When is a job not a job?

Last week I was sitting on a tree stump in the fire circle waiting for some (imaginary) hot chocolate that one child was preparing on our outdoor fire, I had around 6 children all around me and then one little boy asked me "Do you have to go to work some days?" After smiling, I explained that as his teacher that was my work. He then had a discussion about how his mummy and auntie go to work and he wondered out loud whether everyone had to go to work. Some of the other children piped up to explain that their mummy worked at home minding the baby & one girl told him that her mummy worked inside the house but daddy worked outside the house! 

My colleagues and I laughed at this question later on & I joked about whether I should be insulted or complimented, we decided it was a huge compliment and I was reminded of the saying that if you find a job you love you'll never work a day in your life.

Getting to sing around a fire - can this be described as work?

Teaching is a weird job to describe, it it often referred to as a profession, yet you train to be a teacher as opposed to study. We are also paid a lot less than other professional and are actively encouraged to be union members, so again more like a trade than a profession. Outsiders criticise teachers for working short hours, Monday to Friday and only 10 months a year and they always harp on about the paid holidays. I don't know any teacher who works 9-3, my day is usually 8-5 and we have many extra evening events throughout the year to attend with no overtime, flexitime or bonuses in sight. BUT and it is a major but, I wouldn't do any other job, teaching is a true vocation and the majority are doing their job because they feel passionate about working with young people and not because of the holidays or pay. I am doing a steps into leadership course this year and was paired up with a secondary teacher in a coaching session to talk about our jobs and what we love about them. I loved listening to my colleague talk about her pupils and job with such enthusiasm as sometimes secondary teachers can be very jaded and cynical. I could see her passion for her job shining through and it reminded me of why so many of us get into teaching; to help make a difference in the lives of others, to inspire others to become life long learners, to be a steady constant in some chaotic young lives and to help ensure the next generation is equipped with skills to be active members of society. Teaching should not be merely about stuffing knowledge into pupils or reaching attainment levels, yes we have a responsibility to make sure our pupils acquire skills and knowledge but we also have to make sure we are educating rounded human beings. Paperwork is certainly becoming more and more of an issue but teachers need to never lose sight of the pupils in front of them each day.

I have always said that even if I won the lottery I'd still keep on teaching and I mean it, I love being a nursery teacher and working with the youngest members of our school system. I am surrounded by 26 optimists 5 days a week, why would I walk away from that! 

The Best Play Dough Recipe Ever - IMHO!

Four years ago I came across this amazing blog & their recipe for outdoor play dough on this blog: Exploring the Outdoor Classroom & I just had to try it. We had had terrible trouble making our play dough last in our new school as the underfloor heating seemed to make it dry up after a few days & become too crumbly to use. Usually it would last a month but we found ourselves having to throw it out at the end of each week & were constantly making new batches. I have of course since discovered that our damp climate does not lend itself to having play dough outdoors - it just goes all sticky so this outdoor recipe has become our staple indoor dough recipe with some adaptations.

Each month we make new play dough, using the a colour we want to reinforce or a particular scent etc. and so far four years on, this is still working for us, best of all we can set the play dough out first thing and it is still soft and ready for use when we come inside to play after 45 minutes. And even after a month when we make a new batch, we can pass the old one to another class in the school and it's good for at least another month or so.

The original outdoor recipe is much too 'wet' so we have combined our indoor and the outdoor recipes to make the perfect, soft, pliable dough.

This month we added cinnamon & All Spice to make gingerbread play dough - the smell is heavenly and the children have enjoyed making gingerbread men & stars and buns with little coloured discs as buttons or decorations. 

The Grass isn't Always Greener! #ipdipdopp15

Last month I had the opportunity to travel to Stockholm thorough Meynell Games' Ip-Dip Dopp Mobility programme. The main emphasis behind this week long study tour with 8 other play workers, after school people & preschool leaders & teachers was to see how people are trained to work with school age children outside of school hours in Stockholm. 
On our first day we had an informal meet up with one of the main hosts of our tour - Eva - & we got chatting about after schools. I commented that our schools in N.I were not the place for any child to spend an extended day in, Eva replied, that I would soon see it can be done as that is exactly what was happening in Stockholm.
On the Monday, we spent the day at the university meeting with students who were training to become 'leisure care pedagogs' - we could not come up with an equal job in the U.K. These students are teachers who will work with students before and after school and sometimes in tandem with the class teacher during the school day. They are not qualified to teach a class and class teachers are not qualified to do leisure care jobs which are for 52 weeks of the year. Most leisure care teachers have to specialise in an arts subject like music, art or woodwork. During the school day they are supposed to compliment the more traditional teaching going on with more 'hands on' learning experiences. Even after an afternoon hearing more about this role, I still couldn't quite understand what this job entails and could only compare it to a classroom assistant educated to degree standard but without the qualified teacher status. (Of course this is not exactly the same but it helped me make sense of it!)

"I am in, I am out, I am home' - self registration of the Fritidshem

We had the opportunity to spend a few hours in an after school leisure club (Fritidshem) on the Thursday. This was in a large modern school in the suburbs of Stockholm and most of the students availed of the opportunity to stay on at the school at the end of the school day - which is from 8.00-1.30. It is possible for a child to be on the school premises from 6.30-6.30 and the Fritidshem staff work shifts to ensure there are adequate staff/child ratios at all times.

More homelike than school like.

Whilst this school had incredible resource areas with sofas, kitchens & air hockey games, it was still a school environment. The children were engaged in a variety of activities - art, technology, jigsaws, traditional board games, cooking or indoor games & it reminded me of any afternoon in my primary school when there are a variety of after school activities on offer.
As an introvert, I relish coming home from a busy social day at school to be on my own & sit reading or watching TV and I was the same as a child, I loved coming home and just relaxing, doing nothing or a solitary activity. Therefore I would have to say that the idea of attending something like the leisure club 5 days a week would have horrified me. I could see nowhere for a child to be alone away from the peers they had spent all day in lessons with. 
The wonderful Fritidshem pedagog who was showing us around was so helpful and answered our many questions with an unfailing smile and loads of patience. She explained that as she was also working with the preschool class (this is the first class in comprehensive school in Sweden for 6 year olds, also called 0 class but not compulsory) during the day and could therefore help consolidate any teaching that she felt children had struggled with during their time in the leisure club. This to me sounded like a homework club and whilst I can see how this would be of benefit to students who are struggling I was disappointed that the leisure club was not more about free play. During the 2 hour visit I didn't see any children playing outside, though one of the group told me they saw 1 child heading outside to play in the rain. 
I had a rose tinted view of education in Scandinavia that made me assume that I would see lots of great outdoor play at the school, with a playground full of loose parts and risky play. However, the playground was like many others I have seen in the UK with the ubiquitous fixed equipment and tarmac. I know it was a cold, wet day but it was sad to see so many children stuck indoors for the majority of their day. 
I am still trying to figure out all that I saw in the week I was there but I came away feeling that the children in my school are actually in a better position than their Stockholm counterparts, as many of them go home after a busy school day to their homes where they can relax away from their peers and we still live in a relatively safe society where many will be outside playing after school too.

A toasty day!!

I think this is for cooking fish but it's perfect for toast!

This year we have our outdoor day & cook on the fire on a Thursday when we have a wonderful parent co-working with us. This week we decided to cook some toast & offered the children a choice of butter, jam or cheese - or all 3 in some cases!

This class are incredible at all gathering together as soon as I begin to set the fire, they get the mats out & place them round the seats & then all get a place & sit chatting to each other as the fire lights & we begin to cook. 
They are incredibly good at waiting as it can take some time for 26 children to all get their piece of toast & some were asking for more before others had even had their first slice.

They all agreed that they could taste the fire on their toast & next week we'll break out the teacakes & toast them for a real Christmassy treat!!

A bit watery but toast none the less!

Afterwards some children went over to the forest area & began to cook their own toast, using sand, leaves & water & this part of the their play always makes me smile as they try to transfer what they experienced into their new play scenarios. It is wonderful to think that these children can play cooking on a fire with real first hand knowledge.
As we spend the whole morning outside, they get the chance to play for a much more extended period of time & even managed to discover the joy of walking on the Bottle Babies too!!

The importance of a playground. #ip-dip-dopp

Earlier this month I was fortunate to get the opportunity to visit Stockholm through Meynell Games' Ip-Dip Dopp Mobility scheme. You can find out more about Ip-Dip here: http://www.ip-dip.com
Originally the visit was to look at the impact of the adult of children's play but the focus then changed to the training of those working with children outside of school time in Stockholm.
Whilst there, I took the opportunity to meet up with a fellow blogger who I had been on line friends with for around 4 years. It was lovely to meet up with Suzanne from Interaction Imagination & we also got the chance to visit her preschool for a morning.

Suzanne & I finally meet up in person, after years of chatting on line!

One of the days on our tour, we spent the morning visiting playgrounds across Stockholm with a landscape architect and member of the Swedish Play Association. Anna, explained how originally when many of the new apartment blocks were built around the city, it was intended couples who had already raised their families would live in them but instead many young couples and families moved in. Therefore there was suddenly a need to provide play spaces for children and preschools and schools. Now, when new housing is being built the ground floor is usually set aside for use by schools or preschools. This in turns leads to other issues as these spaces do not usually have dedicated playgrounds for the schools to use.
We saw lots of schools in blocks that had offices, shops or housing in the rest of the building. This meant that there were always lots of children evident in the city as we walked about, the younger children were in hi-vis vests walking with teachers whilst with the older children we noticed the teachers wore the hi-vis vests not the children.
Suzanne had explained to me many times that her school had no playground and therefore she had to take her class out and about to various play parks each day for them to have outdoor play experiences. We were lucky to accompany her and a colleague and their class to a great play park with lots of natural elements and there was another preschool in the park at the same time as us.

The class had to climb up a steep, muddy bank to reach this amazing play park, situated on a hill overlooking Stockholm.

Whilst I marvelled at the experience of choosing a park and then travelling by subway or bus to explore these spaces, I did have to wonder about the fact that the children don't have a familiar everyday play space to explore. I know that my class love just being in the playground some days & even when we come back from Bear Woods or being on a trip off site, they want to just play for a while in the playground. By being in the same space every day they can revisit familiar play types but also build upon their experiences and extend their play day to day. It is a well known fact that young children need the opportunity of repetition to master many skills and make sense of their world, we have all seen children try and try again to master a new skill e.g. climbing on a wobbly log or getting up on a structure. So I do wonder about those children in the Stockholm preschools who are not having these opportunities to build upon their skills through repetition - it is not as if they go to the same space off site again and again on a daily basis.
Suzanne did take us to visit the playground of an older preschool and it was easy to spot the more established ones as we walked about the city as they usually and a dedicated outdoor space attached to the building. Interestingly, though, these playgrounds must be available to the surrounding residents in the evenings and weekends. (The same was true of our partner school in Iceland)
The playground at Mosebacke Forskolor seemed a more familiar space to me, as a nursery teacher and it was great to see so many different areas zoned off for the children to use and interact with on a regular basis. Their loose parts display was one to be envied indeed. They also had an incredibly high sloping structure and climbing wall.

Apologies - it was dark when visiting the playground! Such a treasure haul of loose parts & a very steep climbing slope!

I think that is admirable that city planners are  making sure developers take the educational needs of children into consideration with every new site but I do have concerns that the free nature of play - just opening a door and allowing children to play in a familiar space is being lost to many in Stockholm. We saw some great play parks but they are not the same as a well used and resource playground.

Suzanne has written many posts on some of the many play parks around Stockholm - you can read them here: http://interactionimagination.blogspot.co.uk/p/parks-and-play-in-stockholm.html

A week of outdoor fun!

Here is a glimpse into a busy week of outdoor fun:

Monday was a morning of exploring watercolours, the painting the children produced were gorgeous and some managed to get really strong colours from the paints. Then some discovered that the bowls in the mud kitchen were filled with ice - they had so much fun playing with it despite the cold!

Tuesday - tragedy struck when the tap fell off the water barrel and all the precious rain flooded away, this class really does treat water a the precious commodity it really is.

However their disappointment was short lived, as we headed off on a bus for our first off site trip of the year. We went to our partner school, Sperrinview, to play in their great new playground. It was incredible to see how much this space has developed in just one year.

Wednesday was a fun filled morning playing with the bottle babies, lego and enjoying the new pallet den I managed to cobble together. The children quickly transferred all the books & house corner 'stuff' into the space and happily moved in!

Thursday is our outdoor day - when we spend the whole morning outside and light the fire, this week we cooked some apples with sugar, butter and chocolate chips - the sugar & butter turned into toffee! 

Afterwards some children cooked their own 'apples' on their fire in one of the willow dens. I love it when the children transfer their real experiences into their play scenarios.

Friday was a drizzly cold day - we really had such a mix of weather in just 5 days. I enjoyed watching the children just get on with playing despite the rain & it is always great to see them begin to accept all types of weather and take it in their stride. The water barrel was fixed but empty so some were delighted to find lots of rain water in one of the red tops.

The joys of transferring water from one watering can to another!

 

Here's to another week of fun outdoors! 

Embracing the rain!

September and October may well have been the driest months we have had for a long time but from very early on, this class was drawn to the water barrel in the playground & were so disappointed by the lack of rain! They emptied it after a few days and had to wait a long time for it to fill up again. We used to allow the children to use the hose and tap but then decided that they do need to learn about the conservation of water, so the water barrel is a perfect way to do this.

Like bees around honey - the children are drawn to the water barrel.

So November has proved to be a great month so far for this class as it has been so wet! They have been so happy to find the water barrel filled up each morning & have enjoyed emptying it before the morning is over
It is always frat to have a group of children who embrace the weather no matter what - even though we encourage this some years it is harder than others. But this year there is a group who love getting on their rain gear and playing in the mud kitchen or larger sand pit in the forest area. They spend time 'cooking' and making a variety of concoctions with water, leaves, sticks & whatever else they can find in the playground.
I think the following photos perfectly illustrate that with the right clothes & attitude there really is no such thing as bad weather.