![]() I thought that the puppets might provide opportunities for the children to interact more deeply with one another. The children had also formed friendships and were playing well with one another. Neither class had gotten involved in a new project, so I thought it was a good time to introduce some new materials for play. At the time that I decided to introduce puppets, the children had just completed projects on automobile repair and color with stained glass. We talked about using puppets, but I had not made them available during the first semester. Throughout the year, I saw their language abilities increase, along with instances when they showed initiative and took leadership roles, and I was impressed at the level of their engagement in investigations of topics-from shadow play to pizza to automobile repair to stained glass.Īt the beginning of the year, the center’s director and I spoke about ways to promote language development. However, as I listened to the children and observed them in action, it was possible to develop many projects from the children’s interests. When the school year began, many of the children in my classroom lacked the language skills many would consider necessary for a sustained study of any topic. This was my first year at the Warren Early Childhood Center, and my first year of teaching special education. One of the boys, Ruben, spoke very little English at the beginning of the year. In addition to direct instruction, the children received speech, occupational, and physical therapies. ![]() Their disabilities ranged from developmental delay to communication disorder to moderate mental handicap to multiple disabilities. There were 10 children in the morning (five boys, five girls) and nine in the afternoon (eight boys, one girl). The children in my classes attend school 3 hours a day, 5 days a week. The classroom environment is designed to create a warm atmosphere that encourages learning and creativity. The walls are covered with children's transcribed conversations, photographs, documentation, and child-created work. The school is inspired by the practices and philosophies of the Project Approach and Reggio Emilia. The Warren Early Childhood Center, where the activities described in this article took place, provides services for 340 children in kindergarten, preschool, developmental preschool, and developmental kindergarten. The article concludes with teacher reflections and the Indiana Foundations for Young Children that were addressed by the puppet activities. During their study of puppets, the children created topic webs, used and created different types of puppets, listened to guest experts, and participated in a workshop conducted by nationally renowned puppeteers. This article describes the ways in which puppets were used in two preschool classes of 3- to 5-year-old children with special needs in Indianapolis, Indiana. "Fixing Puppets So They Can Talk": Puppets and Puppet Making in a Classroom of Preschoolers with Special Needs ![]() Mirar esta página en español Home Journal Contents Issue Contents
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