This fall I have been called upon to help in many classrooms with guidance and management. I routinely present classroom management workshops around the country and there are always many participants in those workshops. I think every teacher understands that you cannot accomplish much in a classroom if there is not some type of organization. A teacher can’t support children in their learning without some type of guidance in behavior. I recently published a booklet for early childhood teachers to help them accomplish that task. The biggest hurtle in guiding a classroom comes when you have child ..read more

After many years, we have a new baby in our family.  My grandson, Jack, has become the joy of our family.  After ten years, I had somehow forgotten the beautiful joy that a newborn can bring.  It also helps that he is the most gifted child every born. Having Baby Jack around has reminded me about how important it is for infants to make strong learning connections during that critical Birth-12month period.  Those connections will only be as strong as we make them.  The experiences we create for them must be real and relevant for strong connections to form.  I was ..read more

I have had the privilege of presenting a number of hands-on learning workshop recently.  I’m convinced that we need to give young children  more real experiences with messy materials and activities that relate to their world. Paper and pencil activities are not the way to establish concrete cognitive learning in a child’s mind.  I was reminded about this recently when a I visited my new two week-old grandson.  He has been a much-anticipated addition to our family.  As I was watching our interactions with him, I was remind about the brain connections that he will be mak ..read more

I recently presented a workshop on Messy Science at the annual NAEYC Conference.  Here is a copy of the handout, as requested by many participants. Mad Scientist!  Combining Art and Scientific John H. Funk University of Utah / Excellence Learning Corp. John.funk@utah.edu; jfunk@excelligence.com Head Start Outcomes Framework & Next Generation Science Standards for Kindergarten (question, observe, predict, experiment/test, observe) Five Senses/Body Parts (Goals P-SCI 1, 3 – Scientific Reasoning) X-Ray Print (Biocolor Paint –white, black; white paper; tray; scraper) Color Mixing ..read more

I have been around for many years and the education community always grabs on to the latest trend in teaching strategies.  The education world has been trying to reinforce support in math and science since Russia launched the Sputnik in the 1950s.  Everyone is all about STEM or STEAM education right now. As far as I’m concerned, every school should be a STEAM school. We should always be mindful of every subject domain when working with and supporting young children.  As I travel the country right now, many early childhood workshops and conferences want to concentrate on STEM edu ..read more

I recently visited my daughter’s family and had to chuckle about the sign on her youngest daughter’s bedroom door.  This was the sign taped to the door: It reminds me about how often we expect children to adapt to our agenda, even if they have their own plan.  I became convinced many years ago that if I let children speak and offer suggestions, I usually ended up with a better scenario.  I was the king of classroom meetings when I was teaching.  When issues came up in the classroom, I often turned it over to the children and asked their suggestions on solving the problem.&n ..read more

I am currently at NAEYC’s Professional Development Institute (PDI) in Baltimore. Yesterday I presented a workshop on classroom management. One of the focus points for this year’s conference was the need to support DAP strategies in primary grade classrooms, K-3. This is important to me since I have spent most of my teaching career in those grades. I also currently supervise student teachers and interns, which include candidates working in K-3 classrooms. Although we tend to shy away from the term, ‘management’ when speaking about 0-5 settings, it is evident that it can be appropriate to use th ..read more

There are clear and concise images displayed in most paintings and art.  However, occasionally, you see a work of art that has blurred lines and is much more subtle in it’s appearance.  I thought of this watercolor with blurred lines (a purposeful lack of specific images) as I was speaking with two education managers at a local Head Start agency. The managers were concerned about the lack of clarity and the blurriness of their assessment procedures.  Their concern stems from indications that the students in their program are not displaying the skills that their observation asse ..read more

  As I travel the country doing early childhood workshops, I am always very concerned with math instruction.  Of course there is a new resurgence of math concentration with the attention given to STEM and STEAM schools.  Each organization has it’s own set of mathematics standards.  My one large criticism is that sometimes the language used in standards is so academic that I fear many classroom teachers fail to absorb the full impact of the standard.  I’m not suggesting we dummy things down, but just make sure that we use language that is usable to the early childhood t ..read more

For years I have enjoyed the books written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes, even the volumes that have not been chosen as award winners. His newest picture book, Waiting, is delightful and fun. The waiting theme made me think of the years I was a kindergarten teacher. Prior to coming to kindergarten, many children experience a strong build-up by family members. Everyone exclaims, “You get to go to kindergarten in the fall. You must be so excited!” The anticipation for a five-year-old must be enormous. More than once, I had a child express concerns after the first few days of kindergarten. “Is ..read more