Welcome!
October 10th, 2009 | Author: Valerie

Welcome to the Imagination Table. My name is Miss Val; I teach 3-year-old preschoolers and run an after school program at a small school in Massachusetts. I am constantly amazed by the imaginations of my students–what they say (kidisms), what they do, and the ideas they come up with. I decided I needed a space to talk about this and how they challenge me on a daily basis.

The title of this blog–The Imagination Table–comes from an idea I developed with my kids. Over the years of running the after school program, I’ve developed a few different “tables,” partly out of necessity. The first table I developed was the “no touch” table. This is the table where I do my set-up and where kids can put their projects when they are done. No one but me is to touch anything on the no touch table. The main other table I’ve developed is the “imagination” table. This is a spot where I put out a bunch of materials, and the kiddos just use their imaginations to create whatever is on their minds that day. When it came time to name this new site, “The Imagination Table” just fit. So, here we are.

Take a look around and enjoy! As time goes on, I will develop a project page that indexes the projects I’ve done with the kids. If the project was inspired by a book or pattern, I will be sure to share the book or website where I got the idea. I hope to update several times a week, so come back often to see what we are doing. I hope this site inspires you as much as my kids inspire me!

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I Knew the Mall was Educational!
December 26th, 2009 | Author: Valerie

So, this past week I watched one of my kindergarteners while her parents worked. She is loving kindergarten, loves to learn, loves the challenge, and loves helping her friends figure out things she’s figuring out. It’s really pretty precious.

On Monday, she begged and begged to go to Panera for lunch. I took her there for hot chocolate in the morning, but that was not good enough. We needed to go there to “work through lunch.” Now, I think I know where this comes from. This past summer I watched her older sister when she split her chin at camp and couldn’t return until the stitches were out. I took her older sister to Panera for snack one afternoon. I took my computer to check email, and she brought her summer workbook to do her daily pages–her work.

So, little sister must have gathered from all of that that Panera is where grown-ups go to work while they eat, and now it is her favorite activity with me. We went twice this week! Both days she worked herself so hard that she fell asleep on the two mile drive home. Bless her little heart.

Back to our hot chocolate at Panera on Monday morning, though. As we were finishing up, she decided to show me how she can count by tens. As we walked outside to head over to Target, I asked her if she knew how to count by fives. She said she didn’t and then eagerly asked, “Can you teach me?!” So, I started counting by fives for her, and she quickly figured out the pattern. As we walked through Target, she counted by fives to 100 many times. She was quite pleased with herself.

On Tuesday we ran to the mall for a couple of things. Our first stop was Williams and Sonoma to pick up some yummy biscuit mix that we could make that afternoon. After that we walked over to Macy’s so I could pick up a new compact of foundation. As we walked into Macy’s, her eyes got very big and wide. “Miss Val! Stop!” I heard. So, I stopped.

In front of us on the floor was a huge projected analog clock. She’s just been learning to read time at school, and she was so excited. She wanted to read the clock. So, I kind of cleared the area (as not everyone is so excited by the clock. She was mortified that people would just walk over it!), and I asked her what time it was.

“Miss Val, I can only tell time when the big hand is on the 12, and the big hand isn’t on the 12.”

“Well, where is the little hand?” I asked.

“It’s on the 11.”

“Ok. Remember how we learned to count by fives yesterday? That’s kind of how you read a clock.” I proceeded to walk around the clock and point out all of the numbers. Then I walked around the clock, and we counted by fives around through each number. Then I asked the big question, “So, what time is it?”

“Five. Ten. Fifteen. Twenty! Miss Val, it’s 11:20!”

And suddenly, we heard clapping! I was kind of stunned. I’d been so in our own little world that I hadn’t realized that about 20 people had stopped and gathered to watch me teach this little one how to tell time in the entrance to Macy’s. Oh, she was so proud of herself, but kind of embarrassed. She had a huge smile on her face, but dug her head into my legs. It was a precious moment.

After I picked up my foundation, we had to exit Macy’s the same way we came in. She wanted to see how long we’d been in Macy’s. So, we went through part of the process again. On Wednesday we were back at the mall for something else, and in between each store we had to walk all the way down to Macy’s to see how long we’d been in that particular store. It did slow down our trip a bit, but it was worth every second.

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Don’t Talk to Strangers
December 25th, 2009 | Author: Valerie

I’ve had “strangers” on my mind a lot lately. Teaching preschoolers, it’s an important concept to help them understand as they begin to navigate the world. There was a scary incident in the town I work in a while back, and so we took some extra time to teach the kids about safety and how to know whether or not a stranger is safe to talk to.

This past week I watched one of my after care kiddos while her parents worked. I was reminded again about strangers and how kiddos learn about them from her. We were at Williams and Sonoma buying a biscuit mix to bake together, and the cashier asked her a question while I paid.  She looked up at me and waited for a head-nod before she answered the woman. She’s learned to look for the cues from the adults she trusts. This is what I hope to instill in all of my kids.

Sometimes, though, I’m the stranger. And I have to remember that kids have been taught not to talk to strangers, and I need to be careful and appropriate, even when I want to just go pinch their cheeks. Last night at the airport, I chose a rocking chair to sit in while waiting for my flight to board. I got out my yarn and rolled two skeins into balls then began a new project. There was a television above me, so it didn’t surprise me too much when two young girls came and sat down on the floor in front of me–I just thought they were watching the television (though it was CNN and probably not really kiddo-appropriate, which disturbed me).

But then I looked up and realized that they were not watching the television. They were watching *me*. I had noticed them before…they were there with their mom, dad, and baby brother. Mom had gone to the bathroom, and Dad was wrangling all three kiddos on his own. I looked over at him and smiled. He smiled back, so I said to the girls, “Hi, girls! My name is Miss Val. Do you want to see what I’m doing?”

Immediately, I had one girl (I’d guess they were about three and five years old) on each side of the rocking chair. It went something like this. “What are you doing, Miss Val?”

“I’m crocheting. This is called a crochet hook. See how it has a hook at the end. It catches the yarn so I can make a stitch.”

“That’s pretty yarn. Can I touch?”

“Of course! Isn’t it soft? This yarn is wool. Sometimes wool is pretty itchy, but this wool is a nice, soft wool. Do you girls know where wool comes from?”

“Sheep!” I heard in unison.

“Right! Good job!”

And so it went on for about five minutes, until they had to go board their plane. They were little sweeties, so curious. They made my day.

When Mom came back from the bathroom, she was holding a wig, and had a scarf over her head. Probably much more comfortable to travel that way. I wanted to give the girls big hugs when they went to go, but I know which lines not to cross. As they walked back over to their parents, the mom looked at me and mouthed, “Thank you.” I smiled back.

On the plane, though, I was thinking about and wondering what made me a safe stranger. Was it the crocheting? Was it the polka-dot shoes, purposefully mismatched socks, and silly holiday jewelry that pegs me as a preschool teacher? Was it my smile? Was it some sort of secret code that I seemed to know? I’m not sure…it may be a combination of all of those things, for all I know.

I know we live in a sometimes scary world, but I’m glad we’re somehow learning the way to navigate, and teaching our kiddos to also safely navigate. And now? I look forward to many more impromptu crochet lessons in the airport. That one made my day.

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GingerTown!
December 12th, 2009 | Author: Valerie

Ever have one of those moments where you look at what you’re doing and say, “This is why I do what I do!”? Thursday was that day for me.

As you know, this week was Gingerbread Week in after care. I tortured the whole school for two days as I baked a gingerbread town for the kids to decorate in after care on Thursday, which is our cooking day. I came into work ridiculously early on Thursday to make sure all of the pieces were baked, the frosting was made, and the candy was ready. At 3:15 the kids were dismissed to after care. Only, they weren’t dismissed to our usual space–they were dismissed directly to the teacher’s lounge/kitchen. As each child walked in, their eyes grew wide when they found the table…

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We had a house, a post office (complete with post office drop box), a church, a school, and two trains. The kids could not wait to get started, but I needed to set the limits. So I sat them down away from the table and waited for quiet. I didn’t have to wait long; they were anxious to get started, but they knew that pushing my buttons wouldn’t get them there any faster.

They sat around the coffee table in the teacher’s lounge as I showed them the different pieces. I counted the kids–we had 13. That meant that they would mostly work in pairs, except there would be one group of three. Instead of having trouble finding that group of three, three kids volunteered right a way. Then, the rest of them split into pairs–the older kids generously offering to go with the younger kids, without me even having to ask. It was incredible to watch.

As they moved over to the table, I expected there to be bickering over who would do what, but there wasn’t. Instead, each group picked a project and sat down. Once everyone was seated and had some frosting, they got to work. I had expected at least some insanity as they fought over frosting colors and candies. Instead, I saw team-work and patience with each other. And they didn’t rush with their projects. They took their time. They wanted these done right.

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And did it right, they did. About 20 minutes into the activity, I had tears in my eyes–tears of pure delight. I sent Little Miss Val to get our headmaster and lower school coordinator. I wanted them to see this moment. You teachers out there know, this is a difficult time of the year to engage the kids. We’re slightly over a week away from Christmas break. And, on Thursday, I had a couple of kiddos who are particularly hard to engage–and one of those had also had a very bad day. So, to look out at 13 kids working together to create the most awesome creation ever–supporting each other, being patient with each other, sharing, encouraging each other, and just being generally amazing kids? It was an amazing moment. Tears well in my eyes still now, just thinking about it.

For two hours they worked to decorate those buildings and then to set up the town. I don’t remember the last time we spent two full hours doing one activity. Granted, it was a many-stepped process, but it was still full of many fulfilling moments.

When the buildings and trains were completely decorated (and we were almost out of candy!), we stepped away from the table so I could clear it, and we could build GingerTown. At that point, I was again unsure how things would go. The table was kind of a mess. I prayed that the buildings would stay together as we moved them around. I would have hated for the kids to have put in that much work to have something fall apart.

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I grabbed the trays, cleared the table, wiped it down, and laid out wax paper. Then the kids came back around the table to tell me how to set up the town. We set it up as a town square, with the school being the center focus. After the buildings were in place, the kids laid the “train tracks” (chocolate licorice), and I placed the trains down. Then they arranged the trees, people, snowmen, and a car. When everything was in place, it was time for the snow. I grabbed four bags of mini-marshmallows and the kids went to work to make it snow in GingerTown. At the end of after care, GingerTown was ready for its debut!

Welcome to GingerTown!

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We have a school, a church, a post office, trains to get us around, and a house to go home to…

GingerTown Collage

After all the kiddos went home, my bosses and I decided that “GingerTown” needed a more prominent home–so everyone could enjoy the creation. So, “GingerTown” has been moved to it’s temporary home–the display cabinet in the entry way of the school. “GingerTown” will be available for viewing there for the next week, and then it will go home with its new owner. See, we decided to do a silent auction for a permanent home for “GingerTown.” Someone needs to forever enjoy this wonderful artistic expression from my kiddos. I have never been more proud of them!

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Gingerbread Week Continues!
December 09th, 2009 | Author: Valerie

If how much fun you have is measured by the mess you make, we had a LOT of fun in after care today. As you know, it’s Gingerbread Week. Yesterday was game day, so we played our regular games plus a couple of gingerbread man-related games I found online:

Today was imagination day. I started by telling the kiddos not to get too comfortable in our usual space. See, today we had many things to do! I had been busy all afternoon beginning to prep for Thursday’s cooking day. You can’t have Gingerbread Week without a Gingerbread Town from scratch! So, we were going to do double duty during after care today–partly so Miss Val could keep working on pieces for our gingerbread town, but also partly so we had a quieter day, since the kiddos had their big Christmas play tonight.

Off to the teachers lounge we went. I gathered the kids around for our Imagination Day activity. We began by talking about the original Gingerbread Man folktale. All of the kids knew it, so we didn’t read the whole thing. But, I did read another version of the story, set in New York City–The Gingerbread Boy by Richard Egielski. Before reading it, though, I told the kids to think about it while I was reading it because we were going to write our own version of The Gingerbread Man after we finished the book. And, of course, I had gingerbread man cookies to snack on while we worked. The activity was a hit! I may share the story in the next few days, after I take another look it and polish it a bit.

After we were done with our activity, I set up the television for the kids to watch Wall-E while I continued to make gingerbread town parts. As I figured, the kids were much more interested in helping me than watching the movie, which was just fine with me. I love having helpers! So, we worked and we worked, and we made the building smell fabulous.

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We mixed…

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And we rolled…

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And we patted. We made a HUGE mess, and it was fabulous! Tomorrow we decorate. Come back to see our finished town!

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SNOW!
December 09th, 2009 | Author: Valerie

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What’s even better than a snow day? Going to school when it’s snowing! Now, don’t get me wrong: the commute kind of sucked. But, as soon as the kids started to arrive, the magic was infectious. We needed to take some pictures of the preschoolers for a super secret project, and I decided that it would be brilliant to take the pictures outside. So, we bundled them up, one by one, in their boots and all. They stood in front of a short, snow-laced tree outside the school with a Santa hat on, as the snow fell from the sky. They thought it was about the best thing ever. And you know what? So did I.

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Gingerbread Week!
December 07th, 2009 | Author: Valerie

Gingerbread Collage

This week we’re focusing on gingerbread men and houses. Today we did two crafts. One was set up as an Imagination Table activity. I put out gingerbread man and gingerbread house cutouts along with stickers, rickrack, and glitter glue pens. As is often the case, I had an idea of what the kids would do, and they did even more amazing things. I’ve learned that with these types of activities it’s better to not make a sample–just put the materials out, and see what they do with them. This activity was no exception. The kids amazed me, as you can see in the collage above. A couple of the kids even made a second picture so we could hang a few on the wall.

Also, they love this kind of stuff. They can take it so seriously…

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My little artists!

Our second craft was Amy Karol’s Holiday Garland, as pictured in the top left-hand corner of the collage. I spent a good portion of my day cutting out the gingerbread men and sand dollars, then one of my kindergarteners punched the holes in them. While they had open gym time, I threaded the gingerbread men and sand dollars on red ribbon and hung it over the stockings we made last Friday (one for each of the students in the school. They look so cool covering the wall!). It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I hope the rest of the week is as fun as today was. Stay tuned for more gingerbread updates. There may be a gingerbread town in our future… I can hardly wait!

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Stitches
December 03rd, 2009 | Author: Valerie

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Several of my students have been working diligently on embroidery projects this year, and another has been completed! I’m so proud of my kiddos for their hard work on these projects. Jessie decided to turn her embroidery project into a pillow, so yesterday afternoon I ran out to Quilter’s Way (my favorite shop) to pick out a fabric for the back of the pillow. I was instructed to get “hot pink.” I picked two for her to choose from. She picked the one I thought she would–a marbled pink.

I showed her how to mark the fabric for cutting, lay it out, and pin. Then I taught her how to do the hand stitching. She was suspicious of the layout of the fabrics for stitching (right sides together). I tried to explain it in terms I thought she would understand, but finally just told her that when you sew, you have to sew the right sides together so that the stitches and raw edges are hidden. That’s when she finally got it. That’ll teach me to dumb it down! At one frustrating point, though, I did ask her, “Can you just trust me?”

She responded, “Oh this? No.” Gotta love the honesty.

She is terrified that it’s going to take her “forever” to hand stitch this pillow together, but I suspect she’ll have it all done by the middle of next week. It’s a Christmas present for her sister, so I know she wants to get it done. She’s motivated. She’ll concentrate on it and do it. I just know it. And then? You can see pictures of the beautiful finished product.

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Never Too Old to Finger Paint
November 10th, 2009 | Author: Valerie

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Yesterday we finger painted frames. They’re not done because they were not dry enough to finish with the permanent markers. Eventually, the finger prints will become little bugs. I will post pictures when they are finished. The kids were so excited to finger paint, though. The preschoolers do a lot of painting and finger painting, but apparently the older kiddos don’t. Little Miss Val was so excited when she found out we were finger painting. She said, “Miss Val, I haven’t gotten to finger paint at all this year!” I told her that was just wrong. She agreed.

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Last Week
November 10th, 2009 | Author: Valerie

So, last week was *just* a bit crazy in Miss Val’s life; it was the week before she moved. This essentially meant that there was no time for updates here at Imagination Table. That does not mean we weren’t doing fun things at school, though. I needed that time for sanity time!

On Wednesday, for Imagination Day, we talked about what we do for our friends and for ourselves on bad days. We got in a circle and went around and talked. The kids’ answers were so thoughtful and sweet. I’ve got such a great group of kids. The list kiddo to share was my first-grade boy. He said that when a friend is having a bad day, he likes to play with them. When he’s having a bad day, though, he just goes crazy. Boy, could I relate with that one! After going around the circle, I told the kids what I like to do for my friends and myself when having a bad day–eat ice cream. So, we ate ice cream. The kids decided that with me around they were going to start having a lot of bad days. I was informed I better always have ice cream on hand! They didn’t know it, but Miss Val hadn’t had a great day, and they sure made her day better!

* * *

Thursday was cooking day. Now, this one was a challenge! I needed to come up with a cooking activity that didn’t require anything from Miss Val’s kitchen, since it was packed! So, we made dirt. This is one of my favorites, and the kids always end up loving it, even if they’re a little concerned at first.

I’ve been working on some redirecting with the kids when they first arrive at after care and also when their parents come. I tend to get a lot of , “Miss Val, what are we doing today?” when they first arrive. I’ve been redirecting with, “Hi, Miss Val! How are you today? Did you have a good day?” And I do a similar redirect when their parents arrive, because Mom or Dad often get, “What’s for dinner?” So, I redirect with, “Hi, Mom! Did you have a good day?” They’re starting to catch on. But on Thursday, Little Miss Val came to after care with a bit of an attitude. It went something like this:

LMV: What are we cooking today?

MV: Hi, Miss Val! How was your day?

LMV: No! I asked, “What are we cooking today?”

LMV’s teacher: You’re being rude.

LMV: Come on! What are we cooking?

MV: Dirt.

LMV: No, really.

MV: Dirt.

LMV: <pause> <big smile> Really?! With worms and everything?!

MV: Yes! Now, can we start over?

LMV: Hi, Miss Val! How was your day?

MV: It was good. How about yours?

So, if you’re wondering what dirt is, here’s the easy peasy recipe:

  • Chocolate Pudding
  • Crushed Oreos (I let the kids use my Pampered Chef Food Chopper to crush the Oreos)
  • Gummy Worms

The key to eating dirt is to get as messy as possible. And, if you do it right, the plates will look something like this when the kids are done:

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* * *

Friday I went on my break and almost didn’t make it back. My car decided to cause trouble. After trips to two different car shops, it was all fixed, and I called my boss to find out if he wanted me to come in. He told me it was up to me, since I was moving the next day. But he said, “I think the kids would really like to see you. They keep asking when we’re going to do something special. Do you know what that means?”

I told him I’d be right there.

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