Category: Voice & Choice

Creating the Maze

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The team looked at the games the Grade 4 have made for the Early Years students. Oxford and Jeongyoon decided to make a maze board game together.

Jeongyoon suggested visiting Ms. Jo’s design room to look for some materials. They first cut two pieces of cardboard that were the exact size. Then, they taped them together to make a large base.

The team worked closely together and talked to each other about how they wanted to make the game board look more beautiful, which shows their ability to collaborate on tasks.

Oxford used a pencil to mark and draw the size of the paper they needed to cover the base. Then, the team cut out the paper and pasted it on the cardboard. When they finished, they realised that the edges of the paper didn’t paste well enough, so they decided to put more tape on the edges to improve their base.

As they drew the maze, they thought of creative ways to design the different features and mechanisms of the maze.

After carefully considering the different materials they could use for the build, they decided to use corrugated paper. However, Oxford discovered that the corrugated paper boundary wall was not strong enough and decided to use cardboard to reinforce the wall.

As they continue with their build, we look forward to seeing the creative, innovative and complex engineering required to complete their board game.

A New App

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

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

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

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

 

Snowman

by Beomjun

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

Pokemon

by Eunbyul

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

 

Fighting Car

by Eli

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

 

Green People

by Oxford

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

 

Boat

by Jeongyoon

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

What is a Student-Led Conference?

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Student-led conferences are a celebration of learning that involves the student and the family. On this day, students take ownership of their learning and share their learning journeys and progress with their families. The SLC’s encourage students to think and talk about their learning with knowledge and confidence. Students use a Student-Led Conference Passport, to help them navigate through the day.

The Shape Test

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

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

The team wondered:

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

The First Stories

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How might we capture beauty?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Garden Plots – Making Decisions 

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The gardening group (composed of student representatives from each class) gathered to discuss their project. Their task for the day was to document what was still growing in the garden and how they might organise the garden plots.

Thirteen gardeners joined the meeting with Ms. Hannah. They began by revisiting their agreements. The gardeners reflected on what it means to be a respectful listener “We talk one at a time and listen to others as they share their ideas.”

Then, they reflected on what they did during the previous session.

  • Emma “We don’t have many plants.”
  • Oliver “Some plants survive when it was snowing, it means when it’s snowing they are not very scared of the cold. The big plant is dead because it’s not cold protection.”

The team wondered about the ‘temperature’ and what plants ‘need’ to ‘survive’ and thrive.

Which plants might grow in the different seasons?

Which ones will survive?

  • Jacob “Because that big plants got too much water and it would die and too much worm pee pee it will die too.”
  • Logan “Earthworm poo, could it help?”
  • Jenny “Not too much water, not too dry (in Mandarin)”
  • Adelyn “Not too much sun”
  • Oliver “If you get a dragon fruit then dig a whole and then a plant will grow and the flower will grow and it is actually a dragon fruit. If you use the outside part of the strawberry seed and put it in the dirt it will grow strawberries. I know how to grow a watermelon to a shape that you want. If you get a square shape cube and dig a hole and then open it and then close it and then it will be the shape.”
  • Albert “If you grow watermelon then you will get a watermelon tree.
  • Keira: “In my home, there are orange trees.”
  • Jacob “Watermelon black and watermelon white seeds. People can eat the white seeds and plant the black seeds.”
  • Emma: “At my home, I have a paprika tree.
  • Albert: “At my home, I have a bamboo tree.”

Teacher “This is a shared space. We have 5 classes. Which means we need to find a way to share the plots. How might we do this?”

The gardeners gathered their clipboards with paper and writing tools. They looked at the plants in the plot and began to draw to share their observations and thinking.

Teacher” How do you know something is still alive?”

  • Emma “Because the seeds were still in the mud. And it didn’t fall out. Some was out but some not.”

We noticed that the team considered the size and shape of the plots when documenting their thinking. The gardeners were encouraged to think about and explain how they knew the plants were still alive. They used their senses to observe carefully, sharing their theories about the growth of plants and the weather. As they visualised the space, they began to share suggestions on how the plots may be allocated to the different classes in the Early Years.

The gardeners gathered to share what they had learned and to decide on what they would do next.

  • Oliver “One is a bigger plot and one is smaller.”
  • Sophia “Prek-K1 has more children so they use the bigger plot and K2 use the smaller plot.” (in Mandarin)
  • Emma “Also we need to plant so many new plants because only in some places there are plants.”

The gardeners agreed with Sophia’s suggestion.

  • Emma “PreK-K1 has 3 classes and K2 has 2 classes.”
  • Albert “The bigger one to PreK K1 and the smaller one to K2.”
  • George “One class has one space.”

The children took a vote and agreed with George’s idea.

The team’s suggestions were based on the number of classes in each grade level and the number of students in each of them. The teachers wondered how they might encourage the gardeners to show the division of a space.

The Octopus House: A Collaborative Design Project

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

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

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

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

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

Games

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

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

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

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

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

Why do we need rules in the game?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Story of Paper

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

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

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

What can we use origami for?

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

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

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

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

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

The Language of Lego

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

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

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

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

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

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

How might we use Lego to tell our stories?

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

What more do we need to tell a story?

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

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

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

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

Beautiful

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What makes something ‘beautiful’?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Ocean Project

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

What colour is the ocean?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

After completing her painting,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How to make Banana Cookies!

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One child was excited about bringing his Nana to school one morning. She lives in Australia but visited him during the Chinese New Year holiday. Over the holidays he planned an activity that he could do with Nana in school. They decided to show the children how to make banana cookies.

He bought the ingredients with Nana and then tested his recipe at home. Then, he made a video to share his process with his friends. When school reopened after the holidays, the child invited Nana and his Aunty to school as they were the cookie experts.

Next, we had to work out how many cookies we needed.

  • Motong “We counted how many cookies we need to make.”

  • Jeongyoon “We needed 29 because 4+5=9 and 1+1=2 so we need 29. 15+15=30 so 15+14=29.”

Through their conversations, we noticed that the children were thinking about the operations of addition and subtraction and how they are related to each other.

  • Liz “We made banana cookies.”
  • Motong “We make cookies and Eli’s Nana helped us to make.”

  • Eli “We are putting coconut oil in the bowl and it is good for the cookies because it’s very yummy.”
  • Lydia “We mix the things to make the banana cookie.”
  • Oliver “The cookie was almost finished so I put one little drop of the dough on the paper and then I put it in the oven.”
  • Motong “We put the banana cookies in the oven because it will change the cookies when it is hot.”
  • Oliver “It turns browner.”

The children were exploring the impact of temperature and how it could change textures and substances.

  • Wyatt “We made cookies to take to K2B and ate it.”
  • Motong “We draw how we make the banana cookies.”
  • Eli “We used numbers and words.”
  • Motong “We used spaces (lines and squares) because we know that is 1 thing.”

We observed the children using several ideas to share their ideas on paper. They used a combination of drawing and writing to narrate and tell about the events in the order in which they occurred.

We paused to talk about the K2 writers’ drawings. The children noted that some writers used numbers to show the steps needed to complete a task while others used spaces or drew around a picture to share the same idea (procedures/steps). Some writers used arrows to show ‘the next steps’ in the process. The children noted that including labels with the drawings helps others ‘read’ the information.

Some children used sentences to share their ideas and others used lots of details in their drawings, all important crafts that good writers use to share messages and information with others.

 

What can we grow in the garden plots?

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

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

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

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

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

Our inquiry continues…

Learning Outcomes: We are learning that we can…

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

The Gift – Coming together to build and create. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s) 

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

NOT A BOX!

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We read the story ‘Not A Box‘ by Antoinette Portis.

The little rabbit is playing with a box, and an unseen adult asks why they are doing different things with it. The rabbit continues to say it’s not a box. It’s a… rocket, burning building, race car, etc…

Inspired by this story the children used their imagination to turn this simple box into anything!

  • Eli “It’s a transformer.”
  • Eunybul “It’s a rocket.”
  • Motong “It’s a boat.”
  • Oxford “It’s a house.”
  • Oliver “It’s a truck.”
  • Wyatt “It’s a race car.”
  • Howie “It’s a shelf.”
  • Liz“I think it’s a bird nest.”
  • Lydia “It’s a hotel.”
  • Morning “It’s a submarine.”

What can these boxes become?

The Paper Airplanes

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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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

What did we notice?

What theories do we have?

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

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

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

The Garden Project

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

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

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

The Gardening Team have decided to:

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

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

We look forward to their next steps!     

Ramps: The Prototypes

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

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

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

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

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

Design

Through this experience, the children had opportunities to:

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

Design Learning Outcomes:

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

Nests: How can we help?

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

The children revisited some of their past observations and theories.

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

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

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

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

 

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

Storytelling Through  Story Workshop

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

What is Story Workshop?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Watch this space! 

The Pipes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Egg Experiment – A Story of Research

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A Story of Research

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Designing Ramps

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

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

The children discussed the ideas presented in the images.

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

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

What more can we learn about slides?

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

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

What do designers and engineers need to consider when creating?

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

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

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

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

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

– Eli “We can ask people!”

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

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

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

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

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

We are learning that we can:

– use all senses to observe and notice details

– gather information from a variety of sources

– sort and categorise information

Organising the Shed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The plastic like the drawer…

Oliver “That is too hard and too heavy.”

The plastic that is used to cover the food container…

  • Oxford and Howie “It breaks easily.”

The plastic pouch…

  • Eli “It is too small”

The plastic folder…

 “It’s too big.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Grade 5 Design Project

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

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

Stay tuned for an update!

Revisiting a Project: The Bike Park Signs

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Revisiting a Project

We looked at the bikes outside our playground.

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

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

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

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

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

We went back to reorganise the bikes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Rainbow Nest: A Plan for Play

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

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

The children explained that the old nest was:

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

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

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

The children began to record their ideas in their notebooks.

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

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

Others recorded the possible activities in the space.

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

 

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

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

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

We could use the space:

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

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

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

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

Block Play with Howie and Eli

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

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

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

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

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

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

Creating Essential Agreements

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

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

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

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

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

Some of the key points were:

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

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

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

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

Writing Workshop: Ideas for Writing

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The children have been writing and creating their own stories during ‘Writing Workshop’. We gathered to brainstorm ideas for writing.

“What do writers like to write about?” 

The children drew their ideas on post-it notes. Then, they discussed their ideas, sharing more information about the different topics or experiences for writing.

Based on the conversation, we decided how we wanted to categorise our ideas for writing.

Writers write about:

Things they know a lot about…

  • Bunnies
  • Birds
  • Lego
  • Crabs
  • Fish

Things that happened (to them)…

  • When I made a sandcastle
  • When I broke my iPad
  • Family
  • When I went to the flower market
  • Playing with blocks

Imaginary stories…

  • An octopus in the house

Things that happen (to someone else)…

  • When a tiger caught the person

We wonder how we might use some of these ideas for writing when we create books and stories during Writing Workshop time.

When creating and writing we:

  • Use our imagination and experience to tell stories.
  • Explore how ideas are conveyed through drawings, labels and symbols.
  • Talk about ideas we have thought about or drawn.
  • Celebrate creativity.
  • Learn from each other.

The Rainbow Nest

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What experiences might we have in our new space?

What are some exciting things that might happen?

The children began to share their ideas about the different types of play, and the materials they may use in the new nest.

  • Eli suggested that we put some bird seeds on the table at the center of the table to invite the birds in the EY playground to visit the space.
  • Morning suggested that we include some bird homes.
  • Oliver was excited about the possibility of birds visiting the space and imagined the birds would then bring sticks to make their nests. Would there be any eggs?
  • Liz thought hard about the new space and wondered if we could grow some grass around the nest.
  • Oliver built upon her idea, suggesting that we ask Ms. Hannah for some seeds and grow some beautiful flowers around the edge of the nest.
  • Lydia She suggested adding some flowers on the table too.
  • Jeongyoon decided that playing hide and seek in the space would be fun.
  • Motong and Wyatt asked if we could add materials in the space so we could draw and paint in the nest.
  • Oxford, Wyatt and Oliver thought it would be a great space to have a picnic snack.

Developing agreements for the space.

Next, we discussed the idea of food in the space.

  • What would we need to remember if we brought food into the nest?
  • How might we keep this space clean?

After some thought, the children discussed the need for agreements. They didn’t want food on the floor as the nest would get messy and people would not want to sit in a dirty space.

  • Oliver suggested that we only draw on paper and not on the benches. This will help us look after the nest. Oliver “We need a door window and a roof so no cat can come over.”

The children went outdoors with Ms. Eileen and Ms. Jo.

Ms. Jo “How many people do you think can fit in the nest?”

in the nest at one time. The children used their mathematical knowledge to estimate.

They wondered how many children might be able to play

  • Oliver “I think 2, because I counted.”
  • Eli “I think 22. I think this is a big, big space.”
  • Oxford “14 children.”
  • Lydia “6 children. They can sit around (in Mandarin).”
  • Jeongyoon “22”
  • Morning “10 children. Or 6 or 7.”

Over the next few weeks, we will continue to observe the space to document the play and learning experiences that take place in the Rainbow Nest.

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)

  • use discussion and play to generate new ideas and investigations
  • seek information
  • ask or express through play questions that can be researched
  • listen actively and respectfully to others’ ideas and listen to information
  • participate in conversations

What do you like to do at school?

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We gathered to talk about what we love to do at school. We began by reading ‘The Pigeon Has to Go to School’ by Mo Willems.

Why does the Pigeon have to go to school? He already knows everything! And what if he doesn’t like it? What if he learns TOO MUCH!?!

In this wonderful story, the pigeon explores the different learning options and tries to decide why school might be important.

The story helped us think about the things WE do at school and why these routines or tasks might be important to us.

Does it help us explore new friendships? Does it help us learn about different materials places and people? Will it help us learn new skills?

The children were invited to think about their new space and what they might like to explore while they are at school.

They expressed their ideas through their drawings.

  • Working in the garden and planting flowers
  • Playing with Lego, play animals, dragons and dinosaurs
  • Playing with friends
  • Eating lunch
  • Building with train tracks and blocks
  • Drawing the animals that live under the sea

We wonder how these interests might help us learn more about ourselves, others and the world around us.

We wonder how we might stretch our ideas, perspectives and skills to learn something new. 

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)

  • use discussion and play to generate new ideas and investigations
  • listen actively and respectfully to others’ ideas and listen to information
  • express oneself using words and sentences
  • use mark-marking to convey meaning

The NEW NEST!

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

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

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

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

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

We were ready to unveil the playground equipment.

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

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

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

Oskar G “I don’t see Rosemary.”

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

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

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

The Bike Park Signs

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

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

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

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

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

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

The New Nest Design

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Following on from our last meeting about the nest where we gave Ms. Jacqui suggestions for the design, Mr. Arek and his team presented a first draft design of the nest to the children in the Early Years. We gathered to discuss the design and give Mr. Arek some feedback and suggestions for consideration.

What we like…

  • Doho “We can see the flowers. The colours are good and have flowers and the nest has a chair. And grass because the flowers can grow up.”
  • Tracey “The nest is beautiful because it’s clean.”
  • Kenan “The nest is good. We can have a picnic.”
  • Joon “The nest is like a rainbow.”
  • Sanghyeok “Have a desk and the flowers, this is good.”
  • Sean “The flowers are good and we can sit down and eat the snack because there are chairs. And we can draw.”

Everyone likes the flowers on the table.

Everyone likes the flowers around the bench.

Everyone likes to have the table.

Suggestions

  • Mason “I think we need to make the nest bigger. And we can have a picnic in it and have some water to drink in it.
  • Allen “I like the inside because the floor is flat. We don’t like the wood chips because its bumpy and it makes us fall down.

Wonderings

  • Eunice “Can we have a bird house?”
  • Sanghyeok “Can we have small animals in there, like birds and butterflies?
  • Mason Can we have a bed in the nest then somebody can sleep in it? Can we make a bigger nest?” Can we have a door? Can we put grass on the floor?
  • Allen Can we put the picnic mat? Can we make it bigger?”
  • Noah “How does the bench part stand up when there are no legs?”
  • Tracey “Why is it a rainbow inside?”
  • Sanghyeok “Why are there flowers on the table?”
  • Eunice “Can we have cushions on the bench?”

Student Led Conferences

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‘The learning belongs to the students, not the teacher. We are supporting our students to take ownership of their learning and to be able to think and talk about their learning with knowledge and confidence. When students know how they learn best and are able to reflect on their learning, they are able to advocate for themselves.’ (Parent Survival Guide to Student-Led Conferences, NIS)

The Student-Led Conference is a special day in the school calendar. Throughout the year, the students have decided what learning stories they would include in their ‘treasure box’, that showcase their growth, learning and development.

It is a special day for the teachers, as they watch the students take ownership over their learning. In order to do this with purpose and confidence, they first practiced this task with a friend.

The Bug Hotels

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We have been discussing and planning where and how to place the bug hotels. We want to make sure the insects that live in them feel safe.

We needed to make the signs to let everyone know where our hotels are on the playground. The children decided to make the signs using wood, as it can be kept outdoors in all types of weather. 2 children went over to the Design room to use the wood burning tool to write ‘K2A’ on the two signs.  

 

Then, we went outdoors to place the two bug hotels. The teams decided where they wanted to place them so that many bugs make them their homes.

The children took all the bugs they have collected in the classroom out to the hotels. They gently placed the worms, pill bugs and beetles inside the different spaces.

We are excited about the hotels and wonder which little creatures will visit the bug hotels. We wonder if we need to make some signs to let the other children know how to look after the bug hotels.

Our project continues…

Early Years Gathering

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Shed Project – Installing the Hooks

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Over the past few months, we have been planning and organising the Shed.

After a planning meeting with Ms. Jacqui, the project team decided to order hooks for the pinboards in the shed. After their data collection, they placed an order for the hooks.

The hooks for the shed arrived through the post. The team worked to attach them to the pinboards.

Another team went to the shed to count the number of hooks and signs we need. They recorded their information on the iPad.

Then, created labels with images and numbers to let the children know how to sort and store the different items in the shed.

While planning and organising ‘The Shed’, the children took responsibility and ownership of their learning spaces and materials.

They worked in teams, sharing ideas, listening to different perspectives and working together for a purpose. They used their thinking skills to explore possibilities, to reimagine spaces and solve problems in creative ways.

The children used their knowledge of number and data handling when collecting and sorting information. Discussing and presenting ideas, documenting their learning and using what they know about signs and labels to inform others, developed their literacy skills.

Homes – The Bug Hotel

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During the field trip to the Insect and Reptile Museum, the children went into nature to collect natural materials to make a ‘Bug Hotel’.

They worked in teams to make 2 homes for the bugs, decorating them to attract more living things.

When we returned, the children discussed their ideas for the ‘Bug Hotels’. They talked about the different materials they used, and wondered what types of insects might want to live in the hotels.

The children have noticed many different types of insects and littles creatures in the playground. They think the ants, bees, pill bugs, beetles, spiders and butterflies might want to make the hotel their home. Growing more flowers and plants will encourage the bugs to visit the playground.

The two groups gathered to decide where they want to place their bug houses. They discussed their ideas, trying to agree on the locations. This was challenging as they all had their own preferences.

They had to listen to each other, consider different perspectives and then reach a final decision.

One team decided to place their bug hotel on a tree and the other in the garden near the flowers.

Next, we discussed the different options we have for signage. Paper and card were suggested. However, paper and card are not suitable materials for outdoor signs as they get wet. The children decided to use wood to make the signs.

Over the next few days, they will work together to create the signs and place the hotels and signs in the correct locations across the playground. They are excited to see which insects make the bug hotels their home. 

We know that we share our playground with many different living things. We will continue to use our observational skills to notice and document our thinking to help us make decisions about the environment.

Organising the Shed: Sorting and Data Collection  

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A team of children went to the shed to begin sorting the toys. They placed tubs for the sand toys, put the kitchen and cooking items on one rack and all the trucks and diggers on the shelves.

Next, Doho and Sean went to look for Mr. Jamie, to ask him if he could help the team mount the hooks on the pegboards.

Sean and Doho explained the problems they had, and then they went out to the shed with Mr. Jamie. Together, they were able to problem-solve and make a plan to mount the hooks.

A team of K2 mathematicians went to the shed to gather more information to plan the next step of the project. We needed to find out how many hooks, tubs and racks we will need to sort and organise the different toys in the shed.

 

The team began to think about the different ways we can record data. We decided to divide the paper into four to record the number of kitchen items wheelbarrows trucks and sand toys.

Then, the data collectors used pictures, words and numbers to record their information. 

We observed the children:

·     gathering, recording and organizing information

·     listening actively and respectfully to others’ ideas and listening to information

·     using mark-marking to convey meaning

·     taking responsibility with tasks

·     using strategies to problem-solve

Proposals to Ms. Jacqui

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Different teams have been working together to make changes to the Early Years Playground. They have been conducting their research to look for ways to organise the play areas to make them safe and functional.

The ‘Shed Project’ team had received samples of the hooks for the pegboards.

They checked the height of the pegboards and tested the hooks to see which ones were most suitable.

Doho, Sean, Kenan and Eunice were ready to share what they leaned. They presented their ideas to the class and Ms. Jacqui.

Kenan liked all the hooks but decided that the circular ones were the least useful as they were too big and the tools fell through them.

Doho, Sean and Eunice also preferred the long straight hooks as you could hang more tools on them.

Ms. Jacqui was very happy to see the curved edges on the hooks as they were safer for the children.

We noticed that the children used a range of mathematical vocabulary; bigger, longer, shorter, to express their ideas about measurement.

The class gave them some feedback on the different ways the toys could be hung up.

Ms. Jacqui “How many tools do we have and how many hooks will we need? We don’t want to buy too many, we just want to get what we need.”

  • Tracey “We can count them!”

Tracey explained that the pegboards could not be mounted higher as the younger children have to be able to reach the tools.

Next, the team will work together to decide how many hooks we need to order for the shed. Then, they will need to put in a purchase order to buy the hooks. Ms. Jacqui suggested that they ask Mr. Jamie, the Grade 4 teacher to help them attach the hooks as he has a drill.

 

Next, we presented the proposal for the ‘Bike Park’. The children explained the reason for the yellow lines on the floor. We asked Ms. Jacqui if we can paint the floor. Ms. Jacqui agreed that the emergency exits, and walkway should always be clear.

Ms. Jacqui thought about the idea of painting the ground. She wondered if there were other ways to let people know that it was a ‘NO PARKING’ area.

  • Kenan “We can put a ‘NO Parking’ sign!”.
  • Mason “Put and red X on the floor!”

These were all great suggestions.

Next, the children explained the arrows in the parking area. They worked hard to convince Ms. Jacqui that their proposals will help the riders park and ride the bikes safely and quickly.

Ms. Jacqui “Instead of just painting it right away, what else can we try first?”

  • Tracey “We can put a sticker!, We can test it first!”

The children had many different ideas to communicate the message. We will begin to ‘test’ some of the suggestions to see how they work before asking for the floor to be painted.

We noticed how the children shared their thinking, providing examples to convince others of their ideas. We noticed the children listening to each other, building on each other’s ideas to find ways to solve problems and look for the best solutions. We look forward to our next steps in making the Early Years Playground more exciting, organised and safe.  

Props, Sets and Costumes

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

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

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

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

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

 

  • solving problems and learning through trial and error or experimentation

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

The Shed Project – Organising the Space

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Sean, Kenan, Eunice and Doho have been leading in the ‘Shed Project’. They sat down to decide their next steps.

  • Teacher “The maintenance staff have fixed the pinboards. What do we need to do next?”
  • Kenan “We need to put a thing like a peg on the pinboard.”
  • Sean “What is a hook?”

We looked at some different types of pegboard hooks.

  • Kenan “We need to put the hooks because there are too many things.”
  • Sean “So dirty. Floor is sand. Some people play with sand and throw the sand.”
  • Eunice explained that the sand needs to be “outside in the sandbox.”
  • Doho “Some children put the sand inside. And some children mess it together.”
  • Eunice “Making the things dirty.”
  • Kenan “We need to put the sand back in the boxes. The sand needs to be in the EY Playground.”
  • Doho “Don’t put the sand inside the shed. Play in the sandbox. We need to clean the floor and put the sand back into the box.”
  • Kenan “We need to put the shovels on the pegboards.”
  • Sean “Pans and play cooking things, hang them up on the pegboards.”
  • Doho “NO putting things on the floor!”
  • Kenan “We need to put a sign.”
  • Eunice “Some person is making messy cooking. Don’t make a mess. Go to the sandpit and play.”
  • Doho “Some children making cooking and throw the sand inside.”
  • Sean “Put the trucks on the racks.”

The team drew pictures to share their thinking.

The team presented their ideas to the class and asked for other suggestions to make the space better.

Kenan “We need to put the spades on the pegboard.”

Questions and Answers:

Patrick “Why are the shovels on the pinboard.”

Kenan “Because there are so many shovels. We can use the pinboards.

Patrick “But I did not see the shovels on the floor. Can we put 2 shovels in one hole.”

We might think about the different ways we can organise the shovels.

Sean “Put the trucks on the racks.”

Questions and Answers:

Tracey “Why do not have new toys? Why are there racks on two sides?”

Sean “There are many cars.”

We might need to think about purchasing some new toys.

Eunice “We need to put the sand toys on the rack.”

Questions and Answers:

Tracey “Why is the sand on the floor?”

Eunice “She gets it and puts it on the floor.”

Tracey “Why did she throw the sand out and put it on the floor and the clothes?”

Eunice “She did not throw, she is playing.”

Doho “We need to cleanup inside the shed.”

Doho explained his drawing and answered questions about the shed, the sand on the floor and the shelves on the side wall that will be used to store more toys.

The team will consider the ideas suggested by the class. They would like to propose their suggestions for improvement to Ms. Jacqui to plan their next steps. 

The Bike Park Plan

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The teachers set up a time lapse video after playtime to provoke the children’s thinking. We watched the video during our class meeting and discussed what we noticed.

We reflected on what Noah had said about blocking the emergency entrance. We also noticed how Kenan and Noah parked the bikes, making sure they are parked in reverse.

Noah used the iPad to show the class how we could keep the walkways in the playground clear of tricycles.

He thought about what he had learned through his research about the school parking lots, and then used the iPad to show how the lines could be marked on the floor. The yellow lines would be a ‘NO PARKING’ area. The class gave him feedback as he made the plan.

 

 

 

 

The messages and signs team are ready to begin their work on the signs to help the EY community know how to park the bikes.

Another team will present their ideas to the facilities department and relevant personnel in school, to help them make the changes they need. They will need to convince the facilities team that their suggestions will ensure we have a safe and organised playground.

Tricycle Agreements

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The children have been discussing the ‘Bike Park’ and making plans to change the space, to make it more organized and safe. Hearing the children’s ideas on what we ‘should NOT’ do with the bikes, we decided to invite them to think about what we ‘CAN do’ instead.

The children put their ideas on paper, using drawings, words, sentences and discussion to express their thinking.

Then, we put all the ideas down on one chart paper.

In the next few days, the children will present these ideas to the rest of the Early Years classes and decide if changes need to be made to these agreements. Through this experience, we noticed how the children:

  • documented and shared ideas using drawing, emergent writing and annotating images
  • listened actively and respectfully to others’ ideas
  • participated in conversations
  • shared responsibility for decision-making

The Bike Project – Research Groups

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Our Bike project continues, with children leading research projects to help them make the best decisions for their outdoor space.

 

Name for the Parking Spot: Conducting a Survey

from our brainstorm on the different A group of mathematicians interviewed the Early Years community to find out their preference for the name of the parking spot. The two choices were BIKE PARK or BIKE GARAGE.

The team used tally marks to record the data on the survey.  

Then they worked together to calculate the total for each choice.

Through their research they learned that more people preferred the name ‘BIKE PARK’!

 

NO PARKING area: Field Visit

The children wanted to find a way to create a ‘No Parking’ area near the emergency exit. We know the school has many NO PARKING areas and areas where you can park. Noah went on a field visit to learn more.

  • What do we notice in the parking spaces?
  • How is the space organised?

Noah created a video to share what he learned from his research. We wonder how we might use these ideas to help us organise the tricycle park.

  

Signs and Messages:

Another team of researchers brainstormed ideas for the signs. They began by looking for signs around the Early Years Centre.

  • What materials are signs made of?
  • How are colours, shapes and words used to share messages?
  • What messages and actions do they communicate to people?

They used the iPads to record their observations and brought photographs back to the team.

The researchers discussed their observations while Ms. Eileen documented key points on chart paper. 

The team decided that ‘plastic’ would not be an appropriate material to use as they didn’t know how to make plastic.

They didn’t want to buy plastic from the shop as it was their own project. They wanted to make the sign all by themselves.

 

‘Paper’ and ‘card’ were not the best materials for the signs as it breaks and tears easily.

Although card is stronger, it will get wet when it rains as the signs will be outdoors.

 

Yet another choice were ‘stickers’. They may last longer and are waterproof, but they might come off after a while.

The team decided that stickers were not a suitable choice either.

 

They noticed that the ‘wood’ was very strong and wouldn’t rip. If they used thicker wood, it would make the sign stronger.

The team decided that wood would be the perfect material for the signs.

They wondered if someone used stone to carve the wood, or fire to draw the sign. They decided that their next step would be to meet Ms. Jo and Mr. Danny to ask them more about the sign. Other ideas the team would consider:

  • How big does the sign need to be?
  • Where will the sign be placed?
  • How will it be fitted safely?

The team wondered how they might use what they have learned about traffic rules, signs and important messages in their own planning.

We look forward to our next steps as we begin to use what we have learned to organise the ‘BIKE PARK’.

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