Thursday, March 22, 2012
A beautiful poem
What a nice surprise I received today with the application of a prospective CDS fifth grade student. He had come to visit the class recently and had really enjoyed his day at our school. His parents asked him to write a note to include with his application stating why he wanted to be admitted to Country Day. He decided to write a poem/song which truly touched my heart. From his perspective, Country Day gave him the key to his future. Of course, we granted his request to join our student body and know he will be a great addition...maybe the new CDS poet laureate!
Monday, March 5, 2012
Creativity
I have been thinking a lot lately about the importance of giving kids the time, space and materials to exercise their creative minds on a daily basis. Since much of the influence in my undergraduate work was by association with Dr. E Paul Torrance, who was a professor at UGA in the 60's, creativity has always been of great importance to our practices here at Country Day School. Dr. Torrance did much of the groundbreaking work in this field and is called the father of creative giftedness. I was just at the right place at the right time to be fortunate enough to be influenced by his genius. There is now a international center for the study creativity at UGA which continues his work and research.
We think immediately of the creativity observed during children's work with art and the multitude of materials available to express themselves visually. But there arealso so many other opportunities during the school day to allow kids the time, space and material to exercise their creative muscles. On the playground Preschoolers simply need some sheets to turn a piece of climbing equipment into a castle and set the scene for a creative and elaborate story to be acted out. A mud hole on the yard provides a space for creative play for many kids to think thru scenarios with some very creative and collaborative ideas. The nature studio presents many bits and pieces to make houses for imaginary fairies or to design constructions out of natural items in the sand table. All it really takes is time, space and materials, and the willingness of teachers to understand the value of letting children be creative in many ways. To be continued.....
We think immediately of the creativity observed during children's work with art and the multitude of materials available to express themselves visually. But there arealso so many other opportunities during the school day to allow kids the time, space and material to exercise their creative muscles. On the playground Preschoolers simply need some sheets to turn a piece of climbing equipment into a castle and set the scene for a creative and elaborate story to be acted out. A mud hole on the yard provides a space for creative play for many kids to think thru scenarios with some very creative and collaborative ideas. The nature studio presents many bits and pieces to make houses for imaginary fairies or to design constructions out of natural items in the sand table. All it really takes is time, space and materials, and the willingness of teachers to understand the value of letting children be creative in many ways. To be continued.....
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