Archivista

The Help Desk project started one day in October when D (a preschooler) was so excited he threw his stuffed dog, 20, over the playground fence. ‘20’ is a very important security object for D and all the students help keep track of him. He was so upset he started running around the playground yelling […]

All teachers at the Burlington Children’s Space are researchers and documenters. We are collecting as much information as possible to paint a picture of progress and outcomes. Documenting individual growth requires a great deal of research, as the teacher must observe each child in a variety of areas of development over a substantial length of […]

The many properties of paper invite children to explore using all their senses.  It provides opportunities for children to build skills in all areas of development as they manipulate and explore the paper.  Sound – Ripping, crinkling, and waving large pieces of paper empowers children to become scientists. Paper can make amazing loud, big noises. […]

During the process of introducing modeling clay to the children, the experience has been very open-ended and leaning into creativity and sensory experience that it offers. The clay that is offered is bright and colorful with a doughy, smooth texture. Manipulating the clay by squishing, squeezing, pulling, and rolling helps the children to develop fine […]

The idea of babies talking, and reading can seem incredible, but language and literacy skills start from birth! Babies communicate through sounds, facial expressions, and gestures. These are all important ways to help them learn about language and the written word.  Early language and literacy skills are learned best through everyday moments such as reading […]

Everyone has had moments in their lives when they could not communicate their needs in a way others could understand. The result is a level of frustration beyond compare. Sign Language gives children a means to express needs in an effective way.  Try thinking about a time, as an adult, when you have wanted something […]

Representing Our Joyful Feelings Preschoolers have been participating in an ongoing discussion about our feelings. We’ve been working on discovering how emotions feel in our bodies and recognizing those physical reactions to emotional stimuli. Preschoolers have been discussing how to recognize emotions in the faces and body language of our friends and reading the emotional […]

Here you see a line up of our take home canvases that are sent home to families at the beginning of every month. We created this opportunity for families to be engaged in the classroom to establish the connection in support of every child’s development.  When families get this firsthand experience with their children, it […]

Blocks are not just fun for kids to play with but can also help them in many ways!  Block play stimulates learning in all domains of development, intellectual, physical, and social-emotional and language.  This helps children in so many ways: improving their hand and finger strength, strengthening core through heavy lifting, developing creative skills, learning […]

The soothing process of painting is often what is interesting to young children. The pleasant feeling of painting over and over using their senses to explore color, process and outcomes.  Painting can provide children with vast amounts of learning, this may be developing their fine motor pincer grip or big body movements when crawling or […]