Eight Way to Encourage Math Learning During Risky Outdoor Play

This month I have a blog post featured on the National Association for the Education of Young Children's (NAEYC) website regarding how to engage children in math learning during risky, outdoor play. You can read the article here: Eight Ways to Encourage Math Learning During Risky Outdoor Play.

Math Learning - and a Touch of Science - in the Outdoor World

With spring in full bloom many kindergarten children are spending time exploring the outdoors! There is so much opportunity for rich math learning hidden among the natural treasures in any play space! If you'd like to learn about the potential for math in the outdoor world, check out my newest article:

Math Learning - and a Touch of Science - in the Outdoor World

Making Math Meaningful for Young Children

Engaging in professional, reflective writing is one of the most enjoyable things for me. I love to read current research, apply my new understandings to my practice, and then reflect upon what has happened through scholarly writing. Telling stories of the successes we've had in our classroom inspires me to dig deeper and become an even better educator for the children in my care. Connecting with other educators is incredibly rewarding for me! My recent paper "Making Math Meaningful for Young Children" reflects on how we can cultivate rich, playful environments that promote confidence and interest in math for young children. It can be found in Teaching Young Children 8(1) and is available as a PDF. Feedback always appreciated and welcomed - you can connect with me at deannapecaskimclennan@yahoo.ca or @McLennan1977.

The only way to do great work is to love what you do.

If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle.

As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.

                                                                                                      -Steve Jobs

Kindergartens Building Community

As many of you are aware, I love to engage in scholarly activities like writing and publishing about early childhood education issues. I find professional writing helps me engage in active reflection about my practice and I find it very motivating to share what we do and learn in our FDK classroom with others. I'm pleased to share a link to my latest article regarding a rich inquiry our class experienced in May 2015. Donating food to the Downtown Mission last Christmas (2014) was a very big activity in our classroom. Our children were very worried when we shared a newspaper article in May stating the Mission was running low on food. The children were called to action and inspired to find ways to solve this problem. Working together to communicate beyond our classroom and encourage the community to help, we were able to gather over 5000 items for the Mission in a little over a week! I wrote about this experience and the article will appear in ETFO's Voice Magazine in the Winter issue. Here is a link to the online version of the article: http://etfovoice.ca/article/kindergarteners-building-community/

 

 

For those of you interested in learning more, here is a digital documentation iMovie created to share the many artifacts from our inquiry:

 

EQ Over IQ

Check out this article from the Globe and Mail about why teaching self-regulation through play-based learning will help children to be more successful later on in school and life.

The Importance of Early Literacy

"In the first three years of life a child will learn more than an adult can in 10 years."

Read more about the importance of early literacy and how critical the first three years of life are for children in the Windsor Star article Windsor Kids Play for Literacy, which discusses a recent event held at Devonshire Mall.  

If you have young children at home and are interested in ways you can support their literacy skills and prepare them for kindergarten, visit the Ontario Ministry of Education website ABC123 Tips for Parents. 

Mrs. McLennan in The Toronto Star

Click here to read my thoughts on full day learning in kindergarten!