toddlers

Sharing is a great thing

/ dorothysnot / Leave a comment

One day, Thanasis brought in toddlers’ class a book titled “This is mine!” Two friends who play together but find it too hard to share their toys…

SAM_6151

“How easy is for us to share our toys?”, we asked children. Not so easy…

One small car in our class had the same problem. It was alone, because it could not share its toys. So, we decided to help it…

SAM_6145

We became friends with the small car and drove it to the big “Luna Park of sharing”, the place where all children and cars share their toys.

Each one of as waited at his/ her own station, to drive the small car towards the next station and finally up to the end of the road, where the Luna park was. When the small car arrived there, it wasn’t alone anymore!

20160223_113719

Kids played, cooperated, waited patiently for their turn, but most important helped the small car to understand that sharing is a great thing…

(by Jenny Diamantopoulou, teacher in toddlers’ class in Athens)

Advertisement

Just keep calm and be proud of my toddlers!

/ dorothysnot / Leave a comment

Some days, the only thing you have to do as preschool teacher is to observe and just keep being proud of your team! That feeling I had a few times during last days, in my classroom.

My team consists of toddlers, children between 2-3 years old. Their mood changes from one minute to another, but lately they have been using their imagination in a unique way.

One day, Thanasis and Eleni were playing with dough, while Ilia came in the room carrying her little teddy bear. Immediately,  an impromptu role play game popped up, from nowhere!

20160205_094435

Children started making food with dough for Ilia ‘s teddy bear, because Ilia confirmed that it felt really hungry. Suddenly, Thanasis observed that Teddy bear felt cold and run around the classroom to find a coat and socks for it.

After that, teddy needed a walk and children began walking it  around the classroom. Up to the moment a wild storm began! Then, everybody run away to find the best possible shelter for teddy, which was under a table.

SAM_5954

For more than twenty minutes children kept being excited in this role playing. Moving from one state of mind to another, on their own initiative, using their imagination, their oral communication skills and body language in an unbelievable way.

I feel really proud of my children!

(by Evangelia Nteka, teacher in toddlers class in Athens)

One day after swimming class…

/ dorothysnot / Leave a comment

WP_20160211_11_23_35_Pro

Last Monday,  only Cynthia, Poppy and Marina from toddlers’ class participated in swimming lesson.

WP_20160211_12_02_40_Pro

Girls got ready in few minutes after lesson was finished. We had plenty of time since post-toddlers’ class was still in locker room. So, l asked them what we were going to do, and theιr answer was “We can discover the place!”

WP_20160208_12_13_39_Pro

And so the game began…

WP_20160208_12_11_09_Pro

We found water in the road…

WP_20160208_12_13_19_Pro

And jumped in it….

WP_20160211_11_53_35_Pro

We focused on the plants…

WP_20160211_11_53_42_Pro

Smelled them….

WP_20160211_11_56_48_Pro

And brought one back to school….

But time was running so fast, so we had to return in our school bus!

(by Chryssa Vaitsi, teacher & projects’ coordinator in Athens school)

Our “new” toddlers’ classroom

/ dorothysnot / Leave a comment

Coming back from christmas holidays, we decided we need some changes. Everything changes in toddlers class, we become older and our needs change, too.

20160127_094340

So, we decided to accordingly adjust our surrounding, thus our classroom. At first we added more loose parts. Loose parts like wooden blocks, ribbons and clothes, items that can be used to create anything children may imagine.

Everyone got excited with this decision. Children immediately became interested in new material.

SAM_5683

Elvira used two wooden blocks to ski and then put them together to form a skateboard! I was so excited by the way she adjusted her movement, depending on the sport she was supposed to perform!

20160129_085656

Eleni turned ribbons into the big tongue of a whale.

20160127_085609

Moreover, Bill turned to be a superhero with magic glasses made out of ribbons, too.

I think loose parts’ play introduced toddlers into a new way of thinking and playing, and I observed that from the very first day, in our “New classroom”!

(by Evangelia Nteka, teacher in toddlers’ class in Athens)

“Well done for choosing the book by yourself!”

/ dorothysnot / Leave a comment

One day in toddlers’ class, Cynthia decided to read a story for her friends.

SAM_5660

She chose two books and asked Helen: «Helen, which one do you want to read?” Helen chose one of them and Cynthia said: «Well done Helen for choosing the book by yourself!»

Then, children sat in a circle and Cynthia started “reading” the book. All were listening carefully and of course at the end had questions. But Cynthia, had all the answers!

(by Jenny Diamantopoulou, teacher in toddlers’ class in Athens)

A cloud in toddlers’ class

/ dorothysnot / Leave a comment

One day Eleni, Thanasis and Mirto while playing in class, looked up and saw a cloud.

20151125_085822

“Wow, let’s bring it down here”, Eleni said. But that wasn’t so easy. Children raised their hands, but understood they weren’t tall enough.

20151125_090232

Suddenly, Thanasis said: “we need a ladder” and he went in another room to find one. But there was no ladder around…

Then, Mirto had another idea. She grabbed a chair and climbed on, and rest of the kids followed.

20151125_090411

They raised their hands once more, but…

20151125_091031

The cloud was still away. Kids tried and failed again. They didn’t managed to bring down the cloud. But it didn’t matter, at all!

The most important was that they didn’ t ask me for the cloud. Children did the whole thing just by themselves, shared so many ideas using words and tried everything they believed could help them accomplish their purpose.

And after failing again and again,  they just moved to another game…

(by Jenny Diamantopoulou, teacher in toddlers class)

A spontaneous workshop

/ dorothysnot / Leave a comment

In free play time, Cynthia took a wooden block from building corner and a handsaw.

SAM_5415

First, she tried to cut the wooden block with handsaw. But then, she thought twice and realized that it would look real if she put together two wooden blocks and pretend to cut where the two pieces come together!

SAM_5412

More children started participating in her activity, by stacking blocks against the wall and creating a spontaneous workshop.

SAM_5422

It was a symbolic play children started themselves and which helped them further develop their imagination, creativity, fine motor skill development and cooperation. Plus having fun, of course!

(by Evangelia Nteka, teacher in toddlers’ class in Athens)