What R’s are Important?

There are many R words that are currently to the fore in our thinking. Reading, writing and ‘rithmetic', always a popular catch cry is up there now with National Standards testing looming. Not to mention us teachers being ready willing and able to;

• Reflect 
• Respond
• Revisit
• Reciprocate
• Revise
• Refresh
• Renew
• Rekindle and  
• Relearn

Two more R’s have been to the fore this Christmas Holiday season. I have been reminded of the importance of rest and recreation. The dictionary reminds us that rest and recreation are periods of refreshing freedom from exertion and emotional anxiety, and engagement in enjoyable activities for pleasure.

Rest and recreation takes many guises. For some of us it is planning a festive table, building family traditions, lying on the beach with book or wine in hand, riding our beloved horse, visiting friends, harvesting the garden and orchard, swimming an ocean “race”, completing an unfinished quilting project or being with family to name a few.

For me rest and recreation this holiday has been many, many things. It started with decorating the Christmas tree and getting to greet my old friends the decorations and think about the people, places things and time they connect me to, stirring a Christmas cake and feeling close to my mother and sisters, and this summer very happily lying in bed some mornings with my yummy grandchildren, aged 10 weeks and 2 yrs, as they giggle and wriggle at being thrown up and down on our knees into the duvet in the same way their mother was. Now the rest and recreation of the season is drawing to a close with a very quiet house to ourselves again and looking forward to the challenges and planning for this year.

This has led me to reflect on what does rest and recreation look like for our infants and young children?

Maybe, it was lying under the Christmas tree ‘play gym’ Nana made.

I had shown Pipiana, my 10 week old granddaughter, the Christmas tree and decorations on several occasions and she stared and smiled with delight. Sparkles, lights and shiny things always grab my attention too. Later, I was holding her in my arms and as she gazed into my face I noticed her absolute concentration on my face and we had a conversation. Yes one of those beautiful privileges where we goo and gaa our total unconditional love for each other to each other. Aha! Then… her hand’s enquiry, she was just starting to bat around and reach out of her accustomed space, I wondered, is this the start of something we have been wishing for, those random “reachings” that will become more purposeful with practice? I gazed around the room maybe something here will really interest her and provoke those hands, Ahh!! the Christmas tree. I said “Would you like a different view of the Christmas tree?” I lay her gently there. She lay happily there concentrating, drinking in all that was around her. There was an up close and personal experience with many decorations, so close, it caused to her cross her eyes!! Sometimes her two year old brother, Hawaiki, helped by moving the decorations and putting some closer to her. Then, slowly over time and several occasions, her bats became more often and more random, sometimes a fluke and contact was made, the reward came, the decoration moved - then not long after there it was a purposeful bat. Her eye was firmly on the goal and there - no doubt about it contact had been made and the Christmas decoration was swinging. More practice to come, more provocations.

Or, maybe! It was getting up close and personal by dragging your own chair, with Nana’s coffee machine to make a “fuffy” in a “spzzcial cup”. “ That maka big noise, scarey!!! Zzzzh shshsh!" Which careful listening led me to hear “let me close to that thing and stand close by me”. That is another blog, another day!!

So rest and recreation for me this Christmas afforded time for a ‘grandmother’s gaze’. Time to look and listen closely to those I care about and for. Not unlike a “teachers gaze” I think!!

Rest and recreation for infants and young children can take many different guises and requires adults who truly listen so …How do I notice, recognize and respond to their cues for rest and recreation? What “space” is there in the ‘busy-ness’ of children’s lives in our early childhood education and care settings for rest and recreation?

Are there periods of refreshing freedom from exertion and emotional anxiety, and space for sustained engagement in enjoyable activities for pleasure for the infants and toddlers here?

We would love to hear about what you have noticed about rest and recreation this holidays.

We are all looking forward to our Inspiration Days;

Focus on Babies at the Brentwood in Wellington February 13 2010 and

Listening to Babies Voices on February 20 2010 in Auckland.

See the website for details.

Just the Way You Are....

When I was a child I had long blonde hair, and in the sixties and seventies it seemed that the whole world was looking for a child with long blonde hair to be their flower girl! I had five brothers (all a lot older than me) who all had lots of friends, and getting married was still in fashion-so I got to be a flower girl more times than I care to remember!
The thing these poor couples didn’t realize was that while I enjoyed the dress up part of weddings, and the dancing afterwards, standing around for HOURS smiling and trying to look cute was definitely NOT on my list of fun things to do! To put it plainly, I scowled! Why the photo sessions at weddings have to take hours and hours I still can’t imagine, but they did, they were pure torture, and I scowled my way through it all! I hate to think how many peoples wedding photos I ruined with my scrunched up face!
Fast forward a few years. I took up singing and was involved in a church, at the time, full of vibrant young people. Getting married was definitely the thing to do, and having someone sing at your wedding...you can see what’s coming can’t you! But I had a much better attitude to singing at weddings rather than being photographed! It was over quickly and it gave people a good excuse to shed a quiet tear of joy-at least I hope it was joy and not pain that made their eyes look watery as I hit the high notes!
I haven’t sung at, or even attended a wedding for soooo long, but this Saturday my dear friend Ali is going to tie the knot with her partner of four years. Its wedding number two for both of them. They have been there and done that, and got the kids to prove it. Their love and commitment for each-other may not have the lusty naive pop and pow of young/first love, but it is seasoned, rich and wise. They both know a lot about life, and love, and how to live with another person through the lumps and bumps.
I am singing at their wedding-happily, and at Ali’s request, “I love you just the way you are” by Billy Joel. The words to that song are so wise. What I am discovering as I “mature” is that the only person I can really change is myself, and thats what that song is all about, loving people for who they are without having an agenda to manipulate them into your own image....which is a good thing-or the world would be full of scowling flower-girls! UGH! Scary thought!

You scratch my back...

Spurred on by the positive feedback I got from my posts yesterday I thought I would have a go at putting a wee video clip from my horses birthday party in September! Rommie turned six-and by the way, I think he thinks I am a horse! (and maybe I am! ha ha !)

on a roll

Ok now I am on a roll-look out world!!!! I have just had a message to say that my post was successful! YES!!! AND I managed to put a photo up and it was all very easy.....!
So now I want to show you a photo of me with my horse at our last show for 2009! It was a dressage day and there was a class-just for fun for the most christmassy horse-no problem-I though-I had it sewn up!!!! But_what I hadn't bargained on was the likihood that the other people in the class would be CHILDREN!!!! Never perform with children or animals-THEY ARE SURE TO OUTSHINE YOU!!!! This was no exception! I was the only adult in the class-which says a lot! I came second and won some anti wrinkle cream! ANTI WRINKLE CREAM!!!??? They must have meant it for my horse-...surely!!!!! The winner was one very cute child on a pony and she threw candy canes out to the crowd!!! OH FOR GOODNESS SAKE-what hope did I have competing with that! Blatant bribery!

Ping!

Just like Ping, I am the last duck to board the ELP blog boat! Quack quack!!!! This is my first blog ever, and I have a few questions...like how do I put a photo on this thing???Being a visual learner this is very important to me!
I love summer, and being on holiday!!! We have had glorious weather and I am enjoying riding my horses for many hours every day! It is glorious to be alive and well!
My dear friend Josh is eleven years old and currently on round three of his chemotherapy treatment for leukemia, its an amazing journey, sometimes sad, funny and profound. I spent Christmas morning in Starship with Josh and his family, we had lots of fun dressing up in mad hats and wigs, everyone who came through the door was thrown into a new persona with the help of one of the dress-ups.
ok...so how do I put a photo here......watch this space-I aspire to being a blogging pro......

Bring on 2010!!

This year has started with a bang for ELP. Annika has been busy working on the website and it is really starting to expand. I feel very excited about the future of it and our ability to make visible some of the very wonderful activities of ELP.

We are now offering ELP membership to both centres and individuals alike and are passionate about strengthening professional learning communities. We hope this membership structure will be another pathway to building a strong early childhood community. Membership will entitle you and your centre to large discounts on a number of our activities.

I hope you will take time to visit our website and learn of our many planned activities including:

• ‘Inspiration Days’ (throughout the country)
• A ‘Big Day Out’ for Tauranga and another planned for Whakatane
• A ‘Lecture Series’ planned for both Auckland and Hamilton
• Opportunities to work with ELP facilitators with personalised professional learning programmes
• Opportunities to join a range of cluster programmes

This is just the beginning. Keep an eye on our website and you will see new and interesting opportunities being advertised. ELP is here to stay, and we are committed to providing a rich source of provocative and challenging professional learning experiences throughout the country. We hope you will join us in some of these activities.

To visit our website just click here

Warm regards,
Wendy

Presentations and orchard antics

It is coming to the end of year for the project work and a wonderful time to reflect on the journey our teaching teams have made. Through music, drama, dance and story teachers have shared their ELP journey at the recent presentation evenings. The use of metaphor has helped many centres to frame their story and share in a humorous (often hilarious way) the trials and tribulations of their year, as well as their successes. We have had a paddling pool where a centre shared their EUREKA moments through the story of ‘Archimedes’ Bath”; another centre went on a rafting trip (complete with raft at the presentation evening) and navigated rapids in order to find calm waters.

All centres have amazed us by their creativity and their ability to honestly reflect on what has changed and why. Most have agreed that participating in the ELP has been the catalyst for change. It is a bit of a poignant time of year as I say goodbye to the centres that I have worked with, I know the world of ECE is quite small and that I will see many teachers again, however I will miss working with these teachers in their centres.
As the year does come to an end I always think about what has been and what is to come - next year looks slightly uncertain but will definitely be another adventure and I have learned that working with ELP certainly appeals to my adventurous side.

Some adventures that are looming quite soon are ones closer to home. For instance; how to harvest my fruit before the possum do? Although it is not just the possum I have to contend with, my growing family of chickens are getting more adventurous (do they get this from their human ‘mother'?) and have found a plum tree with quite low branches!!! Of ours not to be left out the geese follow and can reach higher than the chickens - so the crop is diminishing as I speak. To top this off we now have a resident peacock (peahen actually) who has come to stay, having abandoned her mate for the look of 3 handsome white male geese! I am worried what she will be partial to and think she can reach higher up my trees than the geese. I wonder what you get if you cross a goose with a peacock? My husband thinks Christmas dinner could be exciting - but rest assured whatever finds its way to our Christmas table (actually we don’t have a table but that's another story) will be free range but not from our garden. Have a very happy Christmas with many wonderful adventures
Alison