#openendedlearning

[granbynaturepreschool]

Snowy days are the best days! #naturebathing #inquirybasedlearning #preschool #holcombfarm #westgranby #playbasededucation #playbasedlearning #childcenteredlearning #openendedlearning #snow #snowingranby #snowinct (at Granby Nature Preschool) https://www.instagram.com/p/CmMtONCpal7/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[playsystems]

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Check out this all new #CommmercialPlayground series and let us know what you think. See the full video here: http://bit.ly/2WFt6Hw http://www.creativesystems.com #preschoolproject #openendedlearning #earlychildhood #earlychildhooddevelopment #CommercialPlaygroundEquipment https://www.instagram.com/p/BtgtpSDnrKo/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=5ejrtqu09tdt

[futurestrong]

Let Me Learn My Way

by Dr. Kathryn Murray

I was at an early childhood centre a few weeks ago, mentoring the educators in their classroom. I walked up to the group of children, bent down and said “tell me about what you're learning today, what are you working on?” 

A little boy looked up at me and said “you've got grey hair like a grandma”. I laughed because in my role as a consultant I don’t always get that honesty and openness that young children so freely share. It's out of the mouth of babes - as the saying goes.  Children have such insight and beautiful ways of expressing themselves. As adults, we don’t always see that. We have so much mind chatter going on: ‘it’s nearly time to pack up’; ‘how will I teach the next session’; ‘are the children too noisy’; ‘what will I make for dinner’; ‘I’ve got no time to get things done’; and more. 

If we take a step back and let children express themselves by providing a range of resources and open ended materials they will show us what they know in the way that makes sense to them. It may not make sense to us but it makes sense to them. In doing that, they will learn the skills of creativity, problem solving, decision making, co-operation, communication, negotiation, risk taking and resilience. They will develop, learn and grow because we're allowing them to have a go. The will be preparing for life.

Sadly, our education system now is really geared around achievement, benchmarks, grades, some sort of writing schedule or reading system.  The focus is that everybody needs to get things right, do things properly, be correct, and yet it's through mistakes that we learn. It’s through making a mistake that we evaluate, we assess and we recalibrate and try again. Surely that's the best outcome that we could hope for - the process of learning and the skills learnt along the way.

Think about when you cook a meal and you make it up as you go along. You just throw in ingredients, and sometimes it turns out well and sometimes it doesn't. However it turns out, you will rethink this and when you cook it the next time, you'll either remember to put in the same ingredients or add something different  or you will do something totally different altogether. We do that all the time. We readjust and we adapt to the situation that we find ourselves in, and yet we often expect children to do things correctly the first time.

As John Medina says in his book, Brain Rules, children are born natural explorers. They come to us with curiosity and creativity bubbling through them. As they grow older, they get educated out of being creative. So what does that say about us and our obsession to have things right, our obsession for children to reach benchmarks and gain new ideas, new knowledges that are important to us and in our timeframe.

What if we offered children opportunities to explore and grow their skills in their own way and at their own pace....we might be surprised at what can be achieved!

Reach out to us at Future Strong Education if you would like to discuss how we can support your early childhood teams or parents at your centre.

#creative #openendedlearning #play 

[granbynaturepreschool]

A little overdue, however, thank you to @friendsofholcombfarm Jack Lareau who took us on a wonderful walk last Friday. Jack told us many interesting things about our Holcomb Farm property including how trees communicate and that there was a Native American encampment on the land. Jack was wonderfully patient, too, and happily let our little friends explore and play on their own, as well. Here they are pausing to make and play on a makeshift see-saw! 📸: A.F. (current parent) #naturebathing #inquirybasedlearning #preschool #holcombfarm #westgranby #playbasededucation #playbasedlearning #childcenteredlearning #openendedlearning #fallingranby #fallinct #ittakesavillage (at Granby Nature Preschool) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClY4SJCLhyx/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[granbynaturepreschool]

We embrace risky play here at Granby Nature Preschool! #naturebathing #inquirybasedlearning #preschool #holcombfarm #westgranby #playbasededucation #playbasedlearning #childcenteredlearning #openendedlearning #fallingranby #fallinct #riskyplay (at Granby Nature Preschool) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClCElEJPo-d/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[granbynaturepreschool]

What a wonderful way to start the weekend! A big thank you to Mr. Emery, of the @granbylandtrust, for sharing his knowledge of Dismal Brook Preserve with us this morning! Mr. Emery was kind enough to take us on a hike (focused on rodents) and share many facts about beavers, culminating with a chance for our friends to see a real beaver dam! We learned so much about the history of the property, and our friends were even invited to have snack inside the historic cabin on site! Thank you for taking the time to share a piece of the Granby Land Trust with our little community! #naturebathing #inquirybasedlearning #preschool #holcombfarm #westgranby #playbasededucation #playbasedlearning #childcenteredlearning #openendedlearning #fallingranby #fallinct #ittakesavillage (at Dismal Brook Wildlife Preserve) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck1K-FjJyeT/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[granbynaturepreschool]

Today we are feeling very grateful; grateful for the weather and for being able to be outside! Friends loved being able to enjoy a beautiful morning outside participating in morning meeting, storytime, and having snack. Later, once inside, Miss Olivia helped friends brainstorm ideas for what to put in our gratitude jars. In talking about our favorite part of our day, friends shared that they liked eating snack outside in the cold! #naturebathing #inquirybasedlearning #preschool #holcombfarm #westgranby #playbasededucation #playbasedlearning #childcenteredlearning #openendedlearning #fallingranby #fallinct #letthemplay (at Granby Nature Preschool) https://www.instagram.com/p/CkwE4t9v_Cc/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[granbynaturepreschool]

Hi everyone! What a crazy two weeks we have had here at GNP! So much sickness, our community is finally starting to feel healthy again. Here are some photos from over the last 2 weeks with descriptions for each one. We thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to work as a community to regain our health! #naturebathing #inquirybasedlearning #preschool #holcombfarm #westgranby #playbasededucation #playbasedlearning #childcenteredlearning #openendedlearning #fallingranby #fallinct #letthemplay #gratitude (at Granby Nature Preschool) https://www.instagram.com/p/CktfLd6vW0U/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[granbynaturepreschool]

Greetings! Here at GNP, we have been dealing with many illnesses (teachers included!), which is why we have gotten behind on our daily updates. Thank you for your understanding as we focus on healing as a community so that we can resume our daily postings! Until then, here is a hodge lodge of photos from the past few days. photo 1 and 2: our hike in the woods behind the barn photo 3: face painting for Halloween. Not pictured: a lovely hike with snack under a cozy tree. #naturebathing #inquirybasedlearning #preschool #holcombfarm #westgranby #playbasededucation #playbasedlearning #childcenteredlearning #openendedlearning #fallingranby #fallinct #letthemplay (at Granby Nature Preschool) https://www.instagram.com/p/CkbONvhruRs/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[granbynaturepreschool]

With the return of the sun, came the merry little breezes today at GNP! With that in mind, we decided to stay in the wide open spaces and away from the trees and their branches that were blowing in the breeze. We crossed the street and on our way to the kiosk, we stopped at the stinky mushrooms. The next stop was to our rock houses to see if there have been any changes in the past few days. A short detour to the pond to see if friends could see any signs of animal life, and then on to a new to us meadow where friends had the opportunity to observe the pond from a different vantage point. After a quick stop to sit and enjoy the view (and a rare photo opp with both teachers!), friends played in the meadow. What fun to run and chase the wind and whirling leaves! On our return journey, we discovered a hollowed-out stump. Friends climbed up and immediately noticed that you could see to the bottom! This stump was so large, and with large holes by the roots, that friends would have been able to comfortably climb inside. However, we decided to save for another day. #naturebathing #inquirybasedlearning #preschool #holcombfarm #westgranby #playbasededucation #playbasedlearning #childcenteredlearning #openendedlearning #fallingranby #fallinct #letthemplay (at Granby Nature Preschool) https://www.instagram.com/p/CkOsBSNv9yu/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[granbynaturepreschool]

We are feeling spoiled here at GNP with the wonderfully warm weather for October! Today we spent the majority of our morning out in the meadow and deep within the forest. One friend pointed out that we could no longer see all the trees which ignited a lively discussion about why. Friends concluded that the trees had disappeared into the fog and that although we couldn't see them, they were still there. Friends made a similar discovery when they were trying to find our classroom, it was hiding in the fog. Once in the forest, friends made another exciting discovery. If you gently shook some of the smaller trees, you were greeted with raining leaves! #naturebathing #inquirybasedlearning #preschool #holcombfarm #westgranby #playbasededucation #playbasedlearning #childcenteredlearning #openendedlearning #fallingranby #fallinct #letthemplay (at Granby Nature Preschool) https://www.instagram.com/p/CkMJLUOP_M3/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[granbynaturepreschool]

Today we enjoyed the warmer weather; it surely made playing in the rain less cold! We began our morning with a pattern invitation. We revisited what the word pattern means, and then practiced coming up with patterns as a group! After snack, we suited up for the drizzle and wet. Friends headed down to the bridge behind the barn and discovered very quickly that the bridge was slippery so we needed to use walking feet. Some friends noticed that there was more water flowing today than on other days. Other friends enjoyed throwing leaves in and watching them float away. Later, we walked back up to play with the mud kitchen; on the way, friends noticed a ladybug that was yellow and orange. While playing, some friends went to check on the compost. The rest of our time was spent running, and enjoying playing in the rain! For our last provocation of the morning, we created nature collages from found items in our science museum! Friends noticed that many of the items we have collected are so big, that they were hard to fit (and glue!) on paper! #naturebathing #inquirybasedlearning #preschool #holcombfarm #westgranby #playbasededucation #playbasedlearning #childcenteredlearning #openendedlearning #fallingranby #fallinct #letthemplay (at Granby Nature Preschool) https://www.instagram.com/p/CkJkqOPvwwL/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[granbynaturepreschool]

We finally reached a week here at GNP, where we were so completely engaged as a class that documentation (although continued to happen) was not readily shared in daily posts. Let's pick up with our Wednesday investigations; today was a big day for us as we took a long deep walk into the forest behind our barn! We used a “helping” rope and walked single file. The trail was covered with leaves so we all had to be mindful of rocks and roots that might be hiding underneath. Friends noticed that you could actually smell the leaves! We used our listening ears and quiet voices so that we could observe all the sounds of the forest. Thursday brought us back to familiar places for our walk; although we did explore a new area across the street that we had not previously visited! Friends decided to stop along the way to check on the rock houses that we constructed earlier in the year. We named all the different colors of leaves that we saw and also discovered a new plant that we had not seen before. Friends compared it to “lamby ears”, and notice that this plant was not as soft to the touch. Friday was a pretty big day for us here at GNP; we had our class photos taken. We are so grateful for our village of families; one parent graciously offered to donate her time and energy to make this happen! Friday's are fleeting, especially when we are at the barn and not on an excursion! Friends did have to opportunity to help compost one of the pumpkins that we used earlier this month for our explorations. We also had a surprise visit from Kristine Vincent, Director of @granbyrec and Leisure Services! Our friends were eager to welcome her to our school and tell her all about what we do! We are forever indebted to Kristine, and all the staff of Parks and Rec and DPW for helping bring our dream of opening a nature-based preschool to fruition. #naturebathing #inquirybasedlearning #preschool #holcombfarm #westgranby #playbasededucation #playbasedlearning #childcenteredlearning #openendedlearning #fallingranby #fallinct #pumkins #ittakesavilliage #dpw #granbydpw #letthemplay (at Granby Nature Preschool) https://www.instagram.com/p/CkA8zU2uuE7/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[granbynaturepreschool]

Here at GNP, we love to combine our interest in “found items” in nature, with basic concepts and skills! Today friends used acorns to practice counting up to the number 5. This was a great way to for friends to have hands on practice before working on writing or tracing our numbers! We also engaged in the concept of sorting, by giving all of our found items a little tlc, now everything has been organized into piles! Later, we decided that it was finally time to empty our compost bin. Friends eagerly watched as Miss Olivia dumped out the contents of the bin; many friends discovered how stinky the contents were! We talked about what might happen to the compost over time, and friends are curious to check in over the coming days (and weeks!). #naturebathing #inquirybasedlearning #preschool #holcombfarm #westgranby #playbasededucation #playbasedlearning #childcenteredlearning #openendedlearning #fallingranby #fallinct #letthemplay (at Granby Nature Preschool) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj3k7KcvCWv/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[granbynaturepreschool]

Happy Monday! Today was a great day to be a duck. Before we engaged in puddle play, friends participated in a variety of prompts this morning. First, friends worked together to bake pumpkin seeds. Once out of the oven and cooled, friends discovered that they smelled like popcorn, and tasted a bit like peanut butter. Now that we had empty pumpkins, friends wondered if we could still hammer golf tees even though there was nothing inside. Next, we revisited measuring using different objects. Today friends decided to measure Miss Amanda, using their shoes. We discovered that Miss Amanda was 10 shoes long! Additionally, we checked on our transplanted pumpkin seed plants and gave them a nice drink of water! We observed that some seedlings were doing better than others. Friends thought that maybe some of the seeds hadn't woken up yet! Lastly, we began the process of learning the name of the street we live on. Friends had decided during our talk about fire safety, that it is important to know what street you like on, in case you have to tell the firefighters where you live! Thank you, @granbyeducation fund for the watering can! #naturebathing #inquirybasedlearning #preschool #holcombfarm #westgranby #playbasededucation #playbasedlearning #childcenteredlearning #openendedlearning #fallingranby #fallinct #pumpkins #letthemplay (at Granby Nature Preschool) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj0_2JvP3g0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[granbynaturepreschool]

Friday, GNP attended our second immersion excursion; we went to Mclean Game Refuge! The weather could not have been more spectacular for our walk through the meadow. We chose to visit the meadow because one of our themes is focused on meadows and we wanted to compare our meadow at Holcomb to the one at McLean. The children were readily able to make important discoveries about what was the same (and different!) and were even able to observe some new wildlife, including, beetles, grasshoppers, spiders, and woolly caterpillars, to name a few! We ended our walk with a closing circle, read a book, and asked each child (and caregiver!) what they most enjoyed about the morning. Most of our (little!) friends really enjoyed being able to see the brook at the edge of the forest! #naturebathing #inquirybasedlearning #preschool #holcombfarm #westgranby #playbasededucation #playbasedlearning #childcenteredlearning #openendedlearning #fallingranby #fallinct #fallinnorthgranby #ittakesavillage (at McLean Game Refuge) https://www.instagram.com/p/CjfrmkqLCGl/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=