A Little Reggio and a Little Conscious Discipline

As the children came in this morning I had a new piece / project set out for them. In Reggio settings it is common to find a child made chandelier . The children bead tiny wires and string them on a frame. So many skills are practiced here. We are doing math ( how many beads will fit ?) We are doing fine motor to prepare our little hands to write our names more clearly and stay in lines. We are talking it out with our friends when they choose the bead that we really wanted to use. We are thinking and using our brains to make a plan for our strand . There is so much learning that takes place at a table with beading.

Forsythia bushes are everywhere. Today we used them as in inspiration for art.

So, here I go on my soapbox again. Today we did talk about letters and numbers. Rani even wrote her name for the first time today ! ( I would like to point out that it wasn’t on a tracing sheet ! ) YAY! We counted and estimated . We totally stepped all over those foundational skills that a child needs before going to kindergarten but this picture explains what I feel are the most important things happening in my home . Children always have ” best ” friends or buddies or ” bros” that they love to play with and that is absolutely ok. What we talk about in our classroom is that having a best friend is wonderful but not at the expense of others feelings. I looked at the downstairs table today and one of my friends had appeared with his head down and he looked sad . Me- Awe… whats wrong ? Your face tells me you are sad. Child 1 – I sat next to a friend and another friend told them to move .. not to sit next to me … to sit next to them. Me – It hurt your feelings and made you sad . Child 1 Yes. Me – Did you use your powerful words to tell your friends that what they did made you feel sad ? Child 1. No. ( head down ) Me – You can do this. Lift up your head ( there you are… ) Repeat after me. I did not like it when you told our friend not to sit next to me. It made me sad. I wanted to play. C- Repeats. Me- Now.. Lets go try it. At this point we walk in the room and child 1 tells his friends how he feels. They look.. silent. They start to make excuses. I reminded them to look at their friends face. I explained how it is ok to have best friends. We talked about inclusion and exclusion. Big words I know, but they are smart kiddos. I ended the conversation by simply saying : Me- It sounds like you guys need to talk and solve your problem. Does anyone have anything they need to say before I leave the room ? Child 2. Im sorry. ( Looking at his friend. ) Me—Smile. You did it. Look at his face. I don’t not believe in forcing a child to say I am sorry. If you have ever been an adult and heard an empty apology you understand why. A few minutes later I heard Ms Debbie Ms Debbie, come look ! When I walked in the room this picture is what I saw. They had talked and devised a plan to include everyone. Smiles everywhere.. but mostly mine. Parents… I …. You…. We … can teach letters and numbers all day long but this is the important stuff. Hopefully we are building little people that think about others , that are willing to take up for themselves and tell others how they feel and understand the power their voice / words have , that have the knowledge to think and make a new plan that is best for everyone involved and to know it is ok to feel…. If nothing else happened today besides this I would still say today was a great day and we learned a lot.