Be kind to yourself and remember this is not how learning should be

 This blog is for anyone attempting to help a child with virtual learning. 

 As part of Birdsall House's mission is to support families and to do what we can to help them be successful.  As part of that mission we offered space and a teacher (me) for our graduates to do virtual learning.

So far it is going well and I am really enjoying seeing just how much they love learning.  It is also exciting to see that even though we didn't teach them anything, they know a lot. 

Today I was given a great example why virtual learning is not really appropriate for kindergarteners. Now I know that it was necessary for schools to start virtually and I am in favor of anything that protects us all from exposer to Covid 19.  That being said, it is still not developmentally appropriate for kindergarten and that can take a tole on both the child and the person helping them.  

Here's what happened this morning. 

The kindergartner I am helping has what is called "WIN" time for math and reading.  What this is is a list of activities or links to online games to support their virtual learning.  

This morning they chose a game that had the children sorting coins. There were pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters on the screen.  The child simply needed to touch on a penny and put it in the box labeled $.01 and do the same for the nickels, dimes and pennies. I thought this would be easy for him to do, I was wrong. He had a hard time telling the pennies, nickels and dimes apart, I got frustrated, he got frustrated. We decided to take a break and have him do something else.  During that break I thought about the game and why he had found it so hard.  

I had to make the mental switch from someone assisting a grade school child to my normal early childhood authentic learning mode.  I realized how difficult it would be to learn about coins from a screen. 

I then got out my coin saving jug and poured out a pile of coins and asked him to sort them.  He picked the coins up, matched the size and also took notice of the designs. He noticed that the quarters had different backs but were easy to recognize due to their size. He explored the coins, noticing all the similarities and all the differences. After about 10 minuets said "Ms Kelly, I'm ready to play the game again and I won't need your help now."  We got the game going again and sure enough, he played for about 15 minutes and were very proud of how well they did by themselves.

I am a professional educator and I find myself struggling with helping on line learning, so please, if you are struggling with the same thing, be kind to yourself.  Also think about ways to bring the learning to life if you come across an issue like I did today.  

  

What Parents deserve

 I have been going through old emails and found one that reminded me of one of the reasons I started Birdsall House.  

At the time I was the lead teacher in an infant classroom.  When parents enrolled their child in my class they were told that the child would stay with me for the first three years, that I would move with the child to the next classroom.  This didn't happen.  

The parents were given no real say in this.  There was one family that I had advocated for quite often about things like what they could send for their child to eat and other small issues.  After their child was moved from my class I continued to help the family navigate things though I had less power over what happened in other classrooms.  

One of the emails I found was from this mother and there was one line that really spoke to one of the biggest issues I have seen in centers where I have worked.  That line was "I feel like we have no real say in what happens with our child."   

No parent should feel this way.  No parent or guardian should have to leave their child in a place where they don't feel they are listened to or where they feel they have no choice but to let things happen that they are not happy with. 

One way we addressed this issue is by having no classroom.  All of our children play together and interact with all of our staff.  We have staff that may spend more time with the infants but they also play with the older children.  Children are never moved to another classroom where they don't have access to a teacher they have grown close to. 

We understand that in the first three years of life the most important thing for healthy development is trusting relationships. If a child does not trust that the caregiver they are with loves them and will keep them safe, the child will be less likely to explore and experiment with their environment.  Having consistent care givers in the first three years allows a child to feel safe enough to take risks and try new things.  S well as allowing for strong relationships between parents and caregivers, allowing for parents to have say in what their child does and to feel confident that their child will be well cared for. 

Every parent deserves to feel that way!!!   

What is The Birdsall House Way?

 Hi and welcome to The Birdsall House Way blog.  My name is Kelly Raines AKA Ms Kelly and I founded Birdsall House in 2015 along with my friend Nikolas Huffman.  I had worked in early childhood education for 25 years and in numerous centers during that time. 

Over the last 5 years Birdsall House has proven to be everything I hoped it would be and I'd like to share a bit about that with you. Our focus is on science and the arts, with those as starting points the learning grows. Here is an example. 

Albert Einstein is credited as having said:

If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be very intelligent, read them more fairy tales.

We agree!

At Birdsall House we have no set plans on where the days learning will go.  We observe and look for opportunities to expand on what the children are doing. Here is a great example using a modern fairy tale.

One day one of the children asked one of our teachers to tell a story.  The teacher decided to tell a very animated version of The Lord of The Rings, complete with action and voices, the children were enthralled.

The children went home that night talking about Gandalf, Frodo, and Bilbo and their parents were surprised and thrilled. 

The next day one of our students brought in a LOTR sketch book so they could see the characters.

The children continued to ask for the story to be told and to discuss the story and use it as inspiration for pretend play. 

The next week one of the children brought in a map of Middle Earth.  Everyone gathered around to look at where the different places in the story were.  They explored the map key and discussed the hills, valleys and other aspects of the map.