A WONDERful experience

Today I visited an amazing preschool up in Ventura County, called WONDER. My mom is actually the one who created this preschool. She is the head of all child development within the Conejo Valley Unified School District, she also obviously is in charge of this preschool program. I was super excited to finally get to see the kids at the school because I have been helping her with plans and ideas for what seems like forever. The preschool is fairly new, it launched last Spring. It has definitely grown a lot since then! There are currently 3 classes with two more opening in this coming Spring. The class I visited today was the 4 year-old group. There were 10 students today, which is their small class. They are all very smart and very friendly so I got to talk to a few before I observed them with their technology. One thing I should mention about WONDER is that it is very different from our traditional school model, even though it is technically part of the public school system. The whole basis of WONDER is exploration. It is a very hands on class that allows students to develop their own knowledge and learning. The classes are very inquiry-based and very student centered. The kids get to choose what activities they want to do and are able to explore all the resources in AND outside the classroom. The classes take place both in and outdoors. The students have so many places to explore and discover around them. I intended on my visit focusing on the iPads that the kids use(which I did) but I noticed the other technology around the room as well. The first thing that really caught my eye was one of the tables with little bits of plastic and metal on it. Upon closer look I realized it was a digital camera that had been taken apart. Apparently the kids decided to take all the pieces of the camera apart and sort them. They had started the process of putting it back together. This was one of the centers that the kids were currently working on. They had also been working on their photography this morning, that's right, I said photography! This class of 4 year olds has their own digital camera that THEY use, not the teacher, to take photos of projects they are working on. They have been documenting a pumpkin they have. Very cute! Not only are these kids documenting learning with photos they also edit their own pictures! They use the two desktop computers they have to edit their photos they take. It's incredible! While talking to their teacher Kari, she said she showed them how to edit the photos but the kids all work together to decide what to do. She doesn't tell them anything, she just let's them figure it out. This is also her way of working with the iPads. Currently they have 4 and are just starting to implement them. Carrie has been downloading and testing out all different apps to determine which ones are the best. Most of the apps today dealt with counting, matching, rhyming, writing, and patterns. The kids were able to maneuver these apps with little issues. The cool thing about these apps is that most were able to talk to the kids so they didn't need much adult help. This way Kari is able to observe and assess the students. These apps do a wonderful job at providing quick and efficient assessments. Even I was able to watch the students and understand what the " standard" was and assess if they were able to get the concept. The other great thing is that the iPads provided variety for minds that tend to get bored quickly. After playing with a certain app for a while the kids were able to go to the home screen and choose a new game. Kari has been doing a great job on letting the kids explore the iPads. She is very patient with them and gives them ideas of what to do, but always let's them explore and discover for themselves which is the most important part of WONDER. Overall I had such an awesome time watching the kids. It was amazing to see what their class gets to do. I think I really enjoyed it too because not only was it incorporating technology but this class was definitely a step towards the more student centered model that we need! I also enjoyed it because this preschool is now at the site of my elementary school, so whenever I go back I get to relive memories of my own childhood. Overall very productive day of observing and gaining wonderful ideas. And just FYI, I went with my theme of the day and did this whole post using my own iPad, even the pictures!