Brown Bear: The Ambassador of Hello and Goodbye Hugs

The experience of music, movement, and play is important at every stage of development, and even more important to those individuals for whom development has been interrupted.  Children of neglect and trauma often share in common the uncertainty of adults abruptly leaving their lives. For instance, these children may have witnessed parents being taken away by police, or remember being taken from their home by a social worker, not knowing when they would next see their parents. For the young child, these events are typically unplanned and they do not always get to say goodbye to a loved one, nor get a hug goodbye.

My story dance class reaches out to children who have lived through these types of disruptions, sometimes more than once. A special element that has evolved in these groups is the role of Brown Bear, who has become the Ambassador for Hello and Goodbye Hugs. His role has developed over time and he now has an important place in my story dance classes.

At the beginning of each class, I remind the students that Brown Bear is soooo forgetful and that we all must tell him our names - again! I tell Brown Bear my name and pass him around. Each student tells Brown Bear their name and gives him a squeeze. The act of saying their names aloud has it's own empowering affect. Several of the children have delayed speech and finding their voice to say their own name is, for some, difficult. Often, the other children will not give the child holding Brown Bear the chance to say their own name, they just start shouting it (no matter how many reminders they get).  Still, some of these more quiet children have taken the opportunity to say their names with Brown Bear in their arms. Some do not say their own name, but they will hug him, and pass him to a friend. At the end of class, I bring back Brown Bear who travels to each student for a goodbye hug. This has been an beautiful event to witness and it is an essential part of class now.

Perhaps amidst the fun of singing, dancing, and reading stories, Brown Bear is helping these little ones gain wholeness and healing by giving them the chance to say hello and goodbye, on their terms. Perhaps. Or maybe it's just nice to hug a soft cuddly bear. I may never know the long term benefits of Brown Bear's role in their lives, but I do know that each child beams with joy when they hold him, and that is reason enough to bring him every week.

The Red-Pink Dilemma

Before I offer scarves to any of the preschoolers, or even the older ones who I do these classes with, I like to read the story Color Dance by Ann Jonas.  Students preschool through kindergarten are captivated when I read this. When the story is over, I tell them that we will do our own color dance.

I pass out the scarves and regardless of what age I am working with, they get excited. To lead up to our color dance party, I play I Have a Little Scarf from Moving with Mozart by Georgian Stewart - a great guided music experience I recommend for any early learning classroom. I begin with this track because it introduces students to the different ways they can move with their scarf - like a ship sailing by, an enchanted curtain, leaves falling from a tree. The favorite is the shooting star, when we throw our scarves up in the air and try to catch them when they fall.

After our scarf exploration, it is time for the scarf dance party where students get to dance however they want with their scarves. The little ones love when I come-up to them during the dance party and cover them with a scarf, or let a scarf fall on them. The giggles abound!

But here is the problem I have with the book Color Dance. The entire thing is based on the primary colors and how they mix together to make new colors, but all the reds are pink! Before I read the first word of the story - which is the word red next to a girl dancing with a large scarf of the same color -  I ask the children, what color is this?

They all have the same answer, Pink! 

Then I show them real red in the form of a felt square, to make up for the red missing in the publication. The publishers of this book really messed up here, didn't they read what they were printing? Now when I read this book, I show all the colors with matching felt squares. I am thinking about painting over all the pink scarves that are supposed to be red with red paint so I don't have to keep going through this. Though despite this major glaring flaw, I continue to use the book because it really is a great a book for a creative movement class.  It would be great however to see this book reprinted so that the red actually looks red.

Toddlers - They Tell Me What to Do

I do not sweat more than when leading my toddler classes. Wait a minute, I do not lead anything, they run the class! I love it though. Last week when I played the ukulele for a freeze dance, the tots took over by telling me to "freeze" and "go," and again this week. It is quite adorable.

I have a huge tote bag that I bring with me that has all my teaching props ready to go - scarves, a few instruments, fabric, fabric, fabric, a stuffed bear, a magic wand, all the necessary things.  The tots found the bag and just started pulling things out, "Ok, its scarf dancing time!" I don't fight it, I roll with it. This is how I have figured out how to teach toddlers creative movement. They tell me what to, I just make suggestions now and then.

For the story part, I read From Head to Toe by Eric Carle. When we got to the cat, I showed them how to stretch like the cat. One of my little ones went into a downward dog with one foot bent in the air, "It's yoga," he said in his little toddler voice. The cuteness is unbearable at times.

I have learned to love teaching toddlers creative movement and music, though my first year doing these classes for this age, I felt, was very challenging. Now, I really look forward to it. The difference with this group is that I really have to let go of trying to get them to do what I planned or want them to do. I bring the music, the instruments, the props, and we play. I don't even do things in order anymore. You want to start with the ukulele, sure. You want me to cover you in fabric, ok. You want to jump up and down for awhile, let's do that.

My classes are, usually, very structured. The toddlers, apparently, are my kryptonite because all structure goes out the window. And it works. I think part of the success of these groups are the excellent teachers in the classroom. They participate and enjoy the children as much as I do. With a supportive group of teachers around, every class is a success and everyone has fun.

Bread and Roses Strike, 100 years today.

Poem

As we come marching, marching in the beauty of the day,

A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts gray,

Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses,

For the people hear us singing: "Bread and roses! Bread and roses!"

As we come marching, marching, we battle too for men,

For they are women's children, and we mother them again.

Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;

Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses!

As we come marching, marching, unnumbered women dead

Go crying through our singing their ancient cry for bread.

Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew.

Yes, it is bread we fight for -- but we fight for roses, too!

As we come marching, marching, we bring the greater days.

The rising of the women means the rising of the race.

No more the drudge and idler -- ten that toil where one reposes,

But a sharing of life's glories: Bread and roses! Bread and roses!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_Roses#History 

Triangle Shirtwaist Strike, 1909, precursor to Bread and Roses

Creative Movement with the Toddlers

Yesterday I started Story Story Dance with two toddler classes. I find this age the most challenging because, at this age, they really do not care one bit what your agenda or schedule may be and their moods change ever so abruptly. So for me, it is especially rewarding when I can get toddlers engaged in these classes.

We read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle. I got this book and a stuffed animal brown bear on a recent visit to Kohl's. These and other children's books and toys are being sold there as part of the Kohl's Cares program which donates money from these special purchases for children's health and education. I read the story to the tots and for each animal, I asked the children what sound the animal makes and either offered, or let them come up with, a movement for each. After the story, I passed around the bear; each tot had a turn to hold the bear while we asked, Brown bear brown bear what do you see? The child with the bear got to tell us what to do.

This worked pretty good with the first group; apparently, all animals like to jump up and down, even fish! One student started braying like a donkey. So I said, "Oh! Donkey's like to kick," and they all started kicking their feet - it was too adorable! And when I asked them to wag their tails for the dog - again, so stinking cute! The teacher and I had to turn away with the biggest smiles because we were so overcome with the cuteness of it all. After reading the story to the second group, they just wanted the bear, forget acting anything out. So, I put on the dance music and passed the bear around.

Every small success is a big success with the toddlers. 




 

Colors are for Everyone

I recently read the article, One Teacher's Approach to Preventing Gender Bullying in a Classroom. I was really happy to read how one teacher is addressing these issues in her first grade classroom.  As a preschool teacher, the students do not typically care or give a second thought to when the boys dress-up in the dramatic play area, they all seem to be ok with that; where they start voicing their gender labeling most often comes-up when talking about colors.

By four years old, my students have already decided that pink is ONLY for girls and boys should not even use the pink crayon (and they can be really snippy about this too). Some teachers of young children may choose to ignore this all together, or support the girls' stance, but I typically do not let it slip by. I respond, "colors are for everyone." I do not throw this out there and then walk away, I engage students in a dialogue. Everyone gets to enjoy all the colors that are around us and in the world. Certain colors are not just for some people and not for others. I often talk about my husband - who can rock a pink shirt. Last year, I had a male pre-k student who was very open about his love for the color pink. The children very quickly accepted that this particular student loves pink and that was ok, but making the next leap that pink can be enjoyed by any boy, or girl, that takes a little more work.

That is why as teachers, we need to create a learning environment that is safe for children to explore, ask questions, try new things, make friends, and learn. School is not just a place to learn academics; it is a social place where our students learn how to be participants of the larger society.

The teacher in the article mentioned above writes;

"My job is not to judge, but to teach, and I can’t teach if the students in my class are distracted or uncomfortable. My job is also about preparing students to be a part of our society, ready to work and play with all kinds of people. I found that teaching about gender stereotypes is another social justice issue that needs to be addressed, like racism or immigrant rights, or protecting the environment."

New Classes of Cubs

Today was my first visit with new preschool and pre-k students! I love the first class with a new group, although it can be a little nerve racking not knowing their names or the temperaments before going into it.  However, the excitement in their eyes and their willingness to play and dance settles all that.

We did the warm-up, we read the polar bear story, we played the polar bear cube game, we did our polar bear jumps, and had a dance party; it's amazing how much can fit into 30 minutes!

One of the polar bear cub movements on the cube is "curl." The photograph is of two polar bear cubs snuggled up in the snow. So, to end the cube game, I had all the kids curl up like the cubs - then I covered them in the "snow and ice" which, of course, was yards and yards of white and blue tulle- I could've just covered the kids in fabric for the whole half hour and they probably would've been just as happy!

actual image from cube!

Anyway that you can work fabric into your class - go for it! Floors do get slippery with fabric though, so be warned, but the fabric has a way of igniting imaginations through a tactile experience that young children love.

I love what I do!