Base 10 Blocks

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A team of mathematicians worked together to solve a math problem.

We used Base 10 Blocks and place value mats to help us calculate. 

  • Ethan “Put 2 cubes for red.”

  • Suzy “10 blocks in the squares because there are 10 spaces.”
  • Archie “Counting the blocks to see how many blocks Sea has.”
  • Ethan “Ms. Shemo got the blocks every time there is 10.”
  • Isabella “Then, she gave one long one.”
  • Evan “10 in the long one.”

We played an addition game with regrouping 1’s for 10’s using one dice, Base 10 Blocks and a place mat. The children were excited to add the blocks each time and practiced grouping.

Big Ideas: the base 10 values system is used to represent numbers and number relationships.

 

The Game!

Isabella and Adalyn decided to create their own game using bricks, glass stones and sticks. The goal of the game was to earn lots of glass stones. You had to pass the ball to each other using a stick. Each time you shoot the ball into the goal, you get a brick. When you have 7 bricks you can trade it for a glass stone.

We noticed that the game designers revisited the rules of the game many times to make changes that made the game more exciting. They listened to each other and made changes through negotiation. The person with the most stones is the winner!

Creating a Survey

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The children’s initial belief that everyone at NIS receives a birthday cupcake has been challenged!

A deep dive into our wonderings about the PTA birthday cupcakes at NIS has resulted in the children wanting to find out more about the cupcakes. They decided to speak to the community, to find out if this belief was true.

We discussed the next steps in our research. Perhaps a survey was required to gather the information the children were seeking. When this was suggested to the children, they recalled gathering data in a similar way, the previous year. They explained how they had done it, writing sentences down and seeking out people to find out what they thought. They recall recording their information on paper.

Isabella explained that a good question to ask the community would be, “Do you get a PTA cupcake?” The children agreed with Isabella’s idea. Next, a small group gathered to prepare the survey.

We began to plan our writing. Saying and stretching the words helped the children isolate the sounds and look for the letters they needed in an alphabet chart. Sight Word cards were used to help the children write the words that were harder to sound out.  We talked about leaving spaces between words and punctuation at the end of the sentence.  

The surveys were photocopied and clipped onto boards as they needed to ask many people in the community.

The researchers practiced conducting their survey by asking their friends and teachers in K2A.

Next, they will visit different people in the community to see what more they can learn from their research.

The team of researchers will bring their data to the rest of the class to share their findings.

We wonder what they might uncover through their research!

Respect for People, Spaces and Materials

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The Early Years space offers the children a range of materials in many different spaces, inviting them to engage, inquire and explore. During play and activity, materials can move around and be used in many interesting ways. One afternoon, we noticed that some materials had not been cared for after play.

We decided to photograph these spaces and present them to the children, which provoked a conversation about care for people, places and materials around us.

The children quickly identified the problem and began to discuss solutions. They considered the concepts of care and responsibility. Together they helped to clean up the spaces, preparing it for another day of play and exploration.

Storytelling through  Story Workshop

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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. 

The World of Shapes

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Story #1

Riccardo was exploring the kinetic sand in the Early Years to create shapes. He said, “I can show you something. I made a ball and I can turn this ball into an oval.”

Riccardo’s explanation shows his developing understanding of the characteristics of shapes.

Story #2

Throughout the day, we often gather on the carpet in a circle to share ideas, discuss wonderings, or explore new concepts. One morning, the children discussed their seating spots, triggering a discussion about the purpose of gatherings and the importance of a shape.

Jacob noticed that the class community didn’t make a ‘circle’ explaining, “This is not a circle, this is like a oval.” We drew a circle on a whiteboard and asked Jacob to explain the difference. He drew on the whiteboard to share his explanation, “A oval are the circle but you pull out the sides a little bit.”

We also used a beaded chain to demonstrate Jacob’s idea. This led to a discussion about the importance of the circular shape when we sit together, as everyone can be seen and everyone feels included.

Story #3

Euno, Dahyun and Sea were creating structures using different coloured cubes.

Euno counted the shapes on one side as she wanted to know how many shapes she had used in her design. How do we use shapes to make shapes?

Sea used her shapes differently, focusing on creating a rainbow pattern. We wonder how many more shapes she used each time her colour grew.   

Story #4

Evan, George and Jacob had created a house for Little Panda using different shapes. They were trying to figure out how many shapes they had used and estimated to solve the problem. Jacob pointed out that he saw ‘a square on each side of the structure!’ We wondered how many shapes they used in total to create the final structure and if we could identify some of these shapes.

We look forward to diving deeper into the ‘world of shapes‘ to learn more about them, to explore how shapes could impact the choices we make.

 

The Rainbow

Noticing the questions and wonderings the children had about Sea’s rainbow, we decided to print the photograph and present it back to the children.

What did they notice?

  • Isabella “I see coloured blocks”
  • Adalyn “It’s like a rainbow.”
  • Suzy “It looks like a rectangle.”
  • Evan “I see so many colours in the picture, six colours.”

We wondered how the children may represent what they see. They worked independently using lines, shapes and colours to represent their observations on paper.

Next, we gathered to look at each other’s pictures and share what we noticed.

  • Isabella “I see some small square blocks.” The children agreed with Isabella’s observations.
  • “It has colours like a rainbow.” Explained Ethan making connections with what he already knows about colours.
  • Adalyn “It has a rectangle!”

How would we draw a rectangle? What would we need to remember?

  • Evan began to explain his thinking, using gestures to show straight lines that are connected. We illustrated his ideas on the chart paper, “two sides are long and two sides are shorter.”

How many square blocks did Sea use to create her rainbow?

  • Isabella thought hard and decided to share an estimate (a good guess) “Maybe 100 blocks because it’s too many blocks we can’t count.”
  • Suzy began to count the colours with the rest of the class joining in to help.

2 red, 1 purple, 5 blue, 9 green, 13 yellow and 17 orange cubes were used.

We wonder how we might work out how many cubes were used in all.  

 

As the young mathematicians went out to explore the classroom spaces, we witnessed more rainbows scattered across the classroom.

Sea seems to have inspired her friends with her rainbow structure!

Pandas Playground – Collaborative Play

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Over several days, a team of engineers have been working together to create a playground for their characters. Many different loose parts and blocks have been used in their design.

Each day, the team gathered at various times to evaluate their design, make changes and improve on their ideas. As their initial structure began to grow, more loose parts were sought after.

The cats protect the money (glass stones) in the playground.

Each idea was considered by the group. Negotiating ideas took a long time. Members of the team listened thoughtfully, agreed and disagreed, and at times struggled with the challenges that come with working in large groups.

When emotions were high, members of the team paused to take a break. Together, they found ways to work collaboratively to build and strengthen their friendship.

Their conversations and ideas developed their language skills, helping them express their ideas and decisions more clearly when it was time to present ‘The Playground’ to the class.

Do you get a birthday cupcake?

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Euno and Ms. Shemo received a birthday cupcake from the NIS PTA. They were both excited to have their cupcakes at the end of the day! 

Jacob “But why do YOU get a cupcake?”

Ms. Shemo explained that she also received a birthday cupcake as her birthday was in August. However, Jacob’s wondering got us all thinking. Do ALL teachers get a cupcake?  

– Does everyone at NIS get a birthday cupcake from the PTA?

This led to a discussion about the community at NIS. The children tapped into their experiences at school to share what they knew about the different people who work around them. Some people we knew a lot about and others we didn’t. They decided to speak to people to ask them if they received a cupcake from the PTA for their birthday. We documented the children’s ideas on large chart paper to gather all our thoughts and observations in one place.

During the next few weeks, we will seek out opportunities to engage with the people the children identified in their brainstorm, as well as others in the school community, to get to know them and their roles at the school.

– We wonder how the children will document their thinking.

– We wonder what they might uncover through their inquiry into their community.

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)

  • Use discussion and play to generate new ideas and investigations.
  • Engage in conversations.
  • Listen actively and respectfully to others’ ideas.

The Connection Between Reading and Writing

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Friendship and problem-solving are important concepts that we explore throughout the year in K2. We read the story ‘A Cat and a Dog’ by Claire Masurel and Bob Kolar, to help us talk about different ways we can help and support our friends and community in school. While reading the story, the children were encouraged to connect with the story, share observations and predictions, and look for ways the characters might solve problems to develop their friendship.

Over the last few weeks, the children have been creating the Morning Message, using pictures, symbols and writing. At this developmental stage, the children often use their phonetic knowledge to create messages and stories. As a result, words may be spelt incorrectly. It is important to honour the process of learning by giving children plenty of time to observe, notice and make connections to understand the relationship between letters and sounds in words.

A great teaching moment presented itself when we noticed that the author of the book had used the word ‘friends’ in the story. When looking at the word in the message, Evan was able to spot the difference in the spelling. He then rewrote the word with the correct spelling.

 

These mini-lessons help us make the connection between reading and writing more visible to the children.

We will continue to use books, literature and environmental print to explore concepts about print, to help the children explore and use these strategies and ideas in their writing.   

Introduction to ‘Writing Workshop’

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Noticing the children’s interest in creating stories and making books, we decided to introduce them to ‘Writing Workshop’. Writing Workshop is a dedicated time when we explore, notice and practice different writing behaviours and techniques while developing skills that help us grow as readers and writers.

We began by introducing the children to a mentor text, to help them brainstorm ideas about books. While reading the wordless picture book, the children noticed and discussed many different features of picture books.

We documented these ideas on chart paper, which we will refer to throughout the year.

The first observation the children shared was that the book had ‘NO’ words.

How can we read a book that has no words?  

The children began to tell the story, using clues in the illustrations. They noticed that actions, feelings and stories can be communicated through the illustrations.

Next, the children were invited to go to the new library space, to create their books. We hoped that the children would be inspired by the books around them, drawing ideas from their favourite authors, stories and characters to create their own stories.

  • Jacob “我们来画nis library吧。（let’s draw some pictures of the library.)”
  • George “我们不是已经画过了吗？（We’ve done that before)”
  • Jacob “我们上次是画的画， 这次是做书，不一样。”(last time, we just drew a picture of it, and this time we are going to make a book, so it’s different) 这是一个小故事.” (This is a short story)”
  • Ethan “I am making a haunted house story”.

It is helpful to have an organised system when creating messages or books. Therefore, the children prepared their ‘Writing Workshop’ folder, which will be used to collect their draft and published stories and pieces of writing. The ‘green sticker’ and ‘red sticker’ on the pockets hold their ‘ongoing’ and ‘completed’ pieces of work.

As the year progresses, we will learn more about our favourite authors and illustrators, to explore the techniques and craft moves they use to make their books more inviting, engaging, exciting and fun for their readers.

The Early Years Gathering

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Once a week, the Early Years community gather in a circle at the Piazza. We asked the children their thoughts about the activity and suggestions that will help us make this a special time for the Early Years community. 

  • Isabella “We sing some songs and we listen.”
  • Jacob “Everybody do singing and listening. “
  • Adalyn “We can play games there.”
  • Jacob “We can have a lot of fun.”
  • Archie “It was fun.”
  • Isabella “You cannot play everywhere. “
  • Jacob “You can not do things you WANT to do, because we are making a circle, listening.”
  • Suzy “I think no playing with our shoes because then teacher say we can’t remember to sing.”
  • Ethan “Teacher listening (listening to the teacher).”
  • Riccardo “No shouting because you cannot hear people talking.”
  • Jacob “We are not pushing or hitting because people will be hurt.”
  • Euno “No shouting.”
  • Dahyun “Listen to everybody.”
  • Finn “No hitting, no running and no fighting. Look at the teacher. Listen to the teacher. Put your hands on your lap”

During the next few weeks, we will continue to come together, to build relationships and connect in different spaces around the school.

The Language of Watercolour

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A small group of children visited the Atelier eager to explore tools and materials, excited to create and learn more about this design studio. The Atelier is a place that exemplifies the creative processes not just with art.

The creative processes are part of every language. The culture of the Atelier invites and encourages the different languages of expression.

These 100 languages of expression demonstrate a high degree of learning with equal importance and value placed on play, the product and the process of learning for children and adults.

Learning is always transdisciplinary, crossing boundaries between many different subjects. It is a place for active, independent and collaborative learning.  

Children develop a range of skills and knowledge through their research with materials, tools and the environment.

They test their theories and develop understandings about concepts such as artistic form, change, connection, creativity, appreciation, form, process, light, image, colour and technique.

The children transform into storytellers and explorers through the language of watercolour🎨. 

 

 

The children begin by choosing their paper and coloured tempera blocks.

Then, they get a pot of water and choose their paintbrush.

The space and task invite the children to make choices, take responsibility, and develop their self-management skills.

 

They learn about tools and materials that help them express themselves.

Healthy Snacks

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One morning, a group of children were having a discussion about food while eating their snacks.

  • Jacob “Chips is junk food. You shouldn’t eat too much of it.”
  • Adalyn “Let me tell you, you know what? Chips is junk food, but if you eat it once in a while, it is fine. Don’t eat it every day.”

Seeing the children’s interest in the topic of healthy food, the teachers decided to share a photograph of their options for snacks, to learn more about the children’s opinions and theories.

  • Isabella “I see some snacks.”
  • Jacob “I see everybody’s snack on the yellow mat.”
  • Isabella “I see different snacks.”
  • George “I see snack box.”
  • Suzy “I see the yellow mat.”
  • Jacob “I see little and big boxes and different food.”
  • Adalyn “Fruit is good for school.”
  • Isabella “I think it’s healthy.”
  • Jacob “Because in people’s inside it is healthy because you will be grown up.
  • Adalyn “We can bring cookies.”
  • Jacob “No chocolate because some people eat chocolate it’s not good for your teeth. And candy. No candy because it’s the same, some people eat so many and have so many teeth take out.”
  • Isabella “Bread.”
  • Evan “Potatoes.”
  • Jacob wondered about their first theories about chips. After some thought, he explained, “Potato chips are ok because they come from potato.”
  • Riccardo “You can eat chocolate in your home.”
  • Jacob “Eat little chips, because chips come from vegetables. Coconut is ok, it’s a fruit.”

The children’s conversation revealed their knowledge about food and their concern for the well-being of others and themselves. It was clear that their comments, observations, and suggestions were expressed to support and inform each other.

We hope the children’s dialogue inspires family conversations about healthy choices about food in maintaining good health.

We wonder where our theories about healthy food might lead us… 

Math Talks: Snacks

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During our Morning Meeting, we gathered to join in a Math Talk. A Maths Talk is a collaborative process where children’s thinking, ideas and strategies are discussed, shared and or exchanged. The routine reveals children’s understanding and misunderstandings and encourages dialogue about mathematical concepts.

The children’s thinking was provoked by an image. Questions were asked to help the children notice details in the image. 

– What do you notice? What do you wonder?

– Use pictures, numbers, or words to show or tell what is happening.

The children were encouraged to think about the image. Then, they documented their observations using paper and coloured markers.

Next, they shared their observations and thinking with the class.

Finally, they included their documentation in their Maths journals.

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)

  • observe carefully
  • analyse and interpret information
  • notice relationships and patterns
  • listen actively and respectfully to others’ ideas and listen to information
  • participate in conversations
  • understand symbols, use mark-marking to convey meaning
  • document information and observations in a variety of ways

Learning about a Space

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When we visit the library, we meet Ms. Mulder, Ms. Tina and Ms. Winnie. As the children had many wonderings and questions from their first visit to the new library, we decided to document them to help the children explore and learn about this new space.

  • Isabella “How big is it upstairs? What is inside the boxes?”
  • Jacob “I wonder, upstairs looks like what? What things are upstairs? What is there outside from the stairs?”
  • Adalyn “Why does the library have some games?’
  • Ethan “Where are the dinosaur books?”
  • Isabella “Where are the princess books?”
  • Riccardo “How long is it upstairs?”
  • Archie “Does the big library look like a square?”
  • George “Where are the airplane books?”
  • Evan “Where are the books about how to make a house?”
  • Dahyun “I want to know princess books.”
  • Sea “Where are the cat books?”
  • Euno “Where are princess books?”
  • Suzy “Where are the Elsa books?”

The children’s questions and wonderings gravitated around the changes they saw in the new library. They were curious about the design of the space, particularly about the spaces they did not have access to, yet. They were also keen to know where their favourite books live in the new space.

Next, the children will take their questions to the library team to see what they might uncover about this amazing new space in the school, referred to as ‘The HUB’.   

Creating Agreements for Engagement, Play and Learning

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We invited the children to think about their relationships with people, materials and spaces by asking them, “What helps us learn and have fun together?”

  • Suzy “Be safe.”
  • Adalyn “Not push.”
  • Evan “Because people can be hurt. Take turns.”
  • Archie “You can say ‘please stop’ if someone is pushing.”
  • Adalyn “We can share the toys.”
  • Ethan “No hitting, then go to the nurse and everyone gets hurt.”

The next day, we provoked the children’s thinking by showing photographs of their interactions in different spaces and situations, to help them think more about their roles, responsibilities and the function of spaces.

First, the children documented their thinking independently. They were encouraged to share their ideas using drawings, pictures, words and symbols.

Then, they took turns to share their ideas with the whole class. The children’s suggestions for play and engagement were collated and documented on large chart paper.

 

The big ideas from the brainstorm reflected a need for ‘safety’ and ‘kindness’. ‘Sharing’ and ‘taking turns’ were highlighted as kind behaviours. Together, the class created the agreement to be safe, be kind and share.

Finally, the children signed the poster, showing their commitment to their collective agreement for behaviour and play.

During the next few weeks, we will refer to their initial ideas and agreements, to refine and change them as needed. 

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)

  • listen actively and respectfully to others’ ideas and listen to information
  • participate in conversations
  • negotiate ideas and knowledge with peers and teachers
  • use mark-marking to convey meaning
  • share responsibility for decision-making

The New Space: The Hub

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Suzy and her friend Aria used the blocks on the light table to recreate ‘The New Library’. Their structure led to an interesting conversation about new spaces at NIS.

  • What new spaces have been created around us?
  • What possibilities are there in these spaces for learning, engagement and fun?

Noticing the children’s interest in new spaces, we decided to begin our deep dive by sharing a video Ms. Hannah had taken the previous year when the children in PreK1B explored the ‘old’ library building.

The video captured the children’s surprise and initial wonderings about the space as most of the books and furniture had been packed away. It documented the children’s observations about what happened in this space before their visit.

Next, the children gathered in small groups to share their initial observations, recollecting their memories of learning.

  • Isabella “On the floor there are lines.”
  • Jacob “The library, we checked at NIS. We found many we checked.”
  • Riccardo “The library, Ms. Hannah said it.”
  • Adalyn “In the box there were books. The books have to move.”
  • Jacob “To the new library. Ms. Hannah said we will go to the new library to check books.”
  • Isabella “The library was knocked down.”
  • Adalyn “To make a new library.”
  • Isabella “To make it big, so many people can go in one time, I think it is huge!”
  • Adalyn “And we can use many space to read books.”
  • Riccardo “Have three spaces now.”

  • Jacob “I think some places can be a little bit scary. You can go to some space and feel a little bit more scared. I wonder if there is a zombie.”
  • Isabella “Zombie is not alive in our world, it’s just pretend. When I was at home I was very scared of darkness but now I am not scared.”
  • Riccardo “We can read books in the new library.”
  • Isabella “We have to be quiet in the library, we can only read books.”
  • Adalyn “We can’t run or shout.”
  • George “Tables, light, checkout counter. 我看到别人在找东西， 我看到Jacob。”（I saw some children looking for things. I saw Jacob.)
  • Suzy “红色的沙发。”（I saw red Sofas.) “在图书馆。” （In the library.)
  • George “我记得二楼有红色的沙发。柜子里面以前装的是书。I remembered there were red sofas on the 2nd The shelves used to have books in there.)”
  • Ethan “Bookshelf. It’s for library books. I like dinosaur books.”
  • Dahyun “I like princess books.”
  • Junsu “I like green.”
  • George “现在二楼应该没有书了，不一样了。”（The 2nd floor should not have any books now. It should be different now.) He saw the boxes in the Hub and said, “箱子里装的是玩具，书，这是给所有的人。”（There are toys and books in the boxes and those are for everybody.）
  • Finn “我看到视频里有Jacob 和 Riccardo。“ （I saw Jacob and Riccardo in the video.)
  • Euno “I see a classroom and some boxes.”
  • Sea “I see classroom, floor, drawings (on the floor).”
  • Evan “I see the floor got some picture, 一些黑色的图案(some black patterns). I think people was drawing on the floor. It was the old library.”
  • Archie whispered, “What’s in it?” As he pointed to the boxes.

It was time to visit the new hub, explore the different spaces and consider the possibilities in this new space. The children walked around, looking into boxers filled with books, resources and learning materials. They wondered about the different areas in the space, how the books may be arranged and if they had access to some of the ‘cool’ spaces at the centre.

  • George “去二楼了吗？是二楼的还是一楼？去年的图书馆是在二楼。是在大餐厅的二楼。 K2的餐厅” （Did they go to the 2nd floor? Are we going to the 2nd floor or first floor? Our library was in the 2nd floor last year, and it was up above the K2 cafeteria.)
  • Finn “去年我们去不一样的图书馆，我们需要坐电梯，我更喜欢新的图书馆。” （We had a different library last year, and at that time we needed to take the elevators. I like the new library more.)

As they gazed through the circular windows, looked for their favourite story books and watched students reading in nooks and corners around the hub, they began to see possibilities that may live in this space.

The next day, the children went back to the Hub with paper and black-line markers, to sketch their observations of the space.

The children met Ms. Jacqui along the way and asked if they could go upstairs to see the Hub. She explained that at the moment, as the space upstairs is used as a learning space for older students.

Then, the children chose a space to document their observations.

As they sketched, we noticed that the children were drawn to different objects and spaces in the library, had different perspectives about spaces and many new wonderings about the space and how it might be used. 

We look forward to learning more about the Hub as we wonder how community spaces might foster a sense of purpose and belonging.

The Morning Message

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The Morning Meeting is a special time for the classroom community. It is a time when we greet the children and adults by name and prepare to settle in to play, explore and learn together. Morning Meeting activities help build a strong sense of community and set the children up for success. The children are encouraged to listen, look at the speaker and manage their bodies, which sets the tone for a respectful and trusting learning environment.

Another component of the Morning Meeting is the morning message. The children read and interact with a short message written by the children and/or teacher. The morning message may highlight a task for the day or provide information on the day’s activities. Creating and reading the message builds language awareness.

A small group of children were invited to write the message. Their task was to create the first part of the message. The children were encouraged to listen to the sounds in words to help with spelling. They will use this strategy to write for different purposes and situations in K2.At this developmental stage, the focus is on developing an understanding of letters and sounds through inventive spelling. We will continue to add to our message over the next few days.

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s) 

  • understand symbols
  • understand that mark-making carries meaning
  • use mark-marking to convey meaning

Creating a First Memory!

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The children were invited to use paper and black line markers to create a memory of their first day in K2.

They documented their ideas using drawings and labels. The children drew pictures of their friends and playtime. Blocks, Lego play and outdoor learning experiences were some of their favourite experiences of the day.

We look forward to observing how they document their learning throughout the year in K2.

Growing Patterns

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The children were presented with 4 different images.
What do you notice about the images?
We documented their thinking using words, symbols and numbers.
We created a growing pattern together.
Next, the children worked on creating growing patterns using manipulatives in the classroom.
They explained ‘how’ their patterns were growing and changing.

Sharing Stories through ‘Writing Workshop’

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We have been using drawing and writing to share stories during ‘Writing Workshop’. We use a checklist to plan, create and improve our writing. 

  • Oliver “This is people are sad because they think NIS school they already played 10 years and they think it’s a bit boring and they want a new school. She wants to go to a new school but she don’t know where is a new school and a new country.”
  • Morning “It is a bunny, it is flying in the sky. And he is going in the tree house.”

  • Eunbyul “People shoot the ball fast and goal. I shoot and goalie is Beomjun. At NIS soccer. It is a Saturday, it is a sunny day.”
  • Oxford “One day, people want to play but no one to play. And the people play outside, he wants to play slide. People is there and feeling is not good.”
  • Eli “My story, this is I and daddy and a monster and we say ‘ah’ and the monster is so loud and other people say ‘ah’ too. The Monster is so loud it roars and the building in NIS is shake.”

  • Motong “This is one day I kick ball in the goal. I playing soccer at NIS with friends in Grade 1 and PreK.”
  • Lydia “I draw about today. Today is raining and have two people. Them to the outside and one is mummy and one is me. We go to outside and play.”

  • Jeongyoon “I am going to my soccer game and my team is waiting. I am playing with Beomjun outside in the playground.”
  • Wyatt “Monday I am grandma got outside play and I see the grass and I climbing the tree and I sit on the carpet and eat the fruits and I see the tadpole.”
  • Liz “A bird, is flying and bird is fall down and died. It is a sunny day.”

  • Beomjun “I am swimming on Tuesday after school. I am swimming with Oxford, Eli and Liz and Oliver and Oxford.”
  • Hana “I am drawing grass.”
  • Yui “A little girl playing football. She feels a little bit tired, then she rests and then plays football again. Then she goes home to change her clothes. Then, she has lunch. And then she goes shopping to buy some tomatoes, milk. Then she goes home. Then she takes a nap (In Mandarin).”

The Group’s Expression of Beauty

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The group were ready to create their final expression of beauty. They began with a blank canvas. They decided to make a beautiful picture on the large canvas based on their initial plans for their final artwork. First, they discussed the plan together and agreed to divide up the work.

Liz was responsible for making the grass, Lydia was in charge of the large flowers, and Yui handled the small flowers. After completing the initial picture draft, the group returned to the classroom and presented it to the whole class for feedback.

The children Loved the beautiful colours used for the flowers. The green grass and the shiny paper created a fascinating effect. They suggested including the sky, the sun and more flowers.

Incorporating the feedback they received, the group went back to work. They added a rainbow, more big and tall flowers, a sun, clouds, and other elements to beautify their artwork further.

When adding the rainbow, the group meticulously measured the curve and precisely cut it out to achieve the desired shape and proportions. Throughout the creative process, they provided each other with constructive feedback and helpful suggestions to refine the artwork.

The group went back to the class to share their artwork.

The children were excited to see that the team had included a rainbow more flowers and grass, all suggestions they had made to improve the creation. They explained that there was room for more improvement, perhaps including some clouds, birds, unicorns and butterflies would make the artwork even more beautiful.

The team’s final creation shares a collective expression of what is beautiful in the eyes of children. 

All Kinds of Boots

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What do you notice? What do you wonder?

We documented the children’s observations and questions.

See

  • Morning “Some shoes are small and some shoes are big.”
  • Motong “There are many different colour shoes and some are tall and some are short. I see 10 pairs of shoes.”
  • Wyatt “Many colours on the shoes.”
  • Oliver “Some shoes are fat and some shoes thin.”
  • Jeongyoon “There are 20 shoes.”
  • Eli “Some boots are for rain and some boots are for walking and some are for winter.”
  • Oxford “One is green. Some are made out of feathers and some are not. Some boots are in the ice. Some boots have no stickers in the front.”
  • Beomjun “3 little shoes and big shoes is 3.”
  • Eunbyul “Big, medium and small boots.

Questions

  • Jeongyoon “Whare there have the shoes and the boots?”
  • Wyatt “Why has many coloured boots and shoes?”
  • Motong “Why are there black shoes?”
  • Oliver “I know that the boots are used for walking or snowing for but what else are they for?”
  • Eli “Why do some have a name on the front and some don’t?”
  • Oxford “Why do we need the stickers?”

We counted our shoes to see how many pairs we had all together.

We had 11 pairs!

Task:

– Create your own 2’s collection using objects in the classroom.

– Count in 2’s using your objects.

Challenge: Use collections to share more ways to skip count!

The children develop an understanding:

– that the operations of addition and subtraction are related to each other and are used to process information to solve problems

– of how number operations can be modeled in a variety of ways

– that there are many mental methods that can be applied for exact and approximate computations

The Egg Carton Problem

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We began by asking the children what they see, think and wonder about the image. We documented their observations using words, numbers and symbols.

See

  • Eunbyul “I see eggs.”
  • Wyatt “Egg box and eggs.”
  • Eli “Six eggs in the box.”
  • Oliver “I see words on the box. There are holes on the box. 6+6 is 12.”
  • Motong “There are six eggs and there are no six eggs. There were 12 eggs and it only 6 eggs.”
  • Jeongyoon “I see a table.”

Think…

  • Wyatt “I think this is a bird’s egg.”
  • Liz “I think its chicken eggs because birds’ eggs are not big.”
  • Oxford “I don’t think this is not a bird’s eggs, this is eating eggs.”
  • Lydia “The chicken egg is for the people to eat.”

Questions:

  • Wyatt “Why there have eggs?”
  • Motong “Why there are only 6 eggs but 12 spaces?”

We modelled another way to arrange the 6 eggs in the box. We used manipulatives and drawings to share many ways to represent our thinking.

Then, the children were invited to share multiple solutions to a problem.

If you had 6 eggs left in your egg carton, how would you place them?

Share your sorts using pictures, numbers and symbols.

Egg Problem Template

The children develop an understanding:

– that the operations of addition and subtraction are related to each other and are used to process information to solve problems

– of how number operations can be modeled in a variety of ways

– that there are many mental methods that can be applied for exact and approximate computations

The Mint Tea Shop

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Oliver has been growing mint in the Early Years Garden. The mint is ready to harvest. Oliver decided to make mint tea for the community. He approached Ms. Hannah as he recalled making mint tea with her the year before. He hoped to recruit Ms. Hannah as she knew how to make ‘great tea’!

 

The Plan

Oliver began by planning his tea shop. He decided to make a sample cup of tea to ask his friends what they thought.

Then, he would be ready to offer the tea to others in the community.

 

Preparing the Sample Tea:

Taste and Flavour Test

Oliver was ready to make mint tea with Ms. Hannah. They sat together to talk about his plan, then moved to the kitchen to prepare and test the tea.

They made 5 different samples to test the strength of the tea. Oliver chose the strongest mint tea to share with his friends as he loved the strong mint flavour.

The mint tea was left to brew overnight. Oliver wrote a message to let others know the tea belongs to K2A.

 

How do we promote the tea shop?

Oliver shared his process with the class.

He wondered how to inform the Early Years community about the tea testing. The teachers shared a sample community coffee shop promotional video to explore possible ideas.

Oliver was inspired to create his promotional poster, inviting the community to test his tea.

He also made a short video to invite his friends and teachers. Oliver set up his tea shop, preparing the cups and getting ready for his customers. 

He gathered some customer data to determine if they liked his mint tea.

  • Wyatt “The smell of the mint leaves was good.”
  • Lydia “And the drink is yummy.”
  • Eli “I think Oliver should put more leaves in there because if you leave the leaves I think the tea will be stronger.”

Children from the different classes in the Early Years and teachers who passed by the space were invited to try the tea.

As Oliver had a few cups left over at the end of the day, He decided to continue with his tea shop during lunch playtime the following day.

The children gathered to try out his tea again. He was excited to hear some of the children say, “I love this tea it makes me feel so calm.”

Inquiring about Silkworms

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  • How long is a silkworm?
  • How does he eat the leaves?
  • What is in his stomach? 

The children continue their inquiry to learn more about the silkworm.

Ms. Jo brought in a silkworm to help us answer some of their questions. We used a microscope to take a closer look at the silkworm, to see how it moves and eats.

 

We measured the silkworm, it was about 7 centimetres long!

The children were curious about the shedding skim. We watched a video to see how the silkworm ‘moults’.  

We watched a second video to see how the silkworm spins its cocoon. 

We continue to add to our research, documenting new and interesting information we uncover about the silkworms. 

Non-Fiction Books: Learning Through Books

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Learning about Worms and Silkworms

The children have been exploring and playing with worms and other living things in the earliest playground.

In the last week, we have documented their questions and observations about silkworms.

Considering the children’s ongoing interest in living things, we read a nonfiction book about earthworms. The children were amazed to read and learn facts about earthworms, how they survived and how they help us. While reading the text, we identified the different features of nonfiction books:  

  • The cover of the book has a title that tells us the topic. It could have a picture which helps the reader understand what the contents of the book might be about.
  • A blurb at the back of the book gives us a brief indication about the content of the nonfiction book.
  • There is a contents page which helps the reader find specific information.
  • The pages are numbered to help the reader find the information quickly.
  • Photographs, drawings and diagrams are included on pages.
  • Information is shared about a topic.
  • Labels and descriptions help the reader understand information about images.

Next, we noted all the information the children knew about worms and silkworms. We decided to organise the information into two columns, similarities and differences between worms and silkworms.

Key ideas and observations that the children shared offer opportunities for an in-depth study into worms and silkworms. In the coming days, we will reach out to experts who can give us more information about these living things.

Creating Bird’s Nests

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Over the last few weeks, the children have been observing the birds in the Early Years garden (nature). They have been concerned about the mother and baby birds after noticing the broken eggshells scattered on the playground equipment (causation, survival). The children have been discussing ways to help the birds in the playground (safety).

They decided to make nests that they could position around the playground for nesting birds (action). They discussed using a variety of materials including wood, plastic, grass and sticks to create the nests (materials). They began drawing their ideas on paper, using marks, words and pictures to share their ideas with others (organising ideas, making plans).

We wonder how the birds might react to the homes the children create through their project work.

The Display Stand

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@Y began to envision her craftwork display where she would showcase her handmade creations. She started by sketching a design.

Ms. Eileen had collected several boxes from the IT office for the children’s project work. @Y decided to use some of them for her structure. @Ybegan to arrange the boxes according to her plan.

While playing with ideas, @Y noticed that the boxes were relatively narrow and not very suitable for placing her items.

She decided to tape two boxes together to crate a wider surface area for her creative display. @Y moved the boxes around and then arranged them in the desired manner.

As her stand was made up of recycled boxes, the print and colour on the boxes were dull and unattractive. Ms. Eileen invited @Y to think of alternatives. @Y experimented with different ideas and coloured fabrics for the base of her display.

After careful consideration, @Y settled for the red fabric.

She was drawn to the softness of the material and the shade of red. She believed that her artwork would be more visible with this background effect.

@Y was actively engaged in all stages of learning including thinking about and planning her display stand, then testing ideas and modifying to construct her final creation. As an artist, @Y’s process shows her developing understanding of how colour, shape and texture interact with each other in unique ways, and that this can have a profound effect on the observer’s experience of art.   

Where do we go from here?

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The team conducted their research, then collected, analysed and presented their findings to the class. Their presentation showed how they have uncovered a broader definition of ‘beauty’. It was time to plan the next steps in their project.

How can we share OUR expressions of ‘Beauty’?

Lydia was excited to find a piece of tinsel paper. The children explained that it was ‘beautiful’. They were attracted to the texture, colour and feel of the paper. They wondered what they could make with coloured tinsel paper. Lydia, Liz and Yui decided to draw pictures to document their ideas. They wanted to create a collaborative piece of art using all of their ideas.

Morning noticed the beautiful pictures and asked to join the team to create the art. She used several colours to draw peacocks.

Morning explained that peacocks were ‘pretty’ because they had colourful feathers that had diamond shapes. As Morning tapped into her prior experiences, she recalled memories of seeing beautiful peacocks on her travels with her family.

Creating the Maze

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The team looked at the games the Grade 4 have made for the Early Years students. Oxford and Jeongyoon decided to make a maze board game together.

Jeongyoon suggested visiting Ms. Jo’s design room to look for some materials. They first cut two pieces of cardboard that were the exact size. Then, they taped them together to make a large base.

The team worked closely together and talked to each other about how they wanted to make the game board look more beautiful, which shows their ability to collaborate on tasks.

Oxford used a pencil to mark and draw the size of the paper they needed to cover the base. Then, the team cut out the paper and pasted it on the cardboard. When they finished, they realised that the edges of the paper didn’t paste well enough, so they decided to put more tape on the edges to improve their base.

As they drew the maze, they thought of creative ways to design the different features and mechanisms of the maze.

After carefully considering the different materials they could use for the build, they decided to use corrugated paper. However, Oxford discovered that the corrugated paper boundary wall was not strong enough and decided to use cardboard to reinforce the wall.

As they continue with their build, we look forward to seeing the creative, innovative and complex engineering required to complete their board game.

It took a long time to glue all the individual walls on the maze. The team decided to invite other children to help them in the process.

  • Oliver “I was thinking this was going to take many days to finish because it’s so big and it had so many lines.”
  • Liz “I think people make the games for long time.”
  • Motong “We used cardboard and paper to stick on the cardboard because the paper was not so strong.”
  • Eunbyul “Me and Eli stick it with the glue. I helped three times. I used paper and cardboard and tape.”
  • Eli “I used hot glue one time and then I stopped and then cut cardboard and I give it to Eunbyul and he glued all. We worked together, because if you don’t work together then it will be slower. When we work together its faster. When we used the glue gun we put gloves on.”
  • Eunbyul “And work gently because no gloves then it is hot it will be burned.”
  • Oxford “We need to make something where people get stuck in the maze. We already drawing a ‘start’ and ‘finish’ sign. Next, we need to make things to stick in the maze.”
  • Jeongyoon “We need to put ‘start flag’ and ‘finish flag’.”
  • Motong “We have to make decorations.”
  • Oliver “Making it look more cooler, details.”
  • Oxford “We can use bottle caps in the game. Red is a horse and the horse can jump over.”
  • Oliver “We need instructions, what you need to do. Maybe one rule is ‘who goes first in the finish line wins the game.”

Through their collaborative project, the children identified a need that led to the generation of a design project. Their interest in creating a game for the community propelled them forward in choosing tools and materials to make a product. They made changes and solved problems through trial and error, negotiating ideas and using feedback to improve their final creation. Several times during the process, the team shared their developments to tell a story and explain how their product contributes towards the well-being of the community. The team retained friends to help them complete the project, teaching others about the safe and purposeful use of tools and materials. The success of their design process was evident in the way they demonstrated how they developed and learned new skills through their play, experimentation and collaborative work.

Silkworms

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Ms. Hannah shared a sign she had made for the mulberry tree in the Early Years garden as she noticed that some of the tender fruits were on the floor.

While having a meeting to discuss the poster, the children shared some of their wonderings about the silkworms that PreK-K1B have been caring for in the classroom.

  • Motong “Why the silkworm don’t like to eat the wet leaves?”
    • Lydia “Because they can touch the water and die.”
    • Oliver “Because they don’t like drinking water and eating at the same time, they have a small mouth not like our mouth.”
    • Eli “Because if they eat wet things or get wet in the rain they will not because the water gets their body sick. Because they are very lazy.”
    • Liz “because leaves have wet and silkworms drink lots of water and they get sick.”
    • Lydia “Why is the silkworm eats the leaves and grow up?”
  • Liz “Why is it yellow on the side, why is it not white?”
  • Oxford “How can the silkworm take the food when he is stuck on the box?”
  • Wyatt “Why does the silkworm eat the leaf?”
    • Eunbyul “Because worms like leaves.”
  • Lydia “Why does he have little circles on his body? Why does he have more colours like white and yellow (on the body)?”
  • Eunbyul “Why are there lines on the yellow (strings)? Why does the silkworm eat the leaf and then become in the yellow?”
    • Lydia “Because them is broken and they look like a butterfly.”
    • Eli “Its because Ms. Hannah put the yellow ball there because the silkworms can play with it. That is like a, first silkworm and turns into a cocoon and then a butterfly. It’s a cocoon.”
    • Jeongyoon “They get big and then they come yellow.”
  • Liz “What is inside his tummy?”
  • Oliver “How do silkworms peel their skin up to grow?”
  • Eli “Why when it’s a baby it’s black and when its not baby its white. How can it turn black to white?”
  • Oxford “Where did Ms. Hannah find the silkworms?”
  • Jeongyoon “Why is the worms so long?
    • Wyatt “Because he eats the leaves for a really long time.”
    • Oliver “Its because the worm seat more leaves the longer they become.”
    • Oxford “When he is small he eats and go big big big and then get long.”
  • Lydia “Why the silkworms has legs and worms have no legs?”
  • Oxford “What is black on the end?”
    • Oliver “The black is poop.”
    • Lydia “I think there is a baby silkworm there.”
    • Eli “I think it’s because their mouth is black.”
  • Eli “How does the silkworm survive every day?”
  • Lydia “Why does the silkworm have no ears? Can they hear something?”

We gathered to build on our knowledge of silkworms. The children had wondered about the different coloured cocoons and the silk moth.

We watched a time-lapse we had taken a few years ago to see how the silk moth comes out of the cocoon and the different cocoons Ms. Karen had collected over the years.  

We will continue our inquiry to learn more about these interesting creatures by inviting Ms. Hannah and PreK-K1B to answer some of our questions.

The Eggshells

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We noticed some changes in the play area and decided to take a look at the slide where the bird was sitting on the nest.

  • Oliver “Broken egg.”
  • Lydia “And so many people play and have so many noise and the birds nest will fall and the egg is all broken.”
  • Eli “I think it’s because when someone goes into that and they take a shovel and it hits the bird egg and it falls on the floor and it broke.”
  • Lydia “And the people take the shovel and play and the people don’t know and people throw the shovel and the bird nest is fall off.
  • Liz “I think mummy bird think people is so loud and egg can’t listen to the noise and the bird’s mummy thinks throw the egg on the floor.”
  • Lydia “I think the bird nest is on the tree and people catch the tree and the bird’s nest fall out and she is so sad and she wanted to go to another space. And she flies away.”
  • Oliver “If she fly away she accidentally pushed down one of the eggs.”
  • Liz “We cannot use the shovels because the birds mum think shovel will hurt the baby egg. We don’t be loud and mummy is don’t throw the egg down.”
  • Wyatt “We use outside words when we are loud the baby fall out of the tree, the bird mum is sad to the bird.”
  • Lydia “Birds mummy see the egg is fall down and the mummy is so sad, and the people is too silly with the shovel. Don’t use the shovel silly. We can tell the people not to be silly, it means play and don’t throw on the bird’s nest.”

We wonder what we might do to help the birds in the Early Years garden.

Creating an Expression of Beauty

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A team of children have been conducting their research to learn more about ‘beauty’. They have been interviewing the school community to listen to different perspectives.

During Student-led Conferences, families were invited to share what they thought was beautiful on a white canvas. We wondered how we might create a piece of art including all the different circular canvases that have been painted with ‘expressions of beauty’.

We invited the children to think of creative ways to exhibit the piece. The children quickly decided that they wanted all five circles to be included in one piece of art.

The children used paper and markers to make their thinking visible.

They used shapes, symbols and words to explain their design to others. While considering the draft designs, it became evident that we needed help to create the structures the children were visualising.

Ideas presented required a strong material that could hold the weight of the different circular canvases.

 

The ‘Beautiful’ Paintings Display Stand

We wondered how to put the circular canvas paintings themed ‘beautiful’ together. We shared the challenge with the class to see if they had any ideas. We knew we wanted the circles to rotate, but how would we mount them together? 

“Put a screw on it in the middle”, suggested Oliver.

Eli was excited to share how his dad does woodworking projects at home, he uses tools and materials to make things. We decided to speak to Eli’s daddy to see if they would take on the project, to help us build the final display stand.

Eli’s Daddy agreed!

Eli and his dad worked to create a prototype.

They began by planning. Then, they used scraps of wood they had at home to make two prototypes.

Eli presented the prototypes and his process to the class. 

We look forward to seeing their final design!

A Bird in a Nest

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  • Wyatt “Oxford tell me a bird is here and we looked at it.”
  • Oxford “I wanted them. Eli think it’s not real.”
  • Lydia “This bird, her eyes are red. And Ms. Hannah said she is sitting on the nest waiting till the eggs come out.”
  • Liz “I see bird, at first it was not on the nest and then the bird is going on the nest.”
  • Eli “I see the bird I think he was laying the eggs because he was sitting there for a long, long time on the nest.”
  • Wyatt “I see the bird not moving.”
  • Oxford “Why no people can not go in there?”

  • Liz “I think the bird is see the people and it fly away.”
  • Jeongyoon “He is flying away and then eggs will crash to the floor and then break. And then the baby bird will be dead.”
  • Oliver “If there is no tape then people will just go in and scare the birds away while making the loud noises, then the baby birds will not have their mummy they will be very scared. The mummy bird might do a battle and might get distracted and the eggs in the nest might hatch and the baby birds might fall down and get hurt. And people might accidentally step on the nest and they might get more hurt.”
  • Liz “I think no have the mummy bird then the inside bird gets cold.”
  • Lydia “The people are so loud and the bird don’t want to be here and then she will go away. And then egg fall off and then the mummy bird don’t want the bird that falls out.”
  • Motong “If we go there and the bird will go crazy and will kick the baby down. If you go in there with a shovel the baby bird will get scared.”
  • Oxford “The mum bird he will think we are bad people and he will take his eggs and go away.”
  • Jeongyoon “Some people get the shovel and hit the nest then the bird will fall and be dead. The nest will fall and the nest will break.
  • Lydia “The tape Ms. Hannah used was broken so the security used the red one.” (in Mandarin)

  • Oxford “I think outside there is paper and it is raining and then the paper will break.”
  • Wyatt “I think outside the people can help the birds and the baby birds not die.”
  • Lydia “It is hatching the eggs.” (in Mandarin)
  • Yui “The bird protecting the eggs.” (in Mandarin)
  • Oliver “Not letting anything happen to the eggs.”
  • Oxford “She has lines on her neck and her beak is so long.”
  • Eli “I think protecting means she keeps her eggs safe. She sits by it and keeps the eggs under her bottom. Because she is in the tree the rain will not get through the tree.”

  • Liz “I think the bird has red eyes.”
  • Lydia “The bird needs to keep the eggs warm to hatch them. Or they will die if it’s cold.” (in Mandarin)
  • Oliver “My Chinese grandpa and grandma house they have real birds and one looks like a peacock.”

We wonder how we might observe the bird over time to see how it cares for the eggs and the baby birds (needs).

We wonder what decisions the children will make about their environment because of their developing understanding of the needs of living things in our playground (nature). 

Earth Week

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Does trash last forever?

We began our day by talking about Earth Week and the different activities that we might be engaged in to bring awareness to our role in keeping the environment safe and clean.

During snack time, the children noticed the amount of garbage we were producing. The children shared their observations and began to suggest how we could solve some of the problems we have with trash. 

One suggestion was to reduce the amount of packaged food we purchase and bring to school. Another way is to avoid using plastic or disposable cutlery.

To learn more about trash, we watched a Mystery Science video on the question ‘Does trash last forever?’.

The children were surprised to see the mountains of trash that humans had collected.

They were sad to see what plastic in the ocean can do to the different creatures and plants that live in the water.

As part of our ongoing research into what happens to the trash and garbage we collect at NIS and Nanjing,  Ms. Nicole gathered some videos and photographs of garbage being collected around the city in Nanjing.

The children quickly recognised the workers in orange uniforms. We talked about the important service they provide to keep the city clean, safe and beautiful. How could we be more mindful of the waste we generate each day and how this affects our environment? 

Finally, we invited the children to bring in all the recycled materials they could find at home to see how we can sort, organise, re-purpose or create with these materials.

The children brought in recycled materials and then thought about the different ways they could recycle, create or re-use the items.

  • Wyatt “I am making an airplane fighting robot.”
  • Oxford “I am making a robot.”
  • Oliver “I am making a new flowerpot for new flowers.”
  • Motong “I am making trash boxes.”
  • Lydia “I am making a unicorn.”
  • Eli “I am making a rocket with a fire engine at the end.”
  • Liz “I made a bird and a bird’s nest.”
  • Beomjun “This is a little home.”
  • Jeongyoon “I am making a drum with a big cup.” 
  • Yui “I made a person with blue hair.”
  • Hana “I made a turtle.”

 

 ACTION: Taking Responsibility

SEE

  • Eli “I see Oxford cleaning up so many of the toys.”
  • Liz “I see some of the other children are not cleaning up.”
  • Lydia “I see some children are playing with the water and Oxford is cleaning up so many things.”
  • Motong “Oxford is NOT counting things.”
  • Jeongyoon “I see some people drink water when its tidy up time.”
  • Eli “I see the people are not cleaning up the shovels and Oxford had to clean all of the shovels up.”
  • Morning “I see people throwing toys in the Shed when its clean-up time and it’s very messy.”

THINK

  • Liz “I think other children are not cleaning up and are running around. I think play the things and not clean up.”
  • Oliver “I think some people just don’t want to clean up, they just count and clean up only 3.”
  • Lydia “I think them is play together and teacher ring the bell and them not clean up, just play.”
  • Eunbyul “I think some people do not clean up and drink water.”
  • Motong “I think Oxford did not play.”
  • Wyatt “When the bell gone, just play and not clean up it’s not ok.

You don’t get the toys and you don’t play.

  • Jeongyoon “I think only some are cleaning up.”
  • Liz “I think the teacher is done and the people are looking and Oxford just cleaned up. The playground is not clean up its not nice because its then so messy.”
  • Lydia “I think play is over and them play and go to drink water and teacher say take 2 gongs and then they go to class and not clean up, Oxford is cleaning up.”

WHAT CAN WE DO?  

  • Motong “Clean up all the toys and don’t count the toys. We hear one bell we need to clean up, and we hear two bells we can drink water.”
  • Lydia “We can tell people. We can take a paper writing and use the glue stick and tell everybody play and everybody needs to clean up.” Make a poster.
  • Eunbyul “We can drink water after we clean up.”
  • Eli “We can say to people ‘You HAVE to clean up even if you don’t play anything because this is everyone’s playground’.”
  • Wyatt “You hear the gong, you need to clean up.”
  • Morning “Put the trucks on the shelf and the shovels on the hooks.”

 

 

Caring for Living Things

We have noticed the child’s continued interest in living things in the Early Years playground. We decided to share some of the documentation the teachers have collected of the children’s play.

  • Liz “We found worms and roly-polys in the soil.”
  • Lydia “We are in the outside and we used the shovel to find the worms and the roly-polys and put them in the water. They were swimming. It looked like people swimming. We gave them to Eli and they are making a house for them.”

  • Eli “I hide them where the wood things are and I put the cap on so the roly-poly won’t come out and I can play with it next time. I put some leaves so they can eat.”
  • Oliver “It’s a baby beetle. They dig in the wood.”

  • Eli “They live in the wood.”
  • Oliver “They love the playground, they want to live there every day. They have lots of fun things to do. They are playing hide and seek under the soil.”
  • Liz “We put worms in the water. It was like water on my hand.”
  • Eli “I think you can’t keep them forever or they will die because you keep them every day in that pot and he eats all of the fruits and then they will have nothing to eat and they will die.
  • Oxford “There we have so much creatures.”
  • Oliver “You can just take a picture of anything you want to keep or the creatures you keep them for many days they won’t have anything to live.”
  • Wyatt “I and Eli play with the roly-poly and then put it in a cup and we just play there. And then finish playing.”
  • Liz “When we look at the worm they are moving, she wants to go to the soil because worm don’t like you holding it. Put it in the soil quickly.”
  • Motong “When we hold the insects we need to put some wet wood because they like it.”
  • Morning “I am looking at the roly-poly because it’s coming in the cup and then we put it back because they like the wood.”

We noticed that the children have a deep appreciation for the living creatures in nature. Their theories about the different insects reveal how they observe, form generalizations and develop understandings of nature. The children’s discussion about their play outdoors shows their sensitivity and growing awareness of how to care for living things and what they need to survive in their natural habitats.

  • We wonder how the children might document what they see, hear and know about the world around them.
  • We wonder how we might continue to develop their curiosities about the different creatures in our environment.  

 

Important messages to our community…

A New App

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The teachers noticed that the movie makers were having trouble telling their stories using the app ‘Stop Motion’ as they were unable to see the movements they were making as they took the photographs. Therefore, the team were introduced to the app ‘I Can ANIMATE’ to help them create their Lego movies.

After a quick introduction, the team were ready to start again. They learned more about the app through trial and error. The movie makers revisited the stories to ensure they were telling the stories in sequence. Because previous photographs were visible as a watermark on the app it was easier for the moviemakers to position their characters and objects to take the next photograph.

The task required the team to stay focused, to manage multiple jobs, the iPad and the objects while thinking of the different events that occur in their story. They needed to be flexible and open to make changes during their tasks. At times, they had to go back and redo some of the images to make sure they were telling their story in sequence. This required persistence and a willingness to learn as they engaged in the project.

After making the movie, they decided on sound effects and background music and then included their storyboard to complete their Lego story.

 

Snowman

by Beomjun

“I am making a snowman. I go to home. I make the snowman and people. I am looking at my home window. I am a Pokemon monster.”

Pokemon

by Eunbyul

“The Pikachu is in the water and give to Pikachu. Pikachu, oh No! Pikachu is small. Abook many lightning fighting. New lightening. Oh no, lightning is little. Pikachu play the phone. The fun. He play the Minecraft.”

 

Fighting Car

by Eli

First, Pikachu is on the boat. Second, Pikachu go to the wheel and then turned left. The boat turned and then the boat go too fast turning so it go in the water and Pikachu swim, swim, swim, swim, swim, swim, swim, and then go to the sand.”

 

Green People

by Oxford

“One boat fall. The boat will fall in the house. One green people come. The green people come and take the boat and then he goes somewhere he loves.”

 

Boat

by Jeongyoon

“I go to boat and boat go fast and boat is on the water. The boat is going to a house. The boat going in water and I fell down and I say ‘HELP!’ because I can’t go out. And one people come and he help. And I go to train and train go to house.”

The team have created a journal cover for their process booklet.

We look forward to sharing our learning journey and videos with the community! 

Understanding data

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The team sat with the data they had collected through their survey, to sort and understand what their friends and teachers in the Early Years thought about the concept of ‘beauty’.

Looking at the information before them helped the team decide on a rule for sorting. They began to notice that they each had similar ideas that could be grouped.

They created several different groups based on the criteria they had decided on.  

The team decided to include labels to help others understand the groupings they had created.

The team confidently presented their data to the class, naming all the different elements the Early Years community thought were ‘beautiful’.

Zones of the Ocean

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Morning and her team gathered resources to conduct their research. While drawing pictures to share what she learned about ‘food chains’, Morning pointed to her drawings and said, “These are ocean rabbits!”. Morning loved drawing and telling stories about rabbits. However, the team hadn’t heard about ‘ocean rabbits’ before. What creatures was Morning referring to? 
Considering the words Morning used to describe the sea creature (direct translation from Mandarin   to English), the team read books and watched videos to learn more about sea slugs. Morning and the team were excited to learn that there were such creatures in the sea, and they did look like rabbits in the ocean!  

Wyatt and Morning revisited their learning about the different zones in the ocean. They watched a video and discussed their observations, talking about the shades of blue they could see and the different living things that survived in the different zones.

Next, the team had to decide how they were going to present the different food webs they had created. After looking at different options such as creating trioramas dioramas and posters, the team decided that they wanted to create a poster to include their food webs. They visited the atelier to look for the creative art material they needed to create the posters. At first, Wyatt and Morning were unsure of how they were going to create the background to include the different shades of water they had seen in the video.

Through trial and error and feedback from their friends, the team worked together to create their posters.

When the paint had dried up, the team were ready to add the different elements to their posters. This required thinking about the different zones and deciding where those living things survived in the ocean.

The team went back to the books they had read to revisit the information and make their decisions.

The team referred to the book to write labels for the different living things. The drawings, arrows and labels provide clarity about the information they want to share about ‘food webs’ and zones in the ocean.

Talking about the colourful images presented in the nonfiction books helped the children talk about the creatures they had drawn. We noticed that their vocabulary, understanding and interest had developed through their research. They elaborated on their observations of the different habitats, sharing important characteristics and adaptations the creatures needed to help them survive in the different zones of the ocean.

Wyatt and Morning shared their posters to present what they had learned about the different blues in the ocean. During their presentation, they talked about the creatures that live in the different zones and what they like to eat.

The team have created a journal cover for their process booklet.

They look forward to sharing their posters and learning journey with the community! 

How can we change the way the balls travel on the ramps?

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The children have been wondering about the ‘speed’ and ‘direction’ the balls might travel if they made changes to the ramps. They have been recording their theories and making changes to their ramps using a range of materials around the classroom.

 

 

What did they observe and learn from their experiments?

What is a Student-Led Conference?

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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?

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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

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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?

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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 had “many different colours”, which is why it was ‘beautiful’.

Dividing the Garden Plot

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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

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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 

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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.

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