Light table provocation

We recently constructed a light table room for our kinders.  We had noticed through reflective documentation that this was an item that was rarely being visited in our kinder class.  We really thought about how we could create a provocation that not only honoured the concepet of the light table, but was intrinsically irresistible to our students.  We thought about several scenarios and locations.  We were cognizant of such things as traffic flow, sunlight and size.  After some serious brainstorming, we finally decided that we needed to move our reading corner to accommodate our new light table room.  We put up curtains so we had 4 walls, moved in some shelves to house our loose parts and then brought in the light table.  After thinking about it some more, we realized that this location would also be an excellent "safe place" for a child who needed some time to themselves, so we brought in our safe spot chair and books too.  

This whole process really makes me think about the value of reflective documentation.  If we (myself and Becky) had not taken the time to talk about our environment and look through our documentation we would have no idea that this valuabe part of our environment was being neglected.  

Reflections on Reggio... loose parts

Loose parts have become a very vital part of our "environment as third educator".  They fuel imaginative play, help prove our theories and inspire future wonderings.  I recently bought the book, Loose Parts:  Inspiring Play in Young Childlren" by Lisa Daly and Miriam Beloglovsky.  It introduces the idea of "what if" during play.  "What if..."  it's a powerful concept.  It makes me think of some of the great minds over the generations and how they dared to ask the question, "what if?"  "What if the same force that causes an apple to fall from a tree cause the planets to go around the sun?"  "What if I could talk to someone across the ocean?"  and "What if I could get my emails on my phone?"  

When we give students the tools and encouragement to ask "what if" we are creating the future problem solvers, inventors and theoretical thinkers of our next generation.  Loose parts can become anything to anyone.  It's all a matter of daring to dream and wonder.  

More reflections on introducing the equal sign in Kindergarten...

Our learning goal when introducing the equal sign was to dispel the myth of it simply representing an answer to an equation.  We purposely introduced it in conjunction with shapes as variables to make it “friendly” in terms of associating it with something the children already felt comfortable with and to help build the foundation of algebraic reasoning.  What surprised us was how the equal sign and fractions were intrinsically linked.  Representing half NEEDS an equal sign for the students to see how two halves can make a whole.  This concept seem to come naturally to many of our students when we asked them to show us “equal”.  Niko took a cracker and cut it in half and used his grapes to make an equal sign between the two halves.  This reasoning tells us that students are not only capable of deep algebraic reasoning in kindergarten, but much of this mathematical problem solving is naturally occurring around us and we are not paying attention, or naming the learning.  When we name the learning, we can then move the thinking forward and take bigger chances and broader our mathematical problem solving in areas we never thought possible in early learners. 

Pedagogical Documentation

I was fortunate enough to attend today's Pedagogical Leadership meeting with the focus on Pedagogical documentation.  We looked at the Capacity Building Series: Pedagogical Documentation Revisited.  It broke down documentation to 3 phases. 

1.  Observing and Recording Student Experience.  

My own documentation style tends to lean towards this particular phase.  I find that I am pretty factual and to the point when I record the learning happening in the classroom.  I try not to add my own personal inferences or opinions.  I was not doing this because I thought that this was the way I was supposed to do it, but simply because that is a reflection my of personality.  Here is an example of a recent documentation piece I produced:

2.  Interpreting Learning in Service Pedagogy.

This is when teachers interpret the documentation.  I see this part as "naming the learning".  If I was to look at the documentation in the above piece, I could infer that "B" is able to "pose questions and state problems as part of the design process".  "R" was able to "sort and classify groups of living and non-living things in her own way."  and "O" was able to "ask question about and describe natural  occurrances, using her own observations".  

3.  Respond, Share and Build a Culture of Inquiry and Collaboration.  

This is where I see myself reflecting on the documentation with the students and my teaching partners to see where we need to go next with each student.  How can we deepen the learning for the individual and what impact will this have on others?  This is where I see the documentation informing our practice... kind of like a road map of where we need to go next.  If I was to use the above documentation piece, I could say that we need to involve the students in finding the answers to their wonderings by building an environement that has the clues they need to solve their problems. We can put out provocations relating to the growth cycle, books about farm animals in both French and English which speak to what farm animals eat and we can work on sorting and classifying living and non-living things.  By sharing these next steps with my partners, parents and students we are building a culture of moving our thinking forward.  

New inquiry... new changes to our environment

We have a new inquiry... farms.  We could scaffold on this by talking about farm animals, but what I fear is falling back upon familiar and comfortable themes from our past Kindergarten program.  So, Becky and I are choosing to focus on the act of farming.  We are planting herbs and vegtables with the students and asked the students what they wanted to see in our classroom to support this new inquiry.   Some of our students asked for a "farmers market".  

They sorted our fruit and vegetable plasitc food and choose which baskets they wanted to use.  We will ask the students to label their farmers market and we will bring in some real vegtables and fruit to add to it.  We can't wait to see where the learning takes us...

CBC Radio: The Importance of Play!

Today at noon on CBC One, they did a phone-in show (Ontario Today) on the Importance of Play with guest Dr. Stuart Brown from the National Institute of Play in Los Angeles.  

Dr. Brown spoke of the importance of the "state of play" and how this unstructured, spontaneous play unpressured by time can help create important bonds between us, lessen anxiety and even reduce violence.  The 'doing' is more important than the outcome.  Dr. Brown talked about the difference between structured vs. unstructured play.  He pointed out that in unstructured play children get a sense of their own capacity when there is less parental involvement.  

One of the callers (Lisa) pointed out that Joy consists of 4 elements:  singing, laughing, dancing and playing.  She talked about how playing can actually reduce pain in adults and children.  Dr. Brown made the correlation with how this affects us at work.  If we are engaged in playful work environments, we reduce anxiety and see work as our "safe place".  This has a direct impact on sick leave in employees.  He used Google as an example of a playful workplace where employees feel valued and don't feel the need to take excessive sick days.  

Another caller, Katie (a child life specialist) said that play prepared children for an ever-changing world, spontaneous and unexpected.  She also spoke of the importance of improv and how this was a great tool to use with autistic children as it engages eye-contact, visual cues, and listening.  

What Becky, Sarah and I came away from the show with was that play doesn't end when you grow up.  Becky said that as adults, we are waiting for invitations to play.  We wonder if some of us are able to see those opportunities?

http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/ontariotoday_20150417_92114.mp3

Reflections on Reggio...documentation

http://bpsearlychildhood.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/1/3/10131776/turnerkrechevsky.pdf

This is a great article on the Reggio Emilia approach and comments on each defining component.  I especially found the decription of how documentation informs practice and makes children aware of their own learning really insightful; how by looking back we are really looking forward!