Category: Bursting the Bubble

Our Hands, Our Stories: Sculpting Meaning Through Playdough

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“An environment that encourages children to play also encourages them to converse, to explore, and to collaborate.”

The Spark of Inquiry

Children are natural storytellers who seek to make sense of their world through multiple languages. In our ‘Writer’s Workshop’, we intentionally move away from the mechanical repetition of writing. Instead, we offer children a joyful, purposeful context. By anchoring their mark-making to a real experience, writing transforms into a meaningful tool for connection, fuelled by a clear sense of purpose and a real audience.

 

The Alchemy of Making: Step-by-Step Discovery

We invited the children into a sensory-rich, hands-on exploration: the collaborative creation of playdough.

Gathering Our Collective Voice: We began by listening. The children mapped out their existing knowledge, sharing how different colours of dough could be transformed into people, objects, and vehicles.

The Language of Sequence: With focused intentionality, the young authors translated the physical recipe into visual documentation. They illustrated the specific tools, measured the ingredients, and mapped out the procedural steps needed to form the soft, malleable dough.

Blending Literacy with Art: As they drew, the children played with the physical geometry of letters and sounds, weaving text into their illustrations to guide their future readers.

The Sculptor’s Studio and Environmental Responsibility

Once the dough arrived at its perfect consistency, the children instantly transitioned from authors to sculptors. The room was filled with the rhythmic sounds of pounding, rolling, poking, and pinching. Sausages, spheres, and miniature cars emerged from their hands—ideas made visible in three dimensions.

When the creative energy settled, a natural sense of community care took over. The sculptors became caretakers of their space, meticulously clearing their workspaces and showing deep respect for their shared learning materials and environment.

Visible Reflections

The journey culminated in a beautiful moment of sharing. The children eagerly flipped through their self-made booklets, reading their own documentation with care and intention. The learning did not end at the atelier; filled with pride, the children carried their handmade playdough home and shared their stories and discoveries directly with their families.

The Birthday Cupcakes – Final Steps

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The Field Trip to the Skyways Kitchen!

After months of research, problem-solving, and collaborative inquiry, the children were ready for their field trip to the Skyways Kitchen. We gathered all the materials we needed: the cartons of milk, the lunch cards, and the first aid kit that the children had planned to take. We stepped onto the school bus, excited to visit Skyways Kitchen to make birthday cupcakes. The children spoke about the map they had created, which now directed their journey to the kitchen.

Mr. Patrick had prepared spaces for the children to make chocolate chip cookies and decorate the cupcakes. The children enjoyed both making and decorating the cupcakes, adding frosting and topping the cakes with Smarties, sprinkles, and wafer biscuits. As they worked to decorate over 75 cupcakes, the children in K2B made chocolate chip cookies for both classes.

Next, we went on a tour of the kitchen, looking at all the different areas used to prepare breads, ice creams, chocolate treats, and pastries. Mr. Patrick explained the various sections of the kitchen, showing the children all the tools and materials used, as well as discussing safety and hygiene when preparing food.

Finally, the children enjoyed a treat of hot chocolate. We were pleased that the milk had not gone to waste but was instead used to make hot chocolate for everyone on the trip.

 

The Cupcake Distribution

The cleaning staff and gardeners were excited to come into the Early Years Centre to meet the children. They were eager to learn about the project the children had been working on and delighted by the thoughtful gesture.

K2A visited all the different spaces with their teachers and their birthday cupcake trolley to distribute cupcakes to all the staff who had not received a cupcake for their birthday. They visited Aiden Kitchen, Homecaught, and the security guards.The children’s inquiry created opportunities for authentic learning experiences, allowing them to understand and appreciate the work that various members of the community engage in to make the school a positive and joyful environment. The children’s dedication to the project helped them learn more about themselves and the connections they share with those around them. This thoughtful gesture helped everyone feel included and appreciated. 

The Invitations

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The children were ready to plan the rest of their trip to the Skyways kitchen. There were several activities they wanted to engage in during the trip, therefore, they had to think about additional support they needed. The children decided to invite some of their teachers to join the field trip to ensure some adults could support them. They sat with Ms. Hannah to decide on the important information they needed to include in the invitations, brainstorming and then designing the cards.

We are excited to finally visit the Skyways Kitchen to make the cupcakes for the community!

How many watermelons can we purchase for RMB59?

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The children have been engaged in various activities related to ‘The Challenge Project’. Different teams will work on specific aspects of the project to help us stay organised. Following on from our inquiry into money, we were now ready to purchase the watermelon. It was time for us to have a small team walk across to the supermarket to buy the watermelon.

The shopping crew updated the others on their trip to the supermarket.

  • Riccardo “We went out of NIS.”
  • Jacob “We crossed the road. We walk over the walkway. Ms. Hannah helped us. The security guards helped us, he stopped the cars and we can go across the road.”
  • Isabella “We got to Suguo and we need to find the watermelon.”
  • Adalyn “We need to check the money. We had 59 RMB.
  • Suzy “We have to test it to see how heavy the watermelon is. Some of the small watermelons were not as heavy as the big ones.”
  • Isabella “We weighed the watermelons so we decide how many we need.”
  • Riccardo “The Suguo people helped us weigh the watermelon and told us how much money is it.”
  • Jacob “We carried it. If it is too heavy we cannot carry it so we need a small one.”
  • Riccardo “We choose 5 first. “
  • Jacob “We first gave them 57, then we gave them another 59. It was less than 59. 2 left.”
  • Adalyn “The two watermelon we add them and we buy them.”
  • Suzy “We went out of Suguo and we cross the road and we go back to NIS. We were safe.”

The experience at the supermarket helped the children experience the process of choosing and purchasing food items. On their trip, they needed to make many decisions and work together as a team to solve the problems they encountered.

Jacob “We are going to the supermarket to buy the watermelon for making the ice pop challenge. 3 minute challenge our buddy can make the watermelon ice-pop. We use 57 RMB to buy the watermelon and we took the middle one and one small one. We chose not heavy one, we choose the smaller one and smaller so we can carry this, used the basket too heavy. Me and Isabella carry it and go to school. We take a long time.”

Many opportunities for mathematical thinking and learning were explored. These authentic learning experiences are great opportunities for children to explore and learn about concepts through real-life experiences.

Our next step would be to carry out the test to find out how many ice pops we can make from one watermelon.

 

YAY! Making the Ice Pops!

 

  • Dahyun “We made the ice cream with the watermelon.”
  • Ciel “We put it in the freezer because then it will freeze.”
  • Evan “Then we took it out because we need to eat it in 3 minutes because we need to have a challenge.”
  • Isabella “It was really hard to take the ice pops out.”
  • Evan “Then we eat it in 3 minutes.”
  • Junsu “Some people don’t eat it in 3 minutes.”
  • Riccardo “It was really icy.”
  • Suzy “But it was yummy.”
  • Evan “It was so cold!”
  • Sea “We eat watermelon like ice pops. We eat it, it’s like cold. I ate it but my teeth was so cold.”
  • Adalyn “We eat watermelon ice-pops, it feels like cold.”
  • Isabella “It was sweet.”
  • Suzy “The ice pop, maybe it was sweeter a little bit more.”
  • Ciel “When Ms. Shemo took one ice pop out, it broke.”
  • Junsu “And watermelon is in the body.”
  • Dahyun “I eat ice cream then my body is so cold.”
  • Evan “I eat the ice cream my teeth feels off.”
  • Isabella “Riccardo finished the ice pop in 3 minutes. And Archie almost finished it.”
  • Sophia “Sea and Jacob finished next.”

The children explained, “It was a fun challenge because it was icy.”

We wonder what our next challenge would be…

Student-Led Conferences

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‘The learning belongs to the students, not the teacher. We are supporting our students to take ownership of their learning and to be able to think and talk about their learning with knowledge and confidence. When students know how they learn best and are able to reflect on their learning, they are able to advocate for themselves.’
(Parent Survival Guide to Student-Led Conferences, NIS)
The Student-Led Conference is a special day in the school calendar. The children are excited to share this time with you, to show, share and lead learning stations around the campfire and the campus. You can help and support your child by maintaining a slow pace, helping them reflect, talk about and celebrate their growth as learners. It is a special day for the teachers as they guide and watch the children take ownership of their learning. 
Learning Spaces

 

 
Reflections

The Trolley Project: Final Steps

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The Trolley Project: Sourcing the Missing Parts

The trolley assembly team had been working on their project for a few weeks. Having lost some parts, they were trying to figure out their next steps. They had decided to reach out to different people in the community to ask for their help. The children checked their lists to see if all the missing parts were recorded on their papers. They found that they still needed to add one more piece of data, the missing back rings on the wheel. Then, they measured the part of the wheel that was going to be connected to the rings.

  • Evan “You should start it from ‘0’ like when we measure the milk.”
  • Jacob “It is 2.5 cm.”

Now that they had a list of all the missing parts, they decided that they were ready to ask members of the community for help and more information. They made a list of the people they were going to visit.

  • Adalyn “We are most familiar with Ms. Jo, so let’s start to ask her first.”
  • Isabella and Adalyn, “We once went to Mr. Arek’s room and we didn’t see these stuff in his room, so maybe he doesn’t have them.”
  • Isabella “We can go ask Mr. Matt next then.”
  • Adalyn “We can ask facility people the after. Finally, if none of those people have the missing parts, we can go ask the people who helped us purchase the trolley to buy a new set.”
  • Jacob “Ms. Jo, we are assembling a two-levels tall trolley, and some of the parts were missing, so we wonder if you can help us find some same ones in your room?”
  • Jo “Sure but what are they?”

Evan showed Ms. Jo his clipboard and pointed at the stuff on it, “We need some screws which is 8 cm long and some nuts.”

  • Isabella “We need some hooks too.”

Ms. Jo led the team to her tool board and checked but she didn’t have any of the parts that we needed.

  • Isabella “It is fine, we can go ask other people.”

When the facility staff member came in the afternoon, the team showed him the parts that got lost and what they were looking for. Unfortunately, he told them that they do have some screws and nuts, but they don’t have the same ones that we need.

Adalyn “We need to go ask Ms. Cherry if she can help us buy another set of the small pieces now.”

The team began to plan their visit to see Ms. Cherry.

  • Sophia “What would we need to say to her?”

  • Evan “The trolley pieces are missing. We need the screws, nuts, black rings and hooks.”
  • Sophia “What other information do we want from Ms. Cherry?”
  • Jacob “We are missing some parts of the trolley, can you ask the people who sell the trolley to sell the little pieces to us?”
  • Adalyn “I think she will say yes because I used to buy things online, some of the small parts were missing and I can ask the shopkeeper to only order those certain parts.” (in Mandarin)
  • Sophia “Any other questions we want to ask if she says yes?
  • Adalyn “Who do we need to ask for the permission when we need to order something?”
  • Jacob “Should we ask Ms. Jacqui if she can give us some money to buy it? Do we need to send a message to Ms. Jacqui and ask her?”

Children wrote down their questions before heading over to see Ms. Cherry.

The children went over to the main building to meet Ms. Cherry. They explained the problem to her, showing her their drawings and documentation to help her understand which pieces were needed to complete the trolley.

When the team returned, they recorded the information that Ms. Cherry shared about the process of ordering things for the class.

  • Evan “We need to fill an E-Form.”
  • Adalyn “We need to fill the money of the things that we need.”
  • Isabella “We need to first ask the permission from Ms. Jacqui. We ask her in the system.”
  • Adalyn “We choose Ms.Cherry in the system so the form can be sent to her.”
  • Isabella “We choose Primary school to find Ms Jacqui.”
  • Adalyn “We need to type the title of the things we need to order.”
  • Isabella “We need to write the number of things in the system.”
  • Adalyn “We need to click save.”
  • Evan “You need to write your name in the system as well.”
  • Jacob “We need to put our classroom in it so when it is arrived people know where to deliver it. We can check the list after we click save. If there’s any mistakes, we need to correct them.”
  • Adalyn “We check the list and send out.”

The team were excited to learn that a box had arrived in the post.

They opened it up to find the missing pieces that they needed to assemble the trolley.

 

Presenting the Trolley

The team presented the trolley to the class.

  • Adalyn “We are making the trolley to put the water bottle and the snack.”
  • Evan “And lunch.”
  • Isabella “When we are pressing the screws they were very hard.”
  • Adalyn “So we used the tool.”
  • Jacob “And the nuts is difficult to tighten up.”

  • Evan “We used the tools because we need to because it’s so hard to tighten them up.”
  • Teacher “Did you sometimes disagree with someone else.”
  • Isabella “We figured it out. We tried it out and then one worked. We listened to each other. We tired the idea of the person who said it the first.”
  • Evan “I think I took some months (to finish the trolley) because the pieces is gone.”
  • Jacob “We need to ask some people and they said no.”
  • Adalyn “And then we buy it.”
  • Isabella “It’s not money to get it. It was free. Because it was just a little.”
  • Teacher “How will we look after the trolley?”
  • Suzy “Maybe we can ask PreK-K1 because they also have a trolley.
  • Isabella “I can also ask PreKK1B.”

 

Reflecting on Learning…

The team took many months to put the trolley together. They had to overcome obstacles and collaborate to achieve their final goal, ‘to assemble the water bottle trolley’. Reflection is an important part of learning, therefore we paused to encourage the team to think about the skills they have learned, the knowledge they have acquired and attitudes they have developed as a result of their learning. They made a list of ideas they wanted to share with their friends.

  • We tried everyone’s ideas to find out what works best.
  • We needed to help each other put the screws and nails because you need strong muscles to fix them.
  • We listened to each other so that we could know everybody’s ideas.
  • We took turns to talk so we can hear those ideas.

  • We had to be mindful, that means we are listening and looking at other people.
  • We had fun.
  • The best part was completing the trolley because we can use it.

The children wanted to ask PreK-K1 how they look after the trolley. Isabella and Suzy volunteered to speak to them. They came back with suggestions on where to place the trolley and how to use it carefully.

Through their inquiry, the team have developed a better understanding of the different ‘systems’ in place at the school to help the community maintain the school facilities and equipment. These authentic experiences have helped the team explore how ‘interconnected’ we are as we collaborate and work to ensure the community within the school has what it needs to support teaching and learning.

By using their ‘senses’ to explore the world around them, the team had opportunities to pursue their ideas based on their curiosities, documenting their thinking through a variety of mediums.

The team had opportunities to explore mathematical concepts about ‘measurement’ and ‘number’.

They developed their literacy skills as they took notes at interviews, documented their thinking, created plans and noted reflections using illustrations, words and sentences. Presenting ideas and updates to the class encouraged the team to see themselves as problem-solvers, risk-takers and communicators.

– Jacob’s statement, “You turn right to tighten the screws and left to untight (loosen the screws).” Shows how the team developed their skills and knowledge about tools (wrenches and Allen keys) for making and design.

The Survey

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We referred to our plan for the trip to the Skyways Kitchen to plan our next steps. The children were eager to invite K2B to join us on the trip to the kitchen. The team created a survey to find out how many children and teachers would like to join K2A on the trip.

Suzy “We can ask them, ‘Do you want to come to the Skyways kitchen to make the PTA but the cupcakes?’” The team wrote their question and possible responses. Then, they went off to K2B to speak to their friends.

Dahyun “I am finding the letter and big letter and I write that. Because then I know letters. Because I sound it out and find the letter, and it helped.”  

Euno “I write the question. I used the alphabet chart to find the letters. I see the alphabet chart and I can write the word.

I sound the letter. It was a little bit hard but then I sound and write and see the alphabet chart and write.”

Euno “I asked ‘Do you want to go to the cafeteria for making the PTA cupcake? And they said ‘yes’. I tell him sign your name on the paper on the ‘YES’.”

Dahyun “Because he want to go to Skyways kitchen and make cupcakes so they say it in the paper. Everybody said yes.”

The surveyors presented the data to the rest of the class explaining their process and what they learned as a result of their research.

Suzy “We are going to K2B and ask them and then I write the names. Everyone wants to go!”

While presenting the information, the class noticed that one child did not want to join the field trip. We wanted to make sure that the team had surveyed all the children. Therefore, we decided to check the responses against the K2B class list. As the names were called we realised that two of the children had not responded to the survey.

The researchers went back to collect the data they needed.

The class was pleased with the results both teachers and 13 of the 14 children wanted to join the field trip.

Having collected the information they need, they are ready for their next step, deciding on the date and booking the school buses for the trip.

How much is a Watermelon?

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Jacob was inspired by our challenge project, particularly the part about making ice pops with watermelon juice. He decided to visit a supermarket to learn more about watermelons. On his return, he shared what he had uncovered.

Jacob used the question starters to help him present his learning to the class.

  • Jacob “Me and my mum is going to the supermarket because we want to look the watermelon is how many money. And how big and how small. I go to Hippo to look how heavy and small. I went yesterday. I take a photo because then we know how heavy. It was 59 RMB.”

Jacob’s presentation made us wonder how many watermelons we might need to make the ice pops. We wanted to make sure we had enough for the project, but we also didn’t want to waste any food. 

  • Suzy “Maybe we can first get one watermelon and then we can test it because then if we didn’t know how many too much or too short.”
  • Evan “We need to ask Ms. Jacqui about the money for the watermelon.”
  • Jacob “We need to listen to other people and look.”
  • Suzy “Say it nice and loud because then other people cannot hear.”
  • Sea “I don’t know if Ms. Jacqui gives the money.”
  • Isabella “We need to tell Ms. Jacqui how many money we need.”
  • Dahyun “We can find the market.”
  • Euno “We don’t tell any people then we don’t have money so we cannot buy the watermelon.”

 

Can we have some money?

A group of children volunteered to take the project plan to Ms. Jacqui to ask her about the money they needed for the project. The children explained that they would need 60 RMB to purchase one watermelon to test the ice pops. Ms. Jacqui was excited to hear all about their plans and invited the children to think about the different steps they needed to take to plan a safe field trip across the road.   

They needed permission slips, money to purchase the watermelon and teachers to accompany them on the trip.   

 

Do we have enough ice-pop moulds?

Teacher “What about the moulds for the ice pops do we have enough for everyone?”

Isabella recalled using the ice pop moulds when she was in K1 and decided to reach out to Ms. Hannah to see if she could find them in the Early Years kitchen. Mohammed and Adalyn wanted to help Isabella with the task.

The team looked in all the cupboards to look for the ice pop moulds but couldn’t find them. After a lot of searching, they found two sets of 6 ice pop moulds in the Early Years pantry.  

The children decided that they needed 16 moulds for the children and the teachers in K2A. But they only had 12! They used what they knew about numbers and calculations to help them solve the problem.

They decided that they need to buy 6 more moulds to have enough for everyone in K2A.

Interviewing Patrick from the Skyways Bakery

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The children invited Patrick from the Skyways Bakery to come in as they wanted to learn more about the kitchen.

Isabella “We want to go to the Skyways.”

Suzy “We want to make cupcakes.”

Patrick began by talking to the children about the bakery, how it is organised and the different departments that are involved in the function of the bakery. He was in charge of creating new products and making sure that the quality of the products remained the same.

  • Riccardo “How much is one cupcake?”
  • Euno “Is the cupcake 5 or 10?”

Patrick said he was not 100% sure so he would send the exact price for each cupcake when he returned to the bakery.

  • Evan “How to make cupcake and ice cream.”

Patrick talked to the children about the difference between a cupcake and a muffin.

  • a muffin could be considered a breakfast item and a cupcake is usually not
  • a cupcake usually has a topping and a muffin typically doesn’t
  • a cupcake is softer than a muffin. This is mainly due to the use of sugar and the different quantities of ingredients such as flour and eggs.

The children were excited to learn that they make bread, cakes, ice cream and chocolate treats in the kitchen. He invited the children to come to the bakery kitchen to learn how they make these items.  

  • Dahyun “How to make milk?
  • Sea and Dahyun “Do we need milk for the cupcakes?”

Patrick explained that sometimes they do but also make cupcakes without milk. They often use milk powder instead of liquid milk. 

  • Dahyun “How do you make cupcakes and ice cream?”
  • Riccardo “How to make cupcake? I don’t know how to make the cupcake. We need to go to your bakery to learn how to make the cupcake.”
  • Junsu “Can we learn how to make ice cream?”

Patrick invited the class to visit the kitchen in the city to observe the process! The children cheered with excitement. He said we could come at 9:00am when his staff are working to watch the process. The kitchen is about 9 kilometers away, about a 20-minute drive from NIS.  

  • Suzy “Can we go to the cupcake room to learn how to make cupcake? What do we need to bring with us?”
  • Jacob “I want to help to make cupcakes. Can we do that?”

Patrick “You might have to bring a stool because our tables are all for adults, so to be able to do something with the equipment at the table you will need one.”

He explained that there is a section for hot items like bread and baked goods, and another for cold items like ice creams, cakes and desserts. The ovens and equipment might be very big so we have to think about staying safe. 

  • Evan “Do you have a map to help us get there?”
  • Jacob “How do we get there?”
  • Patrick “From the school gate…”

Patrick provided detailed directions. We wonder how the children might document this information to help them reach the bakery.

  • Sea, Dahyun and Euno “We want to make cupcake, do we need milk?”
  • Ciel “Can we use K2A milk to make cupcakes?”

Patrick “You bring the milk, we heat it up and we can add chocolate to make chocolate milk.”

We look forward to the children’s next steps in planning their trip!

Student Presentation on the Recycling Center in Nanjing

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Two years ago, Patrick was in K2A. During this time, he was interested in learning about waste and recycling and made a presentation to his class after conducting his research. Patrick is now in grade 2. He recently visited a waste recycling center in Nanjing in response to a unit of study in class and was excited to return to K2 to share what he had learned during his visit.

Oliver, who was in K2A the previous year, had created a poster about waste disposal while learning about recycling. Patrick referred to Oliver’s poster, explaining which items could be disposed of in the different coloured recycling bins. The children have noticed some of these bins around the school campus and were eager to learn more about their function in recycling.

Patrick shared many different photographs of the recycling center, providing explanations on the Process of transporting and sorting materials such as paper, food and plastic waste. He was excited to talk about how long it takes for materials such as paper, fabric and plastic to decompose.

The next day, we revisited Patrick’s presentation.

  • Suzy “It is the machine.”

  • Riccardo “He said it is so stinky.”
  • Suzy “They take long to disappear.”
  • Jacob “In soil. They will disappear in the soil. How many years it takes to disappear.”

  • Suzy “Cardboard is harder than paper so it has the different number. It takes longer to disappear than paper.”
  • Suzy “This is for the trees.”
  • Isabella “This is from the food garbage. Its good for the plants.”
  • Riccardo “So they can grow up big like the trees.”
  • Jacob “I put the new soil in the new plants in the NIS garden, before K2. Ms. Hannah let me help she, I was putting new soil because then the trees will be grown up.”
  • Evan “The things get grabbed and it takes it away.”
  • Isabella “It can carry the weight of two elephants.”

  • Ciel “This is wood. This is to make something new. Maybe wooden chairs.”

  • Jacob “Wooden tables. Some people can make wood chairs and wood tables and something else with wood.”
  • Riccardo “And have glass waste.”
  • Junsu “This is cans. This is waste cans.”

  • Jacob “It will make it into new bottles. Someone will use the fire to make it like disappear, then you can make the new bottle.”
  • Suzy “They are recycling it.”
  • Mohammad “This garbage. This is bad. Water bottle in garbage.”
  • Suzy “Patrick wanted the NIS to be not so stinky. Too many trash. The children are making the trash because they have a lot of trash in their hands from the paper and bottles.”
  • Jacob “And some cans. And wood and cans.”
  • Suzy “He wants us not to make so many trash.”

Ms. Shemo showed the children her snack bag. It was made of plastic.

  • Suzy “Because you have the plastic bag which is going to be the trash.”
  • Jacob “Even the tissue.”
  • Suzy “Ms. Shemo will throw the plastic bag in the bin and then it’s going to be stinky. It is going to take 30 years to disappear.”
  • Jacob “If you don’t want to eat the bread, then it will be in the trash too.”
  • Riccardo “You can buy a snack box to carry it to school.”
  • Jacob “You can wash it then”

Ms. Hannah “Do you notice any trash waste around you at home?”

  • Riccardo “I don’t have trash at home.”
  • Hannah “How do you have no trash? What do you do?
  • Riccardo “Its only a little bit because we don’t use so much. Because my mum throws the trash in the other places.”
  • Euno “I only have a little bit trash at home because so many trash is waste food. Korean trash is different but here we can find other trash altogether. In Korea trash is not wasted.”

We wonder about the action the children will take in response to Patrick’s presentation on the importance of recycling.

How many cupcakes do we need to make?

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A team were tasked with calculating how many cupcakes they needed to make for the NIS community that did not receive the birthday cupcakes.

The children went back to the list to see how they could solve the problem. Paper, pens and manipulatives were available as resources.

  • Jacob “We are going to the PTA where they make the cupcake so we will have a trip.”
  • Ciel “If you lose the PTA cupcake, you will tell the teachers and the teachers will help you find it.”
  • Isabella “We are putting the numbers together to figure out how many all together.”

  • Suzy “We are writing the people who didn’t have the PTA cupcakes. We will give them a cupcake.”

  • Evan “We used the counting blocks to see how to count the numbers because it’s too hard for us.”

  • Isabella “We need to have the same number. Maybe we need to agree with each other then we can say the same number.”
  • Suzy “We can talk to each other then we can have the same number.”

Further to the children’s suggestion, we decided to use the virtual Base 10 blocks to discuss and solve the problem together. The children helped colour and count the different addends to find the total.

The cupcake problem helped the children explore the different strategies we can use to solve number problems. Making their thinking visible through their drawings helped them communicate their ideas with each other.

Additionally, the children explored the relationship between their drawings and manipulatives and their function in solving mathematical problems.

Celebrating Everyone in the Community

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The Birthday Cupcake team met with Ms. Hannah to plan their next steps. One of the first steps was to find out how many people at NIS don’t get the PTA cupcakes. 

Ms. Hannah showed the children the list of the outside contracted workers at NIS, which was shared by the Human Resources department at NIS> Collectively, there are 18 security guards, 17 cleaners,  9 gardeners,  8 Homecaught workers, and 14 Aden workers at NIS.

These members do not receive a Birthday cupcake from the NIS PTA, as they are outsourced contracted staff. However, they get different types of birthday celebrations. The children thought it would be great for them also to get the PTA cupcakes and wondered how they could make this happen.  

  • Isabella “Where did PTA order the birthday? Maybe We can go to the place where the PTA orders and make the birthday cupcakes?”
  • Suzy “Maybe we can learn how they make the PTA cupcakes?”
  • Adalyn “I like to learn how to make the PTA cupcakes.”
  • Isabella “We can make cupcakes for our families.”
  • Evan “We can give cupcakes to those at NIS who don’t get the PTA cupcakes.”
  • Jacob “We need the map.”
  • Isabella “We need to find out where this bakery is. We will need a car, and if everyone goes, we will need a school bus.”
  • Suzy “Can we do it during Atelier time? Maybe we can ask everyone if they want to go at the end of the Atelier time.”
  • Adalyn “We will need transportation because we are all going. We can’t just go there.”

The team wondered who they could ask.

  • Suzy “We can ask the school bus driver. Maybe he will know.

They wondered how much money they needed for a cupcake.

  • Isabella “Maybe we can ask Ms. Rebacca about the cupcake cost?”
  • Jacob “We can then use the calculator to figure out how much in total.”
  • Isabelle “School bag and student ID card.”

The children presented their proposals to the rest of the K2A. They had some questions to solve before the field trip to the Skyways Bakery:

  • Can we visit the Skyways Bakery? Who can we ask?
  • Where do you get the map to the Skyways Bakery, where they make the PTA cupcakes?
  • How many cupcakes do we need to order?
  • Can we also make cupcakes for our families as well?
  • How much is the cupcake?
  • How much money do we need to pay for all the cupcakes

The PTA Birthday cupcakes project invites the children to explore a range of different concepts through the process of research. Their inquiry has focused on the concepts of ‘inclusion’ and ‘community’, as the children have been learning about the people in their community to look for authentic ways to connect with them. As they dive deeper into this project, they will need to apply a range of skills to answer the questions and wonderings they have noted, plan their field trip and organise a special treat for those who do not receive one for their birthday. They will need to find more information about the location of the bakery, and explore maps signs and symbols to make decisions about the journey. They will need to contact relevant members of the community to organise the transportation and plan the field trip. They will need to contact the bakery to find out important information about the visit and plan for the necessary items and the money that would be required for the trip. We look forward to observing how the children apply their knowledge and skills to take responsibility for the preparation and organization of the field trip.

Presenting to the NIS Staff

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The Cupcake Team and Ms. Hannah shared their presentation and poster with the children in K2A to seek feedback before presenting to the NIS faculty team during the ‘Monday Briefing’ in the Staff Room. Overall, the children thought they presented well because:

  • the voice was loud and clear
  • they took turns to share
  • everyone knew what to say!

The team worked together to prepare for their presentation to the NIS staff. They gathered all the items they needed for the display in the staff room.

  • Where should we keep the poster in the staff room?
  • Where should we stand when we present to the teachers so they can see all of us and the poster?

They made the decisions together. They presented the poster and the information to the teachers.

We wonder what their next steps would be!

The Grade 5 Three-minute Challenge

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The Grade 5 students were excited to hear about our three-minute challenges and decided to plan challenges for their K2 buddies.

We joined Grade 5 outside the courtyard to play some of the games they had planned for us. The children in K2 rotated around the different stations, attempting to win points and some stickers as they completed the challenges. 

The children reflected on the day’s events, sharing their highlights.

  • Suzy “We played a lot of games.”
  • Archie “We played tag. I like the tag game the most. Octopus tag with grade 5 buddies in 3 minutes challenge.”
  • Junsoo “We played ball game, and I like it the most.”
  • Riccardo “I like the ball game, because it’s challenging but I did a great job and I didn’t be tagged by the ball.”
  • Isabella “For the hot potato game, when the person counted down to 1, and someone was holding the ball, then he will be out of the game.”
  • Euno “I like the octopus game. Octopus game me run to the end and buddy catch people. They didn’t catch us. Then, I don’t know who wins.”
  • Ethan “I like the hot potato game because it is so fun.”
  • Adalyn “I like the octopus tag and I also like the one that has patterns on the ground and you need to follow the patterns to pop the bubbles. And the beanbag game is also interesting.”

  • Isabella “I like the pattern game the most because you can race your buddies and it’s easy for me.”
  • Suzy “I also like the pattern game because I like the bubbles. The bubbles were on the ground. You stand on it and it pops.”
  • Ethan “I like the tiptoes walking part and it was so much fun.”
  • Evan “The hot potato game looks fun because I like the ball game.”
  • Suzy “I did the pattern game in 3 minutes.”
  • Isabella “I also did the pattern game, the hot potato and the red light green light and I also played octopus tag and throwing the sand bag in 3 minutes. It was easy for me. It was a long time.”

  • Suzy “It was a short time, I did it in 3 minutes.”
  • Sea “I like the octopus game because they don’t tag me. I ran fast.”
  • Dahyun “I like the tag game because it was fun. I won 3 times. We got a sticker.”

We wonder how this experience will help them plan for the challenges they want to set for their Grade 5 buddies.

The Used Pens…Continued

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The Grade 4 students returned with the used pens and tools to show their K2 friends how to reuse the coloured markers. They set up their station and shared the process.

Archie “They said they’re gonna put the ink in and then they’re gonna cut it and then put that in and they can give it back to us. If the pen is not working then put it in the box. Then, they can fix it. It will take so long. And then they are gonna put the pencils in the water and then when they’re done that they they can give it back to us. If a pencil can not work or crayon then we don’t want to waste it. We don’t know what to do if the pencil or crayon is not OK. We don’t know what to do and then can we call them and ask them what to do with the crayons as well.”

 

Suzy “They take the pen and then fill it up with water, because then they will work again.”

Riccardo “We want to use the pen to do something, Grade 4 buddies want to do something with the pen and they talk with us and then they go and bring a if they are not good we put in the basket. Then, they have water and then put it in. Some is easy to take off and some is not easy.”

Archie talked about recycling pieces of used crayons and leftover coloured pencils. We wonder if the children might explore this further.

Waste? Recycle?

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Story #1 – Why should we use Recycled Paper?

While planning our paper airplane challenge, Evan suggested that we use drawing paper to make the planes. Isabella said recycled paper would be a better choice. However, we noticed we did not have much recycled paper in the classroom. We decided to go towards the Grade 5 classes to see if they had a stack of recycled paper. On the way, Jacob and Evan met Ms. Jacqui and told her about their problem. They asked her if she knew where to find recycled paper. Ms. Jacqui was excited to tell them that she had some in her office. Jacob and Evan followed her to collect the paper.

  • Jacob “Recycled paper is better because we can fold. Cardboard is too hard we can’t fold it, it will break.”
  • Isabella “Clean paper, if you draw on it you can say that’s not my drawing, don’t put it away you can use the other side it is clean.”
  • Evan “Recycled means everybody don’t want the paper. White paper is for drawing.” 

 

Story #2 – Used Pens

Three students from Grade 4 visited us with an important message. As part of their inquiry into systems and organisation, they are looking for ways to reuse colouring markers at NIS. They presented their idea to the children and asked for their support.

  • Riccardo “Do you have pens that cannot draw with, the ink is gone?”
  • Isabella “When they make a new ink, they will pour it in the old pens and it can be used again.”
  • Jacob “Not just throw in the trash because that will just be trash. Then, there will be not many pens. There will be only 1 pen!”
  • Archie “If you throw it in the garbage then it will get dirty and disgusting. That means it’s stinky. One time I put something in the garbage and I smelled it and it’s disgusting.”
  • Isabella “If you throw it in the rubbish bin, they were a lot of time in there then it will be disgusting.”
  • Jusnu “This box is no pens.”

Euno and Dahyun translated to share the plan for the used pen box.

  • Adalyn “They will collect the dry markers saved in the box so they can get the markers filled with ink again.”
  • Evan “Grade 4 will come every Thursday to collect the pens.”  
  • Sea “Not dry pens not going into the box. Only dry pens in the box.”
  • Finn “This box is for putting pens, green, purple, pens after they cannot be used anymore.” (in Mandarin)

The children were curious about the plan for the used pens and asked the students to return to share the process of refilling the pens.

 

Recycle? Waste?

Considering this developing interest in the concept of ‘recycling’ we decided to revisit two occasions where the children talked about ‘waste’.

  • Isabella “People had drawn on the paper and they don’t want the paper anymore but someone else can use it, then the paper can be recycle paper.”
  • Jacob “If no water in the pen, you can put it in the box and people will help cut it and put water in it so we can use the pen again.”
  • Archie “We can flip the paper and use the other side of it.”
  • Jacob “Broken stuff we can use them again. Some toys that broken.”
  • Ethan “My mum throw away a pen at home.”
  • Dahyun “My jacket is too small and then my mum give it away.”

We made a list of the things we throw away. We identified a few we wanted to discuss in depth.

Wasting water

  • Archie “Wasting water means pouring it out on the ground outside.”
  • Jacob “When you have water in the bathroom or kitchen, you keep the water open. If you don’t close it, that’s wasting water. Sometimes when people were not using the water and the water still open, that’s waste water.”

Wasting paper

  • Archie “My brother wasted paper by pulling it out of the book. My brother made the paper airplane and he doesn’t want it, and I used it.”
  • Jacob “Breaking drawing paper.”
  • Evan “Throwing the paper away.”
  • Riccardo “I always waste paper by cutting it.”
  • Euno “My brother throw away a paper. I talk to my brother ‘why you throw the paper?’ He said ‘paper is wet’. Then he take another paper and another paper and so many used paper.”
  • Sea “My brother’s friend used so many of my paper to draw. That is wasting paper.”

Wasting food

  • Isabella “You don’t eat the food you have and waste it. It is in the rubbish bin.”
  • Adalyn “Something you don’t want to eat is wasting. You can give another person to eat it.”
  • Evan “My brother don’t want the food and my grandpa throws it to the sink.”
  • Jacob “Something you don’t want to eat and you put it in the trash or sink, the wasps can eat it. Wasps like stinky food.”

Although the children shared many examples of waste, they believed they did not waste anything at school. We decided to gather evidence of waste throughout the day to present back to the children. 

We wonder what they notice and think about the evidence that has been collected.

Nurturing Connections

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The PreK-K1 put together a display board that shared information about their identity. We were invited to add to the information that has already been shared. As the children looked at the photographs and drawings of their friends, they thought about the special moments they shared with them. We discussed why these moments were special, considering the opportunities we had to build relationships and friendships through play and interaction. We decided to share some of these experiences with the community using drawings and words.

  • Isabella “PreK-K1A and PreKK1B were drawing themselves.”
  • Suzy “We were drawing the PreK-K1A and PreKK1B, and we are saying what is the friend about.”
  • Isabella “We are saying about our friends helping us.”
  • Jacob “We are drawing something about who is our friend and what are we playing. And something other people don’t know about the friend.”
  • Evan “About the friends we play with.”
  • Isabella “About the friends helping us.”
  • Jacob “We want to draw our friends playing with us so they were happy with us. Happy because we are playing fun games.”

  • Archie “I draw a volcano splashing us because we play the floor is lava in the playground. And when we are done playing we say 1,2,3 and Jacob, Logan and me pretend to fall in the lava.”
  • Evan “I am writing about me and Jayden, we are on the car.”
  • Riccardo “I go to Logan and Archie and we sometimes play the floor is lava.”
  • Ethan “Geunsu and me water play.”
  • Junsu “I play with Ahrin. I play with water.”
  • Finn “I play with Edward and Victor. We ride the bike together” (in Mandarin)

The children’s conversations highlight the depth of their play and engagement, and how their friendship is nurtured through their common interests and care for each other.

Planning a Challenge – Ice creams

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The children have been discussing the concept of ‘time’ while engaging in play and exploration. Often, they refer to time as being ‘long’ or ‘short’.

  • Suzy “It only took me two minutes to draw the love heart, that is a short time.”

The children were interested in creating challenges to explore the concept of ‘time’. They were excited about the three-minute challenges they had brainstormed and voted on. We gathered to discuss the different ideas collected, noting them all down on chart paper to help us create a plan for our next steps. As the children discussed these ideas, we used drawings and words to document their thinking. We had 13 challenges altogether!

How would we decide which one to explore first?

We decided to vote on the different challenges to find the most popular. Making ice creams received the highest votes (6). The children had many different ideas about the ice cream challenge. They suggested purchasing ice creams from the café, and buying ice creams at the supermarket or McDonald’s. Having heard all the ideas, the teachers decided to encourage the children to consider the practical challenges connected with some of these ideas.

  • Where would we get the money for the ice creams?
  • What about the children who have different allergies?
  • What options for flavours are there at McDonald’s

The teachers decided to stretch the children further, to encourage them to consider alternate opportunities for learning.

Does anyone know how to make ice creams?

After some thought the children tapped into their prior knowledge and experiences from previous years. Isabella and Evan recalled making ice pops at school. They explained the process of making watermelon ice pops, preparing the fruit and using moulds and popsicle sticks to make the ice creams.

The children were excited about making their own popsicles. They discussed several ideas, including the flavours they could choose. Considering the many opportunities this project may have for the children to apply their understanding of concepts through their experiences and play, the teachers agreed to support the children in preparing for the challenge if they could come up with a plan for their next steps. They would need to solve some practical obstacles to make their ice creams and carry out the challenge. They would need to decide and plan how to purchase the items, the process they needed to follow to make the ice creams and how they were going to organise the challenge.

We wonder how the children would:

  • plan and follow through to make the ice creams (process)
  • document their thinking and ideas so others can understand and follow their process (representation)
  • consider and plan for the safe use of materials, resources and tools (safety, responsibility)
  • consider how to include their friends and the community in their challenges (inclusion)
  • collaborates with students, parents and other teachers on learning (collaboration)

The Table

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A few years ago, a senior student at NIS made a rather unusual table for the children in the Early Years. Since then, the table has travelled and lived in many different classrooms. The unusual design allows children to work and play in interesting ways while sitting comfortably on the floor. Although the table has been used with care, parts of the wood on the surface began to peel and break away. We decided to reach out to Mr. Matt in the Design Woodwork studio to help us solve the problem. Mr. Matt worked on the table while the older students were away discovering China.

We were excited to hear that the table was ready for collection. A group of volunteers went to the Woodwork Studio to collect the table. They were excited to see the table, gently touching the smooth surface while smiling and nodding to show their approval of the change. Then, they had to figure out how to bring the table back to the early years safely.

Together, they lifted parts of the table so it could be moved along the corridors. Everyone was happy to see the table.

The children decided to make Mr. Matt a card to show their appreciation for fixing their favourite table.  Mr. Matt was surprised to see the children return with a card, which he placed carefully next to his daughter’s drawings. 

The design studio for the older children was a fascinating place with many interesting spaces and lots of different tools, equipment and materials. We noticed the children’s curiosity as they walked through the different spaces.

Curious fingers touched Lego cars and recycled plastic creations that lined the walls. They began to ask questions about what the older students were creating and designing.

We wonder what opportunities may lie in this space for young children.

Can you find the book you need?

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Jacob “Do you know why the new library is called The HUB? Is it because the new library is so much bigger?”

The children wondered why it is called The HUB, and who gave it that name.

At the beginning of the ‘HUB Inquiry Project’, the children shared the things they liked to do in the new space. Many of them shared the different types of books they liked to find and read in the new library, referred to as The HUB.

During the Atelier time, the children were invited to find the books they liked to read in The Hub.

As the children looked around, they were unable to see some of the books they had in mind. Ms. Hannah decided to provoke the children’s thinking by sharing a collection of mushrooms one of the Grades 3 teachers had given her to use as an invitation for observational drawing or painting. Some children decided to find some books about mushrooms.

Isabella “The old library had mushroom books. The new library (The Hub) doesn’t.”

Why?

Isabella “The old library was much smaller and the new one is much bigger. Maybe the books are on the second floor or the third floor.”  

Some of the children said it was easy to find books to read because they read whatever interests them.

Evan explained that finding a book was easy because he could see the cover.

Isabella noticed some shelves have so many books standing up and you see the side of the books and she said that makes it difficult for her to find a book from these shelves.

The side of a book is called the spine. The spine is the edge that usually faces outward on a shelf and often displays the title, author, and publisher’s logo.

After some discussions, she suggested, “Maybe we can put the same kind of books together, and maybe we can put some pictures or words on the shelves so the children know what kind of books are on these shelves when they cannot see the front covers.”

As soon as Riccardo got to the library, he found the place where the dinosaur books were, so he shared this with Ethan who wanted the dinosaur books the most.

We wondered how he found these books so easily and so fast. Was it because he noticed it during our library time before?

In a very short time, Suzy found a princess book. She felt it was easy to find the book because she just walked by this shelf and she happened to see this book.

  • Sea walked around and found a book about a cat. We wondered how she found it so fast.
  • Isabella “Jacob, I found something strange. In the old library, there were some mushroom books, but now why none of them shows up here?”  
  • Isabella “It’s getting harder to find the mushroom book now than before. There was a tray and the books that we need were all in that tray. Now, there are so many shelves and floors which makes it hard for us to know if the books we need are upstairs or not.”
  • Adalyn found a book which had mushrooms on the cover page but she she seemed to decide that it was not the book they were looking for.
  • Isabella “Ms. Winnie, where can we find some books about how to plant mushrooms? How can we find it on the book shelf?”
  • Ms. Winnie “It is a bit far away, so let’s go together and I will show you.”

Ms. Winnie found that some of the mushroom books had been borrowed by children from other grades. However, she finally helped us find one from a tall shelf. The children gathered to talk about locating the books.

We wondered if they thought it was easy or hard to find a book that they wanted.

  • Suzy and Dahyun both found it’s easy to find the books they wanted because they saw the front cover of the book. Evan felt it was hard to find a book when he only saw the spine or the back cover of the book.
  • Ethan believed it was easy to find the dinosaur books because he knew where they were.
  • Isabella explained that it was hard to find her book because it was the only mushroom book left in the library. And some other children felt it was easy to find the books they wanted because when they walked by the bookshelf, they were attracted by some books, so they just checked them out.

Having explored this new space, we wonder how the children may take action to solve some of the problems they noticed during their visit to The Hub.

PTA Birthday Cupcakes – Next Steps…

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Nest steps…

The team gathered to analyse the data they had collected through the survey. They noticed that many people received cupcakes from the NIS PTA, but a few didn’t. We made a list of all the people (or groups) who didn’t receive cupcakes. Then, the class took the information they had gathered to Ms. Hannah to plan their next steps.

 

Considering the children’s ongoing questions about the cupcakes, we suggested that the team speak to the PTA President to learn more about NIS Birthday cupcakes. The children brainstormed the specific wonderings they wanted to take to her.
  • Isabella “Why do somebody have cupcakes, but somebody doesn’t have cupcakes? How to decide on who has birthday cupcakes?” 
  • Jacob “Why does the PTA want to give cupcakes?”
  • Suzy “How did you make cupcakes?”
  • Evan “How many ingredients do you need to make cupcakes?”
  • Adalyn “Who made the birthday cupcakes? Did you make it by yourself?”
  • Sea “How many cupcakes did you need to make?” 

The PTA President came in to speak to the children about the cupcakes. The children gathered their notes to ask her the questions they had brainstormed. 

  • Isabella “Why do somebody have cupcakes, but somebody doesn’t have cupcakes?

We learned that the PTA had to think hard to plan and organise the cupcake distribution. At first, they wondered if they could deliver cupcakes every week or every month. They decided that it was better to share the cupcakes once a month with children, teachers and staff who had a birthday in that particular month.

  • Rebeca “When it is your birthday then you get a cupcake. Next week we will go to November so you need to check when it’s your month and then you remember and go to pick the cupcake.

  • How to decide on who has birthday cupcakes?” 

Rebeca “Every teacher and student receives a birthday cupcake. Not parents. All the children get the cupcake. We give to all NIS employees on the list, some of them belong to the facilities department like the bus drivers, so they receive their birthday cupcakes. The guards are not NlS employees so they don’t get a cupcake.”

Noticing that Ms. Hannah was on the list of people who didn’t get a birthday cupcake, Ms. Rebecca explained that perhaps Ms. Hannah was sick on that day or was not in school for some reason.

Rebeca “Some people don’t pick their cupcakes, and then we keep the leftovers in case they ask for them.”

  • Jacob “Why does the PTA want to give cupcakes?”

Rebeca “Do you like to get a treat when it’s your birthday? We thought that every child in the school liked to have a treat so we decided to give the children a cupcake.”

  • Suzy “How did you make cupcakes?”
  • Evan “How many ingredients do you need to make cupcakes?”

Rebeca “There are many ways to make cupcakes. You can use a recipe book. If you never made it before you can use this list of ingredients to make it. Egg, oil, milk, flour, baking powder, a tiny bit of salt. All together.

Then, you beat your eggs for 3 minutes, add oil and keep beating. If you don’t eat egg then tell us so we can make you a special cupcake. Then put the flour and baking powder and salt. And then you keep the dough for 3 hours and you put it in the oven, you make the tiny cakes and you wait for 20 minutes and that’s it. You can decorate the cupcakes as you wish. With cream, chocolate and candy.”

The children wondered if they could put gummy bears on their cake.

  • Adalyn “Who made the birthday cupcakes? Did you make it by yourself?”

Rebeca “Skyways are the ones that bake the cupcakes. They have a special place where they have a very big kitchen for professional cooks, chefs and bakers.”

Ms. Rebeca shared photographs of the kitchen. “Can you see how many things they have there? This is the place they prepare the dough. At the end of the year, we make 700-800 cupcakes. And then there are special tables where they make the dough and when they finish they need to put the cupcakes in a place where they can cool. There is an oven. There are 4 units as tall as the room. When they open the oven and take out all the cupcakes they put it in the tray. Then they decorate them.”

  • Sea “How many cupcakes did you need to make?” 

I think we make 800 or 900 cupcakes.

  • Hannah shared her wondering “If they forget to pick up their cupcake what do they do?

Rebeca “At the end of the day we send it to the teacher’s room so you can go to the teacher’s room you can pick it up.”

We learned that some people on the list did not receive a cupcake for their birthday.

We wonder how the children will use what they have learned to strengthen their relationships with the community

We look forward to hearing about their next steps…

Survey Data

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A team of researchers have been visiting different spaces in the school to gather data using a survey, to find out who gets a PTA birthday cupcake on their birthday month.

  • Isabella “We asked people ‘Do you get a PTA cupcake?’ because we want to know did they get one.”
  • Jacob “Because we want to ask people because we want to know a ‘YES’, a ‘NO’ or a ‘MAYBE’.”
  • Isabella “We asked people and then and we wrote it down.”
  • Adalyn “And we want to know if all the school people and teachers have a PTA cupcake.”
  • Evan “Some people said yes, no and some said maybe.”
  • Suzy “We want to ask mummy or daddy do you get a PTA cupcake?”
  • Evan “We asked the office, the teachers and the bus drivers and now we know that some people get a PTA cupcake.”

Next steps…

What do we do with the information we have?

  • Isabella “Maybe we need to count on our paper.”
  • Adalyn “To see how many people said yes, no and maybe.”

The team of researchers have been documenting their learning, and sharing the information with the rest of the class. The process has helped the children better understand their research questions as they learn more about the community at NIS.

The team then used what they had learned about data and graphs, to transfer their data into concrete graphs.

We wonder what new theories the children have as a result of their research, and what decisions and plans the class might have as they move forward with their project.

Creating a Plan for Data Collection

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Creating a Plan for Data Collection

The children have been thinking about the people in the community that they would like to speak to, to find out if they receive a PTA birthday cupcake.

They have been making lists and taking photographs of people in the NIS community to collect and organise their research.

As we thought about the task, we wondered about the ‘process of research’.

  • Jacob suggested that the children should spread out and speak to different people in the community, to make the process faster.
  • Isabella thought it would be better if three or four children went as a small group to speak to different people in the community.
  • Adalyn suggested that each group should have a teacher for safety and support.

The conversation went back and forth as the children shared many different perspectives and suggestions. The teachers decided to ask the children …  

  • How can we remember all the things we talk about?
  • How can we share or make our thoughts more visible?

A teaching Moment:

The children suggested writing down the ideas that were shared, to help us plan the next steps. The teachers scribed, drew and wrote as the children shared and discussed the details.

The teachers modelled adding details to illustrations to share information with others. We discussed the way illustrators choose colours and show action and key details through drawings. These are important techniques the children will be invited to practise and use when creating illustrations for different purposes. 

 

Creating a Survey

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We wonder what they might uncover through their research!

Do you get a birthday cupcake?

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

Jacob “But why do YOU get a cupcake?”

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

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

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

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

– We wonder how the children will document their thinking.

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

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)

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

The Early Years Gathering

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

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

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

The New Space: The Hub

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Mint Tea Shop

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

 

The Plan

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

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

 

Preparing the Sample Tea:

Taste and Flavour Test

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

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

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

 

How do we promote the tea shop?

Oliver shared his process with the class.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

A Table for Lego

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

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

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

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

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 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!     

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

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!

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.

Early Years Gathering

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Every Friday afternoon, the adults and children gather on the green doughnut to sing, dance and be with each other. We took some time to reflect on the time we spend together.

  • What do we do during our EY gathering?
  • What behaviours help us have fun together?

The children discussed their ideas and then made their thinking and ideas visible on paper.

As a class, we took time to reflect on what the children said. We documented these ideas on chart paper. Next, we discussed suggestions for the EY gathering.

What would YOU like to do more of during this time?

  • Make things with paper
  • Plant seeds and plants
  • Show different things to the EY community
  • Share how we do things
  • Draw
  • Read books
  • Play with balls
  • Build things

Going forward, we wonder how we might use some of these suggestions to make our EY Gathering an exciting, fun learning experience.

The Insect Museum

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Field Trip PLAN

We are planning a field trip to the Insect Museum. We gathered to discuss important information to help us plan a safe learning expedition. Some questions on a planning template helped the children draw, write and discuss their ideas.

What will we need to take on the trip?

The children decided that they will need:

  • a water bottle
  • a snack in a box
  • a cap
  • home lunch (if this is their choice for the day)
  • in a small backpack!

The teachers will take clip boards and writing tools for drawing and writing.

It would be a good idea to put on some insect repellent spray before arriving at school!  

 

What would we do at the Museum?

 

Many of the children were curious about the creatures that live in the Insect Museum.

 

They hoped that they could touch, feed and look at the insects and reptiles. They also wanted to make animal homes and eat a picnic lunch together.

 

What would we like to learn?

  • How does the chameleon catch its food?
  • Why does the chameleon change its colour?
  • Why are snakes poisonous? We want to learn more about them!
  • Can we borrow the insects?
  • Why can’t we let the insects out?
  • How many legs do insects have?
  • How long can snakes grow? (length)
  • Why can’t we touch snakes on their heads?
  • How do snakes catch their food?
  • How do alligators move in the water?
  • Why does the beetle have 8 legs?
  • Why are snakes scary?
  • Why does the beetle go on the tree?
  • Why do bugs have 6 legs?

We are excited to learn more about insects and reptiles!

How might we be safe?

The children suggested the following actions that will help us stay safe:

  • Wear the seatbelt on the bus
  • Follow the teacher’s instructions
  • Be gentle with the insects and reptiles.
  • Stay together.
  • If you are scared, don’t touch the animals.

What would kind behaviours look like?

  • Help, if someone falls down.
  • Sit on the seats and talk quietly on the bus.
  • Be careful when looking for sticks.
  • Take a first aid kit in case we need medicines.
  • help each other be in the green zone, stay calm.
  • Be gentle and quiet around the animals.

Our Brainstorm!

We wonder what we might see, learn about on our field trip…

We wonder what action we might take as a result of our learning…

Watch this space! 

The Bike Project

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An invitation to create and build.

A group of young mechanics went to the Design centre to look for experts who can help them assemble the new tricycles.

Mr. Danny and Mr. B volunteered to help them with their project. Their task was to assemble a bike that was safe and worked well.

The bike mechanics began by looking closely at all the different components that were needed to assemble the tricycles.

The expert mechanics Mr. B and Mr. Danny worked alongside the children, helping them find the correct parts, the appropriate tools and the nuts and bolts that held the structure together.

The tricycles did not include instructions on how to assemble them, therefore, the mechanics had to work together to solve problems along the way. We noticed that the young mechanics asked the adults questions in order to learn more about the process.

They were deeply engaged in their inquiry, collaborating, testing, and thinking as they learned and applied new skills.

Volunteers from the Early Years classes have assembled all four of the tricycles.

They were excited and proud to ride them in the Early Years playground during their breaks.

The process of assembling the tricycles helped the children explore the concepts; structures, materials, mechanics, tools, safety, purpose, design and collaboration.

Action!

Following the project, the children have begun to notice some maintenance issues with some of the bikes and trikes in the playground.

Attention was also brought to how the bikes are parked each afternoon (systems and organisation). We wonder what steps they would take to help keep the bikes organised and maintained. We wonder what action the children may take as a result of their experience (initiative).

The Early Years Florists

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A group of children worked with Ms. Hannah to create a flower arrangement for each class in the Early Years. This is an ongoing project that different groups of children work on every few weeks.

This time, the florists worked on creating a Chinese style flower arrangement with the focus of balance. Joon and Mason were our K2A florists for the week.

The florists had several pointy stands to use with their flower arrangement.

They decided who will use the different stands by pulling paper that were of different lengths.

Ms. Hannah showed the children how to place the flowers on the pointy stand.

Then, the florists had to choose one flower and put it on their stand. Thy had to consider balance, the length of the stems and how the flowers were going to be arranged.

When they placed the second flower, they needed to work out how they can balance both flowers. Then, the florists included the leaves. The florists had to take turns and collaborate, using their skills of observing, thinking and decision making to complete the arrangement beautifully.

The young florists stood back to decide if their arrangements were done well. Finally, they had to agree on which flower arrangements will be presented to the campfires and which ones will remain in the Atelier.

Joon and Mason proudly shared their arrangement with their classmates and placed it next to the class journal to welcome everyone to K2A!

The Nest – Presenting New Ideas

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The children at NIS know their voices are powerful and that it can impact their choices and opportunities for learning. Therefore, we have been designing, planning, creating and discussing ideas for ‘The Nest’. Our next step was to think about the different ways we can use ‘The Nest’. 

  • What can we do with the space?
  • How might we use the nest?

We began by discussing the ideas shared by PreK-K1B students.

Then, we used paper and fine-line markers to document our own ideas. The children began to discuss their thinking, drawing and adding labels to express ideas.

We collated the suggestions on a chat paper and noted the key points. They presented their ideas to the rest of the class. Some of them included:

  • Playing games
  • Having a picnic
  • Eating snacks
  • Resting
  • Drawing
  • Growing plants
  • Taking care of nature by building homes for birds and squirrels

The children in the other EY classes presented their own ideas to the group.

Their next step would be to present the ideas to Ms. Patrick and Mr. Arek. They will consider the suggestions and look for ways to incorporate the ideas presented by the children in the Early Years.

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)

  • organize information
  • draw conclusions and generalizations
  • use discussion and play to generate new ideas and investigations
  • present information in a variety of modalities
  • listen actively and respectfully to others’ ideas and listen to information
  • express oneself using words and sentences
  • participate in conversations
  • negotiate ideas and knowledge with peers and teachers
  • use mark-marking to convey meaning
  • share responsibility for decision-making

The Sandpit

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We noticed the Support staff clearing out the sandpit. We were curious and decided to investigate. A few of the children who frequently play in the area, building dams and waterways, went out to speak to the staff to inquire about the work being done. 

Later, Patrick and Noah shared the photographs with the class and explained the situation to everyone.

  • Patrick “We want to make a river and we need water so we put the sand on the waterway. Then there were rocks in the river. They are cleaning the water way and put the rocks on the sand. There is big trouble because the waterway has sand.” 
  • Noah “Everyone put the sand in the drain because we wanted to make a big river. He (the workers) are cleaning the sand. We are watching how they take out the rocks.”

  • Noah “The workers are taking out the rocks. The water is stuck. Don’t put the sand in the pipes because the water cannot go. They were telling not to block the way.”
  • Patrick “Ms. Shemo said, this waterway is not clean.”

When it was outdoor playtime, Patrick ran out to the waterway and began to clear out the drain and waterway.

Noah quickly joined in to help. Olivia and Kenan joined in.

When the water started running down the waterway, they all cheered and squealed with joy!

When children have agency they reflect on their actions and take ‘action’. They understand that they have an active voice and stake in their classroom and community.

Playtime Invitations

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The children documented their play scenarios through their drawings, they presented them to the class.

  • Chloe “I like to jump.”
  • Doho “I like to play Sean.”
  • Mason “I play hide and seek with Matthew and Andy I play in a special place.”
  • Olivia “I play with Tracy, Noah.”
  • Noah “I like to play with Tracey, Olivia.”
  • Tracey “I like cat game with Olivia and Noah.”
  • Patrick “I like to play with sand. I can make river with water and shovels. First I dig a hold then I put water in the hole. I make another hold and they put together and the river makes.”

  • Sean “I like to jump on stones.”
  • Eunice “I like to Pikachu.”
  • Tae Woo “Play with friend.”
  • Kenan “I am riding my bike.”
  • Allen “Me outside play Olivia, Tracey, Noah.”
  • Euijin “I like to run and play on the hill by myself.” [in Korean]
  • Andy [

We used this information to create a visual of the different games and groups the children played in.

The children began to talk about the different games and play experiences they had outdoors. Some of the children asked if they could join other games. The students thought about the language they could use to invite others or to ask to join a group at play.

– “Could I play with you?”

– “Can I play with you?”

– “Do you want to play?”

Next, we read the story ‘Strictly NO Elephants’ by Lisa Mantchev, illustrated by Taeeun Yoo. This is a story about a boy who has a pet elephant. When the local Pet Club won’t admit a boy’s tiny pet elephant, he finds a solution. The story focuses on The story focuses on friendship, inclusion and community.

We revisited the play scenarios chart to see how we might invite others to our play and games.

When the children went out to play, we noticed a change in the groups as they played and explored different parts of the playground. There were more children on bikes, less in the waterway and more playing imaginary games with new friends. We used a different colour (orange) to document what the children shared.

  • We wonder how this piece of documentation might change over the next few days.
  • We wonder what the children will learn from their play.
  • We wonder about the different ways they come together as a community.

Waste – Data Collection

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Where does all the waste go?
The students had differing views on what happens to the waste we produce. We gathered to discuss and document these ideas on chart paper.

The Power of Images

Our inquiry into waste has been thought provoking and engaging. We watched 2 videos to help us tune into the ways we produce waste and the impact it has on the world around us. The first, was a video to mark ‘Earth Day’ and the second, a documentary on the journey of plastic bottles. While watching the video, the students took notes, using pictures, labels, sentences and words, to capture important ideas shared in the video.

Next, an image with icons was shared.

The students were asked to work in teams to guess what messages the icons conveyed. They worked with their partners to decide on the labels they would attach to the images. The students explained their ideas, making connections with what they have seen, think or already know.

The students have been writing questions to help them learn more about waste management. They have been conducting interviews, gathering data and taking notes to capture different perspectives and information shared by the community.

The students will continue to document their learning and present their findings on waste. Focused literacy sessions on word choice and grammar helped the students improve their pieces of writing.

We continue to discuss and explore the impact our actions have on the environment as we consider the action we can take as a result of our learning.

The Launch – Place & Time

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We launched the new unit using the visible thinking routine ‘See- Think- Wonder’ to explore the concepts of transformation and change over time. The students were presented with different pictures of objects. They worked in groups to discuss ideas and document their own observations, thoughts and questions.

The thinking routine ‘See – Think – Wonder’ helps us… 

  • share what we notice by using our senses
  • describe in detail what we notice
  • generate ideas and wonderings
  • justify ideas
  • start noticing how things are connected
  • tune into what people are saying, what they are noticing and what they are curious about
  • collect and record information

WHAT WE DID

  • Alejandra “We were thinking about things from a long, long time ago because all the things were old. In my group a lot of people were thinking because I see a lot of ideas on their paper and when I was thinking I did that also.”
  • Gihyeon “I noticed people were doing hard thinking because our group had lots of ideas and questions to write.”
  • Amber “I saw the children writing their ideas down because they were using their thinking skills.”
  • Ethan “I know some people in the group were sharing their ideas because in our group we shared ideas and we listened. We needed to share ideas and listen to different ideas.”
  • Seolah “I saw people writing, we write what we see and think and wonder in our paper.”
  • Lawrence “We looked at the picture and then we write our thinking on our paper.”
  • Grace “I saw people looking carefully at the picture and some of the people even turned the picture upside down to look at the picture even more carefully.”

WHAT WAS CHALLENGING

  • Seungbin “It was hard to think because in the group I was looking in the group carefully but I didn’t know what it was because the picture was from a long time ago.”
  • Hayoon “It was hard to write about things that look really fancy because if it is too fancy then there would be the thing I don’t know so it was hard. It was hard to describe everything.”
  • Yuki “It was hard because I had to think.”
  • Seolah “It was hard to write about old things.”
  • Hyun Seo “I know the Korean word but I don’t know the word in English.”
  • Yuchan “The think part was challenging because the picture was confusing so I have no idea what that picture is.”
  • Fedo “It was hard drawing the picture.”
  • Amber “When I do the first think I think it is challenging because I don’t know all about long, long ago.”
  • Lawrence “I learned that every people have different ideas and we can share ideas to get more information.”

WHAT WE LEARNED

  • Diego “First I need to see, look carefully and then I need to think about what I see.”
  • Yuki “I learned that people are doing hard thinking.”
  • Seolah “I learned about the old things.”
  • Hyun Seo “I learned many words that I don’t know because some people tell me.”
  • Fedo “I learned with the groups, sharing their ideas and I got interested in their ideas.”
  • Amber “I learned that long ago we had black and white.”
  • Gihyeon “I learned how to work together.”
  • Grace “I learned that one thing can change into different things by changing the picture (turning it upside down).”
  • Seungbin “I learned that old things is cool because in the first time when I saw the picture I thought it wasn’t cool. Then, when my group said what fun things there are to learn, then it was a cool and old thing. 

 

18 February, 2022

The Sharing Assembly

The Second-Grade students engaged the community in the visible thinking routine ‘See- Think- Wonder’, to help them explore the concepts of transformation and change over time. 

The routine helped students …. 

  • share what they notice by using their senses 
  • describe in detail what they notice 
  • generate ideas and their wonderings – justify their ideas 
  • start noticing how things are connected 
  • tune into what people are saying, what they are noticing and what they are curious about 
  • collect and record information 

We wonder what our next steps might be… 

Taking ACTION!

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The students have been reflecting on their ‘powerful word‘ to explore how they can use it in meaningful ways.  

They decided to take action by planning and creating movies, posters and models that share important messages about our ‘powerful words’ and ‘actions’.

 

PROTECT

Action by Grace “My powerful word is protect. I made a poster about protect. This poster is for the people who see another people hurting each other. If the people don’t know how to protect those people then they can look at my poster.”

Plan

Poster

 

Action by Agata “My powerful word is protect. I made a poster to tell people to protect themselves. And when you are in danger maybe somebody will protect you from the danger. So you need to protect yourself from danger or you or someone can get hurt. And protect everyone protect the people that is in danger Protect everybody. And protect the people that are mean to you. After you do that then you are proud and happy of yourself. And you need to protect people everywhere and everyone.”

Plan

Poster

 

Action by Federico “My powerful word is protect. I am going to tell you to watch out for rocks when you are walking down the street. Kind regard’s For the Parents and Students.”

Plan

Poster

 

Yuchan “Protect fish by not throwing hard things like metal and rocks where the fish live, like the sea, pond and river.”

Plan

Poster

Model

 

Action by Ethan and Diego “Our powerful word is protect. We made this poster and a video in three languages because we want G1 and G2 students to know that they should not throw rocks to the big rock.”

Plan – Storyboard

Poster

 

Action by Ella and Hera “Our powerful word is protect. Ms.Delia and Ms.Shemo helped us to take the video. At first we took the video, and then we made a poster. We are going to share our video with pre-K to G1 students. Our message is “Do not fight! Protect your self !”

Plan

Poster

 

FIRM

Seungbin “Hold the monkey bar firmly or you will get hurt and other people can get hurt and your veins will get hurt.”

Plan

Model

Poster

 

HELPFUL

Action by Amber “My powerful word is helpful. I created a poster to share it with pre-k to let them know what it means to be helpful to others. First, I made a plan for my second plan. Then, I made my poster plan to make the drawings. Next, I typed it on a computer. Finally, I printed it. Please, be helpful to others!”

Plan

Poster

 

DANGEROUS

Action by Lawrence “My powerful word is Dangerous, I made a poster for Pre-k ～K2. My message is keep away from Dangerous things.”

Plan

Poster

 

SMART

Seoyeon takes ACTION “My Powerful Word Is SMART. I created a poster to share with pre-k, k1 – Grade 3. My Message is about Why smart is a powerful word and how we can be smart and about when l am smart what are my feelings.”

Plan

Poster

 

FIGHT

Action by Seolah “My powerful word is fight. I made animation. First I made the characters with paper and sticks and then I made the animation with stop motion.”

Plan

Poster

 

Action by Alejandra  “My powerful word is fight. I am going to share my poster with the whole PYP (students). I wrote a letter to the teacher in the Early Years to ask for permission to present my poster. Please do not fight!”

Plan

Poster

 

Gihyeon  “My powerful word is fight. Two sharks are fighting because they want to eat the fish but fighting is not good because when you fight then you can get hurt. If you fight hard then your bones will break.” 

Plan

Poster

Model

 

Action by Yuki “MY powerful word is fight. I made poster to everyone don’t fight.”

Plan

STRONG

Hayoon takes action “My powerful word is strong. I made this animation to show people to be healthy and strong.”

Yuchan, Gihyeon and Seungbin create models and posters to share their powerful words and messages:

– Yuchan “Protect fish by not throwing hard things like metal and rocks where the fish live, like the sea, pond and river.”

– Seungbin “Hold the monkey bar firmly or you will get hurt and other people can get hurt and your veins will get hurt.”

– Gihyeon “My powerful word is fight. Two sharks are fighting because they want to eat the fish but fighting is not good because when you fight then you can get hurt. If you fight hard then your bones will break.”

What are YOUR powerful words and how do you use them? 

Moonyard 月亮院子

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The students went on a field trip to ‘月亮院子’ ‘Moonyard’ to learn more about words and images. Moonyard is a cultural center in China that showcases calligraphy.

The teacher introduced the students to the space, showing them many different images displayed around the gallery.

The students were invited to choose an image that they want to learn more about. They were fascinated with the colours, shapes, pictures and presentation of ideas. They walked around, sat alone or with groups to take a closer look at the images, and put their thinking down on paper. They used the thinking routine ‘See, Think, Wonder’, to document their ideas and questions. Then, they gathered to share some of these ideas with each other.

Ella “Are these characters from a long time ago?”

Grace “Something is like a wall. It looks like thunder. Why is the thunder that shape?”

Ethan “It makes me think it looks like water, like a river.”

Diego “It looks like an elephant.”

Alejandra “Why is there a line? It looks like an eye. Wonder why the line is in a different place.”

Hyun Seo “I think it is a deer.”

Yuchan “I see an eye but the eyelashes are not good.”

The teacher explains “All the ancient Chinese characters, they copy a model of what they see, like a picture. That is how it starts. As time passes by, we are getting smarter so the character becomes more modern. So the modern characters are more detailed. There have been 5 different changes. This is a picture of a head. Our eyes exist in the body of the head. The top is the hat! If you put it together it is a man with a hat travelling on a road!”

Ella “It looks like a flower and might mean ‘beautiful’. Why do the ancient Chinese characters look different from the new ones?”

Teacher “This is fire. If you do not have the dots it is a tree.”

The students were very excited about creating their own copy of their favourite image or word. They were given a choice of materials they could use to create their image.

After having a quick snack and thanking the teachers for the exciting experience, we came back to school.

The students reflected on what they had learned through their experience and included this on their activity sheet. We gathered to share our reflections with each other.

  • What questions do we have as a result of our experience?
  • What do we want to learn more about?
  • What do we want to do next?

Our learning journey continues…

Identity

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Over the past few weeks, we have been digging deeper into the concept of ‘identity’. We have discussed and documented our identities as readers, writers, mathematicians, and learners. We understand that every person is an individual, and that knowing ourselves, can learn help us connect with others around us.

Self Portraits

We understand that people communicate feelings and ideas through the arts. Therefore, the students were invited to create self-portraits using different materials. First, they drew portraits on large card. Then, they chose different mediums to complete their artwork.

Next, we reflected on the questions:

  • What do I know about myself?
  • What do I want people to know about me?

The students began to gather their ideas on paper, drawing and writing to express their identity.

  • We wonder how we can share what we know about others…
  • We wonder what others know about us that we don’t know…

It’s OK to be Different

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The students listened to a favourite story by Todd Parr ‘It’s OK to be Different’. Todd Parr continues to inspire and empower children around the world with his bold images and positive messages.

After the read aloud, the students were invited to create their own page for a class picture book that would communicate thoughts, ideas, and messages of appreciation for our individuality and diversity. They could use different mediums or materials to design their page, which also encouraged their creativity.

Conceptual Understandings:

Students understand that:

(PSPE) 

  • accepting others into a group builds open-mindedness. (Interaction)
  • every person is an individual. (Identity)

(ARTS)  

  • people communicate feelings and ideas through the arts. (Creating/Responding)
  • we solve problems during the creative process by thinking critically and imaginatively.  

The Museum

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The students continue to work on their research projects for their Unit of Inquiry ‘How the World Works‘. Their task is to create a museum to show how technology has changed over time and how it has affected people’s lives.

What is a museum?

We began by visiting a virtual museum by the National Museum of Natural History. The students noticed and commented on the objects, descriptions, information and significance of the objects scattered throughout the museum. We wondered how WE might create a museum to share our learning and discoveries. It was time to make a plan! 

As the students planned and designed their artefact/object, they went back and forth to the information documented in their poster. They conducted interviews, read books and watched videos to learn more about their chosen area of interest.

We noticed how they added and/or re-evaluated the information they have gathered to show their understanding of the concepts change, connection, technology, systems and transformation. Their artefacts/ objects need to show how technology has changed over time.

The following visual rubric was shared with the students to help guide the task.

The students began creating descriptions about their topic, providing information about:

  • how technology has changed
  • how technology has affected our lives
  • the positive and negative impacts of technology

They had an opportunity to share their learning journey with their friends in Grade 2B. The students listened to each other, asked questions and also gave the students feedback. 

Research Posters 

The students have competed their report writing and editing. They are creating an informational poster that would be included in their final museum presentations.

We look forward to their final creations and presentations! 

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