What is a Student-Led Conference?

Student-led conferences are a celebration of learning that involves the student and the family. On this day, students take ownership of their learning and share their learning journeys and progress with their families. The SLC’s encourage students to think and talk about their learning with knowledge and confidence. Students use a Student-Led Conference Passport, to help them navigate through the day.

The Shape Test

A paper cube that Oliver made after the paper experiment led to a discussion about 3-dimensional shapes.

The team wondered about the strength of paper shapes and decided to test their theories.

The team wondered:

  • if some paper shapes were stronger than others.
  • which shapes they could make to test their theories.

The team recalled a previous learning experience of going on a shape hunt and decided to refer back to the activity to choose the 3-dimensional shapes they wanted to make and test. When choosing the shapes Oliver stated, “Sphere is impossible for me cause how can you fold the paper round. I want to make a cylinder!”

Eli pointed at the pentagonal prism, “I want to make that one.”

Having thought about their options for paper, they decided to choose card stock instead of paper for their test as they believed it would be stronger than the A4 paper.

Oliver made his first paper cylinder by rolling up the paper and fastening it with tape. However, he quickly noticed that the edges weren’t flat and realised that this would impact the test. He decided to make a second cylinder, taking care to keep the edges of the shape levelled. During testing, Oliver discovered that the top and bottom edges of his first cylinder were not stable enough, so he decided to make a new cylinder.

 

Having looked at the pentagonal shape, Eli realised that to fold a pentagon, he needed to divide the paper into five equal parts. Eli initially used a ruler to draw lines but found that the width of one ruler was too narrow, which resulted in a lot of extra space at one end.

Then, decided to use the width of two rulers, but each section was too wide and there wasn’t enough space on the card for 5 equal sections.

Eli shared this challenge with the teacher, explaining that he wanted to divide the long edge of the paper into five equal parts.

Having heard Eli’s challenge, the teacher decided to bring Eli’s attention to the concept of measurement to think about what he already knows about the function of hash marks and numbers on a measuring tool.

Ms. Eileen “How long is that edge? How did you measure it?”

  • Eli thought about this and then pointed to the ruler and said, “Use ruler.”

Eli used the ruler to solve his measurement challenge, learning that the length of the paper was about 30 centimetres.

Ms. Eileen “How can we divide 30 into 5 equal parts?”

Eli found the unit cubes and counted out 30 unit cubes to represent the 30cms. Then, he divided them into 5 equal parts, with each part being 6cm.

Finally, Eli drew out the lines and folded his paper pentagonal shape for the test. The researchers were now ready to test their shapes!

The team decided to choose books that were of a similar size for their test. As they placed one book at a time on the shapes, they began to see that although the shapes were made with paper, they were extremely strong.

The team had enough books to reach a total of 19 books for each shape. Then, they ran out of books!

As they didn’t have enough of the same books in the classroom to support the progression of the experiment, they decided to test their shapes in the library.

The team’s paper and shape experiments have allowed them to think about the function of shapes and materials in design and engineering and the impact of forces like compression and tension that act on structures. Through their experimentation, they continue to explore how the design can impact the strength and stability of structures.

Changing the Ramps

We noticed that the children were using two different ramps to create their structures in the block play area. The children’s conversations revealed that they were exploring the concepts ‘speed’ and ‘direction’ as they shared ‘how’ the balls travel on the ramps.

We decided to gather the children to talk about what they noticed about the ramps.

Similarities

  • Jeongyoon “You can slide balls on both.”
  • Eli “They can both be used for building.”
  • Oxford “The brown one the ball can go zig zag the white it can’t because the brown is big (wider).”

Differences

  • Oxford “One is big and one is small. The colour is different one is brown and other is white.”
  • Oliver “One is made out of wood and one is made with plastic.”
  • Liz “One is long and one is short.”
  • Eli “The brown is not narrow and the white is narrow. Because when I tried to put a big ball on it is got stuck on it.”
  • Oxford “The brown is think and white is smaller (thinner).”
  • Lydia “The small ball can go on the white and the big balls on the brown.”

We noticed that the children used descriptive words to categorise the ramps. We decided to build on this knowledge to see how they stretch their thinking and vocabulary by exploring new textures and materials in their scientific inquiry. 

Teacher “What would we change if we want the balls to travel on the ramps differently?”

  • Lydia “Use the pencil to colour it.”
  • Oliver “The white glue, we can add glue on a zig zag line, the ball when you roll it, it will go bouncy.”
  • Eli “We can put tape here and if you roll the ball too fast it might roll and go away from the ramp.”
  • Oxford “We can put string on it and use tape and then make lines.”
  • Wyatt “We can put water on it and the ball will go really fast.”
  • Eli “You can put wood (chips) inside the ramp and then the ball might go up.”
  • Oliver “We dig some holes on the two sides and get the circles made out of plastic and stick them on the sides so when the balls go down, the circles will spin.”
  • Oxford “Maybe we can put another stick on the brown ramp.”
  • Eli “You can stick some paper on the brown ramp and make it higher and higher.”

As the children shared how the ramps could be modified, they began to hypothesise about what might happen with their experiment.  

  • We wonder what the children might notice about the ‘speed’ and ‘direction’ the balls travel because of the ‘changes’ they have made to the ramps (causation).
  • We wonder how the children might record the theories and observations of their experiments.  

Rocks, Crystals and Minerals

Groups of children have finding, exploring and wondering about the different rocks and stones they found in the Early Years garden. They often share their ideas and questions to learn about them; what the rocks are used for how they are made and where they come from.

  • Oliver “We want to find lots of crystals and we want to be good at finding sapphires. I want to be a crystal hunter.”
  • Eli “I was telling Mr. Seth which ones can draw different colours.”

What we know and think…

  • Eunbyul “I think this crystal inside have a diamond.”
  • Lydia “MY mummy home have diamonds. I like the diamonds.”
  • Oliver “Diamonds is a crystal that can break through glass. Its like super strong nails, if you scratch it on the glass then it will break.”
  • Oxford “I think that (diamond) is not real.”
  • Oliver “In games I see there are crystals. The name of the crystals one is diamond and gold.”
  • Liz “I think school is not have crystals. I think inside the stone there is nothing.”
  • Oxford “I think we don’t know why Eli can draw with it.”
  • Wyatt “I think diamonds is not in the school because school outside there is diamonds are not there.”
  • Jeongyoon “I think diamond is not real and not in the whole world.”

We wonder…

  • Oxford “Where did you find them?”
  • Eli “In the sand and some of them I cracked them.”
  • Oliver “I found them in the ground make out of bricks.”
  • Oxford “What is in the rocks? Why can he use the rocks to write? What makes it gold inside the rocks?”
  • Jeongyoon “Are crystals real or not real? What is a crystal?”
  • Oliver “I only know 4 names of crystals. I want to know the names of other crystals?”
  • Eli “Which one is a rock and which one is a crystal?”
  • Lydia “Why are some crystals are blue or green? Why are crystals so beautiful?”
  • Morning “Where are the crystals from?”

Having noticed this ongoing interest in rocks, crystals and minerals, the teachers have organised a field trip to the Nanjing Geological Museum.

We wonder what the children might uncover from their investigations and observations at the museum.

A Table for Lego

Sungjune, a Grade 9 student reached out to K2A to ask if he could build something for us as he was engaged in a product design exploration. As the children would often struggle to sit around the rectangular table that we have in the classroom, the teachers suggested a table for Lego projects.

After a few days, Sungjune shared 3 draft plans for the table. The drafts were presented to the children for feedback and questions.

As the children discussed the designs, we noticed that they were considering the shape, space and purpose of the table. Finally, they voted for the table they preferred the most.

The children’s preferences have now been shared with Sungjune. As we know that the children are always curious about building and making, we wonder what they might learn from observing Sungjune’s process of building the table.

What do they eat?

Conversations about living things in the ocean revealed wonderings about the food living things need to survive in the ocean. The teachers discussed Morning’s statement about ocean rabbits. Considering the words Morning used to describe the sea creature, we wondered if she was making a direct translation from Mandarin to English. Perhaps she was referring to a particular sea slug. We wondered if Morning would find a picture of the ocean rabbits she referred to in the picture books.

We invited the team to explore the picture books about the ocean, to see what they could learn about what ocean creatures need to survive.

Wyatt was puzzled about some of the sea creatures, “I don’t know what turtles like to eat”, he exclaimed. As he turned the pages and read the information in the pictures, he began to make connections by sharing what he noticed. “Seals like to eat this one!”, he said, pointing to kelp.

As the researchers documented their learning and observations on paper, we noticed that their drawings showed their growing understanding of ‘survival’ and the ‘interdependence’ of living things. However, it was hard to interpret the information in their drawings as they were their first notes and quick sketches that illustrated their process of meaning-making.

While the researchers flipped through the pages of the picture book, they paused and discussed the sea otter.

 

We decided to take this opportunity to help them tune into their research through the inquiry of one specific animal.

As they watched a short video on the sea otter, they learned that it loves to eat fish, octopus and crabs, and documented this new information in their research paper.

As the researchers dig deeper into the concepts of survival’ and ‘interdependence’, we wonder how they might share what they learn through different medium.

The First Stories

The moviemakers have been creating their stories using the Stop Motion app. Eunbyul was the first to finish his first movie.

We noticed that Eunbyul had taken over 400 photographs to create his 30-second movie. We wondered about the sequence of the story and the positioning of the objects in the photographs. We decided to invite him to present his written story plan and his first movie to the class, hoping that Eunbyul’s peers would be able to give him feedback that could improve his creation.

  • What did they notice in the images?
  • What elements would Eunbuyl need to work on to improve his movie?

The audience was captivated by Eunbyul’s movie. They loved his Pikachoo characters and were excited to see how he brought his characters to life.

Eunbyul explained that he was still unsure of how to show a snowfall. The audience gave him specific feedback to improve his story.

  • Follow the story plan.
  • Make sure pictures don’t include parts of the moviemaker’s body.
  • Take multiple photographs to show the slow movement of the objects

The teachers decided to use two objects to demonstrate what the audience meant by slow intentional movements.

Eunbyul thought about the feedback and went on to make his second movie. This time, he followed his story plan, mindful of the sequence of events that the photographs needed to show.

Excitement about the movies rippled across the class, with Oxford, Oliver and Eli deciding to create their own stories using the app. The team sat with paper and writing tools to create a story plan.

Oxford picked up an iPad and reached out to his friends to learn how to use the app Stop Motion.

  • Oxford “Eunbyul taught me a little bit how to use the Stop Motion app. He showed me where to touch and not touch and he explained how to do it. I go and make it. I first touched the Stop Motion movie app, then I took photos. I took 76 photos for the movie.”

How might we capture beauty?

An unexpected observation presented an opportunity for the children to explore ‘beauty’ when Lydia paused while walking across the playground and said, “…a beautiful cherry blossom tree”.

The children collected the soft, shaded flowers that had fallen under the tree. We realised that the flowers would soon wilt and fall from the tree. We wondered how the children might capture the memory of the tree.

Teacher “How can we remember what the tree looks like?”

  • Lydia “We can take a photo!”
  • Motong “We can draw a picture!”

Having agreed to Motong’s suggestion, the artists went to the atelier to find the mark-making tools they needed.

Then, they positioned themselves in front of the tree to create a memory of the beautiful cherry blossom tree.

The artists captured details in their drawings, sharing their ability to use art to express their creativity.

Yui decided to include the resting lions by the side of the tree, Lydia included the artists in her drawing, Liz the elements of nature and Motong’s drawing of the cherry blossom tree showed how he considered, shape, texture and perspective in his artwork.

When Lydia was ready to colour in her tree, she explained that the bark and flowers hadmany different colours”, which is why it was ‘beautiful’.

Dividing the Garden Plot

Following on from the Garden Project meeting, Oliver and Liz, the two K2A Garden Project representatives picked up their clipboards, paper and pens and went back to the garden plot, to see how they could solve the problem.

We wondered what suggestions they had to divide the space equally.

Oliver walked around the plot thoughtfully. Liz drew the square plot on her paper. The first suggestion was to give each child one space in the plot to plant a seed. This posed a problem as we would not be able to see where the seeds have been planted and who they belong to. They walked around the plot thoughtfully.

The teacher decided to help the team think about sharing by asking “If you had a cookie and you needed to share it equally, how would you do that?

Oliver drew the cookie on his paper, to show how he would cut it equally first in half, then in quarters and then into eighths. He spent more time in thought and then made a connection. “Give each person a line.” Explained Oliver, drawing horizontal lines across the plot on his paper. However, he quickly decided that this was the solution he was looking for.

Finally, Liz and Oliver decided that the plot should be divided exactly in half.

They documented their ideas on paper, using marks, words, symbols and signs to make their thinking visible to others. They included signs that read, ‘K2A’ and ‘K2B’, on each side of the plot.

Finally, Liz and Oliver presented their process to the class.

We wonder how the gardeners will work out equal shares and what tools they will choose to use to solve the problem.

Lydia joined Oliver to measure the plots. The gardeners recalled using the long measuring tape and twine to measure distance when working on their paper airplane project and decided to use the same tools to measure and divide the plot in half.

We noticed the team working together to read the measurement on the tape. They were wondering what ‘half‘ would be. They tried to read and understand what the numbers on the tape represented. The large column that was in the plot added to the challenge, as although the column appeared to be in the centre of the plot, it was not!

The team worked together, using chopsticks and twine to mark one side and then the other. They ran the twine across the plot to show the division. But was the twine in the middle? How could we be sure it is divided into equal parts?  

Lydia and Oliver used Base 10 Blocks to find the half mark.

  • Oliver “We measured it with a measuring tape and we used the Base 10 Blocks. That’s how we used to measure it. Then we measured how much K2A and K2B space can get. K2A get 90 and K2B get 90. That is the exact half!”

Another task was to decide which plants needed to be taken out of the plot. Oliver carefully observed the plants. Then, he used an iPad to mark the ones that needed to be taken out in ‘red‘ and the ones that needed to remain in ‘green‘. 

The team were ready to share their decisions with the Gardening Project Group at their next meeting. 

An update from Oliver:

  • Oliver “Ms. Hannah told the group the metal shelf is for putting the gardening things like digging shovels, seeds and watering cans. Everyone who was in the group they drew the shelf where we put the things so they will remember where to put the gardening tools.”

PATTERN BLOCK DESIGN CHALLENGE

The students were invited to use Pattern Blocks to create designs. Each pattern block shape had a value. The complete design needed to have a total value of 24, 40 and 60.

Next, the students completed a bar graph using the information in their Pattern Block design.

Instructions:

  1. Use Pattern Blocks to create 3 shape designs that have a value of 24, 40 and 60.
  2. Take a picture of your designs.
  3. Upload your pictures to Seesaw.
  4. Complete the graph to show how many shapes you used in your design.

Creating the designs involved a lot of problem-solving, thinking, calculations and conversations.

What designs might YOU create?

What is the SUM of YOUR design?

The Garden Plots – Making Decisions 

The gardening group (composed of student representatives from each class) gathered to discuss their project. Their task for the day was to document what was still growing in the garden and how they might organise the garden plots.

Thirteen gardeners joined the meeting with Ms. Hannah. They began by revisiting their agreements. The gardeners reflected on what it means to be a respectful listener “We talk one at a time and listen to others as they share their ideas.”

Then, they reflected on what they did during the previous session.

  • Emma “We don’t have many plants.”
  • Oliver “Some plants survive when it was snowing, it means when it’s snowing they are not very scared of the cold. The big plant is dead because it’s not cold protection.”

The team wondered about the ‘temperature’ and what plants ‘need’ to ‘survive’ and thrive.

Which plants might grow in the different seasons?

Which ones will survive?

  • Jacob “Because that big plants got too much water and it would die and too much worm pee pee it will die too.”
  • Logan “Earthworm poo, could it help?”
  • Jenny “Not too much water, not too dry (in Mandarin)”
  • Adelyn “Not too much sun”
  • Oliver “If you get a dragon fruit then dig a whole and then a plant will grow and the flower will grow and it is actually a dragon fruit. If you use the outside part of the strawberry seed and put it in the dirt it will grow strawberries. I know how to grow a watermelon to a shape that you want. If you get a square shape cube and dig a hole and then open it and then close it and then it will be the shape.”
  • Albert “If you grow watermelon then you will get a watermelon tree.
  • Keira: “In my home, there are orange trees.”
  • Jacob “Watermelon black and watermelon white seeds. People can eat the white seeds and plant the black seeds.”
  • Emma: “At my home, I have a paprika tree.
  • Albert: “At my home, I have a bamboo tree.”

Teacher “This is a shared space. We have 5 classes. Which means we need to find a way to share the plots. How might we do this?”

The gardeners gathered their clipboards with paper and writing tools. They looked at the plants in the plot and began to draw to share their observations and thinking.

Teacher” How do you know something is still alive?”

  • Emma “Because the seeds were still in the mud. And it didn’t fall out. Some was out but some not.”

We noticed that the team considered the size and shape of the plots when documenting their thinking. The gardeners were encouraged to think about and explain how they knew the plants were still alive. They used their senses to observe carefully, sharing their theories about the growth of plants and the weather. As they visualised the space, they began to share suggestions on how the plots may be allocated to the different classes in the Early Years.

The gardeners gathered to share what they had learned and to decide on what they would do next.

  • Oliver “One is a bigger plot and one is smaller.”
  • Sophia “Prek-K1 has more children so they use the bigger plot and K2 use the smaller plot.” (in Mandarin)
  • Emma “Also we need to plant so many new plants because only in some places there are plants.”

The gardeners agreed with Sophia’s suggestion.

  • Emma “PreK-K1 has 3 classes and K2 has 2 classes.”
  • Albert “The bigger one to PreK K1 and the smaller one to K2.”
  • George “One class has one space.”

The children took a vote and agreed with George’s idea.

The team’s suggestions were based on the number of classes in each grade level and the number of students in each of them. The teachers wondered how they might encourage the gardeners to show the division of a space.

The Octopus House: A Collaborative Design Project

A group of children have been working together to create a house, which they named ‘The Octopus House‘. They used their imagination and experiences to inform their art-making.

While building the house, we observed the group sharing and listening to ideas presented, then using a range of materials to improve the different elements in their creation.

Working on one creation can be challenging, problems require solutions and disagreements need to be worked out.

We saw the team work through these different challenges, persevering and then celebrating their final design. Finally, they presented their creation to the class. The architects were invited to keep a record of their design using their visual arts skills.

We noticed how they thought about and used shapes, colours and mark-making to record their creation on paper. These creative experiences allow the children to collaborate, persevere, listen, learn and have fun together. 

Games

The teachers noticed that a group of children had been interested in making their games during inquiry playtime. They often used recycled paper and cards to design and create their games.

Recently, the Grade 4 students visited K2, to ask the children about the arcade games. This was connected to their Unit of Inquiry ‘How We Organise Ourselves’.

First, the Grade 4 students conducted a survey, to learn more about the younger children’s interests in games. Then, they returned to create a list and gather feedback to learn “What might make the game fun?”.

  • Jeongyoon “Rules and tag.”
  • Motong “If we don’t have rules and we don’t know how to play.”
  • Oxford “”

We noticed that the children continued to refer to the ‘rules’ in a game. We wondered if the children were making connections with the games they play in their P.E. class, as conversations at the end of the lesson highlight important behaviours that make games fun and engaging. The teachers decided to dig deeper, to learn more about the children’s thinking. The teachers decided to ‘use the discussion to generate new ideas and investigations’.

Why do we need rules in the game?

  • Jeongyoon “If the game has no rules, it’s not a game, because it’s not fun.”
  • Motong “Because we don’t know how to play if we don’t have rules.”
  • Oxford “Rules let us know what we can do and what we can’t do.”

The children highlighted the ‘function’ of rules in the ‘organisation’ of a game. Then, the children drew the games they liked on large chart paper. We noticed that many of the games had mazes. Was this something that interested the team?

We discussed the kinds of games the team would like to make for the other children in the EY. We wondered…

  • How might we gather information to learn about the games that the EY children like to play?
  • What does a game need to have to make it exciting and fun?

The team gathered to discuss their next steps. Could we use a survey or draw some graphs to show our findings?

Oxford chose to create a survey that included three games. He planned to ask the children in the EY to choose their favourite game, to help him decide which game he was going to finally make. The three games to choose from were ‘Whack-a-Mole’, ‘Maze’ or ‘Treasure Hunt’.

Motong chose to create a survey with three choices of games for children in the Early Years. His games were ‘Car Race’, ‘Solider Game’, ‘Code Guessing.

Jeongyoon chose to use the maze game and decided to write some questions that would help him find out how he could make his game fun for the children in the EY.

  • Question 1: Do you like water in the maze game?
  • Question 2: Do you like easy games or hard games?

The Story of Paper

Over the last few months, the children have been borrowing books from the library to learn how to make and test paper airplanes.

Having observed this passion and continued interest in paper crafts and origami, the teachers decided to gather a group of children to talk about what they like to make.

  • Oliver “I like to make gifts and paper airplanes.”
  • Eli “Paper airplanes and TV.”
  • Motong “Paper airplanes.” 

What can we use origami for?

  • Eli “For playing and you can make games.”
  • Motong “You can use origami to fold things and you can test.”
  • Oliver “We can use it for using, like making a box and use it to put something you need in it. We can use a super big paper to fold a bookshelf and put books on it.”

  • Eli “If you just put the paper, the paper will smash and the books will fall down.”
  • Oliver “We can fold it many layers, fold them together.”
  • Motong “You can put some boxes under the paper to make it strong. We can make animals and play with them.”
  • Eli “We make paper airplanes to see which one goes the farthest.”

The team drew their origami creations on chart paper and put samples next to them, to let others know what the designs looked like.

We noticed that the team were wondering about the ‘properties’ of paper, particularly its ‘strength’ and ‘versatility’. We decided to gather the team, to see if they could create experiments to test the strength of paper.

  • We wonder how much weight paper can hold.
  • We wonder how we can make the paper stronger.

Lightning

Lydia was excited to share a photograph her mum had taken during a thunderstorm.

  • Lydia “Me mummy took the picture, mummy said ‘WOW, this is so cool’. This everywhere purple colour. The lighting was white. Lightning have the water and small things. Lightning not so good, the people will die. There is a little blue. Lightning comes from the clouds. Daddy said when the weather is very hot there will be a lot of lightning.”

Lydia presented her photograph to her friends.

  • Lydia “On the window we can see lightning.”
  • Jeongyoon “I think the light bulb is using the thunderbolt.”
  • Oliver “The clouds are made out of gas and the gas gets hot. Because in the morning one day it was very hot day and many days later it was still very hot and then there was lightning.”
  • Oxford “I think this is real because there are too many lights.”
  • Eli “This one looks like its from the Thor’s hammer. He is a superhero. You see this at the nighttime, I see it, hear boom, boom!”
  • Motong “It’s in the night because of the lightning we can see in the night. There is no lightning in the day.”
  • Oliver “At home when I was eating supper, then I finished then mummy was waiting to go to sleep and then I looked at the window and I see 10 maybe 20 lightning.”
  • Oxford and Motong “This have like fireworks.”
  • Eli “We can get hurt, when you stand by a tree, you will be hit with lightning, my mummy said.”
  • Oliver “The lightning comes and it goes across and goes like this (like zig zag). The clouds have a gas, it’s a kind of smoke that is made out of water.”
  • Eli “I feel Scared.”
  • Oliver “I think it looks cool.” Wyatt and Motong agreed.
  • Eileen “I think it’s beautiful, the shapes and the colours. We can only see this in some kinds of weather.”

The children began to share how they felt about lightning. Lydia disagreed with some of the statements. The teachers suggested that she think of a way to find out how different people feel about lightning so she can learn why they feel that way. We were curious about the connection Jeongyoon made between the light bulb and lightning. We decided to dig deeper, to hear what the other children thought about the connection he made. Teacher “How does the lightning make the lightbulb work?”

  • Eli “This light has light. It is made out of power not of lightning. When thunder crashed into the tree and the pipe is in the tree and then it goes through the pipe into the electricity thing and then into the light.”
  • Motong “I think the sun will rip and then the lightning will come down.”
  • Eli “The sunlight can go in a pipe and then the sunlight goes into the power and then the many sunlight comes in and then the light works.”
  • Oliver “Some people get a big box and it also has a roof on top of it and the sun shines into it and then it turns it into electricity and then the lights work.”
  • Wyatt “The light go off when the rain will come.”
  • Oxford “I think in the pipe there is electricity. The electricity comes from the sun. A pipe is in the sun.”

Eli “This is lightning and it crashed to the tree and this is pipes, and the lightning goes inside the pipes and it goes inside the house. And this is light, and the light works. And then other lightning comes and other lightning comes and gets light to here. We don’t want to waste power so we want to use the light during lightning to do power. And these this picture of lightning, when the lightning goes in very slow and then when it’s a rainy day sometimes lightning comes out the black clouds because it’s a rainy day. When they are black they can make lightning really big.”

Oliver “This is inside the computer, and there was some cables connected to the lights. One lightning was blue colour and one was green and one was pink. And then I see in the floor there was fire. On top of my house there is something that makes it. If lightning comes here then the light becomes more bright.”

We noticed that the children were discussing the concepts of ‘power’ ‘safety‘ and ‘energy’ and how we use them in our daily lives. 

Our inquiry continues…

The Language of Lego

The Lego table is a popular space in the classroom. The children gather to use Lego to recreate familiar structures and objects from their experiences. Often they use these objects to engaging storytelling.

A group of three children enjoy creating swords and other objects to tell stories about superheroes. Noticing their continued interest in storytelling and Lego, the teachers wondered how they might stretch the children’s ideas to help them explore a range of tools and materials that they could use to tell their stories.

The team began to put their ideas down on paper, drawing favourite characters and sharing stories that they might want to create.

After a few suggestions, the team were stuck for ideas. We decided to ask the rest of the class if they had suggestions for building with Lego.

  • Jeongyoon – boat, a bike and a house
  • Oliver – a big box to put the Lego

The team had more ideas to work with. They drew their ideas on paper. Then, they used Lego to make the different objects and characters.

How might we use Lego to tell our stories?

The team watched a short animated Lego movie. The creator used a stop-motion app to create it. The team wondered if they could use the same tools to tell their own stories.

What more do we need to tell a story?

We read a familiar story and revisited the elements that help us create and tell stories. Characters, a setting, problems, solutions and events in a story can make it more interesting.

How might we use what we know about storytelling to create new stories?

The children used a story planner to think about the different events that will take place in their Lego stories. They discussed their ideas with each other, adding more details as they received feedback from their friends.

One child tapped into his prior knowledge, connecting with the different craft moves authors and illustrators use to tell their stories. He decided to include speech bubbles (voice) and movement (short strokes to show actions) in his drawings.

Beautiful

What makes something ‘beautiful’?

The children frequently gather at the writing table to draw, colour, write and create using a range of different materials available at this centre.

Intricate designs, drawings, ideas and props for stories often emerge as a result of their inquiry. As the semester progressed, we noticed that the paper creations were becoming more complex.

The children made computers, puppets with moving parts and 3-dimensional art.

We decided to speak to a group of children to explore some of their wonderings about paper crafts.

  • Liz “Make computers is so happy. I like to play with computers.”
  • Lydia explains, “I want to make things beautiful.”
  • Teacher “What is beautiful? What makes something beautiful?”
  • Lydia “Flowers are beautiful because there are so many beautiful things on it.”

  • Lydia points to her fingers, she has a sparkling sticker on one fingernail. “Stickers are beautiful. Coloured pencils are beautiful. We ‘like’ things that are beautiful.”
  • Yui thought about what Lydia and Liz shared and explained that insects like butterflies are beautiful because they have many colours, and leaves are beautiful because there are many different shapes.

The team continued to wonder what makes something ‘beautiful’. Are they things we ‘like’?

We decided to invite them to take photographs of what they considered beautiful around the EY space. The children spread out across the space, capturing images of beautiful things. Each of them had taken pictures of colourful flowers, fish, pots of markers and glittering fabric. 

Two of the photographs the children had taken were different to the others. One was a younger child’s drawing with black tip markers, and another was a ball of twigs that was a neutral colour. We wondered why they chose to capture these images. What made them beautiful?

We printed the photographs to present them to the children to see what they thought about the images they had taken.

The Ocean Project

We have noticed the children playing and telling stories using the miniature plastic animals. Through their storytelling, the children transport the animals to different places, exploring actions that help them survive in their natural habitats. 

What colour is the ocean?

One morning Wyatt said, “My favourite colour is blue because the ocean is blue only one blue.

Wyatt is intrigued by the ocean. His drawings and storytelling often revolve around the creatures on the beach and at the shoreline. His books hold his memories and explorations with crabs, dolphins and other sea creatures.

The teachers decided to gather a group of children to talk about Wyatt’s theory about the colour of the ocean.

  • Wyatt began by repeating his theory about the colour of the ocean. He pointed to the shade of blue in the pack of markers.
  • To this Lydia responded, “No 2 blues.”. She chose a second shade of blue to add to Wyatt’s idea. She thought for a while and then added, “The second blue is in K1.”
  • Morning “This blue looks a little like green.”

The team went off to K1 to look for the shade of green Lydia was referring to. Although they found different shades of blue, they were not completely convinced that the ocean matched the shades they had found in the classroom.

We invited the team to the Atelier to explore with paints, to create the ocean. They gathered the materials they needed and sat with large pieces of paper to paint their pictures. At first, the team chose 2 shades of blue from the colour tablets and painted the ocean waves. As the children discussed their ideas, they decided to add a green colour tablet. They dipped their paintbrushes into the tablet, experimenting and creating a new colour. The children continued their conversation in Mandarin. They began to tell stories about the creatures that live in the ocean.

Wyatt “Crab is here because I go to the beach I looking at crabs in the beach. I really like crab. This ocean has many legs. Whale lives in the ocean. And it’s many beautiful colours.

Ocean and crab. Not the same blue. I used two blues. Crab is different blue because this crab is eating things. Octopus eat the crab. And whale eating octopus and the whale go away. That crab is so not feeling good because that cram is eating things and a long time water is put to the water. When the sea crashes on the shore, everybody can see the water is blue. I like to see in Hainan the best. The sea there is part of the Pacific Ocean. All the seas are the same blue.”

Lydia “This blue I see is in the ocean have something in the ocean. I am drawing the whale. He has the water here and he is jumping up and go to the water. This whale is quiet she is not feeling good. His mummy is not give she to play, she jump in the water and crying.”

After completing her painting,

Lydia reflected on what she had done. “We make the sea have so many animals in the sea. And the water have fish and whale. We use yellow, blue, red and green. Ocean is more than one blue.”

Morning “I have two blues. I have five blues. The dolphin is one red and one blue. I used five blues for the ocean” states Morning, pointing to different areas of her drawing.

“One is dark one is a little bit black. This one has other colours in there. Maybe green is in there. Dolphins live in the not dark blue because if they live in the dark blue, he can’t see to eat what.”

We noticed that the group were sharing their observations about the different shades of colour in the ocean. They also discussed their theories about the creatures in the ocean and how they find their food. We wondered what they knew about food chains and the different zones of the ocean

The teachers discussed possibilities for research and the next steps. We wondered how we could help the children explore the different shades, and colours of the ocean. We decided to share two photographs of the ocean that the teachers had taken on their trip, to stretch the children’s thinking.

We revisited the children’s initial theories about the different ‘blues’ in the ocean. Wyatt insisted that there were two blues. The crab was one blue and the ocean a second. The children were excited to see the photos and began to share their theories.

Morning pointed to the crashing waves and said, “The water is going up and the sunlight is coming and this will be white.”

Wyatt thought about what Morning was sharing and added, “The ocean is many colours because the water is many blue and white, the ocean has many colours.”

  • Morning “But the ocean does not have purple.”
  • Wyatt “The shark likes to live far in the ocean.”

We began to number the different colours we noticed in the photograph of the ocean. The children shared their theories on why the colours were different.

  • Morning “The shark needs water.”
  • Wyatt “The shark needs many water.”
  • Morning “If the shark goes out of the water then the shark will die.”
  • Wyatt “Because water has foods in the ocean. And the shark going up in the water then he won’t have foods in the beach. The crabs live on the beach because they go inside the sand. Crabs don’t go in the big water.”
  • Morning “The water near the beach is very small so they (sharks) need to live far.”

New theories about the ‘needs’ of living things in the ocean began to emerge. To help the children unpack the concept ‘causation’, we decided to explore this further by asking “What living things live in the ocean? Why do they choose to live there?”

How to make Banana Cookies!

One child was excited about bringing his Nana to school one morning. She lives in Australia but visited him during the Chinese New Year holiday. Over the holidays he planned an activity that he could do with Nana in school. They decided to show the children how to make banana cookies.

He bought the ingredients with Nana and then tested his recipe at home. Then, he made a video to share his process with his friends. When school reopened after the holidays, the child invited Nana and his Aunty to school as they were the cookie experts.

Next, we had to work out how many cookies we needed.

  • Motong “We counted how many cookies we need to make.”

  • Jeongyoon “We needed 29 because 4+5=9 and 1+1=2 so we need 29. 15+15=30 so 15+14=29.”

Through their conversations, we noticed that the children were thinking about the operations of addition and subtraction and how they are related to each other.

  • Liz “We made banana cookies.”
  • Motong “We make cookies and Eli’s Nana helped us to make.”

  • Eli “We are putting coconut oil in the bowl and it is good for the cookies because it’s very yummy.”
  • Lydia “We mix the things to make the banana cookie.”
  • Oliver “The cookie was almost finished so I put one little drop of the dough on the paper and then I put it in the oven.”
  • Motong “We put the banana cookies in the oven because it will change the cookies when it is hot.”
  • Oliver “It turns browner.”

The children were exploring the impact of temperature and how it could change textures and substances.

  • Wyatt “We made cookies to take to K2B and ate it.”
  • Motong “We draw how we make the banana cookies.”
  • Eli “We used numbers and words.”
  • Motong “We used spaces (lines and squares) because we know that is 1 thing.”

We observed the children using several ideas to share their ideas on paper. They used a combination of drawing and writing to narrate and tell about the events in the order in which they occurred.

We paused to talk about the K2 writers’ drawings. The children noted that some writers used numbers to show the steps needed to complete a task while others used spaces or drew around a picture to share the same idea (procedures/steps). Some writers used arrows to show ‘the next steps’ in the process. The children noted that including labels with the drawings helps others ‘read’ the information.

Some children used sentences to share their ideas and others used lots of details in their drawings, all important crafts that good writers use to share messages and information with others.

 

Hot and Cold!

We watched the video of the fish in the pond. The children were happy to see the fish swimming around again.

We know that we can ask questions about things in the natural world and can do something to find answers that help explain what is happening. ​

We read a non-fiction book with colourful photographs of different places around the world. The book talked about the choices we make as a result of the weather and the temperature.

We discussed the temperature in Nanjing, China and in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

We began to create a list of the things we would like to measure.

  • Oliver “We want to measure how hot it is. I want to measure cotton, it feels very warm.”
  • Eli “How hot is fire?”

One child talked about lava. We watched a short video to learn more about this word.

  • Jeongyoon “I want to measure how cold the snow.”
  • Eli “Ice.”
  • Jeongyoon “I know how cold ice is. It is 0.9. I want to measure cold water.”
  • Motong “How hot is a hotdog?”
  • Lydia “Ice cream is so cold. If you are so hot you can eat ice cream.”
  • Shemo “How cold is ice cream?”
  • Yui “I tasted ice cream before, when I put it in my mouth it was very cold.” (in Mandarin)
  • Eunbyul “Ice water.”
  • Wyatt “lava in the ice it gets cold. It’s a cold day you will get sick because its so cold and you not eating the ice cream.”
  • Oxford “The fridge.”
  • Morning “Why is the ice so cold? Measure ice in the ground.”
What can we measure?
We began to brainstorm the different reasons and tools we use to measure. 
We decided to explore temperature.  
The children went off to see if they could measure the temperature of different items and liquids. 

 

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)
We are learning how to:  
• observe carefully
• seek information
• ask or express through play questions that can be researched
• gather information from a variety of sources 
• analyse and interpret information
• understand symbols
• document information and observations in a variety of ways
• choose and complete tasks independently

A Closer Look at Soil and Compost

Oliver “Oxford and I put the food waste in the compost bin and then we can make dirt with it. We can turn it to soil. It’s because the wormies are eating all of the fruit inside this and poop out the food and the poop and the pee is good for the plants.”

Oxford “I put dirt in the box. Because no people eat so much fruit.”

What can we learn from Authors and Illustrators?

We read a book about growing and plants. We noted that the illustrator showed close-ups of different pictures to help us notice more details.

What helps us take a closer look at things around us?

  • Oliver “We can look at it close by. We can use a telescope.”
  • Eli “We can use a magnify. We can also use our eyes.”
  • Oliver “I want to look at a worm closely and see what patterns it has. I mean stripes.”

What might be in the soil and dirt? If we look closely, what do you think we might see?

  • Wyatt “We can see a caterpillar.”
  • Motong “Ants. Ants eating food.”
  • Morning “We can see a mouse.”
  • Oxford “We can see a spider.”
  • Lydia “Worms.”
  • Oliver “When I was outside I actually see this big beetle and it also was inside the dirt. It was so big. He was always sleeping on the dirt and he wakes up.”
  • Eli “We can use glasses. The thing that has the list at the front.”

The children found a magnifying glass. They thought it could be used to look at the soil. Yui was very excited to use the new tool and used it to explore the classroom.

We wonder what she discovered!

One child volunteered to get some soil from the garden plots that we could put under the microscope.

He took a second sample of soil from under the wood bark. As he dug into the ground he said “This is so hard.”

He made labels to let the children know what the samples were.

Ms. Eileen used the microscopes and the iPads to help us look closely at the soil.

(Garden Plot Soil, Under Wood Soil)

The children were fascinated with the images. We wonder what they might see as they look closely at the soil.

 

The class leader and was in charge of taking all the fruit waste and peels to the compost bin.

Each day we will add to the compost bin to help us make new soil for the plants.

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)

  • observe carefully
  • seek information
  • ask or express through play questions that can be researched
  • gather information from a variety of sources (people, places, materials, literature)
  • listen actively and respectfully to others’ ideas and listen to information
  • participate in conversations
  • use mark-marking to convey meaning
  • document information and observations in a variety of ways
  • share responsibility for decision-making

Documenting Food Waste

During Assembly, the Grade 4 students shared what they had learned about waste at NIS. They shared the data they had gathered about food and power waste.

The teachers decided to ask the children what they thought about the Grade 4 presentation.

  • Eli “Don’t waste any food. Because if you waste food then the people who make the food work very hard to make the food so that is bad.”
  • Teacher “What is waste?”
  • Oliver “Wasting water, if I throw the water that is in my bottle that is wasting money.”
  • Children “No wasting food!”

We shared a photograph of the EY lunch.

  • Eli “We should eat all of the food in your plate.”
  • Oxford “Why we can’t eat vegetable pizza?”
  • Eli “Drink the milk after eating all of your food because if you drink milk first it will just make a soup in your tummy and your tummy will not be comfortable.”
  • Oxford “We can just eat the vegetables.”

We decided to gather our own data on food waste as the Grade 4 students said that food waste in the Primary was higher than in the Secondary!

Observations and reflections from the children:

  • Oliver “Liz eat all of the lunch.”
  • Motong “Eli ate every food.”
  • Eli “The food was yummy because the sausage was very yummy.”
  • Oliver “We wanted to see if we are not wasting food. I think 4 people eat a little bit of lunch but I was not right.”
  • Oxford “I think people eat 3 things, egg and sausage and rice.”
  • Lydia “One child eat the food.”
  • Eunbyul “Some people is not eating food and sausage. Some people are hungry eat the lunch. People no eat lunch people is more hungry and people is sad.”
  • Wyatt “I think 2 people eat all the food. It is a good thing because 2 people eat vegetables.”

  • Jeongyoon “I think some people drink milk first then they don’t eat vegetables.”
  • Eli “I see somebody eat the sausage and rice but not eat the egg and vegetables, this is not a good thing because vegetables are healthy. It is good for your body. You get a little bit sick because if you don’t eat vegetables every day it will not be healthy. The vegetables are waste. Then people take lunch away and they can pour it away.”
  • Oliver “It actually goes into the kitchen trash. The kitchen trash. I don’t know what they do.
  • Oxford “Will they recycle the food?”
  • Morning “Maybe some people just drink the soup and not eat the lunch. Because the soup is yummy. People need to eat of the lunch because lunch is helpful.”
  • Yui “I didn’t finish all the food because I don’t like vegetables. Bit it’s not good. We need to eat vegetables. Vegetables are good for your health, if we don’t eat vegetables we will get sick (in Mandarin).

 

What happens to the kitchen trash?  

  • Oliver “Lots of people waste so much food. This is the bin in the kitchen. I found out that the people put the trash in the bin and someone will come and then they will put it outside somewhere there are no houses and no people and also no plants. And also there are no internet and it’s also no river. The water have all dried away.”

  • Teacher “What is this place called? Have you seen a place like this before?”
  • Oliver “I saw it on a video. I don’t know.”
  • Lydia “It’s a place where there is no cars and no grass and flowers. Only for the trash. And the car will come and dump all the trash there.” (in Mandarin)
  • Oxford “Like Ms. Hannah has. There is a place behind a car park area to decompose the food.” (in Mandarin)
  • Wyatt “It’s in the bin, you can’t eat what is in the bin. Animals eat it. Many food is there and polar bears eat it.”
  • Oxford “Polar bears don’t eat it.”
  • Eli “I think not the polar bear eats because the polar bear is in a place where there is lots of snow and if the polar bear is there it will feel very, very hot. Maybe a bear eats it.”
  • Morning “I think a zebra.”

We wonder what happens to the food waste after the cafeteria puts it outside the building.

We wonder if animals eat it.

Our inquiry continues…

What can we grow in the garden plots?

Many of the children worked to maintain the garden plots in K1. The children noticed that some plants had died, and others needed to be pruned.

The children began to make suggestions on what they could grow next. We decided to gather this information using pictures and words.

The children were invited to share 2 suggestions. Then, we sorted and organised the information.

The children quickly noticed that some suggestions such as flowers (8) and trees were very popular. Other suggestions were mint plants (3) orange plants (1) grass (1) trees (5) strawberry plants (5) apple trees (3).

We wonder what we need to know about these flowers and plants to be able to grow them in our EY garden. We wonder what resources will help us learn more about the needs of these plants.

Our inquiry continues…

Learning Outcomes: We are learning that we can…

  • gather information by asking questions
  • record data on simple graphs
  • present information using pictographs where one picture equals 1
  • explain data using simple comparative language

The Gift – Coming together to build and create. 

Ms. Eileen had placed an order for new crayons and markers. We were surprised to learn that the supplier also sent us a gift! The gift was a new easel. However, the easel needed to be assembled. We placed the materials and tools in the classroom for the children to decide what they wanted to do.

  • Wyatt “What is this?”
  • Oliver “It is for us. We have to fix it.”

The next day, we left the materials on the floor and invited the children to problem-solve.

3 children offered their expertise. They gathered the materials and began to look at the instructions. The team of furniture assemblers began their work, taking turns, sharing ideas and tools and working to assemble the new easel.

The bell rang for break time play, but one child decided that he wanted to continue his work. He worked on the task throughout playtime.

The rest of the team came in after play and continued their work.

They persevered, looking through the instructions to learn about the different parts and tools to know how the easel was put together. In the end, they were excited to test it out.

The other children celebrated their accomplishments and thanked them for their hard work and dedication to the task.

We noticed the interest the children had in assembling and building. We noticed how they paid close attention to the instructions, and skilfully worked to assemble the piece of furniture.

We wonder how they might use these skills in new situations.

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s) 

  • observe carefully
  • analyse and interpret information
  • listen actively and respectfully to others’ ideas and listen to information
  • negotiate ideas and knowledge with peers and teachers
  • play cooperatively in a group: sharing, taking turns, helping
  • be aware of own and others’ impact as a member of a learning group
  • choose and complete tasks independently
  • follow the directions of others
  • share responsibility for decision-making
  • demonstrate persistence in tasks
  • use strategies to problem-solve

Causation & Change – Temperature

Sharing observations and theories…

  • Oliver “This is ice. I found it in the water, and I throw it but it didn’t break. I turned it into little pieces by punching it. There was because it was a cold day, it’s because it’s going to be snowing I think, because there is ice. I feel it’s very cold without my gloves on. In my country Germany, it’s now very very cold. It’s snowing.”
  • Teacher “But in my country Sri Lanka, now its warm. What do you think about that?”
  • Oliver “I don’t know.”
  • Eli “I think it’s because the sun is there and the moon is there and the planet is turning slowly. Because the planet is turning so places, some are cold and some are how.”
  • Teacher “What about in Australia?”
  • Eli “In Australia it is hot too. Because when I was on the trip it was hot. I go outside and I see the sun is up and it’s very warm.”
  • Oliver “But Thailand was near Australia so it was hot. But the first day in Thailand I was sweating. I think it’s also closer to the sun. But if the moon is gone then there would be not so much waves. On a video, I saw that. The moon is just blowing the waves.”

What happens to the fish when the water freezes?

  • Eunbyul “If the outside is cold, the outside is ice and fish water is freezing. I can help him.”
  • Motong “The fish are very cold.”
  • Liz “I think fish died because its so cold. Fish in the water is so cold and fish in the water not moving.”
  • Morning “The fish are too cold and they are hiding in their home in the rock.”
  • Wyatt “It’s cold, fish not moving to the water.”
  • Yui “The fish are not moving (in Mandarin).”
  • Oxford “I think ice in the water. Fish can’t move in the ice.”
  • Jeongyoon “I think fish will die.”
  • Oliver “At home when its not snowing Oskar just catches some frogs and puts them in the water and then its cold and icy and the frogs freeze and I can see lines coming out of the frogs and then they are not moving. They freeze. I think the fish are also frozen.”
  • Eli “I think fish are not moving and then fish are died. One time I find water and it was all ice in it and I hit and it comes out a flower shape and one time I find ice and I tried to walk on it. It was frozen.”
  • Motong “The fish will frozen and cold. They fish are not moving.”
  • Lydia “Fish in there is not moving.”
  • Oxford “The fish is too small and ice is too big. He can’t break the ice because he is too small. He can move in the water. He can’t break the ice.”
  • Oliver “I melt the ice one layer and then I can see some water and I put one ice on top of it and wait for 20 seconds and it connected when I put it upside down. And then it freeze together.”
  • Motong “When the water cold and the water will be ice the fish was very cold.”
  • Eli “I think if we get a shovel and smash the water and the water will break.”
  • Oliver “If you take a shovel and break the ice you might break the fish. Just make the ice very hot and the ice will melt and the it will turn the ice to water and the fish will be happy again. I think the water is -4. Its because my mummy said its -4 cold so I think the ice is also -4 cold. Just take the gloves out and check it to see.”

Ms. Elieen showed the children the digital thermometer.

  • Oliver “That one but its for the ears.”

We decided to see if we could use it to check the temperature at the pond.

 

A group of researchers went to see what more they could learn about the pond.

At first, they were sad to see the motionless fish. But then, they noticed some fish swimming in the pond! They began to share their theories, tested the temperature of the ice and looked for ways to help the fish. They shared their ideas about the impact of the temperature on the water and the living things in the pond.

They listened to each other, sharing their prior knowledge and making new connections as a result of what they experienced.

On their return to class, the team documented their ideas on paper.

They shared their learning story with their friends, presenting the chart paper and the video story.

Non-Fiction Texts

We have begun to explore nonfiction texts during read-aloud sessions. To figure out what a book is mostly about, it is helpful to pay attention to the word or words we see repeated.

  • What repeats on each page in the words?
  • What repeats on each page in the pictures?
  • What is this mostly about?​

As we read the book ‘Sleeping Baby Animals’, the children looked for what was the same on each page. We noted words that were the same on different pages and wrote them down on a whiteboard.

The children joined in with the reading as the text was repetitive. We looked for familiar high-frequency words in the sentences.

Snow is a beautiful sight, but sometimes it can get in the way. We read a non-fiction text to explore the many ways snow can be removed in ‘Goodbye Snow’. We discussed the engaging photographs to learn about the different tools used to remove snow. While reading the simple sentences, we explored initial consonant blends (sn, br, tr) and digraphs (th, sh).

 

Next, the children were invited to create their own non-fiction page. They decided on the theme or topic they wanted to write about. Then they drew a picture and finally included letters, words and sentences to talk about the drawings.

Waste

Two students in Grade 4 had a question for the NIS community.

Ella & Luna What should we do with waste?”

  • Oliver “What is waste?”
  • Jeongyoon “Is it like erasing?”
  • Oliver “I think waste is like wasting money.”
  • Oliver “Wasting new paper. The teachers use the new paper but I think some people take the new paper. People will make an airplane and then when you open it is broken. We use recycled paper, we don’t want to waste the new paper.”

What is recycling?

  • Oliver “The paper has lines on it and the new one does not.”

Where does all the paper you use go?

What happens the paper that you use in the washroom?

  • Oxford “We can use the paper in the bin to make.
  • Oliver “The Ayi takes the garbage. When we put it in the garbage bin they will turn it to paper.”
  • Liz “It goes into the river.”
  • Lydia “They will put them in the garbage truck and take them away.”

Ms. Eileen reminded Oliver about a picture he shared of his holiday.

  • Oliver “We drink lots of plastic bottles and we put it in the garbage and then it goes to the recycled and people bring it to build it.”
  • Motong “If you take 2 papers then the new paper in the garbage bin. So the new paper is broken. Then the paper is waste.”
  • Liz “We use it again.”
  • Morning “We don’t waste the water because if you waste the water then we won’t have any more water. We can not wash the hands. We eat apples at home and throw the peel in the trash. I don’t know what happens to the trash.”

We decided to document the waste we collected at snack time.

  • Oxford “The banana peel in because the bin has all a picture of food. The box and the plastic in the other bin.”
  • Lydia “I put it in the bin.”
  • The Children “We have 2 different bins. One is the food garbage and the other is plastic, paper and wood bin.”

  • Oxford “I have trash at home. I don’t put it in the bin. But I can use it to make things. Grandma uses to make compost.”
  • Teacher “What does she do with the compost?”
  • Oliver “The things that look very cool then I want to keep it and make something with it. I can make something with the wood spike. I put the garbage in the bin at home. I have a recycled bin but its outside. I don’t use it because its cold outside. My mummy will take the bin and take the recycled all in the recycled bin. She puts plastic recycle. I don’t know what will happen to the food. I think they will make squishies.”
  • Teacher “I wonder what you can learn about the garbage and recycled waste at your home.”
  • Eunbyul “We have garbage at home. I go outside and find the rubbish bin.”

We decided to answer one of the questions on the Grade 4 survey.

We wonder what we can learn about garbage and waste.

ACTION

Computers – What are they for?

Lydia and Liz have been creating and sharing ‘computers’.

  • Eli “Can we make one? Can I give my daddy one? Because it is a toy and he can play with the computer. I will draw on the screen and he can hit the letters and then play it.”
  • Oxford “I made it at home. I just draw circle and used a pen and drawing. Circles for drawing ABC.”
  • Oliver “I made a computer because it looks fun because you were playing on the computer its looks very fun. Ms. Shemo was using the words to play and make the computer work what you want it to do. The letters make it on the screen.”
  • Howie “Why computers can watch a movie on it?”
  • Eli “Because the computer screen, if you have some buttons it can turn and you can ask things and when you watch a movie you just write the word ‘movie’ and then they will give you to choose a movie and then you can choose and watch. It is better to first watch the add and then watch the movie!”
  • Lydia “I want to make a computer, I go home and give it to daddy. Daddy will play with it.”
  • Liz “I made the computer because I make the computer is fun. First, write the name. Then, draw and write ABC. And then colour the top.”
  • Wyatt “It’s so fun because it is so funny. Because friends like this. They play on the computer.”
  • Morning “Why can we use the computer to look at the movie?”
  • Eli “I watch Avenger.”
  • Oliver “On the computer I have to print out something. I just look what I want to draw and then it has no colours and then I can print it out. I push the button and it printed out. And then the robot is drawing the picture. The printer draws it and then the paper comes out.”
  • Oxford “Why computer inside can do so much things?”
  • Oliver “Inside the computer have lamps and electrics. Lamps make the screen work.”
  • Eunbyul “Have a batteries. No batteries no screen and no power.”

We wonder what stories they might create as a result of their design work.

Watch this space!

Math Talk – Tens & Ones

What do you see?

What do you know?

When we look for patterns, we notice what changes and what stays the same from one picture to the next.

Drawing or building the pattern helps us think about what comes next!

The children used mathematical vocabulary to share their observations about the image.

We documented these ideas using symbols, words and numbers.

Then, we played a game of ‘Trash and Treasure’.

This game helps the children learn about place value and how to use the Base10 Blocks to find the biggest and smallest numbers.

Can you make a paper airplane?

The children continued to make paper airplanes using recycled paper. They were experimenting with new designs and different sizes of paper.  

Morning “I am making paper airplanes. Lydia taught me how to make paper airplanes.”

Oliver wanted to measure how far his paper airplane went in the classroom. He used a measuring tape with numbers to check how far it had gone.

  • Eli “He is measuring how far we threw the airplane.”

We posted the documentation about the paper airplanes in the corridor.

  • Howie “We are looking at paper airplanes because we can remember how much time to take to make the paper aeroplane.”
  • Liz “We tell people to make the paper airplane.”
  • Eli “Get a paper from the classroom and they can take and then they can make airplanes. We can come and make some too.”
  • Eunbyul “It’s airplane too far and write your name and what number to see how far the paper airplane went.”

  • Oxford “I am flying the plane.”
  • Eunbyul “We see who is no far and who is too far.”

  • Jeongyoon “Standing the line.”
  • Eunbyul “We have to stand on zero. Zero first and flying paper airplane.”

  • Oxford “I draw the numbers, 100, 200, 300, 400… Everybody can know where is the 300.”

  • Eli “Pin the paper plane on the wall because if we don’t pin it no one will know we made a airplane.”
  • Eunbyul “I made one paper airplane and faster and very far. 300cms.”

The children use what they know about number and measurement to record how far their paper airplanes flew. They are learning that standard units allow us to have a common language to identify, compare, order and sequence objects.

NOT A BOX!

We read the story ‘Not A Box‘ by Antoinette Portis.

The little rabbit is playing with a box, and an unseen adult asks why they are doing different things with it. The rabbit continues to say it’s not a box. It’s a… rocket, burning building, race car, etc…

Inspired by this story the children used their imagination to turn this simple box into anything!

  • Eli “It’s a transformer.”
  • Eunybul “It’s a rocket.”
  • Motong “It’s a boat.”
  • Oxford “It’s a house.”
  • Oliver “It’s a truck.”
  • Wyatt “It’s a race car.”
  • Howie “It’s a shelf.”
  • Liz“I think it’s a bird nest.”
  • Lydia “It’s a hotel.”
  • Morning “It’s a submarine.”

What can these boxes become?

The Paper Airplanes

Noticing the children’s interest in making paper airplanes, Ms. Eileen decided to introduce the children to a new design.

The children followed the instructions to make the paper airplane.

  • Eli “I want to throw it outside because outside will have wind so it will fly fast and high.”
  • Howie “I think the airplane the airplane can fly really high and really fast because the wind is really strong and it will go fast. We can feel it when the wind is cold you know what is the wind.”

We looked at a photograph of the playground to help us decide where we might fly the planes from. What would we need to consider?

  • Liz “I think airplanes go to water is broken. Airplane is paper, paper in water is wet and broken.”
  • Oliver “I think the airplane might go round and round all the time I think. Because the wind is going left then the airplane will go left and if the wind is going right then the airplane will go right.”
  • Wyatt “Outside is airplane is go out of school and people can’t go outside of school and then you make it again.”
  • Morning “The airplane will go to the tree and the people cannot play with it.”
  • Eli “It can go over the fence because if you throw on the mountain then it will go over the fence and no one will get it and it might go into the building and there might be sharp things and then it will get a hole in it.”
  • Motong “We can send it from the slide. We can stand on the yellow wall because the airplane will fly very far.”
  • Jeongyoon “If we fly it from the roof, then we can’t get it.”
  • Lydia “I think this flying to outside you can’t take it (the airplane).”
  • Eunbyul “If it goes to a very tall tree then I will not catch the airplane.”
  • Howie “Then, we can climb the tree.”
  • Oliver “The sticks are not very strong.”

How can we find out which airplane has gone the furthest?

  • Oliver “I think if the airplane looks the best then it goes the furthest. And my airplane looks the best.
  • Eunbyul “Throw it and it will go up and down.”

When you run a race, can you start from different places?

  • Eli “No, we have to stay together.
  • Howie “Some people together in the back, the first people will get number 1. The people in the back will be number 2.”

The children explained that they had to fly the paper airplanes from the same location for it to be fair. The children discussed the different options. The children were excited to see many planes flying high above the playground. Perhaps our planes would fly high too!

Many of the children suggested flying the plane from a height as it would help the plane go further. They agreed that the best spot would be the top of the short wall.

We decided to go out and try this out. The paper panes took off from the wall. We watched them scatter around the playground. 

How would we know which plane went the furthest?

Howie suggested that we use a tape to measure the distance. Ms. Shemo did not have such a long tape but had some string instead. We measured and cut out the string to mark the distance.

When we went back to class with the string, we had them in bundles on the floor. Many children believed Eli’s plane flew the furthest because his bundle of string was ‘higher’. We recorded everyone’s best guess using tally marks.

But how would we know for sure? How do we measure things in real life?

Eli suggested using the ruler. But the ruler was short, and it would take a long time to measure them.

Liz suggested measuring them using the white PVC pipes. We brought one over and kept it next to the ruler. It was longer. We noticed the numbers on the ruler and decided to add them to make our ruler with the pipe. But, there were too many numbers to write.

After some thought, we decided to count in 5’s and record them on the pipe. The children helped identify the numbers from 0-100.

Then, we began to measure the twine. We recorded the distance each paper airplane flew. Finally, we had the data we needed. Eli’s paper airplane flew the furthest!

Throughout this experience, the children shared their theories about paper airplanes, and considered the properties of paper. They considered the concepts of speed, height, distance and variables that may affect the flight of the paper airplane. They explored measurement, data handling and number, to find out who’s paper airplane flew the furthest.

What makes a good story?

We have been reading and creating stories during ‘Reading and Writing Workshop’ times. We have been using loose parts and our play spaces to create and share stories. We referred to a poster Mr. Seth had created to share the different elements of a story.

BUT, what makes a good story?

To explore this idea further, we read the story ‘A Cat and a Dog’, by Claire Masurel. In this story, a cat and a dog live in the same house, but they are not friends.

 

They fight all the time, about everything. Then disaster strikes. Dog’s beloved ball bounces up into a tree and is stuck. Cat’s precious stuffed mouse falls into the pond. Dog can’t climb. Cat can’t swim.

The Storyboard

While reading the story, the children used a storyboard to draw the different events in the story. We looked for details in the pictures and paused to make predictions and discuss the story.

The Story Arc

Next, we used a Story Arc to identify and retell the important elements of the story. We documented these ideas and created a class chart that we can refer to when creating our own stories. Together we identified the:

  • Characters (who is in the story)
  • Setting (where the story takes place)
  • Events
    • Beginning
    • Problem
    • Solution
    • End

Reflections on the story…

  • Eunbyul “The design, the pictures are very good.”  
  • Wyatt “Because its so funny. Dog toy is in the tree and cat toy is in the water.
  • Lydia “Cat and Dog is funny. At the beginning they are not friends and then they are friends.
  • Liz “It is a good story because there is a problem. Cat’s toy is in the water, Dog’s toy is on the tree.”
  • Motong “I think the book is funny because the Cat is blue.”
  • Eli “I don’t think it’s a funny book because no people making silly faces and no people hitting their heads and no people jumping off a tree.”
  • Oliver “I think the book is so funny because there is only orange and blue on it. I think the dogs were fighting together and they solved the problem. And I think they apologised in the end. I think when they were sleeping they were thinking of apologising.”
  • Howie “It is a good story because he is fighting and he is very funny.”

The Pipes – How can we make the balls go faster?

We have noticed the children playing and experimenting with the PVC pipes.

  • Liz “This (the slide) is so long it goes to Ms. Hannah’s class.”
  • Eli “I was balancing the crystals. Looking which one is more heavier.

  • Because the side will fall down if it is more heavier.”
  • Howie “I made a tunnel, the balls can go inside.”
  • Morning “Me and Wyatt building the blocks.”
  • Eunbyul “It’s no heavy, it’s no long. If it’s not too low the ball goes faster. The slide is faster and the ball is faster.”
  • Motong “When the slide is tall, the ball will go fast. Next, I want to make a hotel with the slide. I want to make it alone.”
  • Eli “Next, I want to make a slide that goes straight, like a mountain, then the ball will go down and up and fall down. Then, I will put a stop there.”

A group of K1 children wanted to borrow the ramps during indoor playtime. The teachers paused to observe and document (video) a group of children from different classes building and testing new designs.

They collaborated with each other, sharing the materials and using their imagination to extend their play.

The next day, we watched the video and discussed their structure.

What did we notice?

What theories do we have?

  • Eunbyul “The ball jumped out of the pipe.”
  • Eli “Because there was something blocking it and it went over the side. The ball fly out. They can put nothing on the track.”
  • Lydia “The ball is come down from the house. Keira and Jacob and me.”
  • Eli “The ball will go faster if it is more uphill.”
  • Eunbyul “Very long is very fast and it will go up, down and out.”
  • Motong “Very tall is very fast.”
  • Eli “Because it has more time to go fast.”

The children shared their theories about speed, height, distance and obstacles.

How might they use their insights as they build and create their new structures?

The Garden Project

@O and @L were our classroom representatives, working with Ms. Hannah and Ms. Eileen on the ‘Garden Project’.

On their return to class, they presented their ideas to K2A.

They explained the ideas they had discussed, sharing their drawings where they had documented their suggestions for improvement.

The Gardening Team have decided to:

  • cut and prune the overgrown bushes
  • add the cut pieces to the compost bin
  • use the compost to help the new plants grow
  • replant the seeds to make new plants
  • use the lemongrass and mint to make tea
  • and make space to grow other new plants for the season.

The children were excited to be part of the Garden Project.

We look forward to their next steps!     

Homes for the Birds – The Nests

Over the last few weeks, the children have been looking for ways to solve problems and take action to help the community.

We used the design thinking process introduced by Ms. Jo, to explore how we might use the process to solve the problems we see in the Early Years garden, specifically with the dying birds.

Empathise:

who are you trying to help?

  • The Birds

What do they need?

  • A safe home – nests

Define:

what is the problem you are trying to solve?

  • The nests in the garden are falling down.
  • The birds are falling from the nests.
  • The birds in the garden are dying.

Ideate:

How many ideas can you come up with?

  • The nest should have walls (Oliver)
  • a strong nest on a high tree (Eli)
  • make a nest with sticks (Wyatt)
  • Put cotton inside the nest to keep the birds warm in the nest when it is cold and snowing (Oliver)
  • use a basket because its tall (Motong)
  • Make the basket with sticks (Wyatt)
  • You stand in water to make nests (Morning)
  • use plastic to make the nest the bird won’t get hurt or fall down (Eunbyul)

Prototype:

which ideas will you try first what will you design to test your idea?

The children decided to use 4 different materials to create their prototypes.

  • clay or mud
  • sticks
  • materials for baskets
  • plastic

We noted all these ideas down on chart paper.

Then, the children went back to their first and second design ideas for the nest to see how they could improve on their initial ideas. They used drawings and labels to share their ideas with others. They made improvements to the structure, thinking about the materials they might use and how they could make the nests warm and safe for the birds.

The children created the prototypes of their nests, to help them decide on what works well and the improvements they could make in their final design.

  

 

Through this process, they had opportunities to:

  • Identify needs and opportunities for designing, through exploration. (Design: Ideating)
  • Select tools, materials and processes for specific purposes. (Visual Arts: Creating)
  • Use all senses to observe and notice details. (Research Skills: Data Gathering)
  • Use trial and error to make changes, solve problems, or incorporate new ideas from self or others. (Design: Making)  

 

The Shop

A few children have been making ‘money’ using cardstock.

During a conversation about money, the children shared their experiences and thoughts about money; the difference between money from countries and the ability to pay for things they want to purchase from a shop.

One child decided to explore this idea further while at home and prepared a presentation for the children. He began his presentation by explaining how much money he had earned and saved by doing his ‘jobs’ (chores) at home.

Noticing the child’s interest in using money to purchase items, the teachers decided to share a cash register that was stored away in the classroom.

The child was excited to play with the cash register but there wasn’t any money in the till. He decided to create his own money for the till. Then he decided to make different items that he could purchase using the money in the till. He carefully drew items you would find in a store, adding price tags to let others know how much each item costs. 

During a class meeting, the teachers shared photographs of this process with the rest of the class. The children began to make suggestions about opportunities to play with the items, the cash register and the money that had been made. The idea of a shop began to grow.

More children joined in creating items that could be sold at the shop.

The children set up the shop, including all the items they had made in a basket next to the cash register.

We wonder how the children may explore this new area in the classroom.

We wonder about the conversations they will have in relation to the concept of purpose and function, resources, needs and wants.

We wonder how the children may use this opportunity to model spending money and trading in role play experiences.

Ramps: The Prototypes

The children have been using a range of materials and manipulatives in the construction area to consider the concepts of height, speed, forces, and energy.

As part of this investigation, a team of young designers have been planning, designing and creating prototypes of ramps in their design class. The team began by discussing their ideas and creating a plan for their slides.

They know that designers need to source and test materials for different purposes and make choices about the materials they use for projects.

After careful consideration, the teachers decided to offer the children ‘clay’ as a material for the structure. Clay is malleable and easy to use when creating structures yet offers many opportunities for challenge and problem-solving. The children tested the different tools, making careful decisions about the size, height, width, and foundation of their structure.

While creating, the young designers followed the natural cycles of design as they planned, created, reflected and improved their structures. Through trial and error, the children have reached the first stage of their design work.

Design

Through this experience, the children had opportunities to:

  • identify needs and opportunities for designing, through exploration
  • generate ideas from their experiences and interests
  • add to others’ ideas
  • choose an idea to pursue

Design Learning Outcomes:

  • choose tools and materials
  • make a product using known procedures or through modelling of others
  • use trial and error to make changes, solve problems, or incorporate new ideas from self or others
  • develop their skills and add new ones through play and collaborative work
  • explore the use of simple, available tools and technologies to extend their capabilities

Balance

Two children explored the concept of balance using manipulatives in the construction area. One explained that something was balanced ‘if both sides were the same and the beam remained straight’.

We explored this concept using our knowledge of numbers. The children tapped into what they knew about ‘addition’ to solve the equations to balance the scale.

 

We wonder how we might explore the concept of balance in other places and situations.

Paper Boats: Will they sail?

A group of children wanted to make paper boats to sail in their PVC pipes.

But how do we make paper boats?

We noticed that the Grade 1 students have put up a poster with instructions on ‘How to Make a Paper Boat‘. We decided to follow the instructions to make the boats. 

A team of boat makers practiced making the boats. They made boats of different sizes and used printed paper to make these boats.

We look forward to testing these boats on the PVC pipes.

The children began to share their theories.

  • Liz “Putting in the water in the pipes, then is slides. I want to put lights inside the boats.”
  • Lydia “I think there have lights.”
  • Eli “The power and the boats will explode. My daddy told me that. If water touches power it will explode.”
  • Oliver “The boats will get wet. And then if its wet it can’t float on the water.”
  • Eli “It will melt if it goes on the water, it will just stay a little bit.”
  • Wyatt “Boat is inside light and slowly go another way.”
  • Motong “I think the boat will get wet because this is paper boat. I think that we can put something under it.”

The children paused to think about this problem. They began to think of solutions, to make sure the boats wouldn’t get wet when they were in the water.

  • Oliver “Waterproof, that means protecting it from getting wet and broken.”

Oliver brings over a plastic sheet that is used on the projector.

  • Oliver “It’s waterproof because it has no holes. If I blow it will not go through it because it has no holes. Maybe we can use this to make a boat.”
  • Liz “I think the plastic make the boats.”
  • Oliver “We can cover it with waterproof.”
  • Morning “We can use plastic for making the boat.”
  • Howie “We can put a plastic under the paper boat.”
  • Oliver “We can make this thing become flat and make it into a boat.”
  • Motong “I think put this under the paper boat.”

  • Liz “Put a small paper boat inside the cup.”

  • Oxford “We can use the whiteboards.”
  • Wyatt “Boat put it in the wooden cup.”

Morning Agreed with Wyatt’s idea. 

  • Motong “We can put a glove on it.”
  • Oxford “We can put a boat in the lunch box because lunchboxes are not made with paper.”
  • Eli “We can use the plastic paper so no one will see it so people will think it is magic it won’t melt.”
  • Howie “Put the boat inside the small plastic box.”
  • Oliver “If we put the boat on the wooden cup the cup is too heavy, and it will get wet.”

Howie suggested the cane basket.

  • Oliver “The basket has small holes the water will go in.”

Howie suggested the ceramic pot.

  • Oxford “That is too heavy.”
  • Jeongtoon “I see the paper boat making at home and the boat not wet. I don’t know.”
  • Eunbyul “Paper boat is wet then plastic boat is big and paper is small.”
  • Oliver “We can make it with something soft that will not get wet, it will float on the water. That might look like cotton.”

The children wanted to make sure the boats wouldn’t get wet because they had used special coloured paper to make them.

We will need to test some of the suggested objects to learn more about objects, materials and their properties.

CHALLENGE!
Jeongyoon was determined to make the smallest boat. He kept trying till he made one that was 2 cms. in length!

 

Exploring Numbers

What do you know about the number 3?

The children shared what they noticed about the shape of the Numicon shape.

It looked like a heart, a boot, a letter ‘V’ and it has 3 holes.

What numbers do you see in this shape?

If we wanted to ‘make’ this number, what are the different ways we might try to make it?

  • Oxford shared the first suggestion “2 and 1.”

He was invited to share his suggestion using numbers and symbols. The children began to share other ways to show 3.

Next, we looked for ways to show 5.  

What do you know about the number 12?

Oliver “It has a 1 and a 2.”

Eli “On the bus. So we know where it is going.”

Liz “The clock has 12.”

We used the Cuisenaire Rods and Numicon Shapes to find different combinations that total 12.

Then, the children worked in groups to find combinations that total 15,16 and 20. We noticed how they used their thinking skills to calculate.

They used manipulatives to create models. They used numbers and symbols to share representations of their understandings.

Throughout the task the children worked together in small groups, sharing ideas and taking turns to document their learning.  

Money

We noticed the children making money at the writing table. Soon each of them had a small pile of notes with them.

We decided to share the photographs we took of the money to learn more about their interest in money.

  • Oxford “I am cutting money and cutting paper and drawing money. I want to go home and make some games.”
  • Motong “I am cutting the paper and drawing the money because I want to play with money. Shopping.”
  • Oliver “Money from my country looks different, Germany. I can show you what the money looks like in Germany.”
  • Lydia “I have money in my home.”
  • Liz “I have Hong Kong money in my home. I have one thousand.”
  • Oliver “I have money from China and Germany. My grandma gave me money and then my daddy takes the money that grandma gives me. He took it away and bought some noodles.”
  • Morning “I have money from China at my home. It’s in my bag.”
  • Motong “I have money in my house, Chinese money. Real money.”
  • Oliver “I have to buy something cool with very expensive money.”
  • Eli “I give my mummy the money and she buys something. Nana gives me money. Daddy gives me a thousand money.”
  • Eunbyul “I have in home money, and my daddy gives money and my mummy has no money. I have Korean money.”
  • Howie “I have three thousand, I have to buy toys.”
  • Jeongyoon “I have Chinese money.”

We heard the children talk about the purpose of money. They had emerging theories about the difference between money from different countries.

An inquiry into ‘money’ begins…

Sharing Information through Non-Fiction Texts

What more could we learn about birds and nests?

We decided to read some nonfiction books about birds. As we read the books, we noticed pictures, photographs, labels, words and sentences, key features of nonfiction texts.

During ‘Writing Workshop’, the children were invited to create their own nonfiction stories or books.

Some children chose to create books about birds, drawing and writing to share their ideas and information. 

We chose one piece of writing to share with the class, helping the children notice key strategies and features that were included in the story.

 

There was a clear idea of a topic. The pages included words and sentences that talked about the pictures. We know that good writers think about questions readers might have about a topic and then find ways to include this information through drawing and writing.

While writing words and sentences, the children were encouraged to say the word out loud, stretch out the word to hear the sounds and then write all the sounds that they heard.

The children began to show an interest in sharing and reading their stories to their friends and teachers.

They understood that bookmaking is a way to share important messages and information with others and began to look for ways to celebrate their work with the community.

We look forward to exploring all the different opportunities that allow us to share the work we do as readers and writers.

Designing Birds’ Nests

One of the suggestions the children had made while they were looking for ways to help the birds in the Early Years playground was ‘to make different bird nests that would keep the birds’ eggs safe’. We began to think of different nests that we could build for the birds.

First, the children drew their initial ideas on one side of the paper.  

Then, we watched a video to learn more about the different types of bird nests.

The children were excited about the different designs and materials used to create these interesting and complex structures. Next, the children drew a second design.

This time, the children thought about the environments the birds may live in, and the materials the birds might have around them to create the nest.

Their second designs were more complex and included a lot more details.

We wonder how we might move this project further, to create and test some of the different designs the children have been thinking about.

Having revisited their designs, the children were invited to sign up if they wanted to make a nest for the birds. 

 

Nests: How can we help?

We went out to the corridor to look at the documentation about the ‘dead birds’.

The children revisited some of their past observations and theories.

  • Lydia “Cats have eat the birds.”
  • Liz “Cats eat the birds. I think big birds eat small birds.”
  • Eli “I think birds flying and when they are sleeping the cat is down and the cat climbed the tree and then he the ate birds. Birds are in the nest.”
  • Jeongyoon “Nests on the tree.”
  • Liz “I think bird fell down from the nest. Its dead.”
  • Oliver “I think the baby bird fall down and then hits its dead.”
  • Morning “Maybe they rolled and fell down the tree.” 

What new ideas do we have? What can we do to help?

  • Howie “Put the soft things under the tree. If they fall down it will be soft.”
  • Oliver “Feathers, cotton.”
  • Eli “Maybe something bouncy. Maybe grass.”
  • Morning “Paper.”
  • Oliver “I see something white that is outside but it is not cotton.”
  • Oxford “Take the birds to the doctor. Take them home and look to see what is wrong.”
  • Oliver “I think the nest is a little bit not safe for the birds. I think it’s a little bit small. We can build one more.”
  • Morning “Use cotton to make the nest. Maybe grass.”
  • Oliver “Use sticks. Sometimes we can just put a bowl.”
  • Howie “And put inside some soft things.”
  • Oliver “I think they make them with water and mud. To make the sticks not fall off the nests. First, we need to find some stick. Then put some water in the sand. Cover the nests with the mud and then the baby birds can live on them. Not mud, we can use clay.”
  • Eli “I saw lots of sticks outside. I saw a special place that has lots of sticks.
  • Howie “Then we can put them on the tree. We can put them like on the fire trucks, to put the ladder and climb up and put the nests on the tree.”
  • Oliver “If we stick the clay to the tree then the nest will never fall off. Then we don’t have to worry about it anymore.”
  • Eunbyul “Children feed the birds and one more bird is fly and two more birds fly back. Feed the birds seeds.”
  • Motong “We can find some sticks and make a nest. Put paper on the nest because the snow flowing the nest. Put the paper on the top.”
  • Wyatt “Put the bird nest on the tree and the bird is going to the house. And the bird is go there and going to the house. If it’s cold, then there is snow. Snow is body is fall down. Help bird, help to put on a jacket to put on the bird.”

The children ran outside to collect the sticks they needed to build the nest. Oliver found some cotton-like material and put it in another tub.  

 

We wonder what we might need to think about when creating nests for the birds.

Readers, Writers and Mathematicians

At the beginning of the school year, the children wrote the morning message. They used what they knew about letters and sounds to spell the words.

The Morning Message often includes a question or a wondering that leads to discussions, literacy or mathematical activities. While reading the message we identify letters of the alphabet and familiar High Frequency words. The children are encouraged to notice important reminders as writers; spaces between words, capital letters to start a sentence and punctuation at the end of a sentence.

Groups of children often meet with a teacher to work on key literacy skills. These are dedicated times when the children explore books to learn the different skills and strategies that readers and writers use to communicate effectively.

Activities that follow reading experiences usually involve reflecting on reading and using drawing, writing and spoken words to express an idea. The children might share an important part of the story, talk about the characters and settings, or discuss the different ideas presented in fiction and non-fiction texts.

It is important to remember that each child is an individual who works on specific skills while reading independently or collaboratively.

With prompting and support the children:

  • ask and answer questions about key details in a text
  • retell familiar stories, including key details
  • identify characters, settings, and major events in a story
  • ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

Observing Eggs

A few days ago, one child presented his EGG Experiment to the class. The children wondered what was inside his egg as it felt soft and bouncy. The child wanted to take his egg home so we decided to place a second egg in vinegar, to see what we could learn about the egg.  

We decided to break another to observe what happens to it. We documented the children’s observations and theories at the time.

Over the last few days, our egg has been on the shelf. The children have been observing the changes. It was time to revisit the experiment to see what we could learn.  

We gathered to talk about what we see, think and wonder about the broken egg and the whole we placed in vinegar.

Oliver

First observations and theories: (whole egg) “This egg has smoke like it’s because it has white. It will become squishy because the vinegar inside has magic.” (broken egg) “Here is one bubble it is smoke bubble. The yellow part is a super small duck cause a white egg has a duck and a brown egg has a chicken like chickens are brown and ducks are white.”

Noticing change… “the small inside part has not so much of the yellow thing so it becomes smaller. The yellow and green patch has become darker.”

Jeongyoon

First observations and theories: (whole egg) “This one is white. There is bubbles. The egg will become squishy.”

Wonderings… “Why is this brown? (Patch on the eggshell)”

Oxford

First observations and theories: “This has so many bubbles. The other egg has green and yellow. The yellow is also a egg. The bubble is white because that and the white egg is white.”

Noticing change… “There is no white piece I think it is now the inside of the yellow looks orange.”

Morning

First observations and theories: “This one the water is yellow because the yellow part makes the water yellow. And the white egg makes the water white. I don’t like eggs because I don’t like to eat the yellow part.”

Noticing change… (whole egg) “This one is broken.”

Eli

First observations and theories: “Why did this one not have many bubbles before but now it has? I think why is an egg white? Why in the brown egg is the inside yellow and around is green? I think the white piece is a little water when it touches the floor it because sinks down it will bump on the floor and explode.”

Noticing change… (Egg yolk) “Before this is like a squishy circle an now it’s like inside it looks like it has a baby inside.”

Howie

First observations and theories: “Think inside there is another egg. It is a special egg. It has magic because it has green water.”

Noticing change… “It becomes small (broken egg) and the other one become big?” (whole egg)

Eunbyul

First observations and theories: “This one is yellow. Yellow bubble and green bubble. There is white bubble in.

Noticing change… “The middle is small and the white bubble is not here. Together they’re moving.” (broken egg)

 

Observations:

Liz (whole egg) “This one is brown what is inside the egg?”

Wyatt (Whole egg) “This is broken and the yellow is not broken no more bubbles.”

Motong “This is a little bit brown.” Pointing to the patch on the eggshell.

Lydia (broken egg) “This is green there is orange inside the yellow.”

The children continued to wonder what was inside the whole egg. It felt soft and rubbery on the outside. But what was it like inside?

The children continued to guess what might be inside the egg. Most of them predicted that there would be a chicken or a duck inside the egg. Some children disagreed. They believed that there would be water or liquid inside the egg. We decided to cut it open to see what was inside! Gently we pressed the knife to the soft and bouncy shell. As we pressed harder the egg popped, and the soft shell broke. The egg spilled over into the tray but the egg yolk was still attached to the shell. The shell was soft and torn.

Using pictures and words, the children documented their observations showing ‘what happened’ to the egg.

They used describing words (soft, squishy, hard, watery, bouncy, hard) to talk about the eggs.

Through exploring, observing and communicating we learn to make sense of the world.

Storytelling Through  Story Workshop

We have noticed the children building and creating elaborate stories throughout their day in school. Therefore, we decided to introduce the children to Story Workshop.

What is Story Workshop?

Story Workshop is a classroom structure that is used to support language and literacy. The adults consider the space, environment, story materials, writing tools, books and props that invite storytelling.

Story Workshop is a hands-on approach that allows the children to create, talk about and use drawing and writing to share their stories.

We know that children enjoy creating with a range of materials and loose parts. It’s much easier to start thinking of a storyline when you have physical pieces in front of you.  

As the children manipulate, make, build and design their structures and objects, they begin to create the base of a story. Soon they are ready to add more details, a setting and characters which result in a storytelling experience.

The hands-on experience encourages creativity and imagination. It also helps the children revisit past events that are important to them.

Dedicated quiet times to observe and draw allow the children opportunities to carefully observe and document what they see. The adults in the space listen to the children’s ideas, offering suggestions and supporting key literacy skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing.

We wonder what stories live in these materials and how the children might use them to tell their own stories. 

Watch this space! 

Kelso’s Choices

What are small and big problems?

The children began by drawing to share their ideas.

Next, we read the book ‘Big Problems and Small Problems’, and discussed the children’s drawings to decide if the different situations in their pictures were big problems or small problems.

BIG PROBLEMS:

If it is a ‘big’ problem, the children were encouraged to reach out to an adult ‘right away’!

SMALL PROBLEMS:

If they decide it is a small problem, then the children were encouraged to use ‘Kelso’s Choice Wheel’ to use 2 choices before reaching out to an adult.

As we discussed the problems the children had drawn out, they decided if they were big or small problems, and how they might use ‘Kelso’s Choice Wheel’ to choose the most appropriate choices they could try, before reaching out to an adult for support.

The children decided to post the choice wheel in different places in the Early Years to help them refer to the choices when needed. They will give each campfire one poster and pin up two more in the EY playground.

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)

Social Skills

Interpersonal relationships

  • Practice empathy and care for others.
  • Listen closely to others.
  • Be respectful to others.
  • Play cooperatively in a group: sharing, taking turns.
  • Help others.

Social and emotional intelligence

  • Be aware of own and others’ feelings.
  • Manage anger and resolve conflict.
  • Be self- and socially aware.
  • Be aware of own and others’ impact as a member of a learning group.

Self-management Skills

Mindfulness

  • Take responsibility for own well-being.

The Pipes

A teacher in the PYP came over to the Early Years to ask the teachers if they would like to have some materials that they had finished using. As the children were at a specialist lesson, we took a photograph of the teacher and the pipe and asked the children what they thought about it.

  • Eunbyul “That is plastic. And this one is a teacher.”
  • Oxford “He gave this to Ms. Hannah.”
  • Liz “Is it paper for Ms. Hannah to write?”
  • Oxford “And for children to write?”
  • Eunbyul “It’s not paper, it’s plastic for making a slide. Make all and it will slide.”
  • Oxford “I have it at home. I draw a picture with it.”
  • Oliver “I think it is metal or wood.”

The children disagree. “We think it is plastic!”

  • Motong “It is hard.”
  • Oliver “It is a pipe, used for making racing slides.”
  • Eli “I think it is used for the slide that the ball can go down.”
  • Oxford “I think water can go down. This is like plastic.”
  • Liz “This is a boat slide.”

  • Morning “I can put a paper inside. You can put water and balls.”
  • Oxford “This is like the bamboo outside.”
  • Wyatt “Is paper, water go down, like a slide, water goes there.”
  • Oliver “We can put marbles that it can go deep underwater.”
  • Morning “You can put a pencil on it.”
  • Oxford “I think you can put cars inside it. Can put one or two cars.”
  • Eli “Little, little ones. Big ones will be too big and this will break because it is too heavy.”
  • Liz “This slide I think putting the blocks. Blocks like balls.”
  • Wyatt “This use water, going the paper. Putting on the blocks and the water going down.”
  • Oxford “I think we can use this for play. To take blocks and we can put in and put cars in.
  • Eli “The paper boat will get in the water and it will melt.”
  • Oliver “You mean it will get wet.”
  • Eli “And then it will be really easy to break.” 

The children suggested that we use the PVC pipes in the indoor water play area. The children were excited and wanted to speak to the teacher and gather the materials for play. They signed up to help.

One group would visit the teacher while the other groups collect the different materials.

We went off to look for the teacher. The team checked the nametags on the door to see if they could find his classroom.  

On their return, the team informed the others of what Mr. Jamie said. He had given them more pipes, some sandpaper, a block and a collection of balls. The team showed us how to prepare the pipes for play by using sandpaper to smoothen the edges of the pipes.

We wonder how the children will use the materials to explore through their senses. We wonder about the different investigations that might lead to testing, identifying, classifying and researching.

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