Mindfulness and Purpose in Early Childhood Education

  Books and Bricks: How a School Rebuilt the Community By Sindiwe Magona Salmina Arenda's school was a scary place. The fence had holes, the walls needed paint, and the yard was full of weeds and rubbish. But things started to look up when the school received new computers. Then disaster struck the school! Now parents, teachers, and students alike must rally together to revive their school and community. I loved this book for children. It's wonderful to read out loud. It's informative and includes a little bit of mystery that keeps the reader engaged. As the story unfolds it's heartwarming to see the transformation of the main characters from hopeless to hopeful about what a thriving school can do for the community. Salmina is a very realistic and endearing lead character that children can relate to.   I give this book a 5 star rating because it's appealing, informative, and easy to read to schoolagers. It may take place across the world, but the emotions it...

Traditionally, classrooms in Ontario have followed the rote learning model, which is a technique based on repetition and memorization.  But recently, those classrooms are disappearing in favour of a more collaborative space, in which teachers are facilitators using a technique called inquiry-based teaching. “Inquiry-based teaching is an approach to instruction that begins with exploring curriculum content and providing a framework for the students to ask their own questions which builds interest and curiosity,” says Louise Robitaille , an elementary teacher in Midland.  Encouraging students to be active learners, posing their own questions and problems and following through on those, rather than passive learners simply receiving information is believed to create greater student engagement and, in turn, create greater student achievement.  Inquiry-based learning is not a new idea. It is a teaching method born in the 1960s out of a response to the more tr...

SET UP STORAGE to be easily accessible for the children.   Make clean up easy and organized. BE CREATIVE with storage * display * and building projects. All three are done here with a table, a big wooden tray and a plastic storage bin. Small pieces can be contained in smaller trays that hold entire projects and pieces. Mosaics are a great table top quiet activity. Lego trays are a great way to keep the pieces together and accessible and easy to use He's only pretending to be eating the pieces! Building areas (trays) can be as easy to make - cut cardboard boxes with taped sides for the surrounding trim - or collect - old restaurant trays work well. Trays are also great for keeping projects together and 'play-with-able' over a long term.   Creative play can last and last with storage for long term projects.