IELDS Standard: 1.B.ECc
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The Power of Open-Ended Questions
Open-ended questions and phrases allow children to provide a full and meaningful answer that conveys their thoughts and feelings.
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The Cow Project
Angie Herrington with Julie Morrison, Mandy Moses, and Mindy MosesSt. Ambrose University Children’s CampusDavenport, Iowa The project described here was undertaken in the Dragonfly classroom at the St. Ambrose University Children’s Campus in Davenport, Iowa. The Children’s Campus serves children ages 2 months to 5 years old. Children’s Campus teachers begin exposing children to inquiry-based…
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Topic Webs in Project Work: Part 2—Organizing the Children’s Web
Making a topic web with the children in a class can be an important part of preparation for project work. A topic web is a kind of visual organizer. A topic web helps to represent the understandings and questions that the class has about a topic. Note: This lesson planning aid is a companion to…
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Topic Webs in Project Work: Part 1—Creating the Children’s Web
A topic web is a kind of visual organizer. A topic web is one way to represent the understandings and questions that the class has about a topic (Figure 1). Creating a topic web with the children is an important part of getting a project started. The activities involved in making the topic web can…
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Helping Children Take Surveys
Children can use surveys just as adults do—to collect information from other people. Surveys can help them find out about others’ opinions, preferences, predictions, and experiences. Taking part in a survey can spark children’s personal interest in a project and increase their engagement with the topic, with classmates, and with others around them. A class…
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Helping Children Sketch and Draw from Observation
A sketch is a quick drawing that shows interesting features of something observed. Drawing, on the other hand, usually refers to a more careful process that includes greater attention to detail. All drawing involves skills, techniques, and tools that are basic to the visual arts, but making sketches or drawings from observation is not necessarily…
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From Door to Door: A Project about Doors and Gates
Projects are the part of the curriculum that involves children in investigating objects and events around them that are worth knowing more about. Project work is a way of uncovering a subject rather than just covering it. Doors are so much a part of our daily lives that we tend to take them for granted.…
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Going Camping
Three-year-old Ellie and her mother are playing with familiar toy family figures, a dollhouse, furniture, and a camper. By listening carefully to what Ellie says as they play, her mother discovers things that she can help Ellie understand in areas such as counting, good manners, and nutrition.
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The Doggie and the Shark
In this clip, 3-year-old Ellie and her mother engage in pretend play with small figures and boats. Joining Ellie in pretend play allows her mother to model play skills, extend pretend play, help build vocabulary, and promote problem solving skills.
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Talking about Waterslide Models
The children in the study group used a commercially made marble run to learn about how materials move on ramps and slides.
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Straw Painting
Lucille, the young girl in this video clip, is painting outdoors on a sheet of white paper on a table. Instead of using a brush to move the paint and mix the colors, she aims a drinking straw at tiny puddles of the wet paint and blows through the straw to move the paint.
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“She Goes First”: Cooperative “Housekeeping” Play
In the clip, Victoria (age 5), Micaela (age 5.7), and Mandi (age 5.8) are engaged in what is sometimes called “housekeeping play.” Speaking in Spanish, they put some of their ideas about family life into action as they pretend to wash dishes, prepare food, and eat together.
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Shaving Cream
The science fair seen in this video took place on the playground of a child care center. In one experiment, the teacher squirted a layer of shaving cream on top of a bowl of water.
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Roland Draws a Garden
This video clip suggests that children have much to gain from making drawings of places they have been with their families, caregivers, or teachers.
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The Right Word: Conversation and Print During Pretend Play
This clip shows children don’t necessarily need structured activities to meet benchmarks. When teachers schedule large blocks of time for free play, children can learn in unexpected ways by engaging with each other and the classroom environment.
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Please Pass the Water
Maddie demonstrates that the children at this center are comfortable with pouring their own drinks at snack.
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Observing Chickens on the Playground
Teachers have given children an opportunity to observe chickens during free play, after first having arranged some activities that allowed the children to become somewhat familiar with the chickens in another setting.
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Mila Paints the Fence
This video clip illustrates some of the ways that children can meet early learning benchmarks while exploring art materials outdoors.
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Magnets and Cars
The teacher took the 3- and 4-year-olds to visit the automotive lab next door to the classroom. The next day she asked the children to predict what parts of a car would attract a magnet.
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Ideas about a Marble Run
Along with another mixed-age classroom, the preschool class has been investigating ways to turn the school playground into an outdoor learning area.
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Getting to Know Rabbits
These supervised interactions between children and rabbits occurred during a science fair on the playground of a child care center.
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Flubber
In this clip, young children experiment with properties of matter.
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Explaining Cradle Construction
Children in Judy Cagle’s mixed-age prekindergarten class decided to make a crib as part of a project on babies.
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An Engineer Changes His Mind
Along with another mixed-age classroom, this class has been investigating ways to turn the school playground into an outdoor learning area.
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Dustin’s French Horn Model
At the beginning of the video, Dustin (age 4) is talking with a classroom visitor he has just met. Dustin is in a prekindergarten classroom that uses the Project Approach. His class has just finished a project on musical instruments.
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Young Children Need to Play!
Here are some things to keep in mind about play.
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The Gift of Words: Conversation and Routines
Here are some ways for busy parents to add to a child’s school readiness with the gift of new words.
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Comparing Firefighter Coats
This preschool class has been investigating fire safety. In this clip, the class has gathered for a group meeting.
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Project Approach: Helping Children Ask Questions
Here are some ways to help children develop and express their own questions during each phase of project work.
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Cooperation in the Preschool Classroom: Class Discussions
Class discussions can teach children respect for others, communication skills, how to interact with peers and adults, and how to vote.
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Fun at Home with Preschoolers: Getting Ready to Read!
You can do a lot to make getting ready to read a natural part of daily life.
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Outdoor Field Trips with Preschoolers: Follow Up!
After the class returns from an outdoor field trip, the teacher might offer a variety of follow-up activities to help the children build upon the experience.
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The Curious Child
Do you know a child who is full of questions? The way you respond can affect what and how a child learns.
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A Project on Trees: Suggestions for Teachers
Here are some of our suggestions for ways to get young children started on what could become a lifelong interest in things that grow around them.
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Project Approach: Phase 2—Getting Ready for Fieldwork
Here are some ways to help children prepare to do fieldwork.