to paint, their little faces completely lit up! I think this was one of my favorite moments of the whole week! Who knew that painting underneath a table could be such an awe-inspiring experience?
Now for some of my other favorite parts of the week:
KID-QUOTABLES!
(lunch table conversation happening across table from me)
Girl: (speaking to boy next to her) Where are your ancestors from?
Boy: (thinking for a few seconds before answering) I don't have those.
Girl: Yes, you do! They are people in your family that lived a really long time ago.
Anne: (smiling) Where did you learn that?
Girl: From my Fancy Nancy book!
(everyone sitting on carpet for beginning of circle-time)
Anne: Ready to learn our last artist of the week?! He has a reeeeally long name, so we're going to break it in two pieces to learn it.... Please listen and repeat what I say! Michel!
Kids: Michel!
Anne: Angelo!
Kids: Angelo!
Anne: Michelangelo!
Kids: Michelangelo!
Boy: Hey! Did you know there's a Ninja Turtle that has that name?!
(lining up at door, doing name-to-face count)
Ms. Kate: When I say your name, say "Andy Warhol"!... Kid 1!
Kid 1: Andy War All!
Kate: Kid 2!
Kid 2: Annie War Roll!
Kate: Kid 3!
Kid 3: Annie Warthog!
Kate: Kid 4!
Kid 4: Annie Wart All!
...
Never would've guessed that Andy Warhol's name could be the worst game of telephone ever!
"Making Masterpieces" week goes down as one of my favorite weeks in preschool!
Want a little hint at the fun we have in store NEXT week.... props to Ms. Kate, for her amazingly artistic door display! I don't know if the teachers or kids are more excited our Preschool Kingdom!
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