TEACHERS AND PROVIDERS
How do you involve children in creating your classroom culture and routines?

At the Children’s Studio in Bellevue, Washington, founder and preschool teacher, DeeAnn Perea, initially used some red ribbon as a signal to the children to stop and be careful. Before long she discovered the children had began to incorporate this into their routines, tying red ribbon around block structures and things they wanted to protect. DeeAnn learned that the red ribbon message was so clear to the children that she or they could use it as a safety caution for almost anything.

TEACHERS AND PROVIDERS

Do you plan your outdoor environment as carefully as indoor ones?

Earlwood Children’s Centre in Sydney, Australia, is prominently featured in our book, Learning Together with Young Children. The director and teachers are exemplary in providing beautiful indoor and outdoor play environments with attention to the smallest detail. Here, over the sandbox, they hung a unique set of sifters and funnels as an invitation for the children’s exploration and experimentation. As they gathered and studied their observations of the children’s interaction with this material and each other, they made new decisions about how to next set up this area of their play yard.

TEACHERS AND DIRECTORS

Do you limit experiments with sound and music to the classroom?

At the Lady Gowrie Centre in Sydney, Australia, teachers use the branches of the big gum trees in their play yard to hang objects for the children’s discovery and experimentation. Here they have added pots, pans, and lids for the children to experiment with the different sounds they make. Choosing to do this as winter’s darker days approach adds its own magic to the experience.