The Shape Test

A paper cube that Oliver made after the paper experiment led to a discussion about 3-dimensional shapes.

The team wondered about the strength of paper shapes and decided to test their theories.

The team wondered:

  • if some paper shapes were stronger than others.
  • which shapes they could make to test their theories.

The team recalled a previous learning experience of going on a shape hunt and decided to refer back to the activity to choose the 3-dimensional shapes they wanted to make and test. When choosing the shapes Oliver stated, “Sphere is impossible for me cause how can you fold the paper round. I want to make a cylinder!”

Eli pointed at the pentagonal prism, “I want to make that one.”

Having thought about their options for paper, they decided to choose card stock instead of paper for their test as they believed it would be stronger than the A4 paper.

Oliver made his first paper cylinder by rolling up the paper and fastening it with tape. However, he quickly noticed that the edges weren’t flat and realised that this would impact the test. He decided to make a second cylinder, taking care to keep the edges of the shape levelled. During testing, Oliver discovered that the top and bottom edges of his first cylinder were not stable enough, so he decided to make a new cylinder.

 

Having looked at the pentagonal shape, Eli realised that to fold a pentagon, he needed to divide the paper into five equal parts. Eli initially used a ruler to draw lines but found that the width of one ruler was too narrow, which resulted in a lot of extra space at one end.

Then, decided to use the width of two rulers, but each section was too wide and there wasn’t enough space on the card for 5 equal sections.

Eli shared this challenge with the teacher, explaining that he wanted to divide the long edge of the paper into five equal parts.

Having heard Eli’s challenge, the teacher decided to bring Eli’s attention to the concept of measurement to think about what he already knows about the function of hash marks and numbers on a measuring tool.

Ms. Eileen “How long is that edge? How did you measure it?”

  • Eli thought about this and then pointed to the ruler and said, “Use ruler.”

Eli used the ruler to solve his measurement challenge, learning that the length of the paper was about 30 centimetres.

Ms. Eileen “How can we divide 30 into 5 equal parts?”

Eli found the unit cubes and counted out 30 unit cubes to represent the 30cms. Then, he divided them into 5 equal parts, with each part being 6cm.

Finally, Eli drew out the lines and folded his paper pentagonal shape for the test. The researchers were now ready to test their shapes!

The team decided to choose books that were of a similar size for their test. As they placed one book at a time on the shapes, they began to see that although the shapes were made with paper, they were extremely strong.

The team had enough books to reach a total of 19 books for each shape. Then, they ran out of books!

As they didn’t have enough of the same books in the classroom to support the progression of the experiment, they decided to test their shapes in the library.

The team’s paper and shape experiments have allowed them to think about the function of shapes and materials in design and engineering and the impact of forces like compression and tension that act on structures. Through their experimentation, they continue to explore how the design can impact the strength and stability of structures.

Changing the Ramps

We noticed that the children were using two different ramps to create their structures in the block play area. The children’s conversations revealed that they were exploring the concepts ‘speed’ and ‘direction’ as they shared ‘how’ the balls travel on the ramps.

We decided to gather the children to talk about what they noticed about the ramps.

Similarities

  • Jeongyoon “You can slide balls on both.”
  • Eli “They can both be used for building.”
  • Oxford “The brown one the ball can go zig zag the white it can’t because the brown is big (wider).”

Differences

  • Oxford “One is big and one is small. The colour is different one is brown and other is white.”
  • Oliver “One is made out of wood and one is made with plastic.”
  • Liz “One is long and one is short.”
  • Eli “The brown is not narrow and the white is narrow. Because when I tried to put a big ball on it is got stuck on it.”
  • Oxford “The brown is think and white is smaller (thinner).”
  • Lydia “The small ball can go on the white and the big balls on the brown.”

We noticed that the children used descriptive words to categorise the ramps. We decided to build on this knowledge to see how they stretch their thinking and vocabulary by exploring new textures and materials in their scientific inquiry. 

Teacher “What would we change if we want the balls to travel on the ramps differently?”

  • Lydia “Use the pencil to colour it.”
  • Oliver “The white glue, we can add glue on a zig zag line, the ball when you roll it, it will go bouncy.”
  • Eli “We can put tape here and if you roll the ball too fast it might roll and go away from the ramp.”
  • Oxford “We can put string on it and use tape and then make lines.”
  • Wyatt “We can put water on it and the ball will go really fast.”
  • Eli “You can put wood (chips) inside the ramp and then the ball might go up.”
  • Oliver “We dig some holes on the two sides and get the circles made out of plastic and stick them on the sides so when the balls go down, the circles will spin.”
  • Oxford “Maybe we can put another stick on the brown ramp.”
  • Eli “You can stick some paper on the brown ramp and make it higher and higher.”

As the children shared how the ramps could be modified, they began to hypothesise about what might happen with their experiment.  

  • We wonder what the children might notice about the ‘speed’ and ‘direction’ the balls travel because of the ‘changes’ they have made to the ramps (causation).
  • We wonder how the children might record the theories and observations of their experiments.  

Rocks, Crystals and Minerals

Groups of children have finding, exploring and wondering about the different rocks and stones they found in the Early Years garden. They often share their ideas and questions to learn about them; what the rocks are used for how they are made and where they come from.

  • Oliver “We want to find lots of crystals and we want to be good at finding sapphires. I want to be a crystal hunter.”
  • Eli “I was telling Mr. Seth which ones can draw different colours.”

What we know and think…

  • Eunbyul “I think this crystal inside have a diamond.”
  • Lydia “MY mummy home have diamonds. I like the diamonds.”
  • Oliver “Diamonds is a crystal that can break through glass. Its like super strong nails, if you scratch it on the glass then it will break.”
  • Oxford “I think that (diamond) is not real.”
  • Oliver “In games I see there are crystals. The name of the crystals one is diamond and gold.”
  • Liz “I think school is not have crystals. I think inside the stone there is nothing.”
  • Oxford “I think we don’t know why Eli can draw with it.”
  • Wyatt “I think diamonds is not in the school because school outside there is diamonds are not there.”
  • Jeongyoon “I think diamond is not real and not in the whole world.”

We wonder…

  • Oxford “Where did you find them?”
  • Eli “In the sand and some of them I cracked them.”
  • Oliver “I found them in the ground make out of bricks.”
  • Oxford “What is in the rocks? Why can he use the rocks to write? What makes it gold inside the rocks?”
  • Jeongyoon “Are crystals real or not real? What is a crystal?”
  • Oliver “I only know 4 names of crystals. I want to know the names of other crystals?”
  • Eli “Which one is a rock and which one is a crystal?”
  • Lydia “Why are some crystals are blue or green? Why are crystals so beautiful?”
  • Morning “Where are the crystals from?”

Having noticed this ongoing interest in rocks, crystals and minerals, the teachers have organised a field trip to the Nanjing Geological Museum.

We wonder what the children might uncover from their investigations and observations at the museum.

What do they eat?

Conversations about living things in the ocean revealed wonderings about the food living things need to survive in the ocean. The teachers discussed Morning’s statement about ocean rabbits. Considering the words Morning used to describe the sea creature, we wondered if she was making a direct translation from Mandarin to English. Perhaps she was referring to a particular sea slug. We wondered if Morning would find a picture of the ocean rabbits she referred to in the picture books.

We invited the team to explore the picture books about the ocean, to see what they could learn about what ocean creatures need to survive.

Wyatt was puzzled about some of the sea creatures, “I don’t know what turtles like to eat”, he exclaimed. As he turned the pages and read the information in the pictures, he began to make connections by sharing what he noticed. “Seals like to eat this one!”, he said, pointing to kelp.

As the researchers documented their learning and observations on paper, we noticed that their drawings showed their growing understanding of ‘survival’ and the ‘interdependence’ of living things. However, it was hard to interpret the information in their drawings as they were their first notes and quick sketches that illustrated their process of meaning-making.

While the researchers flipped through the pages of the picture book, they paused and discussed the sea otter.

 

We decided to take this opportunity to help them tune into their research through the inquiry of one specific animal.

As they watched a short video on the sea otter, they learned that it loves to eat fish, octopus and crabs, and documented this new information in their research paper.

As the researchers dig deeper into the concepts of survival’ and ‘interdependence’, we wonder how they might share what they learn through different medium.

The Story of Paper

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

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

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

What can we use origami for?

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

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

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

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

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

Lightning

Lydia was excited to share a photograph her mum had taken during a thunderstorm.

  • Lydia “Me mummy took the picture, mummy said ‘WOW, this is so cool’. This everywhere purple colour. The lighting was white. Lightning have the water and small things. Lightning not so good, the people will die. There is a little blue. Lightning comes from the clouds. Daddy said when the weather is very hot there will be a lot of lightning.”

Lydia presented her photograph to her friends.

  • Lydia “On the window we can see lightning.”
  • Jeongyoon “I think the light bulb is using the thunderbolt.”
  • Oliver “The clouds are made out of gas and the gas gets hot. Because in the morning one day it was very hot day and many days later it was still very hot and then there was lightning.”
  • Oxford “I think this is real because there are too many lights.”
  • Eli “This one looks like its from the Thor’s hammer. He is a superhero. You see this at the nighttime, I see it, hear boom, boom!”
  • Motong “It’s in the night because of the lightning we can see in the night. There is no lightning in the day.”
  • Oliver “At home when I was eating supper, then I finished then mummy was waiting to go to sleep and then I looked at the window and I see 10 maybe 20 lightning.”
  • Oxford and Motong “This have like fireworks.”
  • Eli “We can get hurt, when you stand by a tree, you will be hit with lightning, my mummy said.”
  • Oliver “The lightning comes and it goes across and goes like this (like zig zag). The clouds have a gas, it’s a kind of smoke that is made out of water.”
  • Eli “I feel Scared.”
  • Oliver “I think it looks cool.” Wyatt and Motong agreed.
  • Eileen “I think it’s beautiful, the shapes and the colours. We can only see this in some kinds of weather.”

The children began to share how they felt about lightning. Lydia disagreed with some of the statements. The teachers suggested that she think of a way to find out how different people feel about lightning so she can learn why they feel that way. We were curious about the connection Jeongyoon made between the light bulb and lightning. We decided to dig deeper, to hear what the other children thought about the connection he made. Teacher “How does the lightning make the lightbulb work?”

  • Eli “This light has light. It is made out of power not of lightning. When thunder crashed into the tree and the pipe is in the tree and then it goes through the pipe into the electricity thing and then into the light.”
  • Motong “I think the sun will rip and then the lightning will come down.”
  • Eli “The sunlight can go in a pipe and then the sunlight goes into the power and then the many sunlight comes in and then the light works.”
  • Oliver “Some people get a big box and it also has a roof on top of it and the sun shines into it and then it turns it into electricity and then the lights work.”
  • Wyatt “The light go off when the rain will come.”
  • Oxford “I think in the pipe there is electricity. The electricity comes from the sun. A pipe is in the sun.”

Eli “This is lightning and it crashed to the tree and this is pipes, and the lightning goes inside the pipes and it goes inside the house. And this is light, and the light works. And then other lightning comes and other lightning comes and gets light to here. We don’t want to waste power so we want to use the light during lightning to do power. And these this picture of lightning, when the lightning goes in very slow and then when it’s a rainy day sometimes lightning comes out the black clouds because it’s a rainy day. When they are black they can make lightning really big.”

Oliver “This is inside the computer, and there was some cables connected to the lights. One lightning was blue colour and one was green and one was pink. And then I see in the floor there was fire. On top of my house there is something that makes it. If lightning comes here then the light becomes more bright.”

We noticed that the children were discussing the concepts of ‘power’ ‘safety‘ and ‘energy’ and how we use them in our daily lives. 

Our inquiry continues…

The Ocean Project

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

What colour is the ocean?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

After completing her painting,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hot and Cold!

We watched the video of the fish in the pond. The children were happy to see the fish swimming around again.

We know that we can ask questions about things in the natural world and can do something to find answers that help explain what is happening. ​

We read a non-fiction book with colourful photographs of different places around the world. The book talked about the choices we make as a result of the weather and the temperature.

We discussed the temperature in Nanjing, China and in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

We began to create a list of the things we would like to measure.

  • Oliver “We want to measure how hot it is. I want to measure cotton, it feels very warm.”
  • Eli “How hot is fire?”

One child talked about lava. We watched a short video to learn more about this word.

  • Jeongyoon “I want to measure how cold the snow.”
  • Eli “Ice.”
  • Jeongyoon “I know how cold ice is. It is 0.9. I want to measure cold water.”
  • Motong “How hot is a hotdog?”
  • Lydia “Ice cream is so cold. If you are so hot you can eat ice cream.”
  • Shemo “How cold is ice cream?”
  • Yui “I tasted ice cream before, when I put it in my mouth it was very cold.” (in Mandarin)
  • Eunbyul “Ice water.”
  • Wyatt “lava in the ice it gets cold. It’s a cold day you will get sick because its so cold and you not eating the ice cream.”
  • Oxford “The fridge.”
  • Morning “Why is the ice so cold? Measure ice in the ground.”
What can we measure?
We began to brainstorm the different reasons and tools we use to measure. 
We decided to explore temperature.  
The children went off to see if they could measure the temperature of different items and liquids. 

 

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)
We are learning how to:  
• observe carefully
• seek information
• ask or express through play questions that can be researched
• gather information from a variety of sources 
• analyse and interpret information
• understand symbols
• document information and observations in a variety of ways
• choose and complete tasks independently

A Closer Look at Soil and Compost

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

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

What can we learn from Authors and Illustrators?

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

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

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

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

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

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

We wonder what she discovered!

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

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

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

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

(Garden Plot Soil, Under Wood Soil)

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

 

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

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

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)

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

Documenting Food Waste

During Assembly, the Grade 4 students shared what they had learned about waste at NIS. They shared the data they had gathered about food and power waste.

The teachers decided to ask the children what they thought about the Grade 4 presentation.

  • Eli “Don’t waste any food. Because if you waste food then the people who make the food work very hard to make the food so that is bad.”
  • Teacher “What is waste?”
  • Oliver “Wasting water, if I throw the water that is in my bottle that is wasting money.”
  • Children “No wasting food!”

We shared a photograph of the EY lunch.

  • Eli “We should eat all of the food in your plate.”
  • Oxford “Why we can’t eat vegetable pizza?”
  • Eli “Drink the milk after eating all of your food because if you drink milk first it will just make a soup in your tummy and your tummy will not be comfortable.”
  • Oxford “We can just eat the vegetables.”

We decided to gather our own data on food waste as the Grade 4 students said that food waste in the Primary was higher than in the Secondary!

Observations and reflections from the children:

  • Oliver “Liz eat all of the lunch.”
  • Motong “Eli ate every food.”
  • Eli “The food was yummy because the sausage was very yummy.”
  • Oliver “We wanted to see if we are not wasting food. I think 4 people eat a little bit of lunch but I was not right.”
  • Oxford “I think people eat 3 things, egg and sausage and rice.”
  • Lydia “One child eat the food.”
  • Eunbyul “Some people is not eating food and sausage. Some people are hungry eat the lunch. People no eat lunch people is more hungry and people is sad.”
  • Wyatt “I think 2 people eat all the food. It is a good thing because 2 people eat vegetables.”

  • Jeongyoon “I think some people drink milk first then they don’t eat vegetables.”
  • Eli “I see somebody eat the sausage and rice but not eat the egg and vegetables, this is not a good thing because vegetables are healthy. It is good for your body. You get a little bit sick because if you don’t eat vegetables every day it will not be healthy. The vegetables are waste. Then people take lunch away and they can pour it away.”
  • Oliver “It actually goes into the kitchen trash. The kitchen trash. I don’t know what they do.
  • Oxford “Will they recycle the food?”
  • Morning “Maybe some people just drink the soup and not eat the lunch. Because the soup is yummy. People need to eat of the lunch because lunch is helpful.”
  • Yui “I didn’t finish all the food because I don’t like vegetables. Bit it’s not good. We need to eat vegetables. Vegetables are good for your health, if we don’t eat vegetables we will get sick (in Mandarin).

 

What happens to the kitchen trash?  

  • Oliver “Lots of people waste so much food. This is the bin in the kitchen. I found out that the people put the trash in the bin and someone will come and then they will put it outside somewhere there are no houses and no people and also no plants. And also there are no internet and it’s also no river. The water have all dried away.”

  • Teacher “What is this place called? Have you seen a place like this before?”
  • Oliver “I saw it on a video. I don’t know.”
  • Lydia “It’s a place where there is no cars and no grass and flowers. Only for the trash. And the car will come and dump all the trash there.” (in Mandarin)
  • Oxford “Like Ms. Hannah has. There is a place behind a car park area to decompose the food.” (in Mandarin)
  • Wyatt “It’s in the bin, you can’t eat what is in the bin. Animals eat it. Many food is there and polar bears eat it.”
  • Oxford “Polar bears don’t eat it.”
  • Eli “I think not the polar bear eats because the polar bear is in a place where there is lots of snow and if the polar bear is there it will feel very, very hot. Maybe a bear eats it.”
  • Morning “I think a zebra.”

We wonder what happens to the food waste after the cafeteria puts it outside the building.

We wonder if animals eat it.

Our inquiry continues…

Causation & Change – Temperature

Sharing observations and theories…

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

What happens to the fish when the water freezes?

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

Ms. Elieen showed the children the digital thermometer.

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

The Paper Airplanes

Noticing the children’s interest in making paper airplanes, Ms. Eileen decided to introduce the children to a new design.

The children followed the instructions to make the paper airplane.

  • Eli “I want to throw it outside because outside will have wind so it will fly fast and high.”
  • Howie “I think the airplane the airplane can fly really high and really fast because the wind is really strong and it will go fast. We can feel it when the wind is cold you know what is the wind.”

We looked at a photograph of the playground to help us decide where we might fly the planes from. What would we need to consider?

  • Liz “I think airplanes go to water is broken. Airplane is paper, paper in water is wet and broken.”
  • Oliver “I think the airplane might go round and round all the time I think. Because the wind is going left then the airplane will go left and if the wind is going right then the airplane will go right.”
  • Wyatt “Outside is airplane is go out of school and people can’t go outside of school and then you make it again.”
  • Morning “The airplane will go to the tree and the people cannot play with it.”
  • Eli “It can go over the fence because if you throw on the mountain then it will go over the fence and no one will get it and it might go into the building and there might be sharp things and then it will get a hole in it.”
  • Motong “We can send it from the slide. We can stand on the yellow wall because the airplane will fly very far.”
  • Jeongyoon “If we fly it from the roof, then we can’t get it.”
  • Lydia “I think this flying to outside you can’t take it (the airplane).”
  • Eunbyul “If it goes to a very tall tree then I will not catch the airplane.”
  • Howie “Then, we can climb the tree.”
  • Oliver “The sticks are not very strong.”

How can we find out which airplane has gone the furthest?

  • Oliver “I think if the airplane looks the best then it goes the furthest. And my airplane looks the best.
  • Eunbyul “Throw it and it will go up and down.”

When you run a race, can you start from different places?

  • Eli “No, we have to stay together.
  • Howie “Some people together in the back, the first people will get number 1. The people in the back will be number 2.”

The children explained that they had to fly the paper airplanes from the same location for it to be fair. The children discussed the different options. The children were excited to see many planes flying high above the playground. Perhaps our planes would fly high too!

Many of the children suggested flying the plane from a height as it would help the plane go further. They agreed that the best spot would be the top of the short wall.

We decided to go out and try this out. The paper panes took off from the wall. We watched them scatter around the playground. 

How would we know which plane went the furthest?

Howie suggested that we use a tape to measure the distance. Ms. Shemo did not have such a long tape but had some string instead. We measured and cut out the string to mark the distance.

When we went back to class with the string, we had them in bundles on the floor. Many children believed Eli’s plane flew the furthest because his bundle of string was ‘higher’. We recorded everyone’s best guess using tally marks.

But how would we know for sure? How do we measure things in real life?

Eli suggested using the ruler. But the ruler was short, and it would take a long time to measure them.

Liz suggested measuring them using the white PVC pipes. We brought one over and kept it next to the ruler. It was longer. We noticed the numbers on the ruler and decided to add them to make our ruler with the pipe. But, there were too many numbers to write.

After some thought, we decided to count in 5’s and record them on the pipe. The children helped identify the numbers from 0-100.

Then, we began to measure the twine. We recorded the distance each paper airplane flew. Finally, we had the data we needed. Eli’s paper airplane flew the furthest!

Throughout this experience, the children shared their theories about paper airplanes, and considered the properties of paper. They considered the concepts of speed, height, distance and variables that may affect the flight of the paper airplane. They explored measurement, data handling and number, to find out who’s paper airplane flew the furthest.

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

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

@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!     

Ramps: The Prototypes

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

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

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

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

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

Design

Through this experience, the children had opportunities to:

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

Design Learning Outcomes:

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

Paper Boats: Will they sail?

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

But how do we make paper boats?

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

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

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

The children began to share their theories.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Morning Agreed with Wyatt’s idea. 

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

Howie suggested the cane basket.

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

Howie suggested the ceramic pot.

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

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

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

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

 

Designing Birds’ Nests

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Observing Eggs

A few days ago, one child presented his EGG Experiment to the class. The children wondered what was inside his egg as it felt soft and bouncy. The child wanted to take his egg home so we decided to place a second egg in vinegar, to see what we could learn about the egg.  

We decided to break another to observe what happens to it. We documented the children’s observations and theories at the time.

Over the last few days, our egg has been on the shelf. The children have been observing the changes. It was time to revisit the experiment to see what we could learn.  

We gathered to talk about what we see, think and wonder about the broken egg and the whole we placed in vinegar.

Oliver

First observations and theories: (whole egg) “This egg has smoke like it’s because it has white. It will become squishy because the vinegar inside has magic.” (broken egg) “Here is one bubble it is smoke bubble. The yellow part is a super small duck cause a white egg has a duck and a brown egg has a chicken like chickens are brown and ducks are white.”

Noticing change… “the small inside part has not so much of the yellow thing so it becomes smaller. The yellow and green patch has become darker.”

Jeongyoon

First observations and theories: (whole egg) “This one is white. There is bubbles. The egg will become squishy.”

Wonderings… “Why is this brown? (Patch on the eggshell)”

Oxford

First observations and theories: “This has so many bubbles. The other egg has green and yellow. The yellow is also a egg. The bubble is white because that and the white egg is white.”

Noticing change… “There is no white piece I think it is now the inside of the yellow looks orange.”

Morning

First observations and theories: “This one the water is yellow because the yellow part makes the water yellow. And the white egg makes the water white. I don’t like eggs because I don’t like to eat the yellow part.”

Noticing change… (whole egg) “This one is broken.”

Eli

First observations and theories: “Why did this one not have many bubbles before but now it has? I think why is an egg white? Why in the brown egg is the inside yellow and around is green? I think the white piece is a little water when it touches the floor it because sinks down it will bump on the floor and explode.”

Noticing change… (Egg yolk) “Before this is like a squishy circle an now it’s like inside it looks like it has a baby inside.”

Howie

First observations and theories: “Think inside there is another egg. It is a special egg. It has magic because it has green water.”

Noticing change… “It becomes small (broken egg) and the other one become big?” (whole egg)

Eunbyul

First observations and theories: “This one is yellow. Yellow bubble and green bubble. There is white bubble in.

Noticing change… “The middle is small and the white bubble is not here. Together they’re moving.” (broken egg)

 

Observations:

Liz (whole egg) “This one is brown what is inside the egg?”

Wyatt (Whole egg) “This is broken and the yellow is not broken no more bubbles.”

Motong “This is a little bit brown.” Pointing to the patch on the eggshell.

Lydia (broken egg) “This is green there is orange inside the yellow.”

The children continued to wonder what was inside the whole egg. It felt soft and rubbery on the outside. But what was it like inside?

The children continued to guess what might be inside the egg. Most of them predicted that there would be a chicken or a duck inside the egg. Some children disagreed. They believed that there would be water or liquid inside the egg. We decided to cut it open to see what was inside! Gently we pressed the knife to the soft and bouncy shell. As we pressed harder the egg popped, and the soft shell broke. The egg spilled over into the tray but the egg yolk was still attached to the shell. The shell was soft and torn.

Using pictures and words, the children documented their observations showing ‘what happened’ to the egg.

They used describing words (soft, squishy, hard, watery, bouncy, hard) to talk about the eggs.

Through exploring, observing and communicating we learn to make sense of the world.

The Pipes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Egg Experiment – A Story of Research

A Story of Research

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Designing Ramps

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 aboutspeed’, ‘height’, ‘distance’, ‘forcesand 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

Investigating Slides in our Environment

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Differences:

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

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

Similarities:

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

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

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

Two categories emerged through the discussion:

  • For people and wheelchairs to travel and
  • For play

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

  • For stones
  • For sliding

We wonder:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Our learning continues…

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s) 

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

An Inquiry into Forces and Energy

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

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

We documented their observations and thoughts on chart paper. 

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

4

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

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

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

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

 

An Inquiry into Slides

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The children:

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

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

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

“It sounds like we need a PLAN!”

Moths and Butterflies

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

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

Research Skills:

Formulating and planning

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

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

  • Gather information from a variety of sources (people, places, materials, literature).
  • Use all senses to observe and notice details.
  • Record observations—drawing and using emergent writing skills to make thinking visible.

Evaluating and communicating

  • Notice relationships and patterns.

Field Trip Reflections

We had a wonderful time planning and then going on our Field Trip to the Insect and Reptile Museum. We wondered what we learned from our trip and what questions we have as a result of our learning.

The children began to put their ideas on paper. They used drawing and writing to share their ideas.

We gathered to talk about the different ways writers can plan and share ideas with others.

As we discussed what we noticed about each other’s writing, we documented the different ways writers communicate their thinking, planning and ideas.

We could:

– draw, colour, add details and make our pictures look ‘real’

– use our own ideas

– sequence the different events

– add feelings

– use thinking clouds

– add writing using words and sentences

– include ideas in different spaces across a page

– add labels

– show the weather

Then, we went back to improve our work, to share more details through pictures and words.

What we learned:

  • Mason “If you see the snake and if he has a triangle shaped head it is a poisonous snake.”
  • Kenan “I learned about the chameleons can change colour.”
  • Doho “The dragon can change colour, if it is angry it can change colour to red colour. Many colours.”
  • Tracey “The chameleons tongue is sticky so he can catch the fly.”
  • Mason “We saw the bug swim in the water. Inside the water there are weeds and they eat them.”
  • Doho “I see the chameleon was walking in the water.”
  • Joon “I see the water. I saw fish in the tank.”
  • Tracey “The bugs get a jelly.”
  • Mason “The insects will run away if they are not in the cages.”
  • Doho “Some bugs make people die because some bugs have teeth.”
  • Mason “And some bugs have poison because they can help themselves (protect).”

Questions we have…

  • Sean “Why is the chameleon so slow?”
  • Eunice “Why does the chameleon change colour? Why do snakes have peeled skin?”
  • Eunice and Sanghyeok “Why do animals have 6 legs?”
  • Doho “Why don’t touch the snakes with a triangle head?”
  • Sean “Why snakes have poison? Why are snakes long?”
  • Noah “Why do the animals stay in the baskets?”
  • Tracey “How do they make the jelly for the bugs?”
  • Eui jin “Why do snakes go round and round.”
  • Allen “Why snake’s tongue is like a V?”

The K2 inquirers will continue to do their research to learn more about insects and reptiles. 

The Insect Museum

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! 

Earth Week Message

The children have been exploring different spaces around the school, thinking about the things they appreciate about the earth and how they might protect their environment. We decided to spend some time around the pond, listening to the water and watching the fish splash around us. 

We took our notepads with us to draw what we noticed, to think about the environment and how we might protect nature. 

We asked the children to think about nature and take a photograph to communicate an important idea. Here is what they had to say!

We appreciate…

What action will YOU take? 

Does it Sink or Float?

The K2 scientists have been investigating floating and sinking with a range of materials and objects. Most young scientists guess that items will sink or float based on their size or weight. Through their experimentation, we noticed the children making and testing predictions about objects that will sink or float. They thought about the words they could use to explain their theories and observations.

We conducted an experiment to help us think about the language we can use to talk about sinking and floating.

The picture book helped us find new vocabulary to explain the observations.

The scientists continued their research, documenting their observations to help them talk about their discoveries about objects that sink and float.

 

Doho  “I think all the fruits float.”​

We wonder if this theory is true or false.

What do you think?

Inquiry Skills

  • Pose and respond to questions about familiar objects and events.
  • Participate in guided investigations and make observations using the senses.
  • Document and share observations and ideas.

Composting and Worms

We have been reading books about composting as a result of our inquiry into the composting barrel in the EY playground.

The children had many theories about food and so we left fruits and vegetables out in the classroom to observe what happens to them over time.

During a discussion on composting, we noticed that the children were particularly interested in learning more about worms:

  • How do they live?
  • How do they help us?
  • What do they eat?
  • Do we have worms in our bodies?

Ms. Hannah is an expert in the garden. She likes to grow fruits, vegetables and flowers.

We decided to invite Ms. Hannah to talk about her worm farm and compost bins.

Ms. Hannah showed the children the worms. “We cannot squish them.

They don’t like to feel dry.”

Ms. Hannah let the children hold the worms in their hands. The children squealed with delight.

  • Mason “We can put the tomato and broccoli in the soil and the worms will eat it.”
  • Kenan “We can not put the box on the table because the worms will eat the fruit on the table. We need to close it.”
  • Tracey “We need to give them some water, some mud and soil.”
  • Patrick “And we can put some sticks and wood and cut the tree and put some wood on the floor. And sticks on the top for the worms to climb.”
  • Tracey “Why do the worms eat mud?”
  • Patrick “Why can the worms eat the stinky things?”
  • Doho “Why are the worms long?”
  • Mason “Why can’t the worm drink water?”
  • Kenan “I think he doesn’t have a mouth. He can use his nose.”
  • Heidi “How come we can see lots of worms when it is raining outside?”
  • Tracey “Because the worms need water. And the worms will dry.”
  • Patrick “The worms like the rain, when it comes down the water is all over and the worms like yucky and then the wet.”
  • Tracey “We can use some plates and the top like a house.
  • Mason “Inside have some soil and mud. We need to put the tomato and we put the brocolli and carrot in the worm’s box.”
  • Tracey “We need to put food all the time. Then we can help the worms by putting more food.”

Here are Ms. Hannah’s compost bins.

  • Tracey “This water is good for the flowers.”
  • Noah “The earthworms make the soil soft and that is good for the plants.”

The children wondered what was in the following pictures.

What are these?

We watched a time lapse of worms in a compost bin.

The children decided the following:

  • give the worms some leftover food
  • put the food waste in the composter
  • put some worms in the composter
  • add lots of leaves, food and some soil in the composter

Bird’s Nests

During a meeting with Ms. Jacqui, Patrick heard a suggestion from the ‘Nest Design Team’ that sparked his interest. The team wondered if they could add nests for birds and squirrels in the playground. He thought about this idea and made a model at home. He presented his idea to the class.

Patrick “I made a model. A model is something that gives you ideas about the real thing. I used sticks, bricks and cement. It has warmth. Butterflies will be the birds’ friends. There is a bird sign and other animals can’t go in here.

I used cement to glue it on. Under it is metal. The birds can go in it and play. And the eggs can go there. The birds can sleep on the hay. I thought what materials will the nest need and I chose cement, bricks but not real hay.”

Patrick’s nest included some yellow bird food and some pictures of worms. There was also a cup for water.

  • Tracey “How to put water in the cup? If the water goes out then how do you do it again?”

The children shared their experiences with birds. Mason said he had birds at home and also say some in his playground, and they ate the food that Patrick brought in. Tracey described some of the birds she has seen in nature. Ms. Shemo also had birds and they ate two types of bird food.

The discussion led to many interesting questions about bird nests and bird food.

  • What type of birds do we have in the playground?
  • What do they use to make their nests?
  • What food do they like to eat?

We considered the idea of bird watching, to see what we observe in nature. We might need to read some books and do some research to learn more about the birds in our playground, before we begin to make the nests and homes. 

Peels, Plants and a Barrel

Function, Responsibility, Nature

Some of the K2 students noticed a large barrel in the EY playground. We decided to share 3 images with the children to spark their curiosity and help them explore connections. 

How might these three images be connected?

The children began to share what they noticed, tapping into their prior knowledge to share their viewpoints.

Many of the children wondered about the barrel. It looked strange. They decided that it must be for water. They thought that the barrel was connected to the plants because plants need water to grow.

  • Do banana peels grow into plants?
  • Are the peels good for the plants?
  • Why do we need a barrel of water near the garden plots?
  • Is the water for the toilets?

We wonder how we can find out about the barrel. Perhaps the community can help us with our research.

A group of volunteers interviewed the teachers and students to see what they could find out about the barrel.

-What is it?

-How is it used?

-Why is it in the playground?

The team came back to share what they had learned.

Tracey “We were spinning the barrel. We can’t put worms in it because the worms will get sick.”

Two children went outdoors to test the barrel to see if it does spin around.  

  • Noah “I asked Kyle What is this?”
  • Allen “Ms. Dora says this is eat food put on the bin. Apples and banana peels and watermelon. No eggs.”
  • Mason “We go to some teachers and children and we asked them ‘What is this?’. And they said you put some rubbish in it. We can’t put plastic and glass and meat and egg.”
  • Noah “We can put egg shells in it.”

The research group documented their ideas on chart paper.

They watched a short video on what to put into a compost bin to help them expand on their initial thinking. The team visited PreK-K1B and Keira presented the ideas her class had documented on chart paper.

two children presented what they learned about the items that can go into the compost bin.

We wondered what we might do next?

Some of the children suggested that we begin to collect the food we throw away and put it in the compost bin. A few other children wondered what will happen to the food if we left it out.

-Perhaps ants might come in to eat the food.

-It might get yucky.

Nicolas explained that when you put these types of foods into the bin, they get rotten. Then, the soil can be used to put into the plants and that will help all the fruits and vegetables grow!

We know that we can use our senses to observe and notice the changes that happen in nature. We know that we use these skills to help us make decisions. We look forward to seeing how these observations may lead to action.

Our work as composters begin…

The Bike Project

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).

Making Paper

Tracey gathered a few volunteers to make the paper. They went to the Atelier to see if the paper pulp was ready to be turned into new paper.

The papermakers followed Tracey’s instructions to make the paper using the paper making tools she brought from home. They collaborated and shared the different tasks.

At the end of the process, the papermakers remembered to clean up their workspace and the materials they had used.

We will now need to wait till the paper dries on the rack.

 

We wonder what the children will choose to do with their new paper…

Changes – Ice

Patrick came rushing into the classroom to show the teachers a piece of ice.

He shared his theories about the changes water goes through as the weather and temperature change. He made reference to the chart the class maintained on the daily temperature, explaining that the weather must have been ‘0’ degrees the night before.

Noticing the children’s interest in the thin strips of ice in the playground, we decided to read a book about ‘Ice’. The images showed how ice forms everywhere, on houses, on roads, even on street signs! 

 

The children shared their thinking about the detailed photographs, making connections to their personal experiences as the reading progressed. While reading, the children visualised as they read to determine cause-and-effect relationships. At the end of the read aloud, the teacher asked the children to consider which of the seasons is their favourite.

A group of children conducted a survey to gather data on everyone’s preferred season and ‘WHY’. We wonder what the children will learn from their research!   

Research into Patterns: Patterns in Nature

We have been creating patterns with shapes, colours, sounds, actions and movement. As the children have shown a keen interest in nature, we decided to go outdoors to look for patterns in nature.

First, we looked for patterns on leaves and in flowers. The children noticed squiggly lines on leaves, and circles and dots on the flowers.

We thought about the different ways we can document what we noticed. We used pictures and labels to document our observations.Then, we went outdoors to look for other patterns. The children took their clipboards with paper, thin tip markers for writing and iPads to take photos. They used shapes, lines and patterns to record their observations.

The children began to notice relationships and patterns, and shared their ideas with others.

The video shares our learning journey, including the photographs the children took and the notes they made of their observations.

We wonder how we might use what we know about groups and categories to help us sort and organise our information. We wonder how we might share what we learned with others.

Our learning continues….   

Research Skills

  • Gather information from a variety of sources.
  • Use all senses to observe and notice details.
  • Record observations—drawing, using emergent writing skills.
  • Notice relationships and patterns.

The Garden Boxes 2

(Responsibility, Ownership)

A few weeks ago, we potted some plants in garden boxes in the Early Years playground. We gathered to talk about our next steps. The children looked at a picture of the plants and began to make suggestions and share their thinking.

  • Tracey “This is the little tree. The little tree is growing up.”
  • Patrick “The little tree is growing up, they climb up. It grows up and up here, on the metal bars.”
  • Doho “Water in soil and tomato go up and big.”
  • Patrick “What seeds is it? I think it is potato seeds.”
  • Noah “Ms. Dora helped us.”

Teacher “Yes, she did, but who will take care of them now?”

  • Tracey “The helpers. US! We need to put water and the sun will let them grow up. We can do one by one. We can line up.”
  • Patrick “4 people helping to water one box. I think Chloe, Sean, Eunice and Doho in one group.”

The children were not sure about this proposal so they continued to share other suggestions.

  • Olivia “I have a different idea. My idea is I want to do the little tree. Have water to the tree. Little tree to be a big tree.”

  • Tracey “Who is sitting good, they can put the water.”
  • Kenan “two people are changing.”
  • Olivia refers to the helper of the day chart and suggests “Kenan and Noah go first. Because he is the helper.”
  • Noah stands up to explain the plan further and reiterate what Olivia suggested.
  • Patrick “Mason and Noah will go tomorrow.”

The children decided that this was the best suggestion, and so a plan was created.  They agreed to take turns to water the plants. We heard the children talk about growth and change, and what plants ‘need’ in order to grow. Many of the children were eager to take responsibility to care for the plants while others listened to the debate.

We noticed how the children shared and negotiated ideas. Their suggestions were considered and in the end, they were able to agree on a plan to care for the plants. The children continue to wonder what type of plants they were growing. It was hard to tell as there were no leaves or fruits on the plants.  

 

Our learning continues….

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)

Research Skills

  • Ask or express through play questions that can be researched.
  • Use all senses to observe and notice details.

Communication Skills

  • Listen actively and respectfully to others’ ideas.
  • Participate in conversations.
  • Negotiate ideas and knowledge with peers and teachers.

Living things

Students understand that living things have basic needs, including food and water.

Leaf Man

Distance Learning Provocations:

Focus: Communication Skills and Research Skills

Follow this link to listen to the story Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert

You can choose to do any (or all) of the following with your leaves:

– Go on a walk to find leaves. Create your own leaf man. Tell us about your creation.

– Draw a leaf (or leaves). Remember to observe and document like a scientist, details are important.

– Measure a leaf. Use different materials such as bottle caps, Lego or stones to measure the length or size of your leaf.

– Sort the leaves into groups. How will you organise your groups? By shape? colour? size? Tap

Student Responses:

Noticing Symmetry in Nature

We have observed the children exploring symmetry through their play with loose parts. They have been creating designs, pictures and patterns that are symmetrical. Some of the children’s block-work structure designs were also symmetrical.

Observing this exploration into symmetry, Ms. Jo presented images of structures to the children.

We know that designers sometimes get their ideas from nature with their observing eyes. One of the ideas they get is to use different lines in their design. For example, some designers use lines of symmetry when designing architecture. The children noticed the line of symmetry in the buildings the teacher presented.

Based on students’ interest in symmetry, we planned a visit to the playground, bamboo forest and garden plots to see if we could find symmetry in nature. We know that conducting research involves looking closely to find out more, asking questions to understand, sharing ideas to make connections, and using our senses to understand the world around us.

A flexible film with a single line was provided to help the children with their research. They wondered around the different spaces, looking for evidence of symmetry.

The children found leaves, seeds, sticks and other objects that had symmetrical lines. They were excited to see that even feathers could be symmetrical!

We wonder where our inquiry into symmetry might take us next!

Research and Inquiry Skills

  • Pose and respond to questions
  • Gather information from a variety of sources – places and materials.
  • Use all senses to observe and notice details.
  • Notice relationships and patterns.
  • Share observations and ideas.

The Solar System

Euijin sat at the writing table with paper and coloured pencils.

He was immersed in his task while others engaged in conversation around him.

When Euijin finished colouring his picture, he showed the teacher his picture. He began to explain his drawing of the solar system, naming the planets one by one. Next, he took a pencil and labelled the solar system in English.

 

Euijin’s interest in the solar system led to a visit to the library. Ms. Tina helped us look for books about planets and the solar system. We know that conducting research involves observing carefully, questioning, gathering information and sharing understandings in multiple ways. We wonder if Euijin’s curiosity about the solar system would lead to an inquiry into how the world works, motion and gravity.

Structural Engineering

“We ask ourselves what materials we could introduce that would take the children’s research further.” Anna Rainieri #reggiochildren

The loose parts table was set up as a structural design space. The provocation invited the children to create tall structures.  

As the children moved through the space, they began to add blocks on the cork-boards. On the second day, a group of children began to design and build with purpose. They engaged in conversation as they created their models. @O was inspired by the image of the Great Wall of China. She looked closely at the image, noticing the different shapes and sizes of cubes as she carefully placed the blocks on her structure. She explored concepts of balance, size, space and beauty.

Two other children joined in to explore the materials. @A used his imagination to create his own structure, using a range of loose parts for his design. He first placed the cubes on the outer edges of the cork-board.

Then, @A began to add the walls within. He chose several loose parts with intention, placing them carefully on his structure. He continued to talk to his friends as he worked on his structure. Finally, he included a label with his name to communicate ownership.@T worked carefully and intently. She asked if she could add shells to her design. She balanced small cubes and shells on her structure. Every addition was included thoughtfully. She then used a piece of recycled paper to write her name and placed it next to her structure. She beamed with pride at her engineering.

The different creations presented were unique and revealed each child’s creativity and research. Together, they explored concepts of shape, measurement, balance, size, structure, design, architecture and aesthetic beauty. Their work together called for focus, care and collaboration. We wonder how the children might continue to explore these concepts and skills further.

Design- Making: Through this experience, the children were:

  • Choosing and using materials with intention
  • Using trial and error to make changes, solving problems, and incorporating new ideas from self or others

Powerful Messages about Waste

How might we communicate a powerful message?

How might powerful images communicate important information? 

The students were invited to create the own powerful messages. They used their notes from previous research to think about the important information they wanted to share with others. The students were encouraged to reflect on the issue of ‘waste‘, and think about the action they could take as a result of their learning.

The students went through the writing process to create a first draft. Then, they revised and edited their writing in order to publish their final piece of work. Next, a drawing that communicated a powerful message was created. Finally, we used a green screen to produce a video. The students continued to work on speaking confidently, expressing ideas and information in order to inform and engage an audience.

Presenting the Prototypes!

The students have been working on their prototypes over the last few weeks. They were ready to present their prototypes to the class. 

Success Criteria

Then, the students reflected on their learning journey.

Waste – Data Collection

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.

Design Challenge – Obstacles and Prototypes

If you could design any structure in the world, what would it be?

The students began to create their design plans, labelling and providing important information about the ‘purpose’ of their structure.

Challenges and Obstacles:

The students shared their first plans with a learning buddy. They interviewed each other, asking challenging and thought-provoking questions about the design, materials and its purpose.

Then, they were encouraged to think about the ‘challenges’ or obstacles they foresee in their own design. They identified this using a red sticker. The students presented their challenges to the class.

Their next step would be to create a prototype of their design. They would need to apply the knowledge they have about materials, and use the skills they have gained through the different design challenges they have experienced during the unit, to complete the task.

Conceptual Understandings:

– we solve problems during the creative process by thinking critically and imaginatively

– designs grow out of natural curiosity 

The Researcher

The students are deep into their research, finding out, sorting through, and making connections between the data they gather.

They have conducted surveys and interviews to gather information from a variety of primary and secondary sources, to learn more about the concept ‘connection’.

 

The students have been referring non-fiction texts, videos and talking to others about ‘transformation’ and ‘change’.

They document their learning on chat papers and books, drawing, note-talking, and writing about their discoveries.

Through their research, they continue to see how technology has ‘changed over time’ and the ‘impact’ of these changes on our own lives.

The students continue to piece together their information, understanding that we live in a world of interacting systems (‘networks‘ and ‘connections‘) in which the actions of any individual element affect others.

 

We continue to explore how our choices advance technological changes and the impact of these choices on our lifestyle and environment. Through our research, the students continue to explore how Technology and development have the power to transform peoples’ lives’.

Key ideas we have developed as a result of our explorations are:

How we play games has changed as video games have become easier to use. You can carry the games anywhere you want. A long time ago we played a lot of games outdoors, like tag games. Now people play more games on devices. Now we can play games on other devices like, laptops, iPads, and phones. Video games can be learning games so they can help us with spellings, languages or math.

Negatives:

  • If you do not have WIFI then you can’t play the games on devices.
  • Your eyesight gets worse because we are looking at devices.
  • Playing games on devices does not help your body, you need to move.
  • You need to charge the games using electricity. If you don’t have electricity, then you cannot play it.
  • Devices take a long time to decompose, and this is bad for nature.  

 

The way we communicate has changed because we can call or text message with phones, iPads, app watches, computers. We can send messages quickly and easily. We can share ideas with people. We can take tests quickly on Seesaw, we can get feedback from our teachers and then correct our work quickly online. Sending letters or messages through email is faster.

Negatives:

  • First you need to find the people you want to talk to before you use apps to chat.
  • If you don’t know the people, then it can be unsafe or dangerous.
  • You need WIFI to make it work.
  • If you spend too much time on the devices, then your eyesight will get worse.

The way we serve and prepare food at restaurants has changed with the introduction of robots. Using the robots make it quicker and easier to prepare and serve the food. You can serve more people when you have robots. We can do many things at the same time because we use robots to help us work more efficiently.

Negatives:

  • If the robots break, then the people in the restaurant won’t be able to get the work done.
  • The robots are expensive so they might be hard to buy.
  • If you always use the robots, then people might be not be good at doing those jobs.
  • Sometimes the robots might not work because there is a problem with the battery or the WIFI.
  • It takes a lot of time to make and programme the robots.
  • When we don’t need the robot anymore then we throw it away and then it goes into nature, and it is hard to decompose because there are wires, metal and plastic that take a long time to decompose.
  • Robots need power to work, it takes electricity. Electricity is made with oils and that is not good for the earth and nature. It also causes air pollution, and this is bad for the animals and humans. We breathe the bad air and that is bad for our bodies.
  • The robot might explode and that can hurt the people and nature.

 

How we listen to music has changed as we can use electricity to make the music players work. We can use apps on the phones to listen to music.

Negatives:

  • if you always listen to loud music, it will affect your hearing.
  • Some musical instruments need electricity to work

The ways we organise and choose books have changed because of technology used with the library systems. It helps us search for books quickly. You can return the books quickly.

Negatives:

  • Less time to talk to people face to face because there are devices to help people.
  • It can be bad for nature because you use laptops, and these are hard to decompose.
  • It takes a lot of time to programme the system.
  • You need to use electricity to make the system work. If you do not have electricity, then you cannot look for books.
  • You need people to help you use the library system.

 

How we clean our homes have changed because we use robots to do the work. It is more efficient because you can do other things while the robot is cleaning your house.

Negatives:

  • Robots have sensors and if there is water then the robot might not work. It can catch on fire.
  • The cleaner can get stuck and not work when it gets entangled with fabric, carpets, or objects.

How we create electricity has changed over time. We make electricity by using water, wind and sun. A long time ago we used water and wind turbines to make electricity. We used trees to cut out a wheel shape. The wheels have some space, and the water gets into it. Then we can make electricity. The wheel is like a spinning wheel and then it connects to a motor and it turns. When it spins it gets more power, and the power become electricity. Now, we use solar power to make electricity. It is quicker and the solar panels are waterproof and you can use them a long time. You don’t have to pay for electricity. Wind turbines can be made under water and on land. Windmills can be used too. The wings on the windmills spin and make electricity. Just the same as solar panels, the windmills can make electricity quickly.

Negatives:

  • When we use wind turbines it only makes a little bit of electricity.
  • Animals live in trees so if we use too many trees to make these machines then it is not good for nature.
  • When we use too much electricity it is bad for nature as it takes a lot of power to make electricity. And in some building they make electricity and it makes a lot of smoke and that is bad for nature.
  • If you touch the plugs when you have wet hands, you can get hurt.
  • There can be explosions because we use electricity.

The way we fight fires has changed because fire trucks are stronger and faster. The fire alarms to tell people to get to safety. We use a phone to call the firefighters. We use a fire extinguisher to put out the fires. The chemicals are inside, and they come out as soaps, air, or liquids to put out the fires. We use robots to put out fire. The water sprinklers have sensors, and it will spray water if there is a fire.  

Negatives:

  • If the fire alarm is broken, then we won’t know there is a fire. If the batteries do not work the alarms will not work.
  • If there is a fire and the system or devices explode, then the fire can become worse.

 

Using computers has changed the way to search for information. We use apps on computers to get information and search like on Google. We use computers in the Library, to have online meetings, check the news and the weather. We also use computers to do work, connect it to the TV and watch movies even change the language. We can use computers to play games. A long time ago the computers were in big rooms and then they became smaller and smaller. People had to go inside the computer to make them work. They evolved so you can take them to different places. A long time ago we could only write on the computers.

Negatives:

  • When we work on the computers for too long, your eyes will get red and you might need to wear glasses.
  • Computers are made of many things and some of the things are in nature. They are bad for nature.
  • Computers take a long time to decompose.
  • If you are still learning how to use the computer you might break it.
  • If you are using a computer every day, and after about 5 years it gets old. You need a new one and it costs a lot of money.
  • When the computer CPU is weak then there is a blue background and there is a message that says that the computer has got stuck. Then you need a new computer.

Design Challenge – The SNOOP Family Home

The Brief:

Your task is to PLAN and then use any type of Lego or any other building material to CREATE a home for the SNOOP family. They have made a list of requirements. Think of how you might design and create a strong, safe and beautiful home for them.

The home:

  • should be 2 floors high (don’t forget the staircase!)
  • each floor should have 2 rooms
  • will need a chimney as they want a fireplace
  • must have lots of windows to let the cool breeze in
  • should have a beautiful garden with two big trees
  • should include an outdoor kennel for the their pet dog ‘Woof’
  • must have a two-door garage to park their two cars
  • an outdoor pool

1) Make a PLAN on paper.

2) Use building materials to CREATE the structure. Make sure you think of ALL the requirements to make a safe, strong and beautiful home.

What do we need to know about building structures?

We watched ‘Look at That Building!: A First Book of Structures‘ by Scot Ritchie. 

This wonderful picture book introduces young learners to basic construction concepts through the eyes of five friends keen on building a doghouse for their pet pooch, Max. Many important concepts, and vocabulary are explored through this simple picture book. 

Snoop Family Home Designs and Final Structures

 

What Are Structures?  

We documented our initial ideas about structures

  • Seolah “Like a building. Like a bridge.” 
  • Yuchan “Some building that is manmade.”
  • Hyun Seo “It can be high and low and it is like a building.”    
  • Agata “A structure can be a tower.”  
  • Lawrence “Something that is manmade to help people.”  
  • Ethan “Some structures are hard to break.”  
  • Seungbin: Structure is like a building.
  • Amber: Structures sometimes can be tall. They build it to be tall.
  • Eirinn: Structures can be small or tall.
  • Ella: It’s something that people build to go in or to look at.
  • Fedo: Structures can have different shapes.
  • Yuki: Structure is building.
  • Gihyeon “Something that a car can go on, it can go somewhere like over the river or ocean. We can go to in the elevator and up to the tower.  
  • Hayoon “Can be a tower or a building or a castle and bridges.”  
  • Alejandra “Like a building that people can go in and play or eat. Then you can stay in the same place without leaving the building. You need a ticket to go into Disneyland. That castle is only for looking and playing inside. Kids and adults might want to know what an actual castle looks like in real life so then they want to go in. You can do some activities in there.”  
  • Diego “A place that people need structures because they want to live in there like a hotel. If they go to another county then they can live in a hotel.  
  • Grace “Something hard or something can go inside or something you cannot go inside. Disney castle is a structure you can go into. You can’t go into structures to rest and eat snacks like the Eiffel tower.  

Next, listened to the story ‘Iggy Peck, Architect‘ by Andrea Beaty. 

Then, we continued to add to our ideas.   

  • Seolah “Like a famous building.” 
  • Yuchan “A model of something.  
  • Hyun Seo “Something is manmade and they use materials to make it.”    
  • Agata “A building could be a model. They might be building cities for other people to go into the structures. They can be outside the city. If you are in a city and close to the building you can go there easily but if you need to go into a building you need to travel to a city.”  
  • Lawrence “It can help people to cross the ocean or go to outer space like a rocket. They use metal to make the rocket.”  
  • Ethan “Some structures are like towers and towers might have metal and it is very hard so it is hard to break. They use nails and put the nails in the metal and connect things.”  
  • Seungbin: Structures could use any material like diapers, sticks, or blocks. 
  • Amber: Structure can be made out of anything. Structures can be made of art. You can make a structure with clay, just like art work. 
  • Eirinn: You can make structures out of lego, sticks, and even fruits. Buildings can be old and new. Some buildings are old-style, but they can be newly built. 
  • Ella: Structures can be things that help us go in or keep safe. There are many purposes or reasons for people to build structures. There are many famous structures in the world, such as landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, Eiffel Tower, the Great Sphinx and so on.  
  • Fedo: Structures can be made with different materials like wood, stone, sticks and everything else that they can have. 
  • Yuki: Structures can be made from concrete, just like buildings that people live in Japan. Structures can be hard things. 
  • Hayoon “We can make structures with almost everything!” 
  • Grace “You can use materials around you like tree trunks, sticks or mud.” 
  • Alejandra “You can also use materials like pillows and stuffed animals and glue to build structures. You can use chalk and pencils.” 
  • Gihyeon “We don’t always use glue, we can also use honey to stick things together.”
    Diego “Structures can not just be bridges and buildings.”  

This led to a discussions about structures with the students sharing examples of structures

Then, the students went off to design and create like architects

Paper Power Challenge!

Explore materials and their properties to build a BRIDGE!

1) Watch the video for instructions.

You will need:

  • one A4 regular paper (NO Card)
  • some books
  • some coins

2) Design and build your own bridge.

3) Reflect:

  • on what you did (the design of your structure)
  • on how it helped you hold the coins

 

Student Responses!

Informational Reports

Over the last few weeks, the students have been conducting their research and creating models and books to share important messages about nature, and our role in creating environmental balance. They have been using their knowledge of non fiction literature to create informational reports.

 

Informational Report Checklist

 

 

Writers..

  • write informative texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
  • develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.
  • use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.
  • conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
  • gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources

What could you do to create balance in our environment?

Living Things and Ecosystems

  • How might we conduct our own research to develop and share our theories about the world?
  • How might we explore the interconnectedness of living things and the integral role we play in maintaining balance?
  • What action can we take as a result of our learning?

The students have approached and engaged in their research in many different ways. We noticed that some students dived right in, deciding on the living things they were eager to learn more about while a few students observed others engaged in research before deciding on how they might approach their own learning.

The students watched videos, read books and engaged in conversations with other children and adults to learn more about their chosen project (living thing). The students have been taking notes and then making plans on how they might share their learning with others. They used large paper to document their thoughts, questions and possible direction. Their notes included key information, drawings, facts and sketches that directed their next steps. They highlighted key unit vocabulary as they documented big ideas. 

  • A “I didn’t know that some sharks were from eggs and others were like babies” stated one student.

The children chose to share their learning in two different ways:

  • using BookCreator to make their own non-fiction book
  • creating a 3Dimentional model (triorama) of a habitat and the different living things that exist in an ecosystem

While engaging in their projects, the students reflected on the following:

  • What type of ecosystem would I create?
  • What do the different living things in the ecosystem ‘need’ to survive?
  • How do they live and grow?
  • How can I make sure there is ‘balance’ in my ecosystem?

We noticed that the students thought deeply about the interconnectedness and impact of the different living things in their project. As they planned, designed and created, the adults pushed their thinking further by asking thoughtful, provoking questions, and giving them feedback and suggestions.

  • How would you make sure…?
  • What impact will… have on…?
  • Have you considered what might happen if…?

The students paused to reflect on their own learning journey, thinking about the challenges and big ideas they have uncovered through their own research. 

We noticed how the students engaged with the different materials and tools. They were thoughtful about the choices they made, seeking to find the most suitable materials and making conscious decisions about the way they present their ideas, to make sure that they can tell a story of living things through their project.

  • L “I want to use sticks from the garden to make my trees.”
  • A “I can use real sand to show the seashore. And I can use the shells I picked up from San Ya.”
  • D “I want to hang my bird up so that it looks like it is flying.”

Through their work, the students are learning that research involves:

  • asking or designing relevant questions of interest that can be researched
  • making plans for finding necessary information
  • gathering information from a variety of primary and secondary sources
  • using all senses to find and notice relevant details
  • recording observations by drawing, note taking, charting, writing statements
  • sorting and categorising information
  • noticing relationships and patterns
  • presenting information in a variety of ways
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