Interactive Programming Communication

We are having great success using a large Webbing Board in our room. Thanks to someone for this great idea (I would love to take credit, but alas it was not me!) this is proving to be the perfect solution to our issues of communication due to language and literacy challenges.  Working with a group of people representing 11 or 12 different countries all at different levels of skill in reading and writing in one common language can be a big challenge! The Webbing Board allows us to use pictures and fun artsy touches to convey our program in one easy to read place. Both staff and parents can add to it, which means we have a collaborative program.   Parents are happy to see the daily growth of the board, and have a great time with the pictionary aspect!!!! Not always neat and tidy but fun, informative, interactive, inclusive and easy to use cross-culturally.

Where we're at: Report on ELECT in our Sector

There are those who embrace change as a new and exciting opportunity for growth, and those who find comfort in the safety of the status-quo. Where do you stand?

 

Coffee Grounds Mud, leaves, rocks and sticks= dinosaur habitat!

Sheri-Anne Giggey (from our program) recently presented at a messy play workshop/share session at the November CMAS conference in Toronto, where it became apparent that there are still numbers of Educators working in our LINC programs who are resistant to the ELECT principals- they sited reasons such as; 

• It is too much paperwork, no time to do it;
• we have all the craft ideas for Theme Based Programming already, why change;
• We want to do ELECT but our Supervisor won't let us - or- I want to do it but the other staff won't support me- how do I convince others?
• I'm too old to change the way I do things. Too old to learn a new system.
• ELECT , especially Emergent Programming is too hard to explain to the parents.
• There is no time to involve parents in the program/ it's a scheduling issue.
• We don't have paid time to do this extra work.

 Of course, those in the "embrace change" camp have no issues, in fact they are finding ELECT to be the most educationally and creativity liberating system to come along in years. 
Yes, it is a messy system. Often it is hard to find the order in the chaos until the end of the day when you can stop and think about where you have been, the adventures you went on, how they connected and what you will do tomorrow. You think about all the things that you came up with because of something someone said or did that sparked an idea. You realise how much dynamic programming might have missed if you were still running a Theme Based Program.

I was recently at an art convention (professional illustrators) workshop and 'emergent' is exactly the process of collaboration and creativity that they go through; the very process that results in the movies and TV shows we all love to see, in the great architecture we admire, and in the discovery of cures to disease.

Given the freedom to grow, the freedom to think creatively -  unfettered by change resistant Educators, perhaps the children we have in our care now will be curing Cancer in the future.

Coffee Mud 1/2 cup of coffee grounds 1/8 teaspoon vegetable glycerin (or shaved clear soap) 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 2 tablespoons cream of tartar 1 cup of very hot coffee 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil optional: 1 tablespoon instant coffee *Glycerine is optional too but it will make things smoother

Lighten- up ... It's only a mess!



 Lighten up on restricted "proper use" of materials and see what happens! Today I cleverly put out a big pile of play dough and the Letter Stamps thinking it would be a good way to help the ones who are off to KGT this fall. HA! they had their own needs and interests.  Two of the children at play are expecting new additions to their families so they needed to work on more important issues ... so lighten up, don't jump in to stop what you might not understand, see where they take their own play! I spent the morning observing what turned out to be elaborate work (messy-sure, but the value of the play is far more important I think) and not anything that I "expected"!







Child Builds a
 play dough baby!

 


Construction toys double for a bottle!



It takes a village! She gets her friend to
dump out a bin of toys to make a cradle!



Baby needs a blanket, tissues are handy!




Dump out another basket of toys
to make a diaper bag!

Take your baby to work! Baby sits
on the counter at the store  they made in the
puzzle area(our store would not do!) so that
Mom can feed and care for her
while earning a living.