10:30 Wonder Science: Blowing, Growing Chick, Toilet Paper, Sand, Shaving cream mixing

Creating a community of learners...

If our image of the child is a strong one and we see them as competent, strong, and knowledgeable, we must show them that we believe this.

Loris Malaguzzi said it best:

"We have to let children be with children. Children learn a lot from other children, and adults learn from children being with children. Children love to learn among themselves, and they learn things that it would never be possible to learn from interactions with an adult."

Sometimes, in our efforts to protect our children, we interfere before giving the children a chance to work it out themselves.

Example: One child is playing at the water table. Another child comes over and squeezes in beside him. A mother (or caregiver) intervenes and says, "Come and play on the other side."

This scenario has happened so many times and probably each parent has been guilty of saying this (including myself!!).

What is the harm in letting the children squeeze next to one another? If one child is upset, they will naturally move to the other side, go somewhere else, or possibly cry/hit or some other negative reaction.

That's when we intervene with helpful suggestions.

But how do we know when to intervene? Take a breath, observe the situation for 1 minute before making a judgement about what should happen, we might be surprised. I often say to myself, "see what happens, wait...., Is anyone going to get hurt?, leave them alone!!"

I believe that giving the children time to work it out, shows a deep respect and confidence in our children.

To help children see each other as resources and allies, we can point it out to them. For example, H. wanted another color to spray on her shaving cream mixture. We said to E., "Could you spray H.'s shaving cream mixture?" He agreed and then went on to spray other children's mixtures as well! This puts him in a position of strength and capability that he can feel himself and be proud of! But, also the other children will learn to see other children as strong and competent, thereby seeing themselves as strong and competent!

One of my constant internal dialogues (which is much easier to do as a teacher as opposed to being a parent) is:

Never do for a child that which he/she can do for himself!

then

Never do for a child that which another child might be able to do for another child!

Often my daughter will cry or be frustrated when I follow this dialogue. But then I wait....trust in her....and she feels pride and confidence when she is able to follow through and do it herself or help another child! While it is hard to see them cry or feel this frustration, if our image of children is strong, we must show them that we believe this and that they are strong and capable!



















Here is another important example of showing children how to ask another child for help. H. has difficulty balancing her structure. A child right next to her has accomplished it. Here we can suggest, "H. can you ask J. for help? or J. can you help H. to stand up her structure?" Then we sit back and watch. Wait.....Wait.....Let them work on it together.




The younger one is watching this collaboration!


Again, here we can create a shared experience instead of an individual one. We can say, "Who else wants to water the plants?" "Can you wait for E. to come back and water together?"