Comments on: Large group activities in preschool

By: Deborah J. Stewart

Deborah J. Stewart — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 23:46:04 +0000

Thank you Tom – I always value your perspective. I too find large group to provide many benefits. I think it is all in the approach. I also find that when all the children sit together doing something interesting and engaging, they will spend more time at it.

By: Teacher Tom

Teacher Tom — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 14:42:54 +0000

I see large group activities as the most important thing we do at our school. Learning to work together, to learn from one another, to be able to say “Look what we did,” rather than “Look what I did,” is why we educate children in groups. I’ve found that large group activities tend accelerate learning in a way that one-on-one or small group activities simply can’t.

Thanks for this post, Deborah!

By: Anna

Anna — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:46:36 +0000

I try to do at least one large group art activity for every unit we cover. The kids love working with each other on a big project and the language that goes on is awesome!

By: Deborah J. Stewart

Deborah J. Stewart — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 05:38:19 +0000

Thank you Karen for your thoughtful comments. I share your concern about finding the right approach to whole group activities. I enjoyed watching both classes as they relaxed and played together. In a sense, this was not about the art as much as it was about spending time together and sharing a common experience in the process. I hope others will read your comment above – I appreciate your thoughts immensely.

By: Karen Nemeth

Karen Nemeth — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 05:28:06 +0000

Hi! You know, usually I advise against large group activities in classrooms with multiple languages, but I can see the value of these examples. I’m really glad you shared these. The problem with different languages in a whole group lesson in preschool is that the teacher can’t connect with each individual child to be sure what they are learning from the experience and the children who speak other languages get ‘lost in the sauce’. But, that’s a concern when teachers try to force whole group teacher-directed lessons on the class. When children can share in a big art project like the example here, this would give the children plenty of time to explore, to observe each other’s discoveries and to chatter with each other for some great home language experiences. These examples give me some new thoughts about how a big art experience lets diverse children ‘explore, collaborate, communicate and create’!