For Your Binder

A classroom environment is a public statement about the educational values of the program AND the teacher.  What does your say? #environment #art #create #teaching #learning

It's only the abstract to the study, but the message is still clear: fewer toys leads to increased focus and more creative play. #play #toys #teaching #learning #environment

Are the walls influencing learning? #environment #teaching #learning #art #creativity

The first days of preschool can be stressful for everyone. In this short but helpful article, Lillian Katz offers a few ideas that might assist both parents and teachers.  #environment #learning #teaching #relationships #care 

This document came on my radar while I was taking the Pop Up Adventure Play Playworker Development Course 

I quickly realized that it serves as a functional "how-to" manual for anyone who not only says they want to be play based, but is really ready to put their money where their mouth is and make it happen.  The document is from 2019 so I am not sure if the workshops and consulting piece they mention is still available, but it's a worthy read all the same.  I read it three times and am still gleaning insight.  #play #teaching #learning #environment 

If we don’t allow children the freedom to move their bodies in different ways with simple challenges, how do we expect them to become capable of navigating their environment without getting hurt? Risks and challenges are important for healthy sensory and motor development and this article will assist you in really understanding why!

#play #risk #movement #outside #teaching #learning #DAP

These are the notes Lisa took from a lecture sponsored by IPA WORLD. Chris Martin shared highlights from his dissertation topic:  Everyday assemblages, affect and agency: children's intra-actions with smart phones in outdoor play. #playwork #conferencenotes #play #tech #technology #environment #outside

Toes not toys!  #play #DAP #looseparts #teaching #learning #environment

A while back - while falling down another rabbit hole in my effort to learn what "panopticon" meant (I heard it at a #playwork conference and didn't know what it meant) -  I stumbled across quite a bit as to how theme parks, specifically the Disney ones, fall into the same category. #playground #play #panopticon 

When it feels like common sense and everyone should just "know it" (but they don't) it can be affirming to read about why it feels that way.  Bottom-up behaviors are instinctual and unintentional. Top-down ones are deliberate and intentional. There is a difference. And how we approach them needs to be differentiated as well! #teaching #learning #relationships #specialed #expulsion #environment

In 2007 The Alliance for Childhood shared excerpts from an article that appeared in the Boston Globe explaining the need for adventurous play - I scanned it here for you. #play #recess #adventureplaygrounds #recess #environment

It's important to make sure neighborhoods have diverse environmental qualities that encourage children & caregivers to stay physically active, meet friends and connect with the natural environment.  #play #outside #movement