January 2025
Teamwork is the Dream Work!
This month our focus with the children was to continue building a class culture of belonging, ensuring all of their voices are being heard during their dynamic play. During our recent school age professional development session, we implemented the idea of “Spicy Work” (a scaffolding strategy) from the resource, Learning Together with Young Children. With this strategy, children are expected to lead one another, working on their collaboration and problem solving skills. This month we tried it out!
One day after snack I sat down with the children who were interested in using the building blocks. We had a circle meeting and brainstormed as a group what they wanted to make, the name of their creation, and the roles/responsibilities of each group member. The children worked extremely well dividing up the roles and they were encouraging each other to share their ideas! They came up with a Wicked themed arcade racing car! Once the brainstorming stage was complete, I gave the children one last task. Their job was to draw out a “blueprint” design of their creation, still ensuring everyone's voices are heard. The children used about 15 minutes to draw out their creation and once it was “approved” by educators, they went straight to building! Their design and brainstorming ideas were posted on the board so they could look back if needed!
This Spicy Work strategy worked extremely well. Us educators gave them a guided starting point and let them have the rest of the control! We thought this scaffolding technique was a great way for the children to figure out any conflict on their own as a group first before coming to educators with a problem. This grows their communication, independence, and problem solving skills!
Cameron Hansen, Educator
Jen Tervo, Program Coordinator/Head Educator RECE, AECEO.C
