“Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold.” Joseph Chilton Pearce
As we welcome our Year Two students back to a fun-filled year ahead, we would also like to extend a warm welcome to all our new little friends joining us on our journey. September has been a wonderful time spent getting to know all the new children and their families, as well as reconnecting with families from last year. The concept of play-based and inquiry-based learning may be new to some of our families, and our hope is that this newsletter will give parents and caregivers a glimpse into our classroom as we capture how the learning is taking place. Through these intentionally planned opportunities for learning, the children are beginning to effectively demonstrate the Ontario Catholic Graduate School Expectation of being reflective, creative and holistic thinkers who solve problems and make responsible decisions with an informed moral conscience for the common good.
To begin the year, the room was set up with an eclectic mix of materials, and toys. It was our intent to allow the children to take the lead to guide their play and learning. As educators, we understood the need at this time to get to know the children within our room, the need to build relationships with each child, each family, and between all the children in the room in hope of creating a stable, caring environment where each child feels valued and welcomed.
As we played and interacted with the children at each centre, a common interest in dinosaurs began to emerge. We decided to take this lead and provided various opportunities for the children to explore this play.
To further this learning experience, the children were provided with different sets of dinosaur kits allowing them to take on the role of paleontologists and dig for dinosaur bones and fossils. The children gathered from all over the room as they took turns digging and working together to unearth and put together each bone they discovered within the bricks. The discussions heard and observed by teachers were exciting and meaningful, for example:
Educator (While children begin chipping away at brick): What do you think you might find?
Little Mr C: “An animal!”
Little Miss A: “Bones….dinosaur bones, maybe a fossil?”
Little Miss S: “I see a black spot here!”
Little Miss A: “The sand is coming off…Oh something white!”
Little Mr C: “I see something white …look!” (as he holds it up for his friends to see)
Little Miss L: “It might be a dinosaur!”
Little Miss A (Leaves the group, and then returns): “Did you find it yet?”
Although there are always many opportunities still present within the room for individual play experiences and interests, another way we took this play a bit further was by providing hatching dinosaur eggs…but the children had no idea what was hiding inside. The moment the children walked into the room, curiosity set in! We could hear and see them using the knowledge they had obtained from various informational texts, and discussions arising from stories such as “How Do Dinosaurs Go to School?” written by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague.
As we reflect on all the learning that has occurred through this interest-led play, we are reminded how the students are effectively demonstrating the Ontario Catholic Graduate School Expectation of being reflective, creative and holistic thinkers who solve problems and make responsible decisions with an informed moral conscience for the common good.
We are off to a great start and thrilled to be able to share in this wonderful, exciting year ahead with all these little people as we watch them grow and develop to their fullest potential here in our Full Day Kindergarten Program!!
Blog written by:
Journey Together FDK 