Friday 28 March 2014

Tiny dancers

For the last week or so, a group of our girls have been exploring ballet. We have a few books that inspired them, and they tried out some moves to classical music.

Dancing is an important part of a child's development. They learn body awareness, balance, coordination, teamwork, rhythm, and emotional expression. As teachers we knew this, but we wondered how to progress and deepen the learning. What attracts the girls? Is it the movement, the balance, or even the graceful beauty of ballerinas?

Since a lot of the girls were also a part of our fashion design inquiry, we decided to guide the exploration into this area and align the investigations. Yesterday, the girls made ribbon rings to use as dancing props. The art of actually making the rings was an effective activity for building fine motor skills, and well as an exercise in making something beautiful.


It inspired some graceful movements and balances.



Miss Kentner brought in her old ballet tutus from her classes as a child, and they were a hit.


We decided to make our own tutus using supplies from the dollar store. The art studio was filled with girls quietly concentrated on making ballet costumes.




When supplies ran low, some girls thought outside of the box and improvised with scraps of fabric.


We started to collect our knowledge and questions about the topic so we can deepen our investigative and research skills. 


Wednesday 26 March 2014

Look and pay attention

One of our learning goals is "I am learning to be a scientist." We broke this goal into several success criteria in order to teach the steps and skills of the inquiry process. This week we've been focusing on the skill of observing, which we explain as "look and pay attention". It's not just about looking, it's about actually seeing and thinking.

I found this book the other day in Chapters and the children have been enthralled. It is about a border collie named Momo who hides in gorgeous photographs. It's kind of like "Where's Waldo?" but with high resolution photos.


After our first investigation into the book, some children were inspired to create their own versions.



Can you see Evie's brother?


















If you want to Find Momo for yourself, visit the website www.gofindmomo.com


Tuesday 25 March 2014

Inquiring into traps

A big part of our job as teachers is watching the children, collecting data on them, and analyzing the data for trends, emerging interests, and next steps in learning. Katy, Amanda (our student teacher) and I sat down to do some team planning last week and realized that a recurring theme this year has been about hunting and traps. The children have been telling us all along, such as here, here, and here, but we weren't picking up on it as an emerging interest.

As a team, we decided to listen to the children's interests and facilitate an inquiry into traps and enclosures. Using the inquiry process (wonder -->  explore --> plan --> experiment --> observe --> share ideas), we'll be exploring the following ideas:
-Traps (what are they, how to make one, mechanics)
-Hiding and chasing (safety, danger)
-Enclosures and cages (necessities of life, strong structures)
-Ethics (Why do people trap? Should we just do it for fun? Empathy with animals etc)

Throughout the inquiry, we'll be embedding the activities with literacy, numeracy, art, science, and imaginative play.

Today, I brought in a small animal trap as a provocation. The children were fascinated by the mystery item under the sheets.


"I think it's a cage! I see squares through the blankets. There's a little door in there."


After observing and wondering, the children made lots of guesses, ranging from rocket ship to a mailbox to a cage. They observed the noise it made and felt the bars with their hands, coming to the conclusion that it was made of metal.

It took a few more minutes and some teamwork to figure out how to set the trap.


"What does this do? It's like a ramp. Maybe for cars?"
"No, it's for the skunk. He gets his tail trapped there and he can't get out."

It didn't take long for the children to start role-playing with some of our plastic animals. They were delighted by the door quickly closing and catching the creatures.


We had an interesting discussion about whether we should use the trap for real animals. Do we trap for fun? Or only when we really need to? How would you feel caught in a trap?

The boys read the caution on the trap about wearing thick gloves when handling a trapped animal. 

















It will be interesting to see how the children's ideas emerge and mature over the course of our work. As we progress, the teachers will continue to collect data and tailor the learning for each child involved.

Learners in the woods



We had a fabulous trip to the Outdoor Education Centre yesterday. The weather was cold, but the bright sun made it bearable. We balanced our time with visits to the woods and some time to warm up inside.

The day just flew by! We were shocked when the bus arrived to take us home. The children were highly engaged and self-regulated. The teachers were all very proud of our little scientists.

Our facilitator Jeff was amazing. He planned an engaging and playful afternoon that was perfectly paced to the attention spans of our young explorers. Our adult volunteers were also outstanding, and a big thank you goes out to Darla, Tammy, Ashley, Gary, Leigh, Angee and Lindsay.

So what did the children learn? (That is why we are here after all!) Specifically, they learned about wild animals like squirrels, rabbits, and birds, and their necessities for life. They learned about strong structures and how to assess a structure for stability, waterproofing, and warmth. They learned ice and stream safety. They learned how to travel respectfully in the woods. They learned to balance on ice and on branches, and how to react to a slip. They learned to observe and ask questions.

Overall, our goal was to instill a sense of wonder and respect for the natural world. We hope the seeds were planted.

Here are some photos from the day. If you are a class parent, we encourage you to look at the photos with your child and have him/her tell you their stories.

We made snacks in the morning to bring with us.



There were many close encounters with wildlife.

Exploring a wolf's pelt

"I saw one of these in Tennesse!
Jeff spotted a fisher by the stream that morning.
We explored structures built by older students, and decided which ones were the warmest, biggest, and smallest.
Hunter added some sticks to structures that were lacking.

Some children explored climbing and balancing on low trees.



"Stranger in the Woods" at storytime
"I know it's a duck because of the skin between the toes."

Can you see the chickadee on Mia's head? 
It took a lot of patience and self regulation to have the birds visit.
Exploring slips and slides safely on the ice.



Wednesday 19 March 2014

Clean hands

We had a visit from the public health nurses today to talk about hand washing. 

We learned when to wash hands and how to do it properly. A few friends even used a special lotion and a black light to show where germs can hide. 





Monday 17 March 2014

Marshmallow dough

We offered a new provocation for the children today: marshmallow dough.

It's a simple recipe - 2 parts cornstartch, 1 part hair conditioner. We worked on teamwork, measurement and counting skills as we made it. They also practiced self regulation...they learned if you dump corn starch in the bowl too roughly, it flies out and coats people in the sticky white dust!




The resulting dough is silky and pillowy soft, with a texture much like soft marshmallows. It is absolutely irresistible!

The children used lots of oral language to describe the sensory experience, and they used the dough to make letters.



Be sure to try this experience at home!