Over the last hundred years there has been a monumental shift in how the scientific community sees babies. Neuroscientists and clinical psychologists now deem young children worthy of study and through their studies we have gained a wealth of information about brain development. This shift from seeing babies as blobs, to babies as beings undergoing a crucial stage of development, has been slower outside the fields of science and academy.This is unfortunate because every day people have the opportunity to interact with babies and are able to observe firsthand how babies grow and develop. These observations can result in an appreciation for the importance of enriching early childhood experiences.

What follows is an overview of brain research. It starts by discussing some overarching theories and moves into a breakdown of some of the newest findings. Hopefully this body of work will inspire you to take a new look at babies and discover that they are fascinating beings.

Ted Talks offers a series of five videos in a playlist called “Genius of Babies”. Alison Gopnik, a developmental psychologist and author of The Scientist in the Crib: What Early Learning Tells Us About the Mind, The Philosophical Baby: What Children’s Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life, and The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children, is one of the speakers highlighted. During her Ted Talk, titled “What Do Babies Think?”, she makes the argument that babies are born as scientists who actively conduct experiments to learn about the world around them.

Cognitive brain scientist, Laura Shultz explains “The surprisingly logical minds of babies”. Shultz notes that babies’ brains have to be very powerful because “they are figuring out their entire world.” She concludes her Ted Talk by saying:

In the years to come, we’re going to see technological innovations beyond anything I can even envision, but we are very unlikely to see anything even approximating the computational power of a human child in my lifetime or in yours. If we invest in these most powerful learners and their development, in babies and children and mothers and fathers and caregivers and teachers the way we invest in our other most powerful and elegant forms of technology, engineering and design, we will not just be dreaming of a better future, we will be planning for one.

Researchers have noted the importance of babies’ exposure to both language and stimulation. Dana Suskind, a surgeon who routinely performed cochlear implants, wrote the book Thirty Million Words: Building A Child’s Brain. Suskind begins with the premise made famous by Betty Hart and Todd Risley’s paper “The Early Catastrophe”, which was published in the early 2000s and describes the thirty million word gap. Children in lower socioeconomic backgrounds have heard thirty million less words than their peers from high socioeconomic backgrounds by age three. According to Suskind, some children thrived after receiving a cochlear implant, while others did not and she discovered that the children who thrived heard millions and millions more words. In addition to regularly hearing words, a new study from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology “Babies Exposed to Stimulation Get a Brain Boost”. The study highlights the importance of actively challenging young children as well as stimulating their senses.

Another recent baby brain study to note is from the University of Miami about how “Mothers and infants connect through song”. The study noted the mother’s ability to change the pitch or the tempo to keep the infant engaged in the song. Another interesting study looked at how babies’ sight develops. According to the study from the University of Oslo, babies who are 2 to 3 days old can see emotions on a human face from a distance of 30 cm, but at 60 cm the faces become too blurry to detect any facial details.

There should be plenty more interesting neuroscience studies in the future. In fact, the researches from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have adapted MRI machines to make them more baby-friendly by making the MRI seat more like a car seat so the baby is more comfortable. The newly adapted MRI machines also have a mirror that allows the baby to watch videos and provides a space for the parent or researcher to sit next to the baby while the baby is getting an MRI. These adaptations have allowed researchers to discover more about how babies’ brains work. It has led to findings that the same part of a baby’s brain responds to images of faces as in an adult’s brain, which has allowed researchers to conclude that babies’ brains and adult brains are more similar than previously thought.  

As an educator, this wealth of information on how babies’ brains develop has impacted my practice. Research tells us that babies and young children need to be exposed to variety of subjects, materials, and situations. One wonderful way to expose babies and young children to new environments is to take them to museums and to explore the collections and watch their brains make connections and grow. Scientific research has shown the importance of exposure in early childhood and I am hopeful that one day this knowledge will permeate even into our everyday thinking.

Last week, I had the good fortune to attend the South By Southwest Education (SXSWedu) conference in Austin, TX. Professional meetings are an important opportunity to connect with other like-minded educators that care deeply about making an impact and SXSWedu is no exception. It brings together a unique mix of educators, entrepreneurs, technology nerds, and cutting edge innovative thinkers. It creates a space for sharing ideas and reflecting together about the importance of our daily work.

Sharing Perspectives

This year’s conference was extra meaningful, though, as several colleagues from the Smithsonian presented information about early learning across the Institution. To start, SEEC educator Brooke Shoemaker moderated a panel session titled, “Out of the Box: Early Learning in the Community.” Her panelists represented a variety of perspectives about how to use the community as a teaching resource. Colleague Emily Porter from the Friends of the National Zoo reminded participants of the importance of outdoor play. SEEC institutional member Jennifer Hornby from the Memphis Public Library provided up to date information about the value of young children having access to public libraries. And, SEEC educator Will Kuehnle presented examples of how to use the broader community for meaningful learning experiences. For example, when his class became interested in tunnel boring machines, they learned about the Lady Bird TBM, which was excavating a 13 mile sewer drain under Washington DC into the Potomac River to reduce river pollution. They ventured to the Potomac River to see drains and how they feed into the river, and even noticed trash in the river that the drain would hopefully eliminate. Of course, Brooke reminded participants that museums can be important resources.

Collaborative Results

For the past 10 months, I have watched Brooke lead this team in the development of this presentation. To see the process come full circle has been rewarding as she expands her own professional expertise and supports her colleagues. In addition, the positive response from the audience served as an indicator that early childhood educators are excited about the possibility of moving beyond their classrooms and into the community to support their students’ development.

Playful Interactions

In addition, the Smithsonian Early Learning Collaborative was well represented at the SXSWedu Playground. Coordinated by SEEC’s Cynthia Raso, Smithsonian educators came together to create engaging and eye catching learning stations for SXSWedu participants to enjoy. Colleagues from National Museum of American History featured the California Raisin characters in an activity designed to connect children to history and advertising. The Friends of the National Zoo enticed Playground visitors with beautiful natural materials to encourage empathy that leads to interest and and investment in conservation.

And, the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center engaged visitors with the art work of Nick Cage and his sound suits, frequently visited by SEEC students at the Hirshhorn. In addition to being just plain FUN, the experience gave SI EL Collab members a chance to connect and bond in ways that we have not been able to in the past.

Adapting on the Fly

Finally, Carrie Heflin from the National Museum of American History developed a session on history museums, Wegmans Wonderplace and early childhood education. Presenting is always a nerve-racking experience but to have a last minute change in venues can be downright unsettling. Due to a site location planner mix-up, in a matter of minutes, Carrie seamlessly shifted her format from a traditional “front of room” presentation to a hands-on interactive experience. Only slightly ruffled, Carrie pulled it off without anyone ever knowing there was a change. Amazing.

Caring and Connecting

It was inspiring to watch each of these skilled young professionals take ownership of their own learning. Given these examples, it is clear that continuous professional growth is part of the Smithsonian early childhood educator’s DNA. Each member of the team went above and beyond to leave SXSWedu attendees with a positive impression of the Smithsonian Institution. Professionalism aside, though, the real highlight of the week was hanging out together over pizza and beer on Austin’s charming little Rainey Street!

For the past few years, SEEC has been offering our Positive Sense of Self workshop, but now, more than ever, we see this work as not just important, but necessary. Politics aside, there is no denying that we have a population of young learners who are diverse and, in order to support them and their academic success we need to help educators learn how to create a supportive and inclusive learning environment.

Why the early years?

The importance of a child’s early years has become widely accepted. Educators and, more and more, policy makers recognize that providing families with affordable, high quality early education can have profound and lasting impacts on a child’s academic success and overall well-being. Quality early education can mean a lot of things to a lot of people, but one essential component is social emotional learning. The work of early learning professionals today includes helping children communicate their feelings, work successfully as a group, and try to understand and respect others. Embedded in these concepts, is the idea that children should see a variety of perspectives represented – those reflecting their own identity and the identities of others. The Smithsonian is in a unique position to use our objects and resources to support teachers in their own understanding and educational practices about race and culture.

Race and Culture

Research has proven that even very young children recognize physical and cultural differences and often display their own biases towards these differences. SEEC, and its partners, would posit that it is better to address these factors rather than ignore them. The truth is, young children do notice differences in skin color, clothing, and speech. Celebrating our differences can help children have a broader world view and instill pride in what makes them and their communities unique. At the same time, displaying our commonalities can demonstrate to young children how much we share.

Positive Sense of Self

This workshop that SEEC, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the National Museum of the American Indian, hosts will aim to help educators support a positive sense of self in ALL of their students. We know that children benefit by seeing themselves represented throughout their educational experience; through books, objects, art, play, and content educators can create an environment that honors all children.

We will begin our first day by recognizing our own bias in a safe environment and use this understanding of ourselves to help us become better educators. We will also examine the role stereotypes play in education and how, as educators, we can look past those stereotypes and use museums, their objects and resources, to create a more diverse classroom.

The second day of the workshop will feature several techniques for supporting children in their understanding of the themselves and the world. We will examine how to use objects (both every day and museum objects) to teach and, identify developmentally appropriate ways to talk about race and culture in the classroom. Participants will create collections that encourage children to embrace differences and acknowledge our shared humanity. We will also work in NMAAHC’s art galleries to model how looking and thinking routines can encourage young children to stop, look, think, and inquire. In this section, we will help educators respond to potentially awkward questions and remarks and support the notion that we don’t have to have all the answers – even if we are teachers.  We will conclude the day by examining some common pitfalls used in preschool settings and provide participants with a chance to curate a learning environment using the techniques and resources that we explored during the workshop.

We hope you can join us in this important work.

Recently we brought you a Teacher Feature from one of our three-year-old classes, the Koalas, as they learned about blood.  This lesson was part of a mini unit on the circulatory system, which fit into a larger unit on the human body.  The web below displays all the directions Koala teachers Katie Heimsath and Laura Muniz took the unit.  Following the web are photos highlighting some of their experiences.

5 Senses – Sense of Touch

To explore their sense of touch, the class went to the National Museum of Natural History‘s Gem and Mineral Hall.  The children felt the gems and minerals that were labeled with a “Please Touch!” sign, and described what they felt using words such as cold, hard, smooth, and bumpy.

Afterwards, the class sat down and played a game using their sense of touch.  Laura brought objects to put in the mystery box and each child took a turn feeling inside the box, describing what they felt, and then guessing what object was inside based on their observations.

Bones

While learning about the skeletal system, the class talked about bones, and what happens when they break.  Since we know we cannot see our bones from the outside, the class learned about x-rays and how doctors use them to take a look at our bones if we hurt them.  To illustrate this, the class looked at bone x-rays on a light table to get a better idea of what doctors look at when seeing if a bone looks normal or injured. Laura explained how broken bones are wrapped in a cast so they can heal.  To make this concept more concrete, the children used bandages to cast a baby doll’s leg.

To cap off their week on bones, the class talked about the ways in which we can keep our bones healthy and strong, including drinking milk, which contains calcium.  To explore where milk comes from, the class went to the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden to see Joan Miró’s sculpture, Lunar Bird.  They used their imaginations to pretend the sculpture was a cow, and “milked an udder”, which was a plastic glove filled with water, and little holes cut into the ends.

Digestive System/Intestines

The class began their week on the digestive system by focusing on where food enters our bodies – the mouth!  After seeing a giant mouth of a dinosaur, the children practiced their fine motor skills by cutting long strips of white paper into teeth and gluing them into a mouth.

Explaining the length of intestines using only words can prove difficult for young children to understand, so Katie made it more concrete by measuring yarn to visualize how long intestines actually are.  After they measured the yarn, the class lay on the floor along the yarn to see how many kids it would take to make the length of the intestine, which turns out to be a lot!

As they went through their week on the digestive system, the class added pieces to a paper model.  They used a straw to represent the esophagus, a balloon as a stomach and yarn and ribbon as the intestines.

We hope you enjoyed getting a bigger picture of our Koala class’ unit on the human body!  Visit our human body Pinterest board for more ideas.

It’s Teacher Feature Thursday!

This week we are featuring Katie Heimsath and Laura Muniz of the three-year-old Koala classroom.  Katie and Laura noticed a common interest among the children in human bodies and what they are capable of, so a unit on the human body commenced.  I joined them for a visit to the National Gallery of Art where they took a closer look at blood, and what goes into it.  Blood is a complex concept and this lesson is a great example of how we at SEEC are thinking about how to make a complex topic developmentally appropriate, approachable, hands-on and engaging for young children. Below you will find images and descriptions of the lesson, and a reflection from Katie and Laura.

Here are a few images from their lesson on Blood:

When the class first sat down, Katie asked the children to look at the painting Red Dance by Kenneth Young, and share what it reminded them of.  The piece reminded children of a brain, blood, and strawberries.  Katie shared that the painting reminded her of blood too, and that was what they were going to learn more about that day.  The class had already learned about how hearts and veins move blood around the human body, but now they were going to look at blood more in depth and see what elements make up blood.

Katie asked, “Who has ever cut themselves and had blood come out?”  Immediately the children began to roll up sleeves or pant legs to display a cut, and several told stories about how they got their boo-boos.  Katie asked, “Did your cut keep bleeding forever, or did it stop? Is your cut still bleeding or has it stopped?”  The children said they weren’t still bleeding anymore, and Katie explained that cuts stop bleeding because a hard scab is formed by some platelets, just one part that makes up our blood.

To take a closer look at blood, Katie read A Drop of Blood by Paul Showers.  This book is told from the perspective of a vampire and monster, and the children enjoyed the silliness of the illustrations, while the text provided information about what blood is and what it does.

Katie asked the children what blood looks like when we cut ourselves, and the children said, “red”.  She explained that when we bleed it looks red like the red dots on the painting, but if you look really close, with a microscope, you can see the different parts of blood.  While the children are not as familiar with the concept of a microscope, they are very familiar with magnifying glasses, and Katie brought some out to make the connection that a microscope helps us to see small things that we can’t see with just our eyes.

As they went through the book, Katie paused to talk about white blood cells, red blood cells, plasma, and platelets.  The children passed around pictures of each to get a closer look, while Katie explained why each part is important for our bodies.

After reading the book it was time to make their own blood!  This activity provided a hands-on and engaging way for the children to practice what they had just learned.  Katie brought out three “drops of blood”, which were three circles of contact paper.  She said that the contact paper is sticky and looks wet, so it would be like the plasma, which keeps everything together. Then the children came up in turns to add red blood cells, and white blood cells (circles of red and white paper).

To finish the blood, they added platelets, the small blood cells that come together to form a clot and stop a cut from bleeding.

After making one blood cell together, the class split up into two groups and worked together to make more drops of blood.  After they finished, there were some stray blood cells on the gallery floor, and the children were excited to help pick them up to leave the space clean.

Back at school in the afternoon, the class made their own blood cells that they could take home.

Then it was time to make more blood, but this time it was an edible version for their afternoon snack!  First the class helped mix red food coloring into yogurt, which was the plasma.

Next they added sliced grapes as the red blood cells.

For the white blood cells, they added sliced bananas.

And finally, they topped off their blood snack with red sprinkles, acting as the many platelets found in our blood.

The only thing left to do was enjoy eating it!  By making blood in another way, the children experienced multiple exposure to the same concept, which helps to reinforce it.  They were also actively involved in the process, which not only makes it more fun, but helps to strengthen their understanding of the concept.

Reflection from Katie and Laura:

For the first several weeks of school, our class explored their similarities and differences through lessons on favorite things, what their families are like and identifying and expressing their feelings. We noticed that many children in our class were experiencing some major transitions: caring for new siblings, finishing potty training, trying new foods, even adjusting to a new school! Our daily routine, including bathroom time, nap time, lunch time, play time, etc. led to discussions about how and why our bodies need all of these activities. So into the Human Body we went! We divided this unit up by the different body systems; it was a simple way to break down a complicated topic to a three-year-old level and gave us the ability to answer specific questions our class had.

We first explored how people experience the world using their five senses and learned that our brain helps us interpret it all. In the weeks following, we learned parts and functions of the digestive system and investigated our skeletal system. After that, we dove into the circulatory system. Early in the week we learned about the parts of the body that move blood around like our heart, veins and arteries. This particular lesson was all about blood. Our class had a lot of questions about the color of blood, what its job is, and why it is wet. Like a lot of children, our kids viewed Band-Aids as the fixer of all problems. As teachers we noticed a great opportunity to talk about how our bodies use blood to make scabs. Our objectives for this lesson were to address and answer those specific questions as well as practice working together as a group. Through the lesson, they learned the four different parts of blood and how those parts work together to keep our body healthy. Teamwork is a hard, but important skill to practice, so we built it into the lesson with a small group activity.

We chose to visit Red Dance by Kenneth Young at the National Gallery of Art because it is so visually stimulating and looks similar to actual drops of blood. It’s located in a gallery that is quiet and big enough to accommodate a group of curious and wiggly three-year-olds who need some extra room. We brought printed and laminated illustrations of four different parts of blood and small magnifying glasses to accompany the lesson. We passed these objects and pictures around so that the class could have something to hold and focus their attention on, as well as connect new vocabulary to.

Due to the length of time we had been spending on our bodily processes, our class had a solid foundation of ideas and lots of vocabulary to build on. They connected past knowledge (“there must be a lot of blood going around my small intestine if it’s moving all those nutrients outta there”) and asked questions to deepen their learning. They were engaged and curious since the book we read, A Drop of Blood by Paul Showers, made this very technical topic a little more exciting. By giving them objects to hold and engage with, we helped make a difficult concept more concrete. We were able to point specifically to images of parts of the blood that we can’t see with our own eyes, and explain the function of each one.

We were surprised by how well the small groups worked together in the activity to make drops of blood, and also at how they worked together to help clean up. We used some small materials, such as hole punched paper circles, that blended in with the wooden floor, and it was quite funny to hear some of our class saying, “Oh! There are more platelets over there!” and “Get that red blood cell!”

In the afternoon, we made a “blood snack”. The teachers did all of the cutting of the fruit, but the children helped by dividing, measuring and sorting all of the ingredients. It incorporated their fine motor skills, tested their one-to-one correspondence, and recalled a lot of the vocabulary we learned in our morning museum visit. The group also practiced turn-taking since there weren’t enough individual helping jobs to go around. Our class doesn’t have too many picky eaters, but for the few who are usually hesitant to try new things, this activity made it a bit more exciting to have something unfamiliar at snack.

An element we would have liked to add, but didn’t get the chance to, would have been a gross motor component. Our class was focused in the museum, but we realized after the fact that we could have played a game on the playground to extend the topic. It certainly helped their need for movement to have an activity in the museum, but playing a chasing game outside or teamwork game as a group would have been another fun experience.

While we had success with our activities, some of the materials we used to make the drops of blood made it difficult to transition out of the gallery quickly. If any other element had become more complicated, the activity would have become too complicated to do in small group, and we would have needed to make the drops of blood as a singular group.

After our exploration of the circulatory system, we continued learning about muscles, our respiratory system and discussed germs and exercise. Since our class showed continued interest in learning how their bodies worked, we kept our unit going strong for several weeks!

Katie and Laura continued to explore the human body for a few more weeks. Stay tuned for the Human Body Round Up for more ideas from their unit!

My “babies” and I. 

I remember those days so clearly – having a new baby at home was an extremely special time. It was also a very scary time. For myself and many others, caring for an infant can be overwhelming. I can recall second guessing myself – debating whether my daughter had nursed enough, why she was crying, or if I was getting her on a schedule soon enough. In addition to my parenting doubts, I often felt lonely and can remember seeking out other caretakers who also had infants. It is with these memories in mind, that our outreach team began thinking about a caretaker-centered program. Bring Your Own Baby, or BYOB, is our newest program that launched today, designed for caretakers and their infants, BYOB will begin with some coffee and chance to chat with each other. To help get things started we’ll have some questions to break the ice and build common ground.

Following our coffee and conversation, the group will head out to a nearby museum where we will explore a topic through an adult lens. These museum visits won’t be tours in the traditional sense. They will be opportunities to look, learn, and exchange ideas. So what does SEEC know about adult programming?  We actually work a lot with adults through our professional development programs.  Not only are we comfortable working with adults, but we find that many of the methods we use with young children work equally as well with this audience. SEEC believes strongly that learning is a lifelong endeavor and we love the idea a of educating caregivers, while at the same time exposing their infants to a new and rich environment.

We’ve chosen five different themes.

What’s Your Impression?
Monet, Degas, Renoir…some of the most well-known artists, and yet when they first exhibited their work it was met with harsh criticism. Explore the distinct characteristics of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artwork and why it was controversial in its time.

Inspired by Nature
This session will explore the ways in which inventors mimic the natural world to come up with products that improve our everyday lives.

Like Father, Like Son
Papas and patrons in the Italian Renaissance.

Silence is Golden
The art of ancient writing.

Hinduism and Buddhism
Explore the art and iconography of Hinduism and Buddhism.

Throughout the experience, we will aim to make our families feel as comfortable as possible by moving at their pace and being adaptable. During our museum visit, we will engage our adults while peppering in ideas that will inspire them to to return to the museums with their infants. Eventually we hope to build a community that will connect and grow with us.

Hope to see you soon!

BYOB occurs most second and fourth Tuesdays from 10 – 11:30am – Register here

Our most recent infant Teacher Feature on frogs was part of a larger unit based on the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle. This classic picture book asks different colored animals, such as a brown bear, a yellow duck, and a green frog, what animal they see. Both colors and animals are major themes of the book. The infant class teachers, Logan Crowley, Jill Manasco, and Rosalie Reyes, realized that the children in their class were requesting to read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? more than other books, so they decided to create a unit focusing on the major themes, animals and colors. The web and pictures below show some of the activities, songs, stories, and museums that Logan, Jill, and Rosalie utilized when teaching the unit.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

The infant teachers, Jill, Logan, and Rosalie, followed the interests of their class to come up with the unit on Brown Bear, Brown Bear. The infant’s love of Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle’s classic children’s book did not wane during the unit. Since infants learn through repetition, this story was read to them over and over again.

The infants would often pick up Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and look at it independently. For young children, books are not merely books, books are objects that are meant to be explored and played with along the lines of toys.

Brown Bear

Infants love discovering how their bodies move. While learning about bears, the class experimented with moving like a bear by doing bear crawls.

To compare different types of bears, the class went to the National Museum of Natural History’s Kenneth E. Behring Family Hall of Mammals. While there, Jill was able to point out the characteristics of bears and allow the children to observe the similarities and differences between the brown bear and the American black bear.

Yellow Duck

To explore the environment that ducks and frogs live in, the infant teachers allowed plenty of time for their class to experiment with water in the sensory table.

Throughout the unit, the infants were provided with many different examples of the animals that they were learning about. The class played with rubber and stuffed ducks and were able to investigate images of ducks in the wild.

Green Frog

As part of an art class, the infants painted on toy frogs and lily pads. They were able to experience their toys in a new way. Using a paintbrush and their hands to paint, they were able to practice their fine motor skills.

The class explored the colors related to the animals. For frogs, Logan, Jill, and Rosalie put out different types of green things. Some of the green objects were soft like the scarf and the infants were able to look through some of the objects like the plastic green containers.

Color Mixing

Logan, Jill, and Rosalie realized that one way to extend the unit on Brown Bear was to add a unit on color mixing. They put out zip lock bags with two colors of paint inside and allowed the children to mix the colors to discover what happens when different colors are mixed together.

So their class could further explore color, Logan, Jill, and Rosalie made sensory bottles. They filled water bottles with colored water and some oil as well as glitter. Lastly, they glued the lids shut and then gave them to their class to shake, hold up to the light, and look through.

This blog was originally posted February 18, 2016 by our former executive director Kim Kiehl. To learn more about SEEC’s kindergarten, please come to our Kindergarten Open House on Thursday, February 9, 2017 from 10:15 to 11:30. Check out our event page for more information.

When I went to Kindergarten it was the place where I learned about being in school. Nobody expected me to be reading by the time the year was over. I had music and art and recess. It was a gentle transition into school and one that made me love learning and be excited to go to school, a feeling that is still with me to this very day.

Sadly, the same is not true for many children today. For them, Kindergarten is a place of high stress and pressure. Stories and questions have been replaced with worksheets and testing. Rugs and shared round tables have been replaced by individual desks. But none of this is true in our Kindergarten at SEEC. Sure, our morning is spent learning math and reading but not in a high pressure, “you have to learn this by the end of the year” way. Instead, it is done in large circles on a rug with conversation, at shared tables with the children discussing what they are learning, and in ways that introduce concepts connected to things the children care deeply about. In the afternoon they head out on their daily trip to the museums of the Smithsonian to more deeply explore some of their ideas, to ask questions and search for answers, and to learn to look carefully at the world around them.

Let me give you and example of how this works. During the fall months our Kindergarten teachers noticed the children had a strong interest in Star Wars. For months they used that interest to teach everything from reading to appropriate behavior, from marketing strategies to the elements of a fiction story. Some of the activities that happened during these months included the following…

The classroom made connections between the women of Star Wars and the First Ladies of our country, exploring everything from their clothing to their characteristics. They explored the First Ladies exhibit in the National Museum of American History and through careful looking noticed that Michelle Obama’s dress looked very similar to the dress worn by Princess Leia!

They talked about Luke Skywalker and then visited the National Portrait Gallery to look at a painting of William Campbell, a fighter pilot who flew more than 100 missions across three different wars. They talked about the characteristics of a hero and what makes a person brave and what courage looks like.

They learned math and compared their own heights to the height of C3PO, learning to measure and compare.

They learned about the elements found in fiction stories as they explored the Star Wars story.

And, of course, there was a lot of learning about space and the stars!

At SEEC we also believe that art and music are vital parts of the curriculum and we have playground time every day. We have a Spanish teacher who comes several times each week and a researcher from the Smithsonian who comes to teach science as well. All of this is done in ways that are engaging and fun—no high pressure, no testing. But there is a lot of conversation, a lot of questions being asked by both the teachers and the children, and a lot of curiosity. Do our children learn to read by the end of the year? Those of them who are ready to read absolutely do, the rest leave us with the skills they need to make that leap in first grade. Do they do well when they leave us for “regular” school? Absolutely. The biggest concern we hear from parents is that when their child gets to their new school they get in trouble for asking so many questions. If that’s the biggest issue that comes up we’ll take it because ultimately the best learning comes from asking questions. So we will keep encouraging questions, helping children learn to look at the world around them carefully and with great curiosity and allowing them to explore their own ideas and search for their own answers to things that interest them.  Because we believe that is what Kindergarten should be– a gentle transition into school that leaves you hungry to learn more.

(Pictured Sculpture: AMOR by Robert Indiana at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden.)

We’re back with a new Top 5 all about Valentine’s Day!  Of course it’s a fun day filled with  hearts, the color pink, and candy, but there’s lots of learning that can happen as well.  We’ve rounded up some fantastic ideas on how to celebrate Valentine’s Day with young children in ways that incorporate museums, science, art, movement, and more!

1. Touch and Feel Hearts.  These Touch and Feel Hearts from Simple Play Ideas are easy to make and there are so many different materials you can use to make a variety of textured hearts.  Infants through preschool aged children will enjoy exploring the soft, smooth, grainy, bumpy, sticky, and rough textures. We also love how they’ve paired these hearts with a book as well to incorporate literacy.

2. Painting with Frozen Watercolor Hearts. This idea from Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds looks like a ton of fun!  These frozen heart watercolors are simple to make (you just need watercolors, Popsicle sticks, heart cookie cutters, and a freezer), and combine science and art for a unique painting experience.

3. Explore Valentine’s Day Themes in the Classroom and/or the Museums. Check out our 7 Valentine’s Day Ideas for Your Classroom blog for inspiration in ways to explore Valentine’s Day themes such as baking, the color red, communication, flowers, and hearts in the classroom, and the museums. 

4. Valentine’s Hearts Gross Motor.  How do you make Valentine’s Day fun active?  Try out this gross motor game from And Next Comes L.  She provides lots of variations to this game to keep it exciting for young children time after time.

5. Valentine’s Day Oil and Water Science.  This activity from Little Bins for Little Hands offers great opportunities to make observations, predictions, and explore, not to mention it’s aesthetically pleasing.

For more Valentine’s Day ideas, visit our Pinterest board here.  You’ll find more ideas from SEEC, around the web, and additional objects within the Smithsonian museums that are perfect for visiting in relation to Valentine’s Day.  Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!