I would love to read everyone's answers to the "about you" questions CEL asked us to send prior to the conference and also see the photo. Having not had the opportunity to meet and speak to all of you I don't really have names and faces very organized in my head.
I'm not a super experienced Blogger, but I did figure out how to do this, so I'm offering up my step by step for those who might need it.
In the upper right hand corner it should say either Sign in or Sign out. As I already have a Blogger account that signs in automatically, I had to sign out of my personal account and then sign on with the email and password that Francisco sent in his first email to us. If it simply says Sign In, then use the email and PW and your in! Once signed in there is a clickable at the top that says New Post -hit that and then it's pretty intuitive composing from there. I realize most of you are in the midst of starting a new school year and so quite busy, but I look forward to reading about you and getting to exchange ideas via this Blog.
Heidi Rahlmann Plumb
Lafayette, CA
Please describe your school or workplace. Include the number of students or other populations served, demographics, etc.
I am currently looking for a teaching position in a preschool environment that utilizes an emergent curriculum model based on the Reggio Emilia school. I am also working with some local residents and the organization Sustainable Lafayette to establish an education garden/outdoor classroom in Lafayette. I do volunteer work as well with The Urban Farmers, who have planted a CSA in Lafayette, utilizing land from 20 unconnected residential parcels-they will be implementing more education programs in the future. I also helped to get our local Farmers’ Market started (this year May-Sept is our first full season) - I think there is a great opportunity there (for next year) to do some art activities for children that utilize some themes (the science) of the market.
My demographic as you can tell is currently quite localized to Lafayette. I am a replant -having been raised there and then spent most of my adult life (until 3 years ago) in San Francisco. I was very excited upon moving back to realize that there is a vibrant community of citizens interested and committed to sustainable issues. It is my personal hope that once the outdoor classroom is established that it will be used by neighboring communities.
Briefly describe ways in which you integrate art, science, and design at your school or workplace.
Since my teaching work involves mostly preschoolers everything always feels integrated, it is what I loved about working with this age group. They are such hungry little sponges absorbing and processing and growing constantly, there does not seem to be strict boundaries between this is science and this is art. As a teacher I try to view my students as explorers - then I can try to see what they need to explore further. I observed a boy throwing sand, which, because of the discomfort of sand in eyes, etc. is frowned upon. I realized though he wasn’t throwing at anyone, he was watching what it looked like flying through the air. The next day I hung funnels on string from the play structure and gave the children colored sand. They made beautiful patterns and explored all the effects of the physics of a swinging funnel and what happens when you raise and lower it. I love this age group too because kinesthetic learning is so easily a part of the way they learn, something that seems to me, largely gets ignored once a child is in a elementary school setting. We were working on a garden project-- to teach plant parts, I reworked the song “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” to be “Roots, Stem, Leaves and Flower” - I think of the movement and song to be the art piece and the science part, the words and concepts in the song. Because this age group moves easily into imaginative play they use their whole bodies to play out the information they absorb. We were observing a butterfly drinking from a flower and I showed them why the butterflies like the yarrow plants so much -because it’s a big landing pad with many flowers, so lots of places to drink in one spot. Later I watched as some of the children acted this out in their dramatic play (again, I consider this the art piece).
What do you hope to gain by participating in this seminar?
Inspiration to bring to my teaching and all the projects named above.
I also look forward to making connections to a wider community interested in this subject.
I would love it if you guys had any comments to share!
