A Learning Journey – SEEDS!

A group of children visited the garden and came up with many ideas about growing. They wanted to plant apples, flowers and bananas. They also drew pictures to explain what plants need.

  • Michelle “We want to draw the picture.”
  • Charlotte “Seeds.”

Although the children were excited to grow their own plants, they were not sure how to get started. They had many questions about growing. They went to Ms. Hannah to learn more about seeds as she is the ‘growing expert’ in the EY.

  • Michelle “We look in the seed in Sarah’s (K1B) room, nobody can see, we can see.”
  • Charlotte “This is too many seeds. Have tomato seeds and broccoli seeds.”
  • Sarah “Seeds.”

  • Sarah “We have sunflower seeds and tomato seeds, and broccoli seeds, and cucumber seeds.”
  • Felix “And salad seeds.”
  • Charlotte “茄子.” [Eggplant.]

  • Michelle “我们想要种一些种子。” [We want to plant the seeds.]
  • Sarah “我们需要浇水,还要一些太阳。” [We need water and sun.]

  • Felix “I hold some seeds. Plant them. Soil, water and sun. We have to dig in, and then put it in. We need dig in more down.”
  • Michelle “我们要挖一点点,不能太深,不然种子不会发芽,种子会死,它就不会长大。” [We have to dig a little bit, otherwise the seeds won’t shoot. They will die and won’t grow.]
  • Charlotte “如果太深的话就长不大,因为喝不到水还有阳光。” [If you dig too deep, they won’t grow, because they can’t get the water and the sun.]

  • Jiwon looks at the seeds, “The black seeds grow and become the food we eat? If you mix the white seeds with pink, will the pretty pink flowers bloom? White, mixed with red seeds in the delicious strawberries which will be brought up?” [translated from Korean]

The children received different seeds from Ms. Hannah. She also provided the children with lots of useful information about plant growth. When the children came back to class, some students helped document the information they gathered.

1 tomato 2 salad 3 sunflower 4 cucumber 5 broccoli

 

  • Felix “I’m writing the things, like the sunflower.”
  • Sarah “Writing the seed.”

Some students helped make pop-up labels which will be inserted in the garden beds to help identify the different plants.

The children reflected on their learning journey and sequenced the events.

Next they shared their experiences with the whole class.

Sarah “就是一个小种子,如果人们给它浇水,出太阳,它就会发芽,然后它发芽之后会变成花。草和土,是因为生长需要土,这些草它也要土也要水也要太阳,它会长得像花朵一样大。” [This is a small seed, if you water it, and the sun comes out, it will shoot, then it will become a flower. Grass and soil, because it needs soil to grow. This grass needs soil, water and sun, it will grow as big as flowers.]

Felix “I draw the seeds and the soil and sun and rain. It was growing, so high like up to the wall. First, put the seed into the soil, then you going to put the soil on the seed, it’s going to rain, so the plant will grow. And the sun comes out, the plant will also grow.”

Charlotte “首先先有小草刚生长出来,然后有个人没看见小草就洒在小草上了,雨天来了,哗啦啦哗啦啦啦,然后扔了一个种子,又重新开始生长,然后又哗啦啦哗啦啦,然后晴天又来了,然后长成了一朵漂亮的小花。” [Firstly, the small grass come out, then somebody watered the grass without seeing it. It’s raining, ‘hualala’ (the sound of rain), then put a seed inside, it begins to grow again. Then ‘hualala’, then the sun comes out, then it turns to be a beautiful flower.]

Tyson “这里有太阳有种子长出来,之后就长了大大胖胖的种子,还有太阳出来了,还有小草长出来了。” [Here is sun, the seeds grow up and become big and fat. Then the sun comes out, and the grass comes out.]

Michelle “这个是一个东西,是水果,去看种子的东西,我们带了很多种子,我们去种种子,去农民伯伯那里种种子。我和Charlotte挖呀挖呀,然后我们浇水。” [This is a thing, it’s fruit. We went to see some seeds, we took some seeds, we go to plant some seeds. We go to the farmers to plant the seeds. Charlotte and I dig, dig and dig, then we have to add water.]

We have so many ideas, we are now ready to plant our seeds!

What does it take to get a job done?

@S and @C had an important job. They were in charge of creating the pop-up labels for the garden plot. They sat together, side by side and delegated jobs to each other. Ms. Tina demonstrated the act of taping, and the children quickly took over the task.

First, @C looked for the end of the tape. It was hard to find the corner which would unravel the tape. @S waited patiently, giving @C the opportunity to try.

Once @C found the end, she gently pasted it on the edge of the table. Then pulled on the tape to let it out. @S helped her paste the end down and prepared to snip a piece of the tape.

The tape came away from the table and they both worked together to quickly fasten it on to the table once more. They moved their hands around each other, deep in thought about their next move.

One helped as the other positioned the tape on the table top.

Now it was time to snip away the piece they wanted. @S hesitated for a moment as she decided how big the piece of tape needed to be.

@C watched over as @S used both hands to keep the tape from sticking to everything! She concentrated on the task at hand.

The chopsticks were positioned over the board and sign and @S gently placed the tape over the wooden sticks.

When the task was completed, they both looked at their work with pride.

Both children showed great care and focus while they completed their task. They knew the job required skill and patience. They were persevering as they continued to work with the tape, even when it kept sticking back down and unraveling when they did not want it to.

Through this small moment, we witnessed noticed how the children had opportunities to:

  • Observe carefully.
  • Discuss the steps that need to be followed in order to complete a task.
  • Complete tasks independently.
  • Share responsibility for decision-making.
  • Demonstrate persistence in tasks.
  • Use strategies to problem-solve.

Approaches to Learning 

What does it take to get a job done? 

Persistence, cooperation, communication, thinking and problem-solving. 

How Many?

Each morning the children gather to greet each other. Next, they check the lunch order by asking their friends if they have brought in lunch from ‘home’ or need a ‘school lunch’. This information is gathered and recorded as a graph. The children count out the numbers to make sure we have the right total.

The class leader uses numbers to make sense of the information collected before placing the lunch order.

This experience provides the children with opportunities to use number in real life situations.

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s) 

Research Skills

  • Gather information
  • Record observations—drawing, charting, tallying—using emergent writing skills, when possible, to write comments, annotate images, and so on.

Synthesizing and interpreting

  • Sort and categorize information; arrange into forms or order, for example, with graphs, marks or symbols using emergent writing skills.
  • Analyse and interpret information.

 

Communication Skills

Listening

  • Listen actively and respectfully to others’ ideas.

Interpreting

  • Interpret visual, audio and oral communication: recognizing and creating signs, interpreting and using symbols and sounds.

Speaking

  • Express oneself using words and sentences.
  • Participate in conversations.

Reading, writing and mathematics

  • Understand symbols.
  • Understand that mark-making carries meaning.
  • Use mark-marking to convey meaning.
  • Document information and observations in a variety of ways.

The Garden Plot

A group of children went out to visit the PreK-K1 garden plot.

  • Sarah “Leaves!”
  • Felix “Do you know what? You can eat theses leaves over here. I just tried one. And it smells like… Michelle, smell on it.”
  • Michelle “It is yummy.”
  • Charlotte “What’s this? You can eat it.”
  • Charlotte “I see little brown on in the green leaf.”
  • Sarah “It has a circle like big, big, big.”

  • Michelle “I can see. You can eat this.”
  • Charlotte “you can eat this leaves.”
  • Felix “Lucas and me, we put these ones just into the earth.”

What might we grow here?

  • Felix “Tomatoes or something. Strawberries.”
  • Sarah “Maybe carrots.”
  • Felix “Maybe chillies. Maybe apple trees?”
  • Nina “Flowers, pink and blue flowers.”
  • Michelle “Red flowers
  • Sarah “We need this one.” (pointing to the soil)

  • Felix “Earth.”
  • Sarah “Water.”
  • Felix “Sun.”
  • Sarah “More water and more sun.”
  • Felix “I can put the water.”
  • Michelle “Water, and sun and then grow.”

The group presented their ideas to the class.

  • Felix “We saw leaves and some plants. I wanted to smell the leaves. It smelled like spicy.”

Who grew these plants?

  • Michelle “I want to smell. Because I like it. These are like leaves and I smelled it. Sarah in K1B. I and Charlotte and Sarah and Nina know it.”
  • Sarah “This is a farmer who grew it.” (in Mandarin)
  • Sarah “It is a little bit this one. The green one. Tomatoes, carrots, strawberries and apples.”
  • Michelle “Banana.”
  • Felix ”Maybe cucumber. We need earth. The black earth.”

We wonder how we might grow our own plants and vegetables…

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)

Thinking Skills

Analysing

  • Observe carefully.

Generating novel ideas

  • Use discussion and play to generate new ideas and investigations.

 

Communication Skills

Listening

  • Listen to information.
  • Listen actively and respectfully to others’ ideas.

Interpreting

  • Interpret visual, audio and oral communication: recognizing and creating signs, interpreting and using symbols and sounds.

Speaking

  • Express oneself using words and sentences.
  • Participate in conversations.
  • Negotiate ideas and knowledge with peers and teachers.

Growth and Change

The children have been talking about plants, what they need to grow and how they change as they grow. During a discussion about the growth of plants, Charlotte stated, “Just like me!”.

She used her body to explain that we grow taller and so do plants. 

One morning, Michelle’s baby brother came to visit us in PreK-K1. The children huddled around the baby as they were curious about him. We took some photographs to capture his expressions.

Since then we have gathered together to share our theories about growth, change and needs. They looked at the photographs they had of the baby as he has changed and grown. Michelle remembered how small he was when he was first born as she looked at the documentation from the past.

  • Michelle “弟弟像我。” [He looks like me.]
  • Sarah “弟弟真可爱,他几岁呢?” [Michelle’s brother is so cute, how old is he?]

Change

  • Michelle “他会长大,小时候鼻子上有点点,长大没有了。” [He will grow up. When he was young, he had some spots on his nose, when he grows up, the spots are gone.]
  • Charlotte “他的手会变大,可以拿很大的东西。” [His hands will be bigger. He can grab heavier things.]
  • Sarah “小时候Serina走路像公鸡,因为刚出生的宝宝有点难走路,长大走路就平稳走路。”  [Serina walked like a cockerel because it’s too hard for a baby to walk. When he grows up, he can walk steadily.]
  • Michelle “小时候我不懂会打人,现在因为我现在懂了。” [When I was small, I hit people. But now I understand it’s not ok.]
  • Charlotte “牙齿会慢慢变多,他能咬碎更多的东西。” [He will have more teeth. He can bite more things.] 

Needs

  • Charlotte “他需要喂奶,不然会饿。” [He needs milk, otherwise he will be hungry.]
  • Sarah “需要吃饭长大。” [He needs rice to grow up.]
  • Michelle “他需要米饭,磨牙棒。” [He needs rice and teethers.]

Growth

  • Sarah “他长大了就会变成哥哥,然后变成哥哥,爸爸,爷爷。女生从妹妹到姐姐,然后妈妈,奶奶。”  [When he grows up, he will become brother, daddy, grandpa. The girls will change from younger sister to older sister, then mummy, then grandma.]

We wonder about change, growth the needs of living things. Are there similarities between living things?

We continue to explore…

The Garden

A group of children took a walk in the garden to look for living things. They used their senses to carefully observe the different things around them.

  • Charlotte “Tree like triangle.”
  • Sarah “Like a Christmas tree!”
  • Tyson “That is Christmas tree!”
  • Yoochan “Small.” (referring to the small bush)

  • Michelle “No tree!”
  • Charlotte “Tree no leaves. 看这个老家伙,它太可怜了,它太老了。” [Look at this old guy, he is so poor. He is too old.]
  • Tyson “它快枯死了。” [It’s almost dead.]

We found a mint plant. We crushed the leaves and wondered about its beautiful fragrance.

  • Sarah “It smells like toothpaste.”
  • Charlotte “这是药膏树。” [This is toothpaste tree.]

  • Charlotte “三叶草。” [This is clover.]
  • Michelle “猫狗草。” [This Setaria viridis]

  • Tyson “很多花,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,910 。” [A lot of flowers, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,910.]
  • Michelle “玫瑰花。” [Rose.]
  • Charlotte “玫瑰花是红色的。” [The rose is red.]
  • Michelle “也有白色的。” [There is also white.]

  • Sarah “茄子和青椒。” [The eggplant and green pepper.]

  • Sarah “这是胡萝卜,因为这里有个照片。” [This is carrot, because here is a sign.]
  • Charlotte “这是胡萝卜,因为胡萝卜的叶子是这样的。” [This is carrot because the leaf of the carrot looks like this.]

We found some bottles in the soil, we wondered what they are for.

  • Michelle “里面有水。” [This is water inside.]
  • Sarah “这里有个小洞,水会掉出来,给小草喝。” [There is a hole here, the water will go out and feed the grass.]

Tyson found a cool snail and a sunflower seed in the garden. He was very excited to show his friends.

As they walked around the garden patches they found more eggplants.

The children noticed that the eggplants are quite different, some are fresh, some are not.

  • Charlotte “上面都有黄色的,它快死了。” [There are some yellow things on it, it’s almost dead.]
  • Sarah “这个是帮助挂在上面的。” [This (the stem) helps the eggplant hang on the tree.]

They compared the different eggplants, looking closely at its shape, texture, colour and size.

  • Charlotte “这个长长的,弯弯的。” [This one is long and bendy.]
  • Michelle “这还有个很小的。” [Here is a tiny one.]

Michelle was very interested and did a great job of taking all the photographs to help us document the learning walk.

Michelle had previously stated that big trees don’t have flowers. On her walk she looked for evidence of her theory. She noticed that trees have flowers that differ in colour.

Trees with orange flowers.

 

Trees with white flowers.

Trees with yellow flowers.

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)

Research Skills

Data gathering and documenting (audio recording, drawing, photographing)

  • Gather information from a variety of sources (people, places, materials, literature).
  • Use all senses to observe and notice details.
  • Record observations—drawing, charting, tallying—using emergent writing skills, when possible, to write comments, annotate images, and so on.

Evaluating and communicating

  • Notice relationships and patterns.

Living Things

A group of children visited PreK-K1B to observe some worms.

They used the microscopes to see the little creatures and shared their thinking:

  • Sarah “I see worms. They are moving.”
  • Sebastian “Small, 1,2,3, 3 worms! They eat like… (He used his body language to show how worms eat.)”
  • Felix “They eat the black thing. They are teeny tiny. They are going down.”

Sarah in PreK-K1B had brought in many different living things to share with her friends. The children observed and commented on what they noticed, sharing their theories about how living things live and grow.

  • Felix “Worm, Butterfly.”
  • Charlotte “It’s a turtle, a fish.”
  • Felix “What’s that?
  • Charlotte “Hello, Mr. Frog. He is sleeping.”
  • Felix “What is this one?”
  • Charlotte “为什么它一动不动?” [Why is he not moving?]
  • Felix “Why the frog is sleeping? What does he find it?”

  • Felix “It is a fish. We just know he can swim.”
  • Charlotte “这个孔是干什么的?” [What is the hole for?]
  • Charlotte “这是帝王斑蝶。” [This is the emperor butterfly]
  • Felix “It’s tree frog, tree frogs only eat meat, the green frogs only leaf.”
  • Sarah (K1B) “这是一个标本。” [This is a specimen]
  • Charlotte “这都是真的,不是假的。” [They are all real, not fake]
  • Sarah “这是真的假的?” [Is this real or not?]. “它会跑出来的。” [He will run out]

  • Charlotte “这个小小的就是worms。” [The small ones are worms]
  • Michelle “泥土有什么用?” [What is the soil for?]
  • Sarah (K1B) “泥土里面有生命。” [They live in the soil]
  • Charlotte “你看小乌龟。” [Look, the small turtle]
  • Sarah (K1B) “这不是普通的乌龟,这是巴西龟,它能吃掉一个鱼。” [This is not an ordinary turtle, this is a Brazilian turtle, it can eat]

  • Charlotte “这是真的死掉以后做成标签吗?你看多漂亮。” [Is this true that the label was made after they were dead? How beautiful, look!]
  • Michelle “它叫什么名字” [What is his name?]
  • Charlotte “它能吃掉一条鱼。” [He can eat up a fish.]
  • Michelle “它会咬人吗?” [Does he bite people?]
  • Charlotte “不能摇,它在睡觉。” [Don’t shake, he is sleeping.]
  • Tyson “我们家养了一个乌龟,它眼睛身体,但我们的乌龟没有尾巴,这个又尾巴” [I have a turtle at my home, he has eyes and body. My one doesn’t have tail, he has tail.]

  • Tyson “它是鱼,它是啥鱼?它是红色的, 它会动,它会跳。青蛙” [It’s fish. What kind of fish? It’s red. A frog. He can move and jump]
  • Tyson “我们家有个海龟。我的乌龟打开了它的水会翻出来,它会死。因为水乌龟,它没有水就会死掉.” [We have a turtle at my home. My turtle will die if you open the box and dry the water. Because the turtle will die without water.]

  • Felix “They live in water. Clear water. They live in the beach. And the sea. Maybe they eat sand. Sometimes fish are longer. I saw one long one at a sea. They are eating this down there. (Fish food). I can see that he is doing this (flapping his arms) so he can swim.”
  • Yoochan “I don’t know what they eat.”

  • Charlotte “This is tree frog. Because he is sleeping. Tree frogs live trees. I only have flowers at home.”
  • Sebastian “Frogs like jumping. He does the mouth like that. They live in the ocean. Find food. They eat fishies. Dishes came from the ocean and go yum, yum. He is yellow and green. “

  • Nina “I see a frog. Frogs eat beef. I have not seen frogs.”
  • Bruce “这是青蛙,动物会咬人,咬的可疼了。乌龟,一种水性动物,乌龟吃饼干,我吃鱼食。” [This is frog, the animals bite people, it hurts when they bite. Turtle, an animal lives in water. Turtles eat cookies. I give fish food to turtles.]
  • Leming “青蛙,鱼,还有乌龟。鱼和青蛙吃草。乌龟吃葡萄。我在池塘附近见到过乌龟。这个是什么乌龟?” [Frog, fish and turtle. Fish and frog eat grass. The turtle eats grapes. I saw turtles near the pond area. What kind of turtle is it?]

@C shared pictures of her turtle.

  • “This is my house two turtles. And he eating

She explained why one turtle is smaller “He is scared so he was making himself smaller, hiding in his house.”

  • Michelle “你的小乌龟会吃肉吗?” [Will your turtle eat the meat?]
  • @C “吃肉,肉的气味。他有点吓得不敢出来了。我们家的不会在水里游泳。”[He eats meat, the smell of the meat. He is too scared to go outside. My one doesn’t swim at home.]
  • Felix “We call it shell.”
  • @C “Another one is brave that is why he is bigger. Two turtles’ names are “Xiao hua liu. I see a tail. They don’t know how to swim. Crawling. And my turtle is too funny, he is jumping. This is medium mummy.”
  • Teacher “Where did they come from?”
  • @C “I bought them.” “I went to the mountain and bought two turtles.” [in Mandarin]

  • @T “This is turtle, me is taking. Me here is turtle. Look this. He is hide back. This is turtle. This is going inside. Move back. Me touch, go inside. Me mummy hold the turtle.”

 

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)

  • Observe carefully.
  • Present information in a variety of modalities.
  • Listen actively and respectfully to others’ ideas and listen to information.
  • Ask for clarifications.
  • Interpret visual, audio and oral communication: recognizing and creating signs, interpreting and using symbols and sounds.
  • Express oneself using words and sentences.
  • Participate in conversations.

How do living things change and grow?

What do they need to survive?  

Our inquiry continues…

Plants

We gathered to talk about living things using a non-fiction text. The children were invited to share their thinking, their theories.

What are plants?

  • Michelle “I don’t see carrots. He is anything can eat carrot. I can eat. Leaf, I don’t eat because I don’t like it. Because my mummy and daddy say don’t eat leaf.”

Michelle is wondering why she cannot see the carrots.

  • Felix “I think it’s earth.” (referring to the soil)
  • Tyson “This is flower’s tummy.” (pointing to the stems)
  • Charlotte “Root of the plant. Trees have flowers. I think it’s going to be pink flower.”

 

What does it need?

  • Michelle “No water and sun. The flowers go down. Because no water. Turn down. People say no flower I want flower.”
  • Sarah “Need water, it will get tall. The leaf. I think sun.”
  • Felix “When there is too much water, then it goes down, the white things are holding the water then the plant don’t have too much.”

We talked about plants. Who eats them?

  • Sarah “Fish don’t like the leaf, fish eat fish food.”
  • Felix “The worms eat it.”
  • Felix “In Ms. Heidi’s room, fish eat the plants.”

Felix explained that the roots of plants cannot be eaten.

Charlotte and Felix had differing views about trees. Do trees have flowers?

We wonder where our inquiry may lead us…

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)

Thinking Skills

Analysing

• Observe carefully.

Forming decisions

• Revise understandings based on new information and evidence.

Generating novel ideas

• Use discussion and play to generate new ideas and investigations.

• Make unexpected or unusual connections between objects and/or ideas.

Considering new perspectives

• Seek information.

• Practise some “visible thinking” routines.