Category: agency

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 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.”

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.

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’.

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.

The Octopus House: A Collaborative Design Project

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

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

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

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

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

Games

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

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

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

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

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

Why do we need rules in the game?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Story of Paper

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

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

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

What can we use origami for?

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

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

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

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

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

The Language of Lego

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

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

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

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

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

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

How might we use Lego to tell our stories?

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

What more do we need to tell a story?

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

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

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

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

Beautiful

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What makes something ‘beautiful’?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Ocean Project

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

What colour is the ocean?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

After completing her painting,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Closer Look at Soil and Compost

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

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

What can we learn from Authors and Illustrators?

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

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

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

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

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

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

We wonder what she discovered!

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

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

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

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

(Garden Plot Soil, Under Wood Soil)

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

 

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

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

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)

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

What can we grow in the garden plots?

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

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

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

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

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

Our inquiry continues…

Learning Outcomes: We are learning that we can…

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

The Gift – Coming together to build and create. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s) 

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

Causation & Change – Temperature

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Sharing observations and theories…

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

What happens to the fish when the water freezes?

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

Ms. Elieen showed the children the digital thermometer.

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

Computers – What are they for?

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

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

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

Watch this space!

Can you make a paper airplane?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What did we notice?

What theories do we have?

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

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

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

The Garden Project

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

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

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

The Gardening Team have decided to:

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

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

We look forward to their next steps!     

Homes for the Birds – The Nests

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

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

Empathise:

who are you trying to help?

  • The Birds

What do they need?

  • A safe home – nests

Define:

what is the problem you are trying to solve?

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

Ideate:

How many ideas can you come up with?

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

Prototype:

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

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

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

We noted all these ideas down on chart paper.

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

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

  

 

Through this process, they had opportunities to:

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

 

The Shop

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ramps: The Prototypes

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

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

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

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

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

Design

Through this experience, the children had opportunities to:

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

Design Learning Outcomes:

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

Paper Boats: Will they sail?

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

But how do we make paper boats?

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

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

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

The children began to share their theories.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Morning Agreed with Wyatt’s idea. 

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

Howie suggested the cane basket.

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

Howie suggested the ceramic pot.

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

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

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

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

 

Designing Birds’ Nests

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Nests: How can we help?

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

The children revisited some of their past observations and theories.

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

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

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

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

 

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

Storytelling Through  Story Workshop

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

What is Story Workshop?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Watch this space! 

The Pipes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Egg Experiment – A Story of Research

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A Story of Research

@O had a book full of experiments. He described one to the teacher explaining “The egg becomes soft when it is in the water for 3 days!”

  • Teacher “Hmmm, is that so, well can you prove that?”
  • Child “Yes! I can show you!”

He began to make a plan, thinking about how he might share his theories and document the process and findings over time. He drew out his plan, made a list of needed materials, and shared the steps to be taken to complete the task.

At first, the child insisted that the egg needed to be submerged in water. He planned and experimented, even though he subsequently learned that the liquid should be vinegar for the experiment to work.

The teachers encouraged him to complete his first experiment, to observe and document his learning and the outcome of his experiment, to encourage the child to develop the ability to carry out tasks, and to learn through experience.

The child agreed, and documented his observations in his journal, learning new words, and referring to the sight words flash cards to help him spell unknown words.

He labelled his pictures and included details to share the process with others.

He learned how to revisit his journal post on Seesaw, editing and including his daily observations to document his experiment.

The child was excited to begin his second experiment, feeling confident that he knew the outcome.

Through this experience, he practised patience, resilience and learning through ‘trial and error‘.

He questioned to learn more, used observation to gather information and explored patterns and connections. The child used mark-making to share his observations and presented his findings to the community, all important skills, and processes that scientists need in their work. 

Designing Ramps

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The team of researchers investigating ‘slides’ collated their drawings to make their own books about slides. On the cover, they decided to draw the most exciting slide! The designs were creative and complex.

Mr. Lewis, a teacher working in Hong Kong, visited us a few weeks ago and shared his excitement about the slide project. He told us that his class were also very interested in slides. He offered to share photographs of the slides they had made. On his return to Hong Kong, he shared them with us. 

The children discussed the ideas presented in the images.

  • The slides are very big.
  • The blocks are big and so the slides are high.
  • They used water on their slides!
  • The slides were connected to other things like car parks and buildings. 
  • They used bamboo slides at the water troughs! 

The children recalled having many of the same materials in their own space. They were excited about the different designs and were inspired to create more ‘slides’.

What more can we learn about slides?

Next, we read a book about slides to help the children expand their ideas further. The book had many examples of ‘slides’ which were referred to as ‘ramps’. Over the next few days, the slides in the block space evolved. The children explored new ideas, creating cities and maps with a range of materials. More children entered the play spaces with conversations around the structures becoming more animated and complex. 

We decided to offer the team a new opportunity to create ramps. For this, we revisited the team’s drawings created for the book covers.

What do designers and engineers need to consider when creating?

We reached out to Ms. Jo to plan this experience. The team went off with Ms. Eileen and Ms. Jo to begin their work on the structures. They have created a plan and discussed the materials they would need to make their ramps. In the next few weeks, we will learn more about their process.

Our research into ramps has resulted in a collection of chart papers that include brainstorms, Venn diagrams and drawings. We decided to move some of the documentation into a central location, a bulletin board in the corridor. As we sat back to reflect on the documentation, we asked the children why learning about slides was important to them.

  • Morning “I like slides because we can slide down and it makes us happy!”
  • Liz “I like big slides because it is fast.”
  • Eli “It is higher, it has more time to roll down. So on the floor it goes really, really fast.”
  • Oliver “I make slides for balls to go down and the slides are up hill and down hill. More higher makes the ball go faster.”
  • Howie “Because its fun. It is fast. The ball goes fast, the box goes slowly, because it has 4 corners, its not fast. I tried once.”
  • Oxford “Big slides, cars go fast. I like to put people and cars on the slides, they go fast.”

We heard the children talk about the attributes and properties of shapes. We noticed that they were exploring concepts about ‘speed’, ‘height’, ‘distance’, ‘forces’ and ‘energy’.

The discussion about the display led us to wonder if other people also like slides. How could we find out?

– Eli “We can ask people!”

We decided to post a paper to ‘ask’ the community if they like slides. The children suggested two options for the chart.

  • I like slides.
  • I don’t like slides.

– Oliver “I like slides should be in green and I don’t like slides in red.”

We decided to accept Oliver’s suggestion. Next, we documented the responses from the class, then we posted the table on the wall.

At the end of the day, the children invited their caregivers to add to the table. The children were excited to find out how many people would respond to their survey.

We are learning that we can:

– use all senses to observe and notice details

– gather information from a variety of sources

– sort and categorise information

Organising the Shed

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We observed the children at the end of outdoor recess as we noticed that they were having some challenges with putting the toys away in the designated spaces. We were particularly interested in learning more about the storage system in the ‘shed’, a storage space where all the water toys, cooking utensils and trucks are housed.

We decided to start by revisiting past documentation on ‘The Shed Project’, to learn more about the space. The previous K2 class had organised the space, ordered pegboards and hooks for the toys, and posted signs to help the children know where to store the toys.

A group of children went into the Shed to think about their next steps.

  • Liz “It is dirty and messy”
  • Lydia “We can clean it up!”

The team worked together to clean up the shed. They gathered all the rakes and spades and hung them up on the pegboards. They sorted the water and sand toys, and placed the bamboo waterplay toys, in separate tubs.

We noticed that the signs and labels were wet, and the messages were smudged.

When we returned to the classroom, the team created new labels for the shovels and rakes.  

We compared a label that was in the shed with a new one.

Teacher “What do you think happened to the label?”

  • Oliver “Melting. The colour has almost go off from the water. Someone came with a bucket of water and put it and it melted the colours.”
  • Howie “It will come off.”

The children decided that a piece of plastic would protect the paper. We looked around the classroom for the type of plastic we could use and discussed each option.

The plastic like the drawer…

Oliver “That is too hard and too heavy.”

The plastic that is used to cover the food container…

  • Oxford and Howie “It breaks easily.”

The plastic pouch…

  • Eli “It is too small”

The plastic folder…

 “It’s too big.”

The different ideas presented by the children moved us to offer a suggestion, a plastic film that is used on the overhead projector screen. The children quickly made the connection.

  • Oliver “Ms. Eileen has a transformer to turn this card save, then no water can melt the colour and smudge it.”

The team went with Ms. Eileen to prepare the cards for the machine.

  • Morning “Put the paper in.”
  • Wyatt “Put the paper in the plastic.”
  • Liz “Then no water in the paper.”
  • Liz “Plastic in the machine.”
  • Morning “It is going on the side and the paper will not fall out of the plastic.”

  • Liz “It is so hot.”
  • Eli “It has power. If you don’t have the power it can’t move out and in.”
  • Oliver “And it can not stick the plastic together. Because it’ hot it sticks.”
  • Oxford “Because this has a yellow sign says no touching.”
  • Eunbyul “It says ‘NO Finger In’.”
  • Howie “If you put your finger it will get hot and stick together.”
  • Liz “Cutting paper because no cutting paper, these is so big. Plastic in and cut into two.”

After presenting their process to the rest of the class, the team went to the shed to put the new signs on the wall.

  • Morning “Put the paper on the wall people will know the yellow one does not go to the red one.”
  • Oliver “The blu tack behind the picture will get smudged.”

Next, the team will visit the rest of the classes in the Early Years to share their video with the children, to tell them about the new labels. They hope this will help the children think more about the way we store and care for the toys in the Shed.

This project was connected to the unit of inquiry ‘How We Organise Ourselves’ as it encouraged the children to look at community spaces around them and to consider how they might take responsibility for the care and maintenance of these spaces.

The Tournament

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Mr. Andy, the Athletics Director at NIS, wondered if the K2 students could join the rest of the Primary school, to adopt and cheer for a team of participants taking part in the ASAMIS Volleyball tournament. We put this idea across to the children.

We shared a photograph of the TIS teams (International School of Macao) with the children.

  • Eunbyul “Girl team and boy team.”
  • Wyatt “We are listening, thinking, looking and drawing.”
  • Morning “The people was sitting looking.”
  • Liz “I ask if K2A and K2B are looking at TIS. Girl and boy is playing the ball.”
  • Oxford “Listening to Ms. Shemo and the children.”
  • Lydia “Everybody is look boy and girl. Girl is play everybody and boy.”
  • Oliver “They are coming to NIS to see if there are lots of people or no people.”
  • Eli “They are playing a game for us to look.”
  • Oxford “Thinking about girl and boy.”
  • Lydia “They are coming to take an exam here.”

We began to document our ideas, thoughts and suggestions on chart paper.

Oliver was not sure if he knew the game of ‘volleyball’. Lydia compared the two lines and noticed that there were more girls than boys.

We decided to share a video of NIS students playing the game.

We asked the children if they knew how we might support the TIS teams that come to NIS. They began to make a list of possibilities.

The TIE team need a place to keep their belongings. The children decided that we could ‘help’ the team and make them ‘feel welcome’. They need a place to keep their belongings! We noticed that their comments and suggestions were centered around belonging, care and friendship. 

What do we do when we want to let others know that space or materials have been reserved for us?

We went around the classroom to look for this evidence. The children quickly noticed that we used a name tag to save space or show work in progress.

A name tag is too small. We decided to create a ‘BIG’ name tag! 

The children were excited about creating a poster that can be used for this purpose, it will be displayed in the Hutong for the team to know where to leave their belongings. 

  • Morning “M Eileen is holding the paper for drawing.”
  • Eunbyul “The paper is so big for writing.”
  • Oxford “And it’s square. (points to the paper, tracing the edges of the shape).”
  • Howie “It has 4 corners (in Mandarin).” Morning agreed, using her fingers to show the corners.
  • Eunbyul “And 4 lines. This side is same (traces all 4 sides to share his thinking)

  • Eunbyul “Writing. TIS. This writing, if there is no writing, the children don’t know.”
  • Eli “We share ideas and then we write it on the paper so the team can know. They need to know what we are thinking and where their place are. We can share it with other teachers because they will know its their place so they won’t work there (Hutong).”
  • Morning “Show the paper to the team.”

A group of children from K2A volunteered to work on the poster. They gathered to share their ideas and make a plan with the teacher and the K2B volunteers.  

First, they looked at the two chart papers.

What do you notice?  

What are some similarities?

  • Motong “Listening to the teacher say. Look at the papers.

The children had many ideas to share. They were invited to draw to share their suggestions for the poster.  

  • Motong “Drawing the TIS tiger.”
  • Liz “I am drawing boy and girl give the ball.”
  • Lydia “Me boy and girl throwing the ball.”
  • Wyatt “Listening and drawing.”

Then, they discussed their ideas. Deciding on the key information that needed to be included on the poster.

The poster group worked to create the pictures and colour in the pictures.

A second suggestion by the children was to create a map to let the TIS team know where to go. We could invite them to our class!

We decided to let the children experience ‘cheering’ for a team. Mr. Lee invited the children to join his Grade 5 class as they played volleyball. 
  • Eli “We went to the PE Gym to cheer people playing games. We shaked pompoms because we are cheering for the people playing games, they will feel happy when we cheer them.”
We wonder if Ms. Heidi can help us learn a few cheers that we can use to cheer the TIS team as they play at NIS… 

Grade 5 Design Project

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The Grade 5 student designers were looking for several design opportunities to serve our school community. Their plan is to design games for students and teachers. As we would like to have some student-designed projects for our class, we invited them to interview the children. 

They gathered in groups, asking the children questions to learn more about their specific interests and the skills they would like to develop through the games. We look forward to their project ideas/plans and hope to see them in the near future!

Stay tuned for an update!

Engagement and Storytelling with Wooden Blocks

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Focus: Engagement and storytelling in small group play situations.

Interesting aspects of the learners’ thinking or learning that the adults noticed.

The children were presented with two tubs of blocks. Each child began to look through the tubs to pick out the blocks. They appeared to be matching pieces, looking for connections between them. They created individual structures. They spoke in Mandarin to each other.  

  • Shapes of animals captured one child’s attention.
  • Others with interested in the trees and nature blocks.
  • Some were interested in the vehicles and wooden moving blocks.
  • The children paused to let others know about their blocks. They did not speak to each other for a period of time and one child listened but did not engage in the conversation.

One child made connections with the blocks and what he knew about the world around him. When he made a connection, he enjoyed sharing this with an adult.

A second child demonstrated the ability to play and engage in collaborative play for extended periods of time, using language and storytelling to make connections with others.

  • O “L helped me. She turned my house to a hotel. She got lots of parts and turned it into a hotel. It’s because I like hotels.”
  • L “I helped O, O and me built house. Me worked together.“

One child was an observer, often pausing to listen and watch others as she created her story. She intentionally placed her blocks, appearing to create her story in her mind while she moved the blocks into her creation. She was welcoming of others even though they changed the structure of her play space.

  • M1 “I was making a house for bunny. Bunny needs carrots. The horse was playing with bunny.”

  • O2 “M1 looked at me building. She said yes, I can play here. Building a house because I want building house. O2 lives here. M2 said I can build there, I was happy.”   

Language was used to request entry into play stories with others. When a request was denied, the child moved on to find other play experiences. The children were able to demonstrate the ability to play and engage collaboratively with others and to acknowledge when they have done something to upset their peers.

  • E “I was playing racing cars. I was building a house and the house have a bed and for parking. I made the roof. I put a chair behind the house because when we go outside we can sit on it. I was playing, putting cars in it.

  • E “That is the cars are driving up. That is fun.”

  • E “We are planning to play together (outside). I was faster a little bit. And yesterday I was fast. And today we were the same fast.”  
  • H “Outside playing together. Running race.” 
  • L (in Mandarin) “I said No to O1 because I thought he might put too many things in the space and I won’t have enough space to build. O1 says No putting then I don’t put it in the tub.”

  • M2 “This is a road. You can go to the house. This is the park.”

One child was non-verbal during play and seemed to prefer playing alongside others, observing and listening to play around him. He was thoughtful and intentional with his creation, choosing objects carefully to meet a purpose.

A the end of play, we reflected on the block play experiences. We asked the children what they they needed to do or think about when playing with blocks.

We need to remember:

  • Not to break it if there is a name. (Eli)
  • If you want some pieces, you can ask ‘who built it’. (Eli)
  • If we see no name on it, we look around it to see if there is a name. (Eli)
  • Keep the bocks clean. (Jeongyoon)
  • We can ‘be friends’ with blocks. We can build a city. (Oliver)
  • Put the blocks nicely on the floor. Use the blocks safely. (Eunbyul)
  • Build with the blocks. Gently touch the blocks so we don’t break them. (Howie)
  • Ask if you can join the play using kind words. (Oxford)

Investigating Slides in our Environment

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A small group of children have been exploring slides in K2. They have been designing and building slides in the classroom and worked in PE to create different slides using a range of resources in the gym.

As more children showed interest in the research into slides, we decided to invite a few more children to join the initial group on a ‘slide hunt’ around the school. As the children walked around, they identified different slides, talking about the similarities and differences between them.

We noticed the children using a range of describing words and new vocabulary to help them talk about the slides. They observed, tested, discussed and documented their observations on paper.

 

They used their developing writing skills to add labels. We noticed the children sharing their drawings with each other, and giving feedback for improvement.

On their return, the group watched the video with the rest of the class. We wonder how the children’s inquiry into slides will help them talk about other design choices people make when creating objects, buildings and spaces in the environment.

Oliver “Some slides are very scary to slide on. It’s because some can move and if you are that way and you can go the other and its wobbly and you will fall down the slide. Someone hoped they are fun.”

Howie “People can walk on the slide. People can go on the bumpy slide. It is scary. There is also a climbing slide. We have triangle here at the top.” 

We paused to think about Jeongyoon’s observation of two slides. He said they looked the same but were different. We decided to create a chart, documenting similarities and differences between the slides.

We discussed the idea of ‘the same’ and ‘different’. The children quickly noticed the differences between the two structures.

Differences:

  • have different designs (white lines) and colours
  • one had supports for climbing (ropes and stepping stones).
  • different heights and sizes so this also meant that the elevation was different
  • were made of different materials

Looking for similarities was harder. A group went outdoors to take a closer look. 

Similarities:

  • go downhill and uphill
  • slide down
  • you can walk, climb and run up and down
  • are outside in the playground
  • used for play

When discussing the Venn diagram, we talked about the ‘purpose’ of the two structures. The children explained that the structures were for ‘PLAY’.

This brought us to the remaining slides. What purpose did they have?  We revisited the photographs we had of the different slides around the school and began to sort them out.

Two categories emerged through the discussion:

  • For people and wheelchairs to travel and
  • For play

They decided that the category ‘for play’ had subcategories:

  • For stones
  • For sliding

We wonder:

  • how these structures are designed.
  • how we might use different materials to create structures with different characteristics.

What materials might have been used to create or build the objects or structures?

The children began to share their thinking. Some were made of:

  • wood
  • metal
  • plastic
  • concrete powder
  • stones and rocks
  • paint to make it beautiful
  • fabric/material
  • feathers, cotton or wool

We wonder how these structures are designed. We wonder how we might use different materials to create structures with different characteristics.

When thinking and talking about the way things move on slides, the

children began to use the words ‘power‘ and ‘energy‘.

They used the words ‘push‘ and ‘pull‘ to explain their thinking of ‘forces‘. Eli wondered if your heart and blood help you move. We look forward to exploring these ideas further.

Our learning continues…

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s) 

  • observe carefully
  • gather information from a variety of sources (people, places, materials, literature)
  • record observations—drawing, using emergent writing skills
  • notice relationships and patterns
  • express oneself using words and sentences
  • participate in conversations

Revisiting a Project: The Bike Park Signs

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Revisiting a Project

We looked at the bikes outside our playground.

  • Liz “It’s messy people will get fall down.”
  • Morning “If we run around and we didn’t know the bike is on the way we will trip over the bike.”
  • Wyatt “If you put them like this people won’t see them clearly, we won’t know if we lost one.”

Ms. Eileen “Is there another way to park the bikes?”

The children started to organise the bikes. We noticed a picture on the wall showing how the children parked the bikes the previous year.

Ms Eileen “Did they park the bikes the same way? Why did they park like this?”

  • Lydia “The bike is opposite from ours, it is easier for children to ride it away.”
  • Liz “If we put them properly when the fire comes, we can go through the door quickly and we are safe.”
  • Wyatt “If we park the bike in a wrong place when the fire comes the bike will burn.”

We went back to reorganise the bikes.

Ms Eileen “Do you think this is the best way to park the bikes?”

  • Morning “We can ride the bike out easily.”
  • Jeongyoon “Everyone played with the bike we can tell them.”
  • Lydia “We need to tell everyone.”

We looked at the parking signs the K2 made together last year.

The children decided to put the signs up to let the other children in the Early Years know how to park the bikes.

The group presented their learning to the rest of the class.

  • Jeongyoon “Outside.”
  • Liz “Bikes clean up.”
  • Lydia “Cars. Me see the bikes are in a mess. (in Mandarin) If a fire comes then we can’t get to the escape door.”
  • Morning agreed with Liz’s statement adding “Clean the bikes.”
  • Wyatt “When people park the bikes in front of each other then its easy for the children to bump into the bikes. (in Mandarin)”
  • Morning explained that the team had an important task so they needed to “park the bikes together”
  • Eli “Park the bikes nicely on the road and the other side. People will step on the wheel and fall down.”
  • Oliver “If you don’t park the bikes nicely, someone will be running where you park the bikes then someone will hurt yourself.”
  • Oxford “I will tidy up and put them back.”
  • Howie “Put them nicely because when someone comes, the people can quickly run outside.”
  • Motong “Clean up the car because the car cannot come in.”
  • Eunbyul “Everybody bikes play and everybody children play and finish then tidy up. Bikes and children and me friend together tidy up.”

The class thanked the team for their work and presentation. Next, the team will need to think about sharing this important message with the rest of the Early Years Community.

The Rainbow Nest: A Plan for Play

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We have observed some of the children exploring the new nest in the Early Years playground. We have noticed small groups of children gathering in or around the nest to play games and make snacks with ‘mud’.

At our Morning Meeting, we asked the children about the nest and the ideas they had for play in the new space. A few of the children did not know about the old nest and how it transformed into the ‘Rainbow Nest’.

The children explained that the old nest was:

  • Children “Broken.”
  • Howie “The birds get the stick.”
  • Liz “The cat.”
  • Eunbyul “The sticks around the nest.”
  • Oxford “It’s the water (rain).”
  • Oliver “Its because it has been burned and the fire truck helped to make the fire away.”

Teachers: “But what ideas do you have for the new nest? How might we use this new space?”

We went outside to look at the nest, to sit in and around the space to visualise possibilities.

The children began to record their ideas in their notebooks.

We noticed that some of the children drew the nest, taking care to show the details in the woodwork and seating area.

Howie “Drawing the nest. I am sitting on the wooden planks.”

Others recorded the possible activities in the space.

When the children returned to class, they presented their individual ideas to the other children. We documented these possibilities on chart paper to help us look for the best and most frequent suggestions.

 

While presenting, the children speaking to the group practised using their voice (oral language) to share their perspectives while the audience worked on being active listeners. 

Lydia “Me is talking about the drawing to everybody.”

The children identified five ways we can use the new nest.

We could use the space:

  • As a reading area.
  • To make cookies.
  • To play and build with sand.
  • To play games.
  • To eat snacks and lunch.

Oliver and Howie suggested making the Rainbow Nest ‘more beautiful’ by adding plants around the nest, on the ground and on the wooden structure.

Oliver “I want to add some decorations on the nest to look more beautiful.”

The children discussed the idea of using the space to have a morning snack. They began to suggest different ways to keep the space clean. As the nest is a community space in the Early Years, we wonder how they might work with the rest of the community to develop these ideas further.

An Inquiry into Forces and Energy

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Different groups of children have been creating slides and ramps in the block play area. We began to collect pictures and videos for the children to review after playtime.

What did they notice about the different pictures (1,2 and 3)?

We documented their observations and thoughts on chart paper. 

How is picture 4 connected to the other 3 pictures? Were there any similarities and differences?

4

The children began to share their theories about the way objects moved on the pieces of wood. They discussed their theories about the concepts of form, materials, speed, height, force and energy.

Based on the children’s initial theories about energy and the movement of objects when creating slides with blocks, we decided to give them an opportunity to test their ideas in different situations.

We wondered how the children might experience the use of force and energy in P.E.

What would they need to consider when creating games and activities that have slides?

 

An Inquiry into Slides

Mr. Lee began the P.E. session by helping the children recall their ideas about slides.

  • Lee “What do you know about slides?”
  • Oliver “A bouncy slide.”
  • Lee “What makes it bounce?”

He drew a picture to share the image of a ‘bumpy’(uneven slide).

  • Lee “What can we put down a slide?
  • Eli “Blocks, to build the slide, put some wood under and make it bouncy. A mat under. Use a ball, use yourself, run down the slide.”

“Some people will roll down the slide!” said the children.

Mr. Lee invited the children to build slides using a range of soft play equipment.

When the children came back to class, they documented their thinking, strategies and observations on paper. We noticed that the children used a range of ‘Craft Moves’, shared during a writing activity to show ‘action’ and ‘movement’ to make their thinking visible.

The children:

  • shared ‘how’ the slides were made.
  • observed how objects (balls and their body) move on different pieces of equipment.
  • made choices about the shape and size of equipment they would need to make their slides work well.
  • used feedback to make their slides safer.
  • thought about the speed, safety, and characteristics of different materials and shapes as they designed their slides.
  • worked collaboratively in a small space, sharing resources and being mindful of the needs of others.

The group shared their process with the rest of the class. They began to talk about possibilities with slides.

  • Oliver “We can change the slides into water slides.”
  • Jeongyoon “Ice slide.”
  • Liz “Mud slide.”
  • Eli “I have been on a water slide like going up and down.”
  • Oxford “It has a tunnel.”
  • Morning “In the PE room!”
  • Teacher “Could we have water in the Gym?”
  • Children “NO!”
  • Jeongyoon “The swimming pool. Water mud slide.”
  • Wyatt “A monster slide? The monster can be inside and everybody is running around and playing and not coming to the slide.”
  • Oliver “We can make a super tall rollercoaster.”
  • Teacher “Why?”
  • Oliver “Because it’s FUN!”

“It sounds like we need a PLAN!”

Moths and Butterflies

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@O wanted to learn more about moths and butterflies after observing a moth on Oskar’s shoe. He had many questions about moths and butterflies after looking through a variety of nonfiction books. He wondered how you could tell the difference between them.

We decided to find an expert in the Early Years. @O recalled Ms. Karen having many different specimens of insects. Oliver went over to Ms. Karen to talk about his research. The video story shares @O‘s journey as a researcher. 

Research Skills:

Formulating and planning

  • Ask or express through play questions that can be researched.

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 and using emergent writing skills to make thinking visible.

Evaluating and communicating

  • Notice relationships and patterns.

Block Play with Howie and Eli

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A group of children worked on their block structures over a sustained period of time, creating plans, solving problems and making changes to the initial design to suit their story. The adults observed the interactions and documented their play over time. When the children saw the video, they reflected on their play, discussing their initial plans and process.

Howie “This is we building blocks. And Mo Mo is helping us to build. And I put my name on the house and I was playing with my house. And we is building and we use which car to drive on the tracks.”

Eli “The pictures help me of looking     how to build the hospital and the hotel and that is how I know which pieces is which pieces. I like the hospital and the hotel so I will build it the same as the picture. The building blocks and then putting racing car and then driving them around and then building the T Rex into the hospital and the T Rex mommy into the hospital and we build the all of the race cars and the race road and Mo Mo was helping.”

Howie “I was drawing because I want show us I build and someone comes and he sees my picture and then he can’t touch it. It’s the same make as my blocks because it’s hard to build but it has lots of blocks we can build.”

Eli “I have to remember to build the right pieces we have to write hospital and we have to write hotel. Writing help me learn how to write words. But they all look different (blocks). I think which block I need and then I know which blog I used.”

  • How do we make choices about the materials we use to create?
  • What skills do we need to create a story?
  • What skills do we need to work together?
  • How do we record our planning and thinking (making thinking visible)?
  • How can we share our creations and stories with others?

An Inquiry into Ramps

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A group of kindergarteners explore a range of concepts while building ramps. They collaborate with each other, thinking, planning and testing their theories (Forces and energy).

They explore how speed, distance, and height may change the result of the experiment. Curious investigators are drawn to the testing ground as laughter and celebration ripple across the learning space. 

Through experimentation, the children begin to explore how a variety of factors including size and shape, can impact the way objects move (Physics).

  • We wonder what variables impact the design of ramps. 
  • How are ramps used in the world around us? 

An exploration begins… 

Creating Essential Agreements

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Over the last few weeks, we have been taking photographs and videos of the children engaging in different spaces around the Early Years. These images have helped us highlight and make observations visible.

At times, the images focused on celebrating learning, community and engagement. On other occasions, the images helped us hone in on challenges and problems that require attention.

Over the last few days, we have discussed these ideas in small and whole group situations, talking about what we see, think and wonder.

See, Think, Wonder is a ‘thinking routine’ that places emphasis on the importance of observation as the basis for thinking and interpretation, through looking closely at an image, object or video.

After many discussions, we gathered to create our ‘Essential Agreements’. We noticed that the conversations often focused on the idea of feeling ‘safe’ in a ‘caring’ and ‘respectful’ environment.

Some of the key points were:

  • Expressing and communicating emotions in respectful ways and asking for an adult’s help when needed.
  • Being aware of how we touch others when speaking or playing with them.
  • Using manipulatives and resources in a safe and respectful way.
  • Moving our bodies safely in and around the different spaces.
  • Cleaning up after playtime to ensure we respect people, materials and spaces.
  • Using kind and thoughtful words to express ourselves.
  • Being inclusive by collaborating sharing and inviting others to play.

The key ideas by the children highlight the concepts of well-being, interaction, participation, belonging and inclusion.

As a learning community, we will continue to revisit our essential agreements to help us make appropriate choices that help us work and learn together as a community.

We are learning that by following agreements and sharing space we can participate safely in our community. ​

@M the Artist

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Ms. Dora invited the children to create a self-portrait. They gathered their materials; cards, writing tools and a mirror, and sat around the classroom, ready to create their pictures.

@M looked at himself in the mirror. He carefully drew the shape of his face, being mindful of the space he had on the piece of card. He took his time, noticing details and drawing purposefully. Each stroke was a controlled line, curve or shape that was thought through.

@M had moved on to drawing his neck and hands. He looked at his hand in the mirror. He wanted to draw his right hand but he could not seem to position the mirror correctly. He thought about the problem for a while and then decided to move the mirror to the other side. He held up his right hand. He could now see his reflection clearly and was ready to continue his drawing.

After a few strokes on his paper, he would look back into the mirror, hold his hand in a particular position and then sketch what he could see. He continued this process until he was happy with his drawing.

@M carefully completed drawing his right hand. Then, he moved to draw his left hand. The position of this hand was different to the right. He moved his hands around, all the while looking into the mirror, till he was happy with the position. Then, he began to draw.

@M moved to draw the rest of his body. He chose not to take as much time with the parts of the body that were not visible in the mirror. Finally, @M used a thin line marker to trace his pencil lines. He carefully outlined his picture and held it away to check if he had drawn all the lines.  

As @M finished his drawing task and coloured his picture, the teachers observed his focus and attention to detail. @M was able to enjoy, learn and express himself through the arts. He was responsible for the care of tools and materials.

We wonder how @M will use his deep observational skills and passion for drawing and art to document his learning in K2.

The NEW NEST!

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The Early Years community were excited to be back at school. The children ran outdoors to explore the garden, to see what was new and what has remained the same. They noticed a piece of equipment covered with a large black cloth, with a red ribbon at the side. What was under the fabric?

The children were excited. They ran around the structure, sharing their ideas and guessing what might have happened to the piece of equipment that was in this area of the garden.

  • Oliver G “I see inside there is some wood, and some of it is green, orange and yellow. Different colours of water! Blue water!
  • Emma “A new nest!”
  • Oliver G “I see rainbow water!”
  • Matt peeks under the black cloth “Here, see one more!”
  • Motong “Is it a rabbit?” (In Mandarin)
  • Oliver G “Inside I think there is 2 hamsters for K1 and K2. The hamsters are cute!”
  • Eli “A rainbow nest! Because inside it looks like a table. I jumped up and I looked inside.”

We gathered closer to listen to what Ms. Jacqui was saying.

Ms. Jacqui “Last semester, the Early Years students said they would like a nest. They worked on a design and they said we want to sit inside. They wanted rainbow colours. I wonder what the nest looks like now?”

We were ready to unveil the playground equipment.

The children walked in. They gathered around the table and stood on the circular bench, laughing and talking to each other about the new design.

They were excited to see how the suggestions they had made had become a reality. As they walked inside the new nest, they noticed that there was water on the floor.

Oskar G recalled his design and suggestions and quickly reflected on the changes that had taken place and the ones that didn’t.

Oskar G “I don’t see Rosemary.”

The teachers acknowledged his observations, making a quick note of the importance of ‘voice’ and ‘process’ in learning.

Oliver G “There is water on the bench we also need some windows we can also use lots of umbrellas.”

We look forward to observing how this redesigned space meets the needs of our young learners and how it evolves over time. We wonder what stories the children tell around this space, and how it contributes towards their learning experiences in the Early Years.

Welcome to K2A @NIS!

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We are ready for yet another learning adventure with our NIS community. We wonder🤔 how our #curiosity, #courage and #passion will ignite our learning experiences this year.

We began by exploring the K2 and Early Years space, listening, learning and thinking about the different experiences we might have this year.

The children quickly settled in, connecting with old friends and building new relationships.

Throughout the day, we explored different routines in K2 that help us get ready for the day’s learning.

The children labelled their baskets, cubby, portfolio boxes and other resources to help them manage their belongings. Building independence helps children make informed choices and set them up for success.

In the morning, we sat together to eat our community breakfast. This is an important time for us to build community and good habits. Eating healthy snacks and making good choices with food helps children become more aware of the connection between our mind and body.  Being responsible for classroom jobs and following classroom agreements helps us work and play in a positive, supportive learning environment.

During the day, Ms. Sue (Primary School Counsellor) and Ms. Dora (Mandarin Teacher) came in to greet and work alongside the children. The children listened to stories, played games and explored language and feelings through a range of activities.

The children play a central role in their learning and know their voices and opinions matter. We believe that our young learners are capable and naturally curious, able to pose and solve their own problems.

We believe that relationships (with people, materials and spaces) are at the heart of our programme. We believe the community plays a pivotal role in the development of our children. As we continue our learning journey together, we invite you to be part of our learning experience.

The Bike Park Signs

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Over the last few weeks, a team of young designers worked together with Ms. Eileen and Ms. Jo, to create signs for the bike park. After conducting their research, they decided to create the signs using wood, as this was a material that could be used outdoors in all types of weather. After considering many options for the message, the team decided to use the wood-burning tool to burn the message onto the wood instead of using paint, markers or other writing tools. 

They began by planning their message out using pictures and words, to inform the early years community how to park the bikes safely in the bike park area. Their pictures served to remind the children where to park and in which direction the bikes needed to be stored at the end of playtime.

The team considered the type of wood and the size of the sign. Then, they used sandpaper to make sure the edges of the wood were smooth. 

They learned how to use the wood-burning tool to burn the messages on the pieces of wood. They had to think about staying safe and focused throughout the task.

Finally, their signs were ready to be mounted in the bike park area. They talked to each other about the best place to put up the signs and what materials they would use to attach the signs in the different spaces. Noah decided that his sign should be placed standing upright in the bike park. Mason, Sean and Eunice decided that their signs should be attached to the wooden fence dividing the play area. The team were proud of their hard work, and were excited to see that the Early Years community were now well informed about safe parking in the playground.

K2 students are aware of the impact they can have on the community. They understand how they can actively engage in various stages of learning: including thinking about, planning, modifying and creating for a purpose. Through active discussion and questioning, they were able to direct their own learning. The ‘Bike Park’ project helped them make connections to the real world. Through a range of experiences, they could consider perspectives, possibilities and outcomes that would benefit the community. They considered their own responsibility in shared spaces, and were able to use their voice and actions to bring a sense of purpose and belonging to these community spaces.

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