Blog Archives

A Close Look at Outdoor Play/Recess

3/31/2016

Outdoor unstructured play is very underrated. Children can learn so much from playing outside without the interjection from adults. Socializing, language development, problem solving, are just a few skills kids develop when they have outdoor recess. I wanted to capture moments to show parents how valuable this time is for our children.

How can this be accomplished? Through DonorsChoose.org and a request for action cameras. The project True Life: A Day in the Life of Pre-K was created and funded thanks to a wonderful friend, Elise.

The camera captured a great moment when it was strapped onto J.C. As J.C. happily runs around playing on the jungle gym, he encounters two of his friends, K.L. and N.K. The two were playing with N.K.'s toy car on the jungle gym ramp. J.C. sees the car and tries to play with it. N.K. and K.L. get upset since J.C. doesn't ask for permission. They scolds J.C., pick up their toy, and walk away. J.C. sits there, very upset, and begins to cry thinking he's just lost two friends. The other two boys noticed how their over reaction caused a good friend to become upset. They go back to J.C., apologize, and allows him to join in on their fun. J.C. is up and running around, happy again.

So many things happen in this short clip.The kids involved are communicating their feelings, socializing through, and problem solving on their own when they run into a conflict. When our kids go out during recess, so many things are happening at once. With 36+ kids running around, it's hard to keep track of all that's happening. This concept of capturing what outdoor play represents in the first person point of view of a child can show people how crucial play is in early childhood education. Enjoy the video!

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A Home of Our Own

3/22/2016

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The impact of DonorsChoose.org’s #BestSchoolDay has only just begun. One of those projects sought to bring in a new HAPE All Season House. Our old doll house was donated to Mrs. Roman’s kindergarten class since their house was in dire need of an upgrade.

We received our new house today, unassembled. Normally, I would spend some time after school to assemble the house. But our kids saw the box and were really excited about having to play with the new doll house.

I thought it would be a valuable learning experience for a few of our kids to help assemble the house together. A small group consisting of R.P., K.L., T.M., and N.K. joined together to put together our new house. We pulled out the piece from the box searching for the most important item when assembling something.

“What is this?” I asked the group.

“Instructions!” replied K.L.

We looked over all the steps and pieces we needed. I picked up the small packet of metal screws.

“Do you know what these are?” I questioned.

The group was silently shaking their head.

“These are screws and this is a wrench to help screw the pieces together. Look.”

I demonstrated how to line up the wood piece correctly and showed them how to use the wrench. They got the idea right away. With our kids collaborating and working together, we were able to build the new house within 30 minutes. Just like putting that final piece in to complete a jigsaw puzzle, our kids showed how excited they were building the new house for their classmates to play.

A Home of Our Own!

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Best School Day!

3/15/2016

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We’re at the point in the school year where our kids are able to write their own thank you letters for our wonderful donors. In reality, they were always ready if they could draw pictures of them using the materials we’ve received. By now, many of our students are confident enough to copy letters off a template. Here are a few of our children writing letters for two DonorsChoose.org projects we got funded a few months ago.

Our kids writing letters to Laurie for donating to....

Lights On: Full STEAM Ahead!

Our kids writing letters to Felix for donating to....

Empowering Pre-K Through Art

H.A. wondered "if give them a letter maybe they will give one to us."

Thanks to DonorsChoose.org and the donors of the #BestSchoolDay movement, all of our projects were funded last Thursday, making it truly the best school day. Many celebrities, athletes, CEOs, philantropists, and donors donated to help flash fund DonorsChoose.org projects all over the country. Our class was fortunate enough to have all four live projects funded.

Check out Huffington Posts Coverage HERE!
and
CBS News Story about the event HERE!

Our projects are the following...

The donations to our class didn't stop there. Today there was a pleasant surprise. As I went to get my mail today, there was a special package with a familiar name on it. I opened the package to find wonderful books and a heartwarming note from one of our favorite supporters, Elsa!

V.C.'s reaction to the new books!

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Jackson Heights People for Public Schools: Early Childhood Workshop

3/13/2016

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On March 12th, 2016, I was invited to speak for one of the workshops at a Jackson Heights People for Public Schools event about the importance of play in the early childhood years. There information is on the webpage link below. I am posting my presentation along with my notes that went along with the workshop. The workshop focuses on how important play is in early childhood development, the way it looks like in pre-K, how play is diminishing when kids go into kindergarten and 1st grade, and how parents can help bring play back to schools.

http://www.jhschools.org/

They're Children, Not Numbers:
The Importance of Play in Early Childhood Education

My name is Andy Yung. I am one of two pre-K teachers at P.S. 244Q in Flushing, Queens. I began my teaching career in pre-K in 2012. It wasn’t a grade I expected to teach at all. It just sort of happened and I’m very glad everything worked out the way it did. I was unsure of how to approach teaching pre-K. In society that focuses so much on getting our children “college ready” I thought it was only right to get my kids “kindergarten ready.”

In the first 3 months, there was a lot of letter writing practice, letter and number recognition, letter sounds. Some kids were engaged because they knew them. Majority of my students were not ready and lost focus. I soon realized that a child will learn those when he or she is ready and I shouldn't push them to learn it prematurely. It’s important for kids to develop a love for learning in a natural way. Young children learn through play. When I pushed them to learn something they weren’t ready for, learning wasn’t fun or meaningful. It’s hard explaining that to a parent who just wants their child to learn their numbers, letters, and know how to read as soon as possible. After talking to my colleague, I discovered the child-centered play based approach. Switching learning approaches turned a rocky start into the best year any first year teacher could ask for.

What is your view of creativity? How important is it for your child to be creative? According to a major IBM survey taken in 2010, CEO participants believed that creativity is the most crucial factor for future success. And in related note, the Forbes article cited states that many of today’s applicants entering the workforce aren’t getting hired because they can’t think critically and creatively, solve problems, or write well. What’s shocking (but not really shocking) is the fact that applicants can’t write well. In an education system that places so much emphasis on reading and writing, why aren’t they able to write well? Those ideal attributes employers are looking in potential employees (thinking critically and creatively, solving problems, and writing well) are all interconnected. People cannot be expected to write well if they aren’t able to think critically and creatively. Play allows our children to develop these skills at an early age and by not allowing them to play in the early childhood setting; we’re putting them at a big disadvantage when they enter adulthood.

I want to focus on what the data Kim’s research indicated. “Children have become less emotionally expressive, less verbally expressive, less imaginative.” These are vital skills that children need to develop at an early age through play NOT WORKSHEETS! Play allows children to develop crucial social-emotional skills and is how children at a young age learn. They are able to retain more through play because learning is meaningful and authentic. In terms of education models, Finland’s philosophy of education is held in very high regards. It’s more child friendly and it’s a model that is proven to be very successful.

Here’s how play is diminishing in our school. We only have 2 preK classes in PS 244Q. Our pre-K students learn through a child interest play-based approach. Our children’s interest drives our instruction. Last year, our kids were really into ice cream. It started with one child pretending to sell ice cream and more joined. After a week of kids pretending to make and sell ice cream during play centers and outdoor play, we spent the following weeks learning about the process it takes from starting with milk and getting to ice cream. We read books, watched videos, and when we were finally ready, we took a trip to our local grocery store to buy ingredients to make our own ice cream. This play based approach can easily be turned into a play-based kindergarten study where reading and writing can be integrated in a more meaningful way. The key is making learning meaningful. Children can learn to read recipes and write steps on how to make ice cream. Math can be integrated by the measurements needed to make the perfect ice cream. This is how learning in should be in the early childhood setting.

In the same school where so much play is embraced in the pre-K setting, kindergarten is a different story. Play goes from all day, every day in pre-K to a period a day in kindergarten. More time is spent getting our kids to read and write “on grade level.” Their teachers understand and know that they should be playing. All of the kindergarten teachers expressed how their kids need to be playing. They are under so much stress and pressure to read and write and their teachers are under the same stress to get their kids where they are expected to be at the end of the year. All the research about the importance of play in early childhood is thrown out because our children need to be “college ready.”

From once a day in kindergarten, play diminishes to once a week in 1st grade. By now, our kids are so used to the academically rigorous setting, they forget how to play and use their imagination. When they’re given the opportunity to play, they’re not sure of what to do. Many of the 1st grade teachers have noticed and complained how their students lack creativity. Who can blame them? How can they be creative when they aren’t given the opportunity to express their creativity? By 2nd and 3rd grade, play is a myth and is seen as only something pre-K does.

We know how important play is in the early childhood setting. It’s time to inform others. Let your school know you want the students to have more opportunities to play. Recess is one of the most important times for kids to get their energy out, socialize, and play. Recess should be unstructured, allowing the kids to come up with their own games and ideas to play. Weather should not stop them from having recess. Unless it’s raining and conditions are dangerous, they should be going out to play. Our school has a very unusual stance on recess compared to other schools. Our kids are outdoors for recess in cold temperatures. Rain is usually the only thing that will force indoor recess. Even during the aftermath of the snow storm, our administration worked a schedule for partial outdoor recess so our kids can play in the snow.

Let your voices be heard about how much you value play in your child’s life and inform them how important it is. Speak to your principal and parent coordinator. Ask if you can help bring in more opportunities of play for the students of your school. Find ways to fund raise and bring in materials to make recess fun! In the past two years, I fund raised to bring in outdoor blocks and an outdoor water table so our kids can have that opportunity to explore and use their imagination. Our school was awarded a $200,000 grant by our city councilmen to upgrade our playground. This is a grant all schools can apply for. It depends on the administration on which area of need they want to focus on upgrading. In the previous years, we focused on technology upgrades. This year, we’re focusing a lot on our playground. It’s important to remember that our kids aren’t simply playing; kids are also learning when they play. Think about all the things a child can learn through playing and socializing with other children. There are many benefits of play for a child in the childhood years, yet schools overlook its vital role in development because they are pressured to read and write prematurely. I think believe many people are on board with keeping play in pre-k, but as students move up in grades, play diminishes rather quickly. Allowing kids to have recess and making recess a time for unstructured play is the first step to making childhood the way it should be.

See that man speaking? That's me! Photo Credit: Jaime Weisberg

References

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Lighting Up the Class with a New Light Table

3/8/2016

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I wanted to take the time out to thank the families who donated to the Lights On: Full STEAM Ahead! DonorsChooose.org project. There was a mix up with the vendor and the bigger light table took longer than expected to arrive. When it did arrive, the impact was immediate. More children are drawn to the light table now and it can fit more kids as well. Thank you for donating to this project. Your children do love the table and are getting the most out of it. The students outgrew the previous table and an upgrade was much needed. Instead of relying on the floor for more space, the new spacious table can hold more of our children's big ideas.

G.W. builds a castle for her princess.

As we continue on with the year, many of our students are loving the puzzle center. They started the year getting their feet wet with the 24 piece puzzle. Some were scared to venture into the 36 piece puzzles but once they got the hang of it, they couldn't stop. The 72 piece puzzles are easily being completed and some dare attempt and successfully complete the 100 piece puzzle we have. I would love to bring in more challenging puzzles and need your help. Please consider donating to the Puzzled Pre-K: Putting the Pieces Together project I have posted on DonorsChoose.org. I know our students would love the challenge of new puzzles. Any amount helps and is greatly appreciated.

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The Tales of 108

A Close Look at Outdoor Play/Recess

A Home of Our Own

Best School Day!

Lights On: Full STEAM Ahead!

Empowering Pre-K Through Art

Jackson Heights People for Public Schools: Early Childhood Workshop

They're Children, Not Numbers:
The Importance of Play in Early Childhood Education

References

Lighting Up the Class with a New Light Table

Categories

Author

Archives

The Tales of 108

A Close Look at Outdoor Play/Recess

A Home of Our Own

Best School Day!

Lights On: Full STEAM Ahead!

​Empowering Pre-K Through Art

Jackson Heights People for Public Schools: Early Childhood Workshop

They're Children, Not Numbers: The Importance of Play in Early Childhood Education

References

Lighting Up the Class with a New Light Table

Categories

Author

Archives

Empowering Pre-K Through Art

They're Children, Not Numbers:
The Importance of Play in Early Childhood Education