Blog #15

I am not very excited to be in my last week of score. I have absolutely loved teaching the creative dance classes and spending my time with these kids in the classroom. I am thinking about coming every week after score is over for fun. This was a very busy day. We started off the day by bringing the kids to service. At service the kids hear a story from the bible on the felt board. Today they learned about Sal. They also sing fun, interactive songs. Today we sang “deep and wide”, “this little light of mine”, and “inch by inch, row by row.” Mostly every kid in the school really loves going to service with father Patrick. At service today we also discussed something called “birthday bags” that the school has been working on. It is a great cause that everybody has been helping with. Each classroom in the school has a different theme like princess or superhero, for an example. The parents each bring in something for a little kids birthday that pertains to the theme that was selected for their childs class. After everything has been brought in, we package it up and send it to a family that cannot afford a birthday party for their kid. Some of the children at the school could not grasp the idea that not everybody can afford a party, while other understood the amazing cause they are all helping with. We had an overall great day at the school.

Blog #14

When I walked into the classroom this morning, the first thing I did was gathered all of the shells that I could find throughout the room.  For the past week the sensory table has been filled up with blue dyed water with different types of pretend sea creatures. I decided to change it up by putting blue and green colored sand in with different shells and containers. As I looked over at the kids there during the day, I saw that they really liked using the strainer that I put in there. Today in dramatic play, we set up a pretend ice-cream shop. The children really enjoyed this. It was adorable to look up and see them in full ice-cream attire while making all sorts of ice-creams and banana splits. After the kids made their pretend ice-creams, they enjoyed delivering it to me and the other teachers in the room so we could pretend to give them money and then eat it. At the art table, the kids finished their under the sea pictures. The day before we used blue and green water color and salt to make a water looking background. When they dried I shook off the remaining salt and cut out long pieces of light green tissue paper that they could glue down to look like seaweed. Today the kids finished these up by taking vibrant paints and dipping the fish shaped sponges into it. They then pressed the fish up and down on the paper to making gorgeous under the sea pictures.

Blog #13

Todays creative movement class was immensely helpful to writing my paper. I noticed multiple new things about the children, including the different stages and growth of using their gross motor skills. I was observing a little girl named Kaitlin as she pulled herself up the “up” slide. At the school, we have up and down slides. This allows kids to safely walk up the up slide and slide down the other slide so they don’t need to walk up the stairs on the play structure. The up slide helps the kids work on creating muscle and facilitates working on their safe gross motor skills. Kaitlin is only four, yet she is way more advanced than her classmates when it comes to her gross and fine motor skills. She can use scissors to cut paper correctly; she uses the correct grip on her pencil, and her art creations are detailed. She can also catch and throw a ball, run up the up slide without using her hands, and successfully use the hoola-hoop. The hoola-hoop is something that all of the kids in the school love doing. Most kids have a very difficult time with them and just spin in one revolution around their body with their hands, but everybody enjoys doing it. After I let the kids play around with the hoops by themselves, I laid down all of them on the ground to play hopscotch across the room. I made a pattern of “together, together, together, open” and had the kids clap the pattern out.

Blog #12

For the past week, both the Orange and Green rooms have been anticipating making fish print t-shirts to go along with learning about under the sea. Making these t-shirts has become somewhat of a tradition at Christ Church Parish Day School. In advance, we asked for each parent to bring in a plain white t-shirt with their name written in it and we also asked one of the room moms to purchase a dead, fresh flounder. Like what I did with the jellyfish art project, I covered the table with newspaper, laid out the r-shirts and picked out certain colors that the kids would like to do the print. When the fish was brought into the classroom this morning, some kids were more hesitant about the project than others, but in the end all kids loved it. We let them first explore the fish. They used words like “slimy” and “cold” to describe it. We also talked about what type of fish it was. The kids learned about what a flounder looked liked and how they had two eyes on one side of their head. They also learned that they stay flat towards the bottom of the ocean. The first brave kid to print her shirt was a little girl named Clara. She dipped her brush in the pink acrylic paint to paint the body, green for the fins, clue for the tail, and orange for stripes on it. We then flipped it on the shirt and pressed hard onto the fish. After I took it off, it left a beautiful and fun print of the flounder. All twelve kids made gorgeous t-shirts that they wore home that day,

Laurel: Blog #11

I began my morning by feeding the class pat, a beta fish named Lucy. Although just a little, dark blue fish, the kids really love Lucy. Sometimes I let the children take a few pellets and put them into her bowl. During the summer, I take the fish home so it can be cared for. It was an extremely exciting day for the Orange Room. At early morning drop off, a three year old boy named Mathew and I were observing our class butterflies. The kids have been learning about the life cycle of butterflies through books, puzzles, art projects, and songs. They have been observing the 5 different eggs as they go through metamorphosis. Two weeks after welcoming the caterpillars to our classroom, right in front of our eyes, we saw an antennae emerge from its chrysalis. It then began pushing its black, white, and orange wings through its cocoon. We observed that the wings were very wrinkled. I then asked Mathew if he remembered what the butterfly was doing and he answered by saying “drying off his wings!” This was the correct answer that we learned about from a book on monarch butterflies. Mathew kept observing the butterfly as I took a cotton ball in dipped it into sugar water. This is what the butterfly will drink from through its proboscis. We decided to name that first butterfly Mathew! That day, we witnessed all of the butterflies emerge from their chrysalises. It was extremely exciting watching the insects go through this cycle and the children’s reactions.   

Laurel: Blog #10

The children at Christ Church Parish Day School had a very eventful and busy day. The Green Room spent a lot of time at the art table as they furthered their education on sea creatures. I started off my morning by setting this table and art project up. This included cutting white, paper plates in half, putting newspaper on the table and cutting out long strips of light pink, orange and white tissue paper. I also cut out little sponges, took out the googaly eyes, and put pastel pink, blue, and purple acrylic paint into containers. Once the kids arrived, I facilitated this art project. Here, the children made gorgeous jellyfish by dipping the sponges in the paint and pressing it up and down on the paper plate. After that dried, the kids glued on the eyes and tentacles to the other side of the jellyfish. I then hung them up throughout the classroom. The children absolutely love when the window is open, and the tissue paper tentacles blow out the window from the breeze. After finishing their creations, I then took the kids into Parish Hall for a music class with Mrs. Shepard. Some kids love music class and sing proudly and loud, while others do not participate as much. Being a preschool with a Christian affiliation, we sang “This Little Light of Mine” and “Our God so Mighty”. The  first song we sang was a song that included saying hi to each person in the class. They also sung about animal on the farm and growing a graden.

Blog #9

When I walked into the preschool last Friday, the first thing I did was write a message to the children and parents on the white board. I briefly explained what the kids would be doing today. For an example, I wrote that they would be “continuing their exploration of under the sea.” I also filled up all the paints with a cool color pallet so the children could paint beautiful ocean paintings at the easel. Later when the kids arrived, it turned into a gorgeous day. To take advantage of the warm and sunny weather, we brought the kids on a nature walk. They were extremely excited by observing the growing of different types of flowers, the different birds in the sky, and the insects that they learned about on the ground. Before noon, some kids get picked up before lunch, while others stay. Lunch is usually a chaotic yet, a fun time in the classroom. After the kids eat, they usually sit down with a book to look at the pictures or get read to. I read the book “Mermaid Dreams” to the children. The girls especially loved the decorative pictures of the young mermaid getting ready for bed. We also read the book, “On the Beach” together. The kids thoroughly enjoyed pointing out the different sea life that they saw in the book. The outspoken kids always point out that they see starfish, sea gulls, different types of shells, and all sorts of fish. Overall, the kids had a great day together. 

Blog #8

Yesterday was our last day of studying insects. The Green and Orange room are now focused on under the sea! I began my day by filing, helping with assessments, and setting up the classroom. Setting up the classroom for the day involves multiple different things. At the sensory table, I put in water with all different types of sea creatures and things you would find under water. The dramatic play areas was not set up to go with the under the water unit. Rather, we set up a pretend pizza shop with different types of pizzas in the oven, aprons, and hats. The night before, we made blue play dough. At the play dough table, I put it in front of each seat with a different cookie cutter of a sea creature. The kids always enjoy making “spaghetti” or “hair”, creating texture with the rolling pins, and cutting the play dough with the different types of scissors and cutters. At the writing center, I cut out a large amount of fish out of blue and green paper. The children then took circular, colored sticker and stuck them on their fish. As always, the kids practice cutting and writing their name at this table. Outside on the playground, I put different types of sequins and small gems in the sandbox and covered them with the sand. The kids loved finding the “treasure” in the sand. We gave each kid individual, little envelopes so they could bring their findings home. It was a successful and fun day.

Blog #7

Today was a very eventful day at Christ Church Parish Day School. We were with the youngest kids today, or the Orange Room. This was the last day of our unit revolving around insects. We ended with an art project that was done with fingerprinting. I drew and cut out twelve white jars from paper, cut out grass out of green paper, and had each of the kids mount them on light blue paper. We then had the kids press their fingers on a colored in pad and press them within the white jar. They then took a fine sharpie and drew wings, legs, and antennae so it looked like bugs in a jar. Lately, the kids have been enjoying using the “doppers” at the easel. The create dots on the paper instead of using a paintbrush. The children also had music class today, which the absolutely loved. They have music class in Parish Hall with Mrs. Sheppard. They sang songs that revolved around spring. They learned the words and hand movements to multiple songs. Two of the songs were about planting and watching the flowers grow and the other involved saying goodbye to winter and hello to spring. Today, I wrote down what the kids said when I asked them, “What can you tell me about butterflies?” This was a very comical and entertaining part to my day. Many of the kids simply told me something along the lines of going through metamorphosis and how they fly from flower to flower. Other kids told me things like “they eat carrots” and “have fairy dust on their wings.”

Blog #6

Last Monday, I spent all day with the youngest kids in the school. They are always a joy to be with. It was a gorgeous, sunny day out, so we spent the majority of our day outside. We brought out the chalk and pretend flowers. By the end of the day, the ground was covered with vibrant colors and creations of rainbows and butterflies. The kids spent a lot of time in the sandbox with diggers, pails, and rakes. We even had to put the umbrella over the sandbox out of fear that the children would get sunburnt. The kids played well together on this day. Many of the kids engaged in a game of “Pizza Shop” or “Ice Cream Shop.” I was constantly being made different types of pizza and ice cream out of sand and rocks. The kids also liked playing with the giant bouncy balls. It was interesting to see which kids could get the ball in the basketball basket, catch the ball, kick the ball, and throw the ball. The majority of the kids have not developed the muscles to be able to complete these various skills. The children have also always loved being on the slides. There is a big slide and a small slide. Some kids are intimated by the larger slide, while others are constantly on it. At pick up, parents lingered at the playground to let their kids play longer and to take advantage of the beautiful temperature it was outside. It was overall, a very fun day.

Blog #5

Today, we had the orange room, which are the youngest kids. They continued their exploration of insects, specifically ants and bees, by doing an assortment of different activities. We put yellow and black paint out in the hallway by the easel. Here, the kids made beautiful creations of bumblebees. When the kids finish a painting or any type of artwork, we usually scribe what they say their piece of artwork is all about. In the sensory table, we put different types of plastic insects inside the table that was filled with bubbly water. We also had the kids finish their ants that were made out of egg cartons and pipe cleaners. The children made a single piece of food out of model magic. They then glued down a red and white checkered napkin on a plastic plate. This was followed by the kids gluing on their ants and piece of food. They ended up looking great. The teachers were focused on assessments today. To see exactly where each child is at academically, they were assessed on colors, letters, numbers, shapes, sorting, and rhyming. At this stage in children’s lives, everyone is dramatically at different levels. Some kids couldn’t count past five and could not identify a rectangle, while other kids can count to thirty and rhyme cat with bat. Almost all children could identify the majority of the colors. Practically no kids could figure out what a diamond shape was called when it was put in front of them. It was a very interesting day for me to observe.

Blog #4

Due to this month being dedicated to studying bugs, today the three to four year olds created ants out of egg cartoons and pipe cleaners. It was interesting to observe the kids that didn’t exactly like getting dirty. While painting the ants black, a couple kids asked for my assistance in holding the egg carton so their hands wouldn’t get dirty. Also, when planting the sunflower seeds in the sensory table, a couple kids did not enjoy handling the soil. They continued their exploration of insects by reading books like “Clara the Caterpillar” and “Bees and their Hives.” Because it was such a nice day, we took advantage of the beautiful temperature by playing in the sandbox and on the play structure for hours. I carefully observed the gross motor skills of the younger kids and compared it to that of the older kids. Some kids could easily pull themselves up the “up slide”. Other kids have not developed those muscles yet, and had to use the stairs. In creative movement, we put the older kids on scooters that they could either sit on or lay on their stomach and push with their feet. We enforced that they need to be aware or their fingers and general surroundings. Creative movement really helps the children be more aware of their surroundings and classmates. Since Cinco de Mayo is approaching, we put on the Mexican hat dance song and taught the older kids the dance. They really enjoyed this and may perform it at the next meeting with the school.

Blog #3

On Friday, we had the Orange Room again. I took a lot of this day and learned an immense amount about each child. The day began with the kids arriving and having time to play with whatever they wished. Many kids found interest in the science table and looking through the View finder at the different types of insects. Also, many kids enjoyed playing with the play dough and spending time at the sensory table which was filled up with water and bubbles and had certain types of pretend insects and Tupperware floating in it. After this free time, we gathered in a circle for a morning greeting. This is the time when the kids all shake each other hands and say good morning, followed by their neighbor’s name. This is also when we sing certain songs together and talk about things that usually revolve around what they are currently learning about, in this case, butterflies. Because this preschool is affiliated with the Episcopal Church, the children attend service. On Friday’s service, Father Patrick told the story of Sal to the kids. During this time, they whole school gathers and select classes can perform songs that they have been practicing if they would like. The Orange Room performed a song about butterflies in the masks that they painted the day before.

Blog #2

My second day seemed to be a bit more exhausting than the first day. Today we had the “Green Room”, which are the youngest kids. The weather consisted of a lot of rain. As a result of the bad weather, we had an unscheduled creative movement class in Parish Hall. The kids absolutely loved this. We put on music that helped them with their gross motor skills. First, the children galloped around the room and pretended to have a lasso in their hand. This was highly difficult for the entire class. After this, we put on music that told the kids to do different skills, such as tip toeing and skipping. We also put down little blue mats that were supposed to be puddles and asked the kids to gallop then jump over the “puddle”. Like the first exercise, the majority of the kids could not gallop or lift their bodies over the mats. Although they could not do this, every kid thoroughly this and had huge smiles stretched across their faces. They also practiced different levels by pretending to be snakes slithering in the grass and shapes by making the letter “x” with their bodies. We also had a time when the kids could cool down by enforcing deep breaths.

Blog #1

On Tuesday, I began my first day of SCORE at Christ Church Parish Day School. Having a general idea of what my day would be like because I went to school here, I was very excited. On Tuesday we had the “Orange Room”, or the three to four year olds. They arrived at 8:45 and immediately went to different areas of the room to begin playing. This week we were learning about butterflies. Some children engaged in activities such as reading books that revolve around butterflies, doing butterfly puzzles, and learning about symmetry through painting and the stages of the growth of a butterfly at the science table. Today, all of the children made masks that made they look like butterflies. They also participated in making large paintings by putting paint on one side of a paper, then folding and pushing the paint to create different insects. Also, because it was such a beautiful day, the kids all played outside for a large amount of time. Five of the kids were standing against the fence and when I asked what they were doing, they responded by saying “we are being chrysalises!” Kids were also drawing pictures of butterflies with chalk.

Laurel's Outline

Laurel Barrie

3/15/13

SCORE Research Paper Outline

       I.            Introduction: Movement in early childhood is a crucial aspect to a child’s overall development.

a.       “Creative movement is an art form whose medium is the human body in motion” (Connie Bergstein Dow).

b.      Development of the “whole” child

c.       “Research indicates that the development of physical skills in early childhood needs to be guided by well-planned, regularly scheduled activity sessions. Such a program will not only help to ensure proper skill development in the child, but also guarantee many hours of fun, joyful movement!” (Hammett p. xi).

d.      Thesis: Movement is a factor that stimulates the development of young children, not only physically, academically, socially and emotionally as well. Young children benefit greatly from a curriculum that incorporates creative movement.

    II.            Although it is commonly agreed that movement is essential to the growth of a child, my schools do not encompass this creative outlet.

a.       Lack of dance experience/ feel uncomfortable à no right or wrong way to explore movement

b.      Children will move disruptively/ randomly à rules that promote safety, but font limit creativity

c.       Pressured to focus on academics…

 III.            While many schools emphasize the importance of the core subjects, other schools realize how creative movement is beneficial to a child academically as well.

a.       “…intellectual growth is stimulated through active physical movement” (Scherr p.10)

b.      Necessary to stimulate cognitive skills

c.       Mimicking does not allow the child to use their mind, think, and problem-solve

 IV.            Psychologically/ emotionally

a.       “Early movement experiences have the potential to greatly enhance a child’s self-image because movement experiences are so personal and because success depends so much on one’s own skills and abilities” (Weikart,, p.6).

b.      Use movement for self-expression

c.       Outlet of emotions for children who cannot express themselves verbally

    V.            Four basic elements of dance:

a.       Body movement variations and its range (arms high, march on tiptoes)

b.      Spatial variations (backwards, high, low, patterns)

c.       Time variations: (slow motion, fast, # of seconds then freeze)

d.      Energy variations (pretending to be on hot pavement)

 VI.            Physical development (body control)

a.       Nervous system

b.      Gross (large) motor à balance, coordination, stamina, strength (running)

c.       Fine (small) motor à throwing and catching

d.      Locomotor movements vs. Non

e.       “The foundation for successful movement experiences begins to take shape when the child is very young and continues to form throughout that child’s lifetime” (Weikart p.7).

VII.             Obesity

a.       “Television watching consumes more time in a child’s life than any other activity except sleeping” (Tomplinson and Keasey, p. 26)

b.      2005- Institute of Medicine (IOM) reported that “one-third (33.6 percent) of and American children and adolescents are either obsess or at risk for becoming obese… These kids have greater risk for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, poor self-esteem and other health, social and psychological problems” (RWJF 2006, 1).

VIII.             Encourages social development

a.       Group setting foster cooperation

b.      Working together and valuing other contributions

c.       Responding to direction

d.      Waiting a turn

e.       Working as a team

f.       Personal space

Conclusion: The creative arts nurture all aspects of a developing child

Works Cited

Adams, Caralee. "Recess Makes Kids Smarter." Instuctor (2011): 55-59. Print.

Dodge, Diane Trister., Laura J. Colker, and Cate Heroman. The Creative Curriculum for Preschool. Washington, DC: Teaching Strategies, 2002. Print.

Dow, Connie B. "The Power of Creative Dance." Teaching Young Children/ Preschool 6.1 (2012): 26-29. Print.

Hammett, Carol Totsky. Movement Activities for Early Childhood. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1992. Print.

Kane, Karen, and Teena Hahn. Move & Learn!: A Kaleidoscope of Creative Activities for Literacy Development. Grand Rapids, MI: Instructional Fair/TS Denison, 1998. Print.

Murphy, Lisa. Play-- the Foundation That Supports the House of Higher Learning. San Diego, CA: Learning through Adventure, 2003. Print.

Nelson, Esther L., and Shizu Matsuda. Movement Games for Children of All Ages. New York: Sterling Pub., 1975. Print.

Scherr, Sharon A. More than Movement. Baltimore, MD: Gerstung Publications, 1992. Print.

Thompson, Myra K. Jump for Joy!: Over 375 Creative Movement Activities for Young Children. West Nyack, NY: Parker Pub., 1993. Print.

Weikart, Phyllis S. Round the Circle: Key Experiences in Movement for Children Ages 3 to 5. Ypsilanti, MI: High/Scope, 1987. Print.

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