Multi-Age Learning Environments ...

I had to use a bit of humour in this photo.  Of coarse, they are both
students.  But watching the response from our littlest sprout & growing
confidence on one of our medium size sprouts highlights
the power of multi-age learning at work! 

Our learning studio offers lots of ways to learn: private tutoring, single-age group classes, and multi age classes.  While I love teaching in all environments, I have a special place in my heart for teaching a multi-age classroom.  Our multi-age classes are typically broken down into 3 year age brackets.  For example our Signing Time Classes are geared for children and babies (0-3 years).  I know the concept of multiple ages in an environment can be overwhelming for some parents and teachers.  In this post, I wanted to take some time to share with you why I adore the multi-age environment as well as barriers that exist in our multi-age classes to help you decide which type of learning enviroment best suites your sprout. 

In my opinion, I see some of the most sustained and independent results from sprouts who participate in our multi-age learning activites either in our classrooms or at playgroup.   One off the most compelling studies I have read on multi-age learning groups was written by Dr. Patricia Porter.  She higlighted 5 benefit areas that I have seen living, breathing and working in our multi age environments.  I think they are best presented the way she did so take a look at this excerpt.

Benefits of multi-age learning environments ...

We use work space levels to help older sprouts. Maintain
independence while still inspiring younger sprouts!

-  "Not all children in every age bracket learn at the same pace. Your child might benefit from being with children who are at his or her level of learning."

- "Children learn from each other and older children can help younger children learn while benefiting their own learning. Teaching is a great way to learn."

- "Multi-age classrooms encourage responsibility for learning. Children are encouraged to explore and challenge their own abilities in areas like problem solving, teamwork, and cooperation."

- "Friendships -  Children can make friends with older or younger children depending on their maturity.  Our society requires us to interact across age levels.  From a social perspective the older child learns compassion and patience for younger students and the younger children are challenged and inspired by the skills off the older students."

- Sense of security - children feel less threatened by change and are able to concentrate more on learning in multi-age environments."






The mulit-age approach does come along with a few challenges.  You should expect that the multi age class is going to be a "busy" class.  There is, in fact, a lot going on!  This is why we limit class size to ensure that we can keep everyone having fun and moving forward.  Sometimes the busy nature of our class means it gets louder than a single age group class.  But it is just as likely to get so quite you can hear a pin drop due to the laser focus of our little sprouts..  Because we have children working at different maturity and skill levels 3 children working on the same project may be working on entirely different skill sets.  A baby working on our craft project might simply be enjoying the tactile experience of finger painting her thumbprint, while the toddler is focused on placing those thumbprints perfectly on her project, and the pre-k sprout is working on all of that and his writing or pre-writing skills.  Our multi-age class encourages independence and cooperation which is awesome.  We are helping our littles to understand how to make space to accomplish thier goals while working as a part of team to learn larger lessons. 

One of the questions I hear parents asking each other far more frequently in single age classes is "How old is she or  he?" shortly after a child does some absolutely adorable signing or displays a skill set we are focusing on with ease.  It is often followed by, "So exactly how many months?"  As a mom ... I totally get it.  It's hard not to want to grab for a measuring stick to evaluate and assess where our littles are on the learning curve.  Every parent wants to see their little be successful.  However, there has been a ton of research that shows searching for assesment to early doesn't just stress out mom and dad - it can also intimidate littles.  The purpose of our class is to have fun, learn and play together!  So no matter which learning environment you choose remember your priority at any sprout event is to enjoy fun learning time with your little.  We will work on goals and targets together individually after class ... learning time is play time!

 

We look forward to signing and PLAYING with you and your  sprout soon!!