Claudia’s Chapter

Bike pirates. Really? May 18, 2009

The older that T & C get, the less time I’ve found to journal about their zany going-ons.  This week they managed to take imaginative play to another level though…

We had just finished a round of t-ball. (read: constructive play).  We set up the soccer nets for a quick game of “kick-the-ball-in-the-net”. (read: constructive play)

I walked around the house to the front yard to begin gardening, confident that the boys were ready to play independently.  I even momentarily envisioned that they would resume a light game of soccer…cheering each other on like the little good men they are….until….

I heard “BOookkkuppchiiikkk…Bookkkuppchiikkk….” I looked up, C was on his bike, holding on with one hand while he whipped a red whiffle ball bat around in the air above his head…threatening to take out anything in his  path…

T was running behind with the soccer net on his head, trying to catch C with it.

I asked what on earth they were doing.

Answer?

“We’re bike pirates.”

OK.

Kindergarten = Production May 4, 2009

I just read an article in the Times called Kindergarten Cram

Somehow we’ve taken testing to a new extreme, and now rely on Kindergarten teachers to emphasize results and child production in the hopes of long term assessment success.

The article reinforced for me why accreditation by agencies like NAEYC is so critical.

Early childhood experts have been advocating play as a fundamental part of the Pre-K and Kindergarten experience for years. But for some reason it doesn’t resonate with over-achieving parents any more than it has with administrators who are focused on teaching to the test.

As often as I’ve heard complaints about schools pushing standarized test outcomes in lieu of more creative paths to assessment, I’ve also heard complaints from parents who want to know when their children will be ‘taught’ how to read. When I’ve shared the concepts of intentional play and literacy-rich environments, I often get looks that equate to ‘oh, how unmotivated of you.”
It will be interesting to see if Arne Duncan can do more than just re-brand No Child Left Behind. It’s not just a matter of redirecting school efforts to more portfolio based assessment, it’s also a matter of educating parents in all socio-economic situations of the importance of play and creativity.