And Mentor Teacher Kendra Porter shares another kind of bubbles.

An offering for the children of Room 14 from Teacher Bia

An offering for the infant class from Mentor Teacher, Maureen Condon

Thinking about the infant class in relation to sound, I was reminded of an excerpt from the book Brain Matters, by Patricia Wolfe:

When we think about preferences as it relates to sound, I for one, can't help but think about how we notice and observe these preferences(both in ourselves and others). For example, I listened to the sound riddles offered by Reggio Children and had a strong adverse reaction to Sound 2(and Sound 3 actually). Sound 8 made me smile and Sound 9 (at least the beginning) I would play in the infant room.

I could feel my body language and facial expression shift as I listened to each of these sounds. I think about the infants in Room 2 and how we notice their reaction to sounds. As I'm sure you all recall, we often have a white noise machine on and different soothing "spa" music on in the background. There are also times we open up the door to the classroom, letting some of that lively hall sound come on in!

What we notice is that sound makes a difference. The children notice changes and we notice their awareness of these changes through their cues. The children are very tuned into their soundscape. When we turn off the sound machines and open that hall door, eyes shift and widen, movements and vocalizations change. We notice new action when we shift the soundscape. Changing the soundscape makes a difference in how the children feel and how they express those feelings. The deep vibration of humming can be soothing and the laughter of children playing can be stimulating. 

I offer this information to you because young children are very in tune with the sounds around them and will also contribute their own sounds, as I'm sure you all know.

So, if we intentionally play sounds for them after becoming present with the soundscape ourselves, what are their reactions?

What sounds bring joy?

What sounds bring energy?

What sounds bring calm?

How does our relationship to sound impact our creation of sound?

And moreover, how does our interaction with this soundscape as adults not only impact how our children feel but also, how we feel in return!?

​For me, I know I'll be playing a lot of spa music in the next couple of days. Lots of love and soothing sounds your way.

An offering for the children of Room 15 from Mentor Teacher Kendra Porter

The children of Room 15 spend a lot of their classroom time dancing together. They frequently travel through the school in tap shoes. 

Their teacher, knowing how much they love to dance together, offered this invitation to create tap shoes at home. 

The children of Room 15 have been engaged in collecting trinkets throughout the school year. They have set up spaces in the classroom with containers to collect and systems to organize and study their collections. 

Mentor Teachers Kendra Porter and Georgia Morgan wanted to invite the children and families to extend this experience while at home. They found containers in their homes and went on a color hunt. They invited the children to join them on this color hunt. 

This strategy offers a different lens for collecting loose parts in the house. Sorting the materials by color rather than purpose forces us to examine familiar objects in a new way. Sorting in a new way also offers us the potentiality to pair materials we might not typically put together.

Other possible lenses for sorting materials:

• translucency / opacity
• shape
• size
• texture
• sound production

An offering for the children of Room 7 from Mentor Teacher Liz Mark

Liz shared that prior to school closing, the children had been exploring the relationship between natural materials, mark-making, and impressions.

She then offered possibilities to extend the experience at home. 

Mentor Teacher Erin and Resident Guinea Pig Cinnomon Turbo Racer (spelled by children) have invited the prekindergarten children of Room 11 to join them in a scavenger hunt. 

They are asking their friends to find three things in their house that start with the same letter as their name. Once the items have been found, the experience can be extended through inviting children to: 

• write the word
  
• take a picture of the item
• draw a picture of the item
• tell a story about the item
• create a dance using the item as a prop

An offering for the children of Room 13 

Throughout the semester, the children have been interested in obstacle courses. Their teachers wanted to provide a way for them to continue this idea of building at home. 

First, documentation from time at school was shared to remind the children and families of work they had done together.

Then samples of smaller indoor obstacle courses were offered in case children did not have access to large spaces or materials. 

Families and children were then invited to share their creations virtually.

Consider trying these strategies with natural materials (dirt, flowers, rocks, bark, etc.), mark-making materials (chalk, crayons, dry paint, etc.), fabric, play dough, clay, etc.