myGanBlog

Friday, November 16, 2018

This week we talked about being thankful. As each child created a leaf for our tree, the morah's hearts became more and more full.

I am thankful for these children for a variety of reasons.
One reason in particular stood out this week-their persistence.

The following is a sample of some of the things you might hear us saying in our classroom:

I can see you are working hard.

That ___ took a lot of effort.

You just did not give up.

You have really been practicing.

I like how you persisted at that.

Practice makes better.

That was a really kind choice.

It looks to me like you are feeling proud.

That was challenging, and you did it.

That was a brave thing to do.

What an accomplishment.

We say these things to help our friends reflect on what they have done.

Their day consists of play.
Play is the tool children use to make sense of their world.

Play has been referred to as the work of children because it helps develop the child.

The work of a preschooler is not always easy.

As mom's, dad's and teachers we may "forget" what is like to learn and master how to open a container,

cut,

put on our shoes,

and hold and use a pencil.

As adults, we rely on our muscle memory for these tasks.
The children are just beginning to create their muscle memories.
They are developing and refining their fine motor skills. It is challenging to put it all together. It can be frustrating.

When we see the frustration building we choose to acknowledge their effort and the attempt to continue.
Our hope is this will help them develop the ability to take a small break in order to "re-start" with a fresh attempt.

We affirm the children's attempts because our belief helps to build their belief in themselves.
The confidence they gain when they cross a hurdle in their path builds their self image.
As this positively grows, they begin to feel brave enough to stretch their comfort zones.
We are not removing the challenge, we are giving the children the tools to remove the challenge.