Category: How We Express Ourselves

Craft Moves

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Mo Willems is one of our favourite authors. We have read his books over and over again. One of our favourite stories is ‘Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the BUS!’

How do authors and illustrators use lines, shapes and patterns in their picture books?

Notice how Mo Willems  uses letter, lines and shapes to create his drawings. We can explore drawing, creating and designing through our exploration of lines, patterns and shapes.

We read to book again and again and looked closely at the different ‘craft moves‘ the author has used. We explored how we can use some of these ‘craft moves’ in our writing. We also discussed how books were made and noticed that books have/can have:

  • a title
  • the authors name
  • the illustrators name
  • many pages
  • writing or pictures or both on almost every page

What do you notice, what do you see?

What ‘Craft Moves’ has Mo Willems used to create his picture books?

  • Isabella “I see a pigeon, the picture.” (cover)
  • Ciel “I know because it looks like a pigeon.”
  • Dahyun “Because it has a beak.”
  • Sea “I see a pigeon at the end of the book.” (hidden images)
  • Riccardo “It doesn’t look like a pigeon because his neck is too long.” (drawings can be different to real objects)
  • Euno “I see feathers on the pigeon.”
  • Junsu “I see the words. Don’t let the pigeon drive the bus.” (title)
  • Suzy “I see a coin.” (awards)
  • Jacob “That’s a panda book! The sticker on the side means it is an English book because in the library Ms. Mulder told me.” (organisation)
  • Isabella “The words on the bottom.” (name of the author)
  • Euno “Sometimes there’s a letter here, and it means the level of the book.” (levelled books)
  • Ciel “There is an exclamation mark on the book. When it is interesting people use it. And I see the comma, the one on the don’t.” (punctuation)
  • Sea “I see colours on the picture.” (visuals)
  • Mohammad “The eye.” (details)
  • Isabella “I see finger spaces.” (concepts about print)
  • Adalyn “I see a speech bubble.” (speech)
  • Isabella “That means someone is talking.”
  • Suzy “He [Gerald] is spinning.” (shows movement and action)
  • Junsu “The word is so long.”

How will the Kindergarten writers use these craft moves in their writing?

We invited the children to create their own stories using familiar or imaginative characters. They may want to add their details, speech bubbles and thinking clouds to add dialogue and thought.

How can we ‘tell’ our stories?

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We have noticed the children’s interest in telling stories in different areas around the classroom. We have seen them use manipulatives to retell familiar stories or use their imagination to create and extend stories.

We decided to invite the children to think about all the different ways they can ‘tell’ their stories.

How might we use a range of tools, materials and technology to capture and share our stories with others?

As we discussed the different ideas, we noted them down on chart paper.

We can…

  • Junsu “we can use note paper (Post-it notes).”
  • Sea “make a story with paper notes.”
  • Dahyun “we can draw and write on paper.”
  • Sea “use memory to draw and write books.”
  • Isabella “we can build our story with blocks and then share.”
  • Riccardo “we can use stop-motion and tell Lego story. In pk1 B I did it with Jacob.”
  • Suzy “we can use leaves from the garden to tell the story, I used glue to tape them on.”
  • Evan “use wood to make story and then paint it.”
  • Sea “use YouTube to make video.”
  • Dahyun “make story with LEGO and draw the story.”
  • Isabella “use clay to make something and then tell a story.”
  • Suzy “and then paint the clay.”
  • Sea “take a bus to the zoo and take a video.”
  • Jacob “and you can draw a picture.”
  • Suzy “you can take a picture (photographs).”
  • Dahyun “you can use paper cuttings.”

We referred to some of the stories that children have created. We shared Mohammed’s drawing of his first experiences in China, where he talks about his experiences using writing and drawing.

The children were inspired after watching Lego animation stories created by previous K2 students.

We wonder how the storytellers might use some of these ideas to create, write and share their stories during ‘Story Workshop’ time.

 

Story Workshop

The K2 storytellers have continued to use their imagination and life experiences to create interesting stories using manipulatives and ‘loose parts’.

We know that setting aside time to play with ideas and discuss possibilities with others helps young children grow as writers. During our mini lesson, we examined different samples of writing to explore how we might use illustrations and writing to enrich the reader’s experience.

Some of the key ideas shared were that we can:

  • include more details in the drawing
  • colour the pictures
  • ensure that the writing matches the drawings (connection)
  • check that sentences begin with a capital letter and end with punctuation
  • leave spaces between words
  • extend sentences to include more details
  • reread our writing to make sure it makes sense

The young writers agreed that the more details we include, the more it helps the reader create a clearer picture in their mind. 

Just Right Books

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We gathered to talk about choosing and reading appropriate texts that are ‘a good fit’. When independent reading texts are too difficult, readers are often unable to recall important information from the text, which can also impact their understanding or comprehension.

We talked about how people make choices about the books they read. Readers read for pleasure, or to learn more about something that they are interested in.

But, how do we know that a book is just right for us?

The children were introduced to one strategy using the ‘five finger rule’.

We also referred back to our previous discussion about the different ways we can read books:

  • reading the pictures
  • reading the words
  • retelling the story

Next, the readers chose three books for their book box and found a quiet bubble space to read independently.

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!

Story Arc

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We have been reading and creating stories during ‘Reading and Writing Workshop’ times. We have been using loose parts and our play spaces to create and share stories. 

BUT…what makes a good story?

To explore this idea further, we read the story ‘A Cat and a Dog’, by Claire Masurel. In this story, a cat and a dog live in the same house, but they are not friends.They fight all the time, about everything. Then disaster strikes. Dog’s beloved ball bounces up into a tree and is stuck. Cat’s precious stuffed mouse falls into the pond. Dog can’t climb. Cat can’t swim.

 

The Story Arc

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

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

The children were invited to create their own stories, to include a beginning, middle and end. They will continue to use what they know about letters and sounds to share their stories with others.

Story Workshop

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Play

The children have continued to work on their stories during ‘Story Workshop’ time. During this dedicated literacy session, the children are invited to play in their preferred spaces, independently or collaboratively, to create stories with the different materials and toys available around the campfire.

Some of the children’s favourite spaces for storytelling are the block play areas and the light table with small world toys or loose parts. We have also noticed the children’s interest in writing stories about the different paper crafts they have created. Some have even chosen to create stories around the classroom library reading space.

This dedicated time allows the children to build their stories, discuss their ideas with their friends and make choices about the stories they want to share. Time for discussion allows the children to think deeply about the characters, settings and plots in the story. 

Draw and Write

After having time to play with the materials, the children move to document their ideas using drawings, labels, words and sentences.

They are invited to use the Word Wall, alphabet charts and any other tools they need to help them with their writing. They are encouraged to say the words out loud, listen to the sounds in the word and then write all the sounds they hear as they say the word. They practice this strategy by imagining themselves holding the word in their hands, stretching the word out like a rubber band to say the word as they listen to the sounds.

 

Share

After dedicated time for writing, the children gather to share some of their work. The teachers highlight what they have noticed the children doing with their writing and drawing, using these as opportunities to present new ideas, techniques and strategies to the children.

Sharing and presenting to the class encourages the children to celebrate what they can already do.

As we work on our stories during ‘Story Workshop’ time, we will continue to explore the different ways we can tell and share our stories with others.  

Storytelling through  Story Workshop

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What is Story Workshop?

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

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

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

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

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

Dedicated quiet times to observe and draw allow the children opportunities to carefully observe and document what they see. 

The adults in the space listen to the children’s ideas, offering suggestions and supporting key literacy skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing.

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

Pandas Playground – Collaborative Play

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

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

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

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

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

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

Introduction to ‘Writing Workshop’

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

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

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

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

How can we read a book that has no words?  

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

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

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

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

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

The Language of Watercolour

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

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

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

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

 

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

Sharing Stories through ‘Writing Workshop’

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Group’s Expression of Beauty

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Display Stand

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where do we go from here?

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

How can we share OUR expressions of ‘Beauty’?

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

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

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

Creating an Expression of Beauty

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

The ‘Beautiful’ Paintings Display Stand

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

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

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

Eli’s Daddy agreed!

Eli and his dad worked to create a prototype.

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

Eli presented the prototypes and his process to the class. 

We look forward to seeing their final design!

A New App

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

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

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

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

 

Snowman

by Beomjun

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

Pokemon

by Eunbyul

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

 

Fighting Car

by Eli

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

 

Green People

by Oxford

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

 

Boat

by Jeongyoon

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

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

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

Understanding data

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

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

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

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

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

The First Stories

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How might we capture beauty?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Language of Lego

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

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

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

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

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

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

How might we use Lego to tell our stories?

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

What more do we need to tell a story?

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

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

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

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

Beautiful

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What makes something ‘beautiful’?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Storytelling Through  Story Workshop

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

What is Story Workshop?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Watch this space! 

Colours and Feelings

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Ms. Sue has been talking to the children about feelings and emotions, and the appropriate ways we can express these emotions to show how we feel. We read the story ‘The Color Monster: A Story About Emotions’ by Anna Llenas, to explore the connection between colour and emotions.

 

In this delightful story, a Color Monster wakes up feeling very confused. His emotions are all over the place; he feels angry, happy, calm, sad, and scared all at once! A little girl helps him sort through his feelings to help him define his mixed-up emotions. The images throughout the story helped us think about the different situations that lead to the way we feel. It led to a conversation about the different ways we can express our feelings and emotions through colour and storytelling.

The adults in the space captured the artists’ ideas and stories as they documented their feelings, emotions and stories through their artwork.

Yellow is Happy
From the artist…
Liz “This is yellow, it is happy. This is baby bird and mummy. They are eating fruit. This is small, small bird. Daddy bird is eat worms. Daddy is happy. This is tree. The bird house is in the tree. I am happy because I see the birds. I chose yellow because it is happy. I am happy when I play rabbit with Morning. Morning is the rabbit and I am rabbit mommy. Rabbit mummy plays with the rabbit. At home I am happy when I play with brother George. We play with toy mouse.”

Golden is Surprised

Green is Calm

From the artist…

 Oliver “When I see green, I feel calm down. I think about playing games. My heart feels better. I chose green because it is calm. Bunny is calm because he wants to eat all the carrots. The carrots make him feel calm. The carrots are from the garden. Mr. Seth grows the carrots. There are clouds, they are calm clouds because the sun made them calm. And the sun is also calm because the moon makes him calm. It’s because he is strong, he can also make the sun calm. The dots are calm butterflies. It’s because the ants made them calm. Because they used leaves to make the butterflies calm. There is a farm where the cows live. And its also where you get milk. And the bunny wants to eat the carrots from the growing farm. And there is a rainbow because the day is calm down. Everything is calm down. It is good to calm down because its quiet. Others are learning so quiet is good. And the rabbit is a girl because she has long ears. And the sun are also calm down. The moon makes the sun calm down and the rainbow makes the clouds calm down.”

Pink is Love

From the artist…

Morning “I think pink is love. Love is love her mummy. I used pink and pink. It is love. Because he loves bunny’s mommy. Bunny’s mummy gives Bunny one watermelon. Bunny wants to eat so mummy gives it to him. Bunny and mummy love to eat together. Bunny is in a nest, mummy made a nest for baby bunny and it sleeps in a nest. Mummy closed the doors when bunny is sleeping. Bunny is very small and mum will put the light off and close the nest door. The bunny will cry if she doesn’t close the door because it thinks there will be a monster outside. Mummy keeps Bunny safe. Mummy sleeps in the big nest. If bunny is scared he can open the little window to see mummy. Grandma loves me. I sleep in a little small nest too. My mummy sleeps in the big bed. The bunny is me. The bunny mummy is my mommy.”

We observed how the children used their experiences, imagination and theories creatively. Each stroke on their paper was intentional, showing the actions feelings and personalities of different characters in their stories.

Showing Actions and Feelings

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How might we show the actions and feelings of a character? 

Picture books communicate with both words and with pictures. One key way to enhance illustration is to dramatise the artwork. A good character, first and foremost, must evoke a reaction from the reader. It’s the illustrator’s job to capture that spark, that energy, that grabs the reader’s attention.

To explore this further, we decided to read yet another picture book by Mo Williems, ‘Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!’. As we read the story, the children demonstrated the actions and feelings of the characters in the story.

We began to see how the pigeon shared his disappointment, anger, surprise, joy and thoughtfulness. We also noticed how Pigeon moved to show what he was doing or feeling.

During quiet writing time, the children sit with writing tools to express their ideas and stories through pictures and words.

We used Oxford’s drawing to talk about the character’s feelings and actions. Oxford’s story was about a thief who stole money from a shopping mall. A person close to the mall was surprised by what he observed and showed his emotion through facial expressions. Spiderman was around to save the day, making a plan to catch the thief with the stolen money.

Oxford thought about his drawing and wondered what more he could do to show feelings, emotions and action through his artwork. 

Next, we chose a character from our stories and then drew to show all the different ways a character was feeling.  

The children were invited to share why the character was feeling that way. They were excited to share their drawings, using their imagination to extend their initial thoughts.

We were ready to add our new ideas on the chart paper.

We wonder how the children would use these different craft moves in their own writing and storytelling. 

Self-Portraits

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Who am I?

Who are you?

Who are we?

The Grade 3 artists have created and shared self-portraits outside their classroom. We went across to look at their creative work with the hope of being inspired.

The K2 children sat quietly on the floor gazing at the drawings, thinking about what they noticed and how they might share their observations. The teachers documented their thinking…

  • Oliver “No stomach. Only a head and feet.”
  • Eli “Some drawings. Putting them on the wall. People.”
  • Oxford “He is NIS, yellow.”
  • Morning “It’s a girl because she has long hair.”
  • Howie “NIS shirt.”
  • Wyatt “Face is yellow. It looks like he is funny. Yellow ears.”
  • Eileen “One child has tied her hair up just like Ms. Shemo.”
  • Oliver “My brother made this one. I can see my brother’s name. It’s a picture of my brother. He has no stomach!”
  • Howie “They all only have heads. They didn’t have legs. They didn’t draw.”
  • Motong “The clothes are beautiful.” (in Mandarin)
  • Eli “Some people have no body. The heads are too big. But some is only heads and some have heads and body and neck. And some have heads and body.”
  • Oliver “Some have no names. It’s because we don’t know whose. Some paint the pictures and some draw them. They used pencils and other pencils.”
  • Liz “This has no mouth.”
  • Jeongyoon “My brother!”
  • Oxford “Has one hand. This is not people. Because he does not have a mouth.”
  • Eunbyul “Jihan is my friend.”

Through the children’s conversations, we could see that the children:

  • understood that the drawings represented the grade three students.
  • noticed that the drawings look different from one another.
  • noticed that various drawing materials were used to create the pictures.
  • observed how each one was unique.
  • thought about the value of including a name in a drawing.
  • could identify similarities and differences between ourselves and others.

Inspired by what we observed and heard from the children, we decided to give the children paper and black-line markers to create their own self-portraits.

Mirrors were at hand to help the children look carefully at their reflections, as they drew and talked about themselves.

The young artists looked at their reflections in the mirror, making faces and noticing interesting features of themselves that they did not pay attention to before.

They laughed and made fun of themselves and then used pen and paper to express their ideas and feelings through their drawings. The adults in the space listened to the conversation and captured their ideas as they drew.

Through the creative process, we noticed that the young artists were exploring how:

  • We can express our responses to artwork in a variety of ways.
  • We reflect on our artwork and the work of others
  • Art is a means of communication and expression
  • The creative process involves exploring and taking risks.
  • In creating art, people make choices to construct meaning about the world around them.

@M the Artist

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Author Study: Mo Willems 

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Mo Willems is one of our favourite authors. We have read his books over and over again. Some of our favourite stories are: 

‘Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the BUS!’

How do authors and illustrators use lines, shapes and patterns in their picture books?

 

Notice how Mo Willems uses letter, lines and shapes to create his drawings.

We can explore drawing, creating and designing through our exploration of lines, patterns and shapes. 

We Invited the children to create their own stories using familiar characters or their own imaginative characters. The children may want to add their own details, speech bubbles and thinking clouds to add dialogue and thought.

We read to book again and again and looked closely at the different ‘craft moves‘ the author has used.

We explored how we can use some of these ‘craft moves’ in our own writing. We also discussed how books were made and noticed that books have/can have :

  • a title
  • the authors name
  • the illustrators name
  • many pages
  • writing or pictures or both on almost every page

Literacy through Story Workshop

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Story Workshop is a hands-on approach that that allows children to create, talk about and use drawing and writing to share their stories. The children are invited to use loose parts at different centers in the classroom to develop their story ideas before moving to write their ideas down.

It’s much easier to start thinking of a story line when you have physical pieces in front of you. Children start manipulating them, making shapes, building structures, adding characters and soon they’ve created the base of a story. The hands-on experience encourages creativity and imagination.

The adults in the space listen to the children’s ideas, offering suggestions and supporting key literacy skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Props, Sets and Costumes

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Over the last few days, the storytellers have been working on their props, costumes and set design.

Important choices needed to be made on the size of items, the choice of colours and the materials that would be used. During the process the children were:

  • actively engaged in various stages of learning, including: thinking about, planning, modifying and creating

  • involved in discussion and being self-directed in their creating (as opposed to passive receiving)

  • applying their understanding of concepts through the construction of their projects

 

  • solving problems and learning through trial and error or experimentation

  • reflecting on their actions and self-regulating in order to complete their tasks safely.

Props for the Showcase

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The storytelling groups have brainstormed ideas for their props. They have made a list of what they will need to tell their stories to an audience. One group went with Ms. Jo to begin the process of making the props. They gathered to talk about their ideas. Decisions needed to be made.

Ms. Jo asked the storytellers to consider the stage, and then think about the size of the props. How big or small do the props need to be?

What materials would you need to use?

K2 designers know the value of collaboration and voice. The group discussed each prop to gather as many ideas as possible.

Sword:

  • Patrick suggested they use plastic and Dylan thought metal was a better choice.

Stop Sign: Patrick “Cut a paper and write “stop” on it and glue it on.”

  • Jessie “We need to cut it smaller.”

Rocket Bomb:

  • Patrick “A bomb.”
  • Dylan Jessie & Patrick “A water bottle.”
  • Soohyeon “A big water bottle.”

Treasure Box:

  • Patrick “We can draw a key on the box.”
  • Soohyeon and Dylan “Not open the box.”

Rope: How can we make the rope a magic rope?

  • Soohyeon “With paint.”
  • Patrick “Glue some gems.”
  • Georgia “Use pipe cleaners.”

Cars:

  • Soohyeon “Lego car.”
  • Jessie “The cardboard car which Dylan make in class.”

Over the next few weeks, each group of storytellers will collaborate with different experts to create the props they need for the Showcase. They will need to consider their presentation, technique, and audience. They will need to conduct research, to explore and make choices about spaces, materials and technology tools that will showcase their creativity. They will need to listen to each other’s ideas, work collaboratively to accomplish their goal ‘to make an assembly with stories for the whole school and our families‘.

The Art of Storytelling

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The storytellers drew their ideas for what the stage might look like. Ms. Heidi came in to show us one way to present using sound, props, musical instruments, costumes and a setting.

She invited the K2 storytellers to think about her performance piece and how some of the ideas she presented could be used in the K2 Showcase.

– What ideas could we use?

– What NEW ideas do we have?

We could:

  • make our own sound effects
  • make the sounds of the animals
  • use our own voices to make sound effects
  • be the animal characters
  • 3 people can make the sounds and one person can show the puppets
  • divide the jobs
  • make puppets in our group and have a group sing a song
  • make our own props
  • make our own backdrops or settings
  • make the stage look like the setting
  • use props and fabric to tell the story
  • use puppets and plastic animals

Two groups presented their storyboard 2 ideas to Ms. Heidi. She gave them feedback and made some suggestions.

Together, they brainstormed ideas for the:

  • cast
  • props
  • sound effects
  • backdrop
  • and decided how they wanted to narrate or ‘tell’ the story.

We are excited to see the different ideas the storytellers have thought about as they use the Performing Arts Creative Cycle of planning, practicing, polishing and performing to help them create and present their K2 Showcase.

The Stage Plan

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The Showcase groups have been using the feedback they received from their peers and teachers to make their stories more interesting and exciting. Some groups have focused more on the characters, others on the sequence and events in their stories. They have noted these changes on a Draft 2 Storyboard.

We gathered to review our plans so far, reflecting on our goal: ‘to make an assembly with stories for the whole school and our families’. ​

We wondered what the stage might look like. The children said:

  • “They will see us on stage.”
  • “We might be singing.”
  • “We might be playing the guitar or ukulele.”

We knew we had to do some ‘imagining’.

Mr. Seth said, “When the curtains open, what is the audience going to see?”

The storytellers were invited to ‘imagine’ the stage. They could create their stage plans with a friend or work alone. The storytellers used pictures and explanations to share what the stage might look like during the Showcase.  

 Our next step is to present these individual or group ideas to Ms. Heidi, to receive her feedback. Then, we can collectively decide on how the stories are presented on the stage.

Showcase Storyboard Presentations

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The storytellers have been discussing ideas and creating storyboards to plan the sequence of their performance. Over the planning sessions, we noticed how the storytellers collaborated with each other, making suggestions, taking turns and including everyone in the task.

Some of the groups were ready to present their initial storyboards with the intention of seeking feedback and suggestions for improvement. We used the T.A.G. feedback protocol to help the storytellers with this process.

 

The Story Presentation by Dylan, Patrick, Soohyeon, Jessie and Tae Woo​

The Story: The ghost goes to the king’s castle. King goes to the ghost’s house. The monsters see the dragon.​The good monsters and germs go to the king’s house for a party. They make the king feel better. ​​

  • Tracey “Why are the monsters going to the party?” ​
  • Suggestions from Mr. Seth “Let the audience the know which monsters are good and which are bad.” ​

Story Presentation by Yilun, Mason, Kyle and Ethan​

The Story: The snowman melts and the ambulance comes. The snowman melts in the ambulance. The monster comes and gives the ambulance driver a red packet. The driver makes a new snowman​.

  • Soohyeon “I like the melting.” ​
  • Patrick “I like the drawing​.”
  • Tracy “I like the snowman because the snowman is cute.”​
  • Luca “I like the happy ending​.”
  • Yeonwoo “I like the snowman’s head.​”
  • Dylan “Why have a snowman?” ​
  • Patrick “Why does the monster go to give the driver the red pocket?” ​
  • Luca “Why did the snowman melt?”​

 

Story Presentation by Yeonwoo, Doho, Eujin and Jiu​

The Story: Rainbow looks at the rainbow house. Rainbow finds a rainbow ghost in the house. Rainbow ghost goes to the roller coaster. A punching robot breaks the roller coaster. Another robot fixes it. Rainbow ghost finished the roller coaster and went home. Another robot goes to the rainbow ghost’s house. The end. ​

  • ​Luca “I like the rainbow ghost because it goes on the roller coaster.” ​
  • Soohyeon “I like the rainbow house, because it is the same as the rainbow.” ​
  • Kenan “I like the roller coaster.”​
  • Soohyeon “Where is the roller coaster?” ​
  • Heidi “Why does rainbow find a ghost?”​
  • Seth “Is rainbow a character?” ​
  • Luca “If rainbow ghost has a telescope, he can look at the rainbow.” ​
  • Soohyeon “Put a camera on the roller coaster so we can see.” ​
  • Patrick “The rainbow can be a roller coaster​.”

 

Story Presentation by Junot, Luca, Noah, Kenan, Allen and Tracey​

The Story: The girl goes to the house and she sees a snowman.  She sees a tree. She goes to the tree and sees a roller coaster. A princess is on the roller coaster and the unicorn is flying above.  A dragon comes from the sea, and fights with the princess and unicorn. Then the dragon flies back over the sea. Then they have a party and then they see a rainbow. The dragon goes back under water. ​

  • Soohyeon “I like the sea, because of the water.​”
  • Yeonwoo “I like the rainbow, because it is colorful.” ​
  • Jessie “I like the rainbow, because it is colourful​.”
  • Jiu “Why did the dragon come?”​
  • Soohyeon “What kind of dragon is it? Why is a fire dragon in the sea?” ​
  • Kyle “Why did the princess and dragon fight?​”
  • Heidi “Why the dragon come back again and then go back to his home again?” ​
  • Yeonwoo “Why is there a rainbow?” ​
  • Shemo “What happened to the snowman?​”
  • Heidi “Explain why the dragon comes and what it wants.”
  • Soohyeon “Give the dragon two homes.”

 

Story Presentation by Yuha, Eunice, Sean and Chloe

​The Story: This is water like a fountain. There is a unicorn heart and unicorn rabbit. This is the castle at Disneyland. This is me, this is my rabbit and heart unicorn. They go to the castle. The ghosts made the music. They ghosts are wiggly, wiggle and say “Oooooh”. The ghost is coming. They see a toy rabbit and it has red all over it and think it is blood. He goes “ah”, but it is jam. They lick it off. Then they go to see the fireworks. And then go into the house.

  • Soohyeon “I like the fireworks and the unicorn.” ​
  • Yeonwoo “I like the strawberry jam, because it’s yummy.​”
  • Patrick “I like the strawberry jam, because it is sticky and yummy.​”
  • Luca “I like the unicorn, because it’s so cute. You can put the jam on the ghost.” ​
  • Jessie “I like the drawings.” ​
  • Yilun “I like the fireworks, because of the colours.​”
  • Junot “I like the fireworks ​
  • Kyle “I like the rabbit, because it is cute.” 
  • Yeonwoo “Why did the ghost come?​”
  • Patrick “In the end, where did the ghosts go?​”
  • Soohyeon “Why are there only two colors?”  ​
  • Luca “Who are the characters in the shop?” ​
  • Kyle “Why did they go to the castle?”  ​
  • Soohyeon “More colours.” ​
  • Yeonwoo “More lines on the story.​”
  • Patrick “More details​.”
  • Dylan “More details.” ​
  • Jessie “Add more colours.” ​
  • Kyle “I think you need more colours.” ​
  • Patrick “Let people know what the music is.”

All the groups have presented their storyboards. The audience have shared what they liked, asked questions to learn more about the story and offered suggestions for improvement. We noticed that the children became more familiar with using the T.A.G. feedback protocol with each presentation. They were becoming more aware of how questions, suggestions and feedback can help the storytellers improve their story, setting, characters and plots.

When we return from our holiday, we will begin to think about the different ways we can present stories.

Group Story Plan and Storyboard

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Group Story Plan

The groups convened with clipboards in hand to talk about their ideas and put them down on paper. They sat around chart paper, using pictures and words to share their ideas.

Many of the groups discussed characters and settings. We noticed the children collaborating, looking for ways to include and weave in ideas suggested by others.

We noticed the children being open-minded and inclusive, using a common language and gestures to share their ideas.

The chart papers were overflowing with suggestions. Scary, funny stories began to emerge.

At the end of the session, the children gathered to talk about their next steps. A challenge was to identify the ‘plot’ in the story.

  • What was going to happen in the story?
  • How do we know what happens first, then, next and finally?

 

 

The Storyboard

The next day, Ms. Heidi joined our planning. We revisited what we did the previous day.

  • Jessie “We went into groups and drew different things and shared ideas.”

Then, A few groups shared their ideas for stories.

Group “Snowman, people and bugs that bite people. It is on a mountain.”

  • Ms. Heidi “Think about how many characters you need to have in your story. If we have 5 people in our group, we might want to have 5 characters. The narrator might be there to tell the story.”

Group “It’s in a castle. We have ghosts and germs.”

Group “Our story is in the rainbow and a roller coaster. We have rainbow ghosts. Rainbow ghosts and A robots.”

  • Mr. Seth “You have lots of characters and lots of settings. We have a beginning, the middle and an end.”

Created by Mr. Seth

Mr. Seth introduced a ‘storyboard’, a way to plan a story.

The children went off into their groups to create their storyboards. The teachers checked-in with the groups to listen, suggest, brainstorm and provide feedback.

The children worked hard to include different ideas while thinking of the flow of the story.

We continue to talk about the sequence of a story, the plot and end.

How can we make our stories more interesting? Our collaborative storytelling continues…

The K2 Showcase

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The Brainstorm

The K2 children gathered to brainstorm ideas for their showcase.

Mr. Seth “Every class share at an assembly and soon it will be our turn to present at our K2 showcase. We have been doing a lot of storytelling this year. What are some of the ways we have told stories?”

  • Patrick “I told a story about scary germs. I told it with Mason and Andy.”
  • Tracey “I told a funny story.”

Teacher “What would you like to share? What will that look like?”

The children put their ideas down on paper and discussed their thinking and suggestions with others in their group. At the end of the brainstorm, the children’s ideas included:

  • Where: On the stage, sitting on cushions​
  • Who: Small groups​
  • How: Books, video, puppets, music​
  • What: Stories about nature, scary, funny

Details​

  • Characters:monsters, germs​
  • Puppets:Giant​
  • Music:instruments​
  • Decorations​
  • Sets: colorful, rainbow city, castle,  ​
  • Props: hot air balloon, roller coaster

We look forward to our next planning meeting as the children decide on more specific information.

 

The PLAN 

What ideas do you have for your story?

We gathered to think about our next steps in planning the showcase. 

After a brief discussion about the different stages; initiating, planning, delivering and closing, the children were invited to think about all the different ideas they had, to create an initial plan.

 

The children began to discuss their ideas and put them down on paper. Favourite characters and settings began to emerge through their drawings.

Then, we went to the next stage, to share ideas with others and decide if we want to create groups to tell our stories.

At this stage, the children needed to decide if they wanted to join others based on the characters and stories.

Story Workshop

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We Are Writers!

We gathered to brainstorm what makes us writers.

  • What do writers do?
  • How are WE writers?

The children shared their ideas, and we documented their thinking on chart paper.

When we write we can:

  • talk about writing
  • write in different languages
  • tell people ‘how to’ do things
  • make books to tell people about ‘real’ things (what is inside a fish)
  • tell true or imaginary stories
  • make books
  • use
    • finger spaces
    • punctuation
    • capital letters for names and at the beginning of a sentence
    • quotation makes
    • speech bubbles
  • tell about things that happened a long time ago (dinosaurs)
  • use words and pictures
  • use paper, notepads, paper and books
  • write with pens, markers and pencils

 

What is Story Workshop?

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

The arrangements of materials inspire storytelling, conversation, imagination concentration, negotiation and investigation. The ‘play’ with materials helps the writers use writing tools to share their ideas using marks, pictures, symbols, words and sentences. The active engagement encourages the writers to write and create complex stories.

The writers may have individual or group workspaces to help them explore a range of materials. A workspace or placemat helps anchor the writer’s workspace so that they can manage and co create stories alongside or with others. Writers are encouraged to record stories using pencil and paper, which can be collated into books.

Writing tools and materials that support writing were discussed.

Writers in K2 have access to these materials throughout the day to help them explore writing for different purposes.

Planning, Practicing, Polishing and Performing

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In Performing Arts, the children worked on the second half of the Performing Arts Creative Cycle of planning, practicing, polishing and performing. They polished and performed their stick puppet shows​ based on their ‘own’ stories inspired by the story ‘Rosie’s Walk‘.

 

The children completed the sound recordings of the sound effects. Then, they made the second sound effects by selecting percussion instruments related to what happened in the stories.

They also recorded their ‘narration‘ of the journey that our stick puppet animals went on. Finally, the children used these sound recordings to perform the puppet shows. 

Mosaics

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Noticing the children’s interest in symmetry, patterns and designs, we invited the children to use their creative minds to design and create with pattern blocks. The mosaic artists began to gather around the table, exploring the materials and carefully choosing the shapes and colours to create beautiful designs.

We noticed that many of the designs were symmetrical. The mosaic artists also created images of familiar objects and animals. When creating art, the artists were making choices to construct meaning about the world around them. Their experiences and imagination inspired them to create. When their designs were complete, the artists placed their names next to their designs and documented their creative art.

Some pieces were independent projects and others were created in collaboration with others. We noticed that the children found joy in creating, learning and expressing themselves while working on their designs. They are learning that the creative process involves joining in, exploring and taking risks. The mosaic artists worked diligently, taking responsibility for the care of tools and materials.

Our observations of the children’s work show us how interested they are in colours, shapes, patterns and designs as an art form. We know that their artwork has meaning. We know their creations are inspired by their curiosity in the world around them. We look forward to offering the children experiences that allow them to explore their creativity further.  

The Storytellers

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We have been exploring how we can enjoy, learn and express ourselves through the arts. The K2 storytellers have been working in groups, creating maps and characters to tell their own stories. While creating art, the children made choices to construct meaning about the world around them. We observed this as they used positional language and familiar places in the environment to decide how their characters will travel as they tell the story. Some of the maps included the school, their homes, bridges, and waterways. We noticed that the stories were inspired by their experiences and imagination.

It was time to ‘tell’ the story. Ms. Heidi came in to help the storytellers explore different ways to tell stories. First, they revisited the story ‘Rosie’s Walk’ and watched the video where they retold the story in the Performing Arts room. 

Then, the storytellers showed Ms. Heidi their maps and characters. Ms. Heidi invited the storytellers to explore different ways to tell stories.

The options included using the overhead projector and the white curtain, using the light-box or the class projector and screen.

The storytellers discussed their options, and then went off the practice their storytelling. Ms. Heidi reminded the storytellers that feelings, moods and ideas can be expressed creatively using vocal sounds and dramatic expression.

Through this experience they engaged in a creative process that involves joining in, exploring and taking risks.

In the next few days, the storytellers will practice and refine their stories, and decide who they would like to have as an audience.

Rosie’s Walk

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Distance Learning Provocations

Focus: Communication Skills, Literacy and Mathematics

Rosie lives in a farmyard. Each morning, Rosie sets off on a walk across the farm. She is unaware that a sly fox is following her.

You can click the link to listen to the story ‘Rosie’s Walk’ by Pat Hutchins. Notice how the pictures are illustrated. There are lines, patterns and shapes on the different characters and the environment.

 

You might want to act out the story using your own animals or props. You can even use boxes, cushions and blankets and any other suitable props to create a farmyard to go on your own walk. You can go across, around, over, past, through, and under.

Your own story can be in a different place such as a forest, an island or even a city. You might want to act out your story in the park or on the playground!

If you create a story, share it with us!

Storytelling with Paper Crafts

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Distance Learning Provocations

Focus: Literacy, Creativity and Communication Skills

Let’s explore how we might tell stories with paper and card. Meet Esther, a wonderful story character created with card. You can learn how to make Esther here:

You can watch the video ‘Esther’s Transformations’ for more ideas here:

Use card or paper to create your own characters.

Find a setting or a place to tell your story. It can be indoors or out in nature!

Share your characters and story with us!

The Zones of Regulation

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We have been reading the story ‘How Do You Feel?‘ by Anthony Browne. This simple picture book provides examples of different emotions and how people may express them. 

We gathered to sort out some pictures. We used coloured cards to help us explore the Zones of Regulation.

What are The Zones of Regulation?

The Zones is used to teach self-regulation by labeling all the different ways we feel and states of alertness we experience into four zones. The Zones curriculum provides strategies to teach students to become more aware of their emotions, improve controlling their emotions and impulses, managing their sensory needs, and improving their ability to problem solve conflicts.

BLUE CAR: TRAVELING TOO SLOW

The Blue Zone is used to describe low states of alertness, such as when one feels sad, tired, sick, or bored.

GREEN CAR: TRAVELING AT JUST THE RIGHT SPEED

The Green Zone is used to describe a calm state of alertness. A person may be described as happy, focused, content, or ready to learn when in the Green Zone.

YELLOW CAR: TRAVELING ON A BUMPY ROAD

The Yellow Zone is also used to describe a heightened state of alertness and elevated emotions; however, one has some control when they are in the Yellow Zone. A person may be experiencing stress, frustration, anxiety, excitement, silliness, the wiggles, or nervousness when in the Yellow Zone.

RED CAR: TRAVELING TOO FAST 

The Red Zone is used to describe extremely heightened states of alertness and intense emotions. A person may be elated or experiencing anger or explosive behavior when in the Red Zone. A person is described as “out of control” if in the Red Zone.

We had pictures of children and people demonstrating their feelings and emotions. After discussing each picture, we decided how we wanted to sort them.

We will continue to use the Zones of Regulation to help us monitor our own behaviour, to help us create a safe, caring and positive learning environment.

How do you express your feelings?

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)

  • Listen actively and respectfully to others’ ideas and listen to information.
  • Express oneself using words and sentences.
  • Participate in conversations.
  • Be aware of own and others’ feelings.
  • Manage anger and resolve conflict.
  • Be self- and socially aware.
  • Be aware of own and others’ impact as a member of a learning group.
  • Use strategies to problem-solve.
  • Manage own emotions, feelings and resolve conflict.

Patterns in Nature, Patterns in Sounds

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What might patterns look, sound and feel like? 

We have been creating patterns with pattern blocks, sounds and actions. As the children were showing an interest in nature, we decided to go outdoors to see if we can create patterns in nature. The children used leaves, sticks and stones to make their patterns.

How else can we represent our patterns?

The children have been using musical instruments to explore concepts such as sound, rhythm, melody, tempo and composition during their time with Ms. Heidi. We decided to provide the children with opportunities to explore the connection between patterns, composition and music.

We wonder where else we see patterns…

Writing Workshop

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We began Writing Workshop with a story by David Shannon titled ‘NO, David!’.

We paid attention to how the author and illustrator used words and details in his pictures to share many different events. We noted how the story is written across many pages. The children laughed at the illustrations and joined in to read the words.

Next, the children were invited to create their own story. They were given a choice of paper and books.

The children got to work, drawing, colouring and writing to create and share their own stories. As they created their books, they talked to each other about the characters, events and settings. The adults listened and discussed the children’s ideas, and made suggestions about possible ‘next steps’.

Then, the children prepared their Writer’s Workshop Folder. They pasted a ‘RED‘ sticker on one side to save the ‘completed’ pieces of writing, and a ‘GREEN’ sticker to save the ‘work in progress’.

The children will revisit their work to either continue their writing or make new pieces of work.

Thorough ‘Writing Workshop‘, the children:

  • use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, or to tell a story.
  • with guidance and support from adults, respond to questions and suggestions from peers and add details to strengthen writing as needed.

The Atelier – The Language of Clay

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The Language of CLAY

“Children have an innate need to inquire into the world around them, to try to make sense of it and learn about it. Often this important inquiry takes place in children’s play.” Almon and Miller, 2011

Nothing lights up the brain like PLAY. The children were invited to ‘play’ with this wonderful material that works so gracefully in the hands of the creator. These experiences help the children develop a predictable cognitive sequence they can apply when they encounter anything new: to observe, question, explore, reflect and repeat, to develop understandings about materials and their possibilities.

First, the children got their aprons on. They helped each other with the challenging velcro strips and moved over to choose their clay.

Then, the children prepared their spaces for research. They chose table top potters wheels, a number of clay tools, wet sponges and rolling pins. The child sized potions of damp clay were wrapped in wet cloths and kept in a plastic tub to maintain the texture.

Time is of great value. The children were given plenty of time to explore the clay. They used their fingers and tools to dig, pat, poke, roll, crumble and mould the clay.

Children need to have time to be confident with the materials so that they have time to formulate hypotheses and then test their hypotheses. 

After an extended period of play, the children were invited to use the tools and materials at their fingertips to create clay portraits. They had previously used card and black-line markers to create self-portraits. They looked carefully at their sketches and were excited to use a different medium to create their own clay models.  

 

When it was time to clean up, the children worked together to wash the tools and clear away the resources and materials they had used. Maker-centered learning experiences give children agency and empower them to take responsibility over their own learning. 

We will continue to explore the possibilities of this wonderful, creative and versatile material. 

Through these experiences, the children had opportunities to:

  • engage with, and enjoy a variety of visual arts experiences
  • select tools, materials and processes for specific purposes
  • use their imagination and experiences to inform their art making

The Atelier – Watercolour

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The Language of Watercolour

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

The creative processes are part of every language. The culture of the Atelier invites and encourages the different languages of expression. These 100 languages of expression demonstrate a high degree of learning with equal importance and value placed on play, the product and the process of learning for children and adults. Learning is always interdisciplinary, crossing boundaries between many different subjects. It is a place for active, independent and collaborative learning.  

Children develop a range of skills and knowledge through their research with materials, tools and the environment. They test their theories and develop understandings about concepts such as artistic form, change, connection, creativity, appreciation, form, process, light, image, colour and technique.

 

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

Identity and Feelings

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During the first weeks of school, we take time to explore our own identities and learn about others in our community. This helps us develop strong, positive and safe spaces for play and learning.

We began to unpack the following:

  • Who we are
  • How we feel
  • What we like and dislike

We read the picture book ‘Lots of Feelings’ by Shelley Rotner, to look at all the different ways we show our feelings and emotions on our face.

Then, the children used black markers on white card to create self-portraits.

The children looked at their reflections in the mirror, making faces and sharing details about themselves as they drew their pictures. They gave each other feedback about their pictures. They laughed, shared stories and their wonderings about their drawings.

“I have many hair on my head because I am not bald. Bald will change into a silly. OK good bye…”

 

Learning Outcomes:

  • I can use drawings to help me express my ideas.
  • I can use spoken language to express myself.

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? 

Colour, Symbol, Image – CSI

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Thinking Routine – CSI:

The students have been exploring powerful words to inquire into:

  • how images can affect our feelings
  • the power of words and how we use them
  • how we can respond to words and images

They used a ‘Thinking Routine ‘CSI‘ to help them communicate their ideas and thinking.

C – Colour –we chose a colour that best represents or captures the essence of the key word.

S – Symbol – we chose a symbol that best represents or captures the essence of the key word.

I – Image – we chose an image that best represents or captures the essence of the key word.

The students shared their colour, symbol and image with each other justifying and explaining reasons for their choices.

We wondered how these powerful words are connected to us. The following questions helped us consider our choices, and action we might want to take as a result of our learning…

• Why did we choose these words?
• Why do they matter to us?
• How do these words make us feel?
• What do we want people to know about these words?
• What can we do with these words?
• What action do we want to take?

We look forward to student ACTION!

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