Some Goings-on in March... 

Kitah Bet: “The Color of Us” 

Although the Gan is a single faith-based preschool, we are aware of and pride ourselves on being a community that is home to children and parents of many different identities, backgrounds, and even faiths. At this age, children are curious about their own and others’ physical characteristics. As they gain a sense of themselves, they also begin to construct a sense of multiple social identities: racial, ethnic/cultural, gender and religious identities. It is also possible for children to develop pre-prejudice as they absorb negative attitudes, misinformation, and stereotypes about various aspects of human diversity. Our job is to help the children understand and appreciate differences and to help them develop the skills to navigate and thrive in our complex, diverse world.

We recently read Karen Katz’s The Color of Us, a book that delightfully explores skin tones. We invited the children to examine their skin tone by outlining their hand and asking them to pick a shade from skin tone color crayons and to color the inside of the hand. What ensued were some wonderful and illuminating discussions and a colorful mural of our hands (teachers included, of course!). “We are all shades of brown.” “I think you have a little of my shade in your shade.” “Nobody has paper color skin.” “My skin is toast.” “I’m peachy.” “I’m almond.” We then explored ways in which we are the same and different. During group time, we divided into groups according to certain characteristics, such as gender, hair color, and eye color. We are learning so much about these issues together! 

Kitah Alef: “Process versus Product” in Art

When we plan art activities, we try to expose the children to a wide variety of materials, including paint, crayons, chalk, glue, tape, stickers, and stamps. In explaining our approach to art, we use a phrase with which many of you may not be familiar (at least not in the early childhood setting). We talk about focusing on “process vs. product.” When each child in the class does an art project and they are all displayed on the bulletin board, do they all look the same? Were they given the freedom to express themselves creatively, or were they told/showed what to do and what the finished product should look like?

This definition of “process” is from an ECE website: "Process" means allowing children to explore art materials with freedom without the pressure to copy a model or stay in the lines. Process is experimenting with paints, mixing colors, and feeling the textures. Process is gluing various sizes, shapes, and colors of paper together to create a collage. Process is freedom to experiment and enjoy the feeling of creating without being concerned with the outcome or the product. 

At Gan Avraham, we focus on the process rather than on the finished product. If a child wants to fingerpaint for so long that she tears through the soggy paper and has nothing to take home, we view that as a success rather than a failure. Although the child may not have a finished product to send to Grandma, she got to use the materials as she chose and spend as long as she wanted at the project table. One child may glue one popsicle stick to the paper and then walk away, while another will stay at the project table all morning glueing on every material available and another will choose not to do project that day. All are valid. The teacher's role is to facilitate confidence and decision making, and to provide reassurance, not to model how it should turn out. The children spend much time during their school day following directions, and art experiences should not be one of these times.

Although Kitah Alef children have not yet begun to create (recognizable) representational art, art still provides a chance for them to express themselves creatively. Howard Gardiner, a well-known education theorist, writes that "artistic learning grows from children doing things: not just imitating but actually creating.”