PARENTING

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Baltimore Preschool Trends

A generation ago, preschool teachers had set curriculum for making sure children learned the skills they would need as they entered kindergarten. Today, in many schools, children are driving what is taught and how it is taught. Take a look at the latest on student-directed learning.

By Linda Esterson

Last winter, the 3-years-olds at the Joseph and Corinne Schwartz Preschool at Beth Israel Congregation discovered a bug on the floor. Ten years ago, with a quick stamp of the foot, that bug would have been history. Two years ago, it most likely would have been released outside, after the teacher explained that it was one of God’s creatures.

In today’s preschool world, it is the children who get to decide the bug’s fate. On this day, these youngsters not only took turns looking at it, they also asked for research materials to determine its classification. Concluding it was a millipede, they decided to keep it in the classroom.

All of the children were engaged, recalls Rachael Schwartz, director of Beth Israel’s preschool. They used science skills to classify the creature, they used organizational skills to find a clear container with a lid to house it, they determined how to poke holes in the lid for air, and they gathered grasses and stones for its environment.

One child requested that they place it near paper and pencils so they could record their observations. Another child wanted to make a sign with paper and crayons indicating that the millipede could not be moved. A third made a sign with magnetic letters on a cookie sheet that read, “Don’t Touch.”

After naming her “Vanessa the Millipede,” they drew pictures of her and created an entire display board of their drawings, descriptions and actual photos of Vanessa.

Sadly, the next morning, the millipede was dead. Even that generated a discussion about whether she was asleep or if she had expired.

Historically, preschool teachers informed the children of what they were learning and designed the projects. Shapes often were precut for the students’ art, a “cookie cutter” sample was displayed and all projects looked like the teacher’s, once completed.

Exploring “Vanessa the Millipede” demonstrates a new philosophy employed by many preschools in Maryland and across the country. Unlike traditional methods that follow the teacher’s or school’s plan for a unit or project, learning has become more student-directed.

Today, these youngsters often decide on what they will do and even what materials they will use. When they finish, there may be 10 completely different projects for the same topic. Those who do not wish to make a project are not required to do so.

“By giving them choices, we are opening them up to creativity,” says Schwartz. “By giving them a project with exact dimensions, we are binding them. Instead we are [now] encouraging them and giving them wings to fly.”

Staff undergoes training through the Center for Jewish Education, which has formed a coalition of some of the area schools. All are working toward accreditation from the state of Maryland, which is creating a quality rating improvement system for this preschool instructional system. A cohort group will travel in March to Italy, where the philosophy originated, to undergo further training.

With the majority of brain function developed in a child’s first five years, the focus, D.J. Schneider Jensen, director of early childhood education for CJE, says, should not only be on academics.

“Children truly learn better through play,” says Schneider Jensen, who is instructing the directors and teachers on the new method and its components.

“You can teach kids to read at 2 or 3 but is that the kind of child you want?” she asks. “Let’s create people who are thinkers, who are problem solvers, not just kids who know how to read.”

This new method involves much more observation for teachers. They still must ensure certain aspects of teaching are covered — current events, seasons, Jewish holidays and more — but they follow the children’s leads to do so. Circle time occurs much less frequently; ditto sheets and sitting at a desk all day are virtually eliminated. Free play spawns learning.

A child building a tower is not just building. He’s engaged in his choice of play, sometimes with the teacher, and as he builds, he answers questions like “How tall is that?”, “Why is it falling down?”, “How do you make it stronger?” He is driving the instruction.

“Everything we do now is a process,” says Aileen Friedman, director of Oheb Shalom’s Learning Ladder. “When they are stacking blocks, it’s math and [it’s] physics.”

Essential topics are still taught, but it is done in a different way. Over at Beth Tfiloh Congregation preschool, after hearing a story about Rosh Hashanah, a child asks about honey; another asks about bees. That generates a Rosh Hashanah Bee Party. A story about Moses’ staff turning into a snake sparks interest from the boys in snakes. Library books about snakes are placed in the learning centers.

“It doesn’t derail the overall picture, it adds to it,” says Melissa Lebowitz, director of Beth Tfiloh Preschool. “Next year, the boys will remember that part of the story.”

“When you let children guide the play and inquiry, that’s what interests them and it’s more meaningful,” says Friedman. “They have a better understanding and it stays with them longer. It enables good
learning skills that will last the rest of their lives.”

The movement actually dates back to research on brain functioning in children released in the late 1990s. The research proved that children need to move to learn.

According to Lebowitz, traditional circle time often went against the grain of many young children, as they would spend time thinking about the process of sitting, instead of what was being
discussed or sung.

Beth Tfiloh preschool teacher Bobbie Luterman eliminated circle time. Instead, she has couches, a soft chair and a bench where the children gather to brainstorm about an idea. The brainstorms may last just 15 minutes, but Luterman takes notes about what the children suggest about a particular topic and that goes home for parents to read. It also generates the children’s activities.

The new method incorporates lots of documentation. The children are encouraged to journal, paint and use glue to demonstrate what they have learned or how they feel about a particular topic, one that they have often suggested. Teachers take notes on individual children’s participation as well as photographs of the process and the completed product, if there is one, and provide summaries for parents.

The Jewish Baltimore preschool transformation will be formally announced at the Ultimate Block Party on Oct. 2 at Rash Field.

“It’s all part of a grand scheme to keep Jewish education here,” Schneider Jensen says. “We don’t want Jewish families going to non-Jewish preschool programs to get better quality. Our Jewish programs are truly amazing.
We engage families and build a much stronger Jewish community.”