CAAEYC Conference 2018

By Teachers Lars Gustafson and Jenna Rist, and Head Teachers Parul Chandra, Nancy Verdtzabella and Chia-wa Yeh
 
This year nine Bing teachers were among the presenters at the 2018 annual conference for the California Association for the Education of Young Children, offering five workshops on a variety of topics. The conference, held April 19–21 in Pasadena, had 1,330 participants. Following are synopses of the Bing presenters’ talks.
 
Is This Okay? Exploring the Value of Challenging Play Themes
Presented by Lars Gustafson, Todd Erickson and Peckie Peters
 
“Challenging play themes” are loosely defined as those that cause adults to feel some discomfort. Some examples of such scenarios include, but are not limited to, climbing to and jumping from heights, chase/retreat games, wrestling and other rough-and-tumble themes, pretend fighting, and good vs. evil.
 
Adults sometimes become nervous when these themes present themselves because they seem to raise the risk of injury. While we certainly want to keep children safe, children need these opportunities to assess risky situations so that they can learn about their abilities and limitations.
 
Additionally, adults might see these behaviors as disturbing or inappropriate, as we may have witnessed real violence in person or in the media, but it’s important to keep in mind that children may be seeing them very differently. Such actions lend children a sense of power and of control, which they rarely experience in their regular lives. They can only meet such needs through physical peer interaction. Rather than telling children they can’t play, adults can be supportive allies who ensure there is no intent to actually harm others.
 
When challenging play is taking place, an adult should consider the ages, experiences and personalities of the children involved before taking action. For example, a 3-year-old might feel brave after jumping down one step, but a 5-year-old might be ready to try jumping from a height that matches his or her own.
 
A Gift of Time: Giving Back to Children What Modern-Day Society Has Taken Away
Presented by Parul Chandra and Nandini Battacharjya
 
This presentation highlighted the value of blocks of uninterrupted time for children to follow their interests. One benefit of ample time for children to engage with the environment and peers is that it encourages their ability to sustain focus. These blocks of time enable children to engage in tasks that have continuity through meaningful short- and long-term projects, providing them possibilities for repeated experiences over time. Teachers are able to observe children’s learning styles and levels of development in different areas when children have ample time to explore and make discoveries. A stretch of uninterrupted time for play also gives teachers opportunities to hone in on the children’s learning styles by observing and listening as children engage in their work. Furthermore, it provides a chance for children to develop and focus on their genuine interests and allows teachers to show respect for the children and their work. Through this gift of ample time, children can recognize their own agency in their learning process, which in turn helps them feel valued and encourages them to become active and invested learners.
 
This “gift of time” is a gift to children, teachers and parents. It provides opportunities for choices of both child-initiated and teacher-led activities, such as story time, sharing time, circle time—children can learn to attend to a group. We believe that children—even at this early age—are ready for some direct instruction: stories, music, rhyming, pre-reading and pre-writing activities.
 
Play Counts: Enhancing Brain Development Through Play
Presented by Chia-wa Yeh and Peckie Peters
 
This presentation explored and demonstrated through video documentation how play promotes young children’s brain development. Hands-on learning is invaluable as young children make sense of the world around them. During play that engages different senses, such as sight, sound and touch, young children make important neural connections at a critical period of their lives. These connections are optimally made through repeated experiences.
 
Excerpts of an interview with Jamshid Ghajar, Stanford clinical professor of neurosurgery, provided the theoretical foundation. Ghajar stated: “During the first five years of their lives, children have a biological drive to play.” During play, the cerebellar brain cells make connections that establish predictive timing in interactions, which is essential in taking in information and anticipating what to do next, such as determining when to hold out hands to catch an incoming ball. “Without play and making those cerebellar connections, children can’t learn and interact efficiently,” Ghajar said. Exposure to a wide variety of play experiences, such as painting, climbing and digging, enables the motor and sensory areas of the brain to interact with each other and synchronize.
 
The significance of children’s ability to cross their arms and hands over to the opposite side of their body, a movement known as midline crossing, was highlighted. Midline crossing is critical for children in early childhood when they develop handedness (a dominant hand) for writing, and later, for reading—when their eye muscles are able to visually track across the midline so they are eventually able to read across a page. Activities that facilitate this development include wiping tables, painting on large easel papers and sweeping.
 
Choosing Quality Children’s Books for the Early Childhood Classroom Setting
Presented by Nancy Verdtzabella and Nichole Baumgart
 
In this interactive workshop, participants gained knowledge about 1) criteria that are essential for choosing quality books, 2) resources available for creating a children’s library on a budget, and 3) developing a deep appreciation for the care of books and their content, and how to share this appreciation with children.
 
The presenters shared information on how to select the appropriate literature for the participants’ classroom setting. Important factors to consider are whether the book’s length and content are age-appropriate. Rich content and a variety of illustration types with multicultural characters were also emphasized in order to represent the families in the school community and globally. Importance was also given to creating a library with a broad range of subjects and genres in order to support the variety of interests and learning styles children possess.
 
Audience members joined in a discussion, reflecting upon their own experiences and the experiences of the children they interact with. Participants also had the opportunity to look through a collection of quality books suitable for story time.
 
By the end of the workshop, participants were able to identify a variety of ways to create a literacy environment that supports cultural diversity, strong language acquisition and a variety of learning styles.
 
Play-based Learning in the Common Core Era: Supporting Common Core Through Play With Basic Materials
Presented by Jenna Rist
 
Play, especially free play, is vital to life and learning. This belief is often viewed as being at odds with the need for teachers to address specific standards in elementary school. However, children’s play and natural exploration take them further toward reaching these educational goals than most realize. Through self-directed play, children at Bing learn foundational skills that they will use in kindergarten to meet the California Common Core State Standards.
 
The presentation provided examples of children’s learning through using five basic, open-ended materials—blocks, clay, paint, sand and water—at Bing. When given the time, space and materials to explore, children will seek out learning opportunities and advance their literacy and mathematical thinking skills independently. They are motivated to solve problems and make discoveries. The examples given in the presentation show children’s capacity for advanced thinking and reasoning when teachers support their exploration and extend it through repeated experiences with the same materials. For more information, see an article on this topic in the 2017 Bing Times.