When planning to engage the children, teachers reflect on their age and possible developmental stage. In the West Wing, the three year olds are somewhere in the mastering of these skills:
- Approaches problems from a single point of view.
- Correctly identifies some colors.
- Follows three-part instructions.
- Has some sense of time.
- Knows what counting is and may name some numbers. (called, 1:1 correspondence)
- Participates in fantasy play.
- Remembers parts of a story.
- Clothes and unclothes self.
- Fantasizes that many unfamiliar images may be “monsters”.
- Is increasingly creative in fantasy play (still difficult to distinguishing between fantasy and reality).
- Is increasingly independent.
- Participates in new experiences.
- Plays cooperatively with other children.
- Pretends to be “Mom” or “Dad”.
- Problem-solves solutions to conflicts.
- Views self as a whole person involving body, mind, and feelings.
Capitalizing on how children approach new information, Teacher Jen began to personalize the paper strips at the Communication Center into characters in a story.
Teacher Jen: Hi, I’m Blue. Can I play with you? Sure, but how can we play together?Jen asks the children to help come up with ideas.Children: They can be welcoming and invite more friends to play.The children began to connect strips of blue, yellow, and green paper together in ‘play’ with brads and awl.Provoking more interaction between the children, Jen prompted, “How can blue, yellow, and green play with each other? How can they welcome more friends?”Will: I will bend it and then they stand.Lucy L.: I want to do that. (Will shows her how he bent the paper)After a week of getting used to the techniques and materials, Jen recognized some friendships forming. She added the children’s photos and asked, “Who would you like to connect to?”Ennio, remembering his teacher’s home visit: I want to connect with Silvana because she went to my house.Phedon, recalling playing in the sand area: I want to connect to Kayden because he loves putting the water in the hole in the pipes.
Jen strung the length of the paper connections, now pasted with friends pictures to depict who wanted to connect to whom, around the Communication Center walls and across the ceiling. She then brought the concept to the circle rug after learning that this group of children likes physical expression. They remember the paper connections and relate them to movements.
Eli: It’s a bridge!Luca left a message for the next group of children to work here: “Build Something New.”Teacher Flora: I wonder what new thing you will build?Diego, Ennio, and Finn concentrated on connecting pieces of paper strips together to make it “Longer, as tall as Ennio or Diego.”Mika who was observing first said (picking up a yellow paper strip): The Yellow isn’t connected. I want to make a crown for elephant (her lovie).Finn heard her and started adding decorations on the elephant. Mika looked at her and smiled (welcoming the idea). Then Diego and Ennio also started putting more decorations on the elephant. The four of them were connected at that moment by the same idea to decorate the elephant and in the end, they built something new together, a decoration for a lovie and a relationship as a group. -Teachers Jen, Flora, and Kristin
