In April of 2020, I worked alongside my peers at Ryerson University to connect and support the Nibinamik First Nation community located north of Thunderbay.
This was truly an an eye opening and rewarding learning experience.
I have decided to share their story and the resources found in hope is helps others. Furthermore, I hope their voices are heard and all their dreams for a better future come true.
Canada, we can do better. ❤️
Take a moment to learn more about Finding Our Power Together and hear the voices of the youth below.
We have recently begun an inquiry into using art media as a thinking tool. We have always valued the ‘Hundred Languages’ approach of the Reggio philosophy but we want to more clearly focus on how we use art as a language for the students to communicate ideas, emotions, questions, and learning.
We are hoping to see them digging deeper and extending their own learning as they use art media to represent their thinking.
One of our resources is a book by Ann Pelo – The Language of Art: Inquiry-based Studio Practices in Early Childhood Settings. It’s providing us with a great start. We began by exploring texture, movement and colour in many ways.
Here are two of our young boys totally immersed in the sensory activity of finger painting, of exploring the feel of the paint on the paper, the mixing of colours, and the excitement of lines created and then wiped away. As the boys discovered the secondary and tertiary colours being created by mixing paints it was evident that they were not only learning about colour, they were relaxed and engaged and enjoying a positive encounter with an artistic medium. We are hoping that positive experiences such as this one will encourage the students to choose art as a means to communicate their learning.
This is some of the dialogue captured:
Little Mr. J squealed with delight as he began to mix the blue and yellow paint together.
“What colour will my paper be now?”
” Look!!! It’s making green! Yellow and blue make green!”
Little Mr. C responded: “What makes green, J?”
“Yellow and blue!”
Little Mr. C was incredulous – “Yellow and blue??”
As they were conversing Little Mr. J was adding a few more colours- “Now it’s making brown!”
Little Mr. C: “What is?”
Little Mr. J: All these colours together make brown!!
Little Mr. C was busy mixing blue and yellow together and jumping with excitement.
“Green!! Blue and yellow make green. I’m going to put in more colours!’
Little Mr. J slid his hands rhythmically over the paper, swaying side to side. ” My hands go skating when I’m asleep. They skate like this.”
Skating hands
I asked him what happy hands might look like on the paper. Both boys broke into big grins and started jumping their fingers up and down and up and down.
” Happy hands!” they laughed “Happy hands!”
Our inquiry into weather began with a windy day outdoors in our Full Day Kindergarten backyard. Windmills were placed in the garden for the children and provoked immediate curiosity and interest!
(PSI: SE 13.2-make predictions and observations before and during investigations)
Children began to watch the windmills daily, noticing the days they moved quickly and the days that they hardly moved. Educators prompted deeper thinking by asking, “Why do you think that might be?” The children came up with ideas and theories prior to conducting their own research:
Little Miss L: “They move fast when the sun is out!”
Little Miss A: “Umm…they move fast when I do this!” (makes a blowing motion)
Little Mr. D: “The windmills are moving fast today.”
Little Mr. G: “They are moving fast because the wind is blowing and when the wind is not out they don’t move.”
So we created a weather team that began to research, “Where does wind come from?” The children went to the Library and collected books about wind. They recorded their information and presented their findings during Sharing Time.
[DLMB: SE 11.10-retell information from non-fiction materials that have been read by and with the educator team in a variety of contexts (e.g., read-alouds, shared reading experiences), using pictures and/or props.]
During play, children were also given the opportunity to visit the Art Studio and choose various materials to show “What does wind look like?”
[BC: SE 30.2 – explore a variety of tools, materials, and processes of their own choice (e.g., blocks, puppets, flashlights, streamers, castanets, rhythm sticks, natural and recycled materials) to create drama, dance, music, and visual art forms in familiar and new ways]
As the children learned more about wind, they began to notice how the clouds moved on windy days. We lay out on the grass, watched the clouds and used our imagination to find animals and shapes in the clouds.
Our weather inquiry continued as we took a closer look at how clouds are formed and the various types of clouds. Informational texts were placed on the Inquiry Table so the children had the opportunity to research and create the types of clouds they observed each day.
[DMLB/PSI: SE 10.1- demonstrate an interest in writing (e.g., choose a variety of writing materials, such as adhesive notes, labels, envelopes, coloured paper, markers, crayons, pencils) and choose to write in a variety of contexts (e.g., draw or record ideas in learning areas)]
[All Four Frames: SE 22.1- communicate their ideas about something (e.g., a book, the meaning of a word, an event or an experience, a mathematical pattern, a motion or movement) through music, drama, dance, and/or the visual arts]
Check out our latest blog titled “The Weather Report” to see how the inquiry further developed and the children culminated their understandings. The Weather Report
Overall Expectations Represented
1.(All Four Frames)-communicate with others in a variety of ways, for a variety of purposes, and in a variety of contexts
2. (SRWB)-demonstrate independence, self-regulation, and a willingness to take responsibility in learning and other endeavours
3. (BC/SRWB)-identify and use social skills in play and other contexts
9. (DMLB/PSI)-demonstrate literacy behaviours that enable beginning readers to make sense of a variety of texts
10. (DMLB/PSI)-demonstrate literacy behaviours that enable beginning writers to communicate with others
11. (DMLB)-demonstrate an understanding and critical awareness of a variety of written materials that are read by and with their educators
13. (PSI)-use the processes and skills of an inquiry stance
14. (DMLB/PSI)-demonstrate an awareness of the natural and built environment through hands-on investigations, observations, questions, and representations of their findings
22. (All Four Frames)-communicate their thoughts and feelings, and their theories and ideas, through various art forms
“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 thinkerswho 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!!
This has to be one of my favourite inquiries! From the perspective of the educator we can learn so much about each child. What makes them happy, what makes them feel calm, and what strategies we can put in place together to create an environment where each child feels welcome, valued and cared for, intern a culture of wellbeing and caring. When we gather this type of information about a child (from both parents and children), we inform and better our own practice going forward and better ourselves as professionals working with young children. Some might say this type of inquiry also speaks to the idea of differentiated learning and instruction-valuing each child’s unique learning style.
We began this inquiry by sharing a video (provocation) with the children;
The “Happy Place” inquiry stemmed from a conversation we had with children about feelings. We asked each child “can you tell us how your body feels when you feel sad, happy, excited and angry” etc. We then read the story “My Many Colored Days” and we then asked the children to choose a color that best represented how they were feeling as they went to play. Over the next few days as we observed the children at play, we asked each child where their “happy place” might be in the classroom. The children were asked to think about what they like to do, and what makes them happy, and feel calm. They each choose a space or an activity in the room and we documented through pictures and script. The kids co constructed the documentation board by finger painting a splat of their color and helping to tape pictures on. (Note: we began the conversation of “calm” by showing the video “Just Breath”)
We hope everyone is looking forward to a brand new year with their team partner and co educator. The past few weeks educators everywhere have been connecting with their creative side to transform classrooms to reflect our Ministry’s vision for a child centered environment that represents an extension of home. An environment that will help to make these little people feel welcome, valued and cared for… which in turn will promote optimal learning and development.
Just days away from welcoming 25 – 35 little people into our rooms from what we hope was a wonderful summer filled with family, fun, and laughter, lets put our focus on establishing rules and routines and building a safe, nurturing classroom community where everyone feels welcome and valued. Take the time to know your young learners through observation and connect with them in meaningful ways. We would like to offer to anyone interested, a peek into our first week centre plan and the list of expectations. We begin the year by putting out an eclectic mix of materials and then listen to the interests of the children to gauge where we go next. Take a moment, look at each centre plan (keeping in mind the environment as the third educator) and take notice of how many expectations can be met through these centers. Then… let go a little, breathe, and smile:).
The boys!! The group of rough and tumble, high energy, super hero loving boys that keep us guessing. Who are they? What do they want from us? How can we capture their attention and engage them?
Here’s an idea that came to me in the dark of the night and worked!!
A quest!
The next morning the boys were given their first quest, just before they began to play, an educator approached six boys gathering in the block area, the conversation began like this “…I have a quest for you! It’s a tricky one…and I think only the bravest children in our class could do it!! Do you think you can do it?” the boys immediately stood up and surrounded the educator,
Jerome shouts “I’m brave!! I can do it!”
Joshua says “Ya me too! I’m brave!!”
The educator responds by saying “Ok, here is your quest, show me how you could move something without using your hands”
Just like that, they were on a mission. One child ran over to the shelf and grabbed a blue plastic car and placed it on the carpet, he knelt down close to the ground and began to attempt blowing the car to move it with little success. Another child stood and observed for a moment and then placed a red car on a flat surface and he too began to use air and blew the car forward-success. As the educator observed two more boys had grabbed different cars and attempt another approach to move the cars. They stacked long wooden blocks stacked on the surface of the carpet, and they added one additional long block to create a ramp. They placed the car with their hands on the very top of the ramp, they put their hands down to the floor and blew the car until it began to roll all by itself down the ramp they created. They also successfully completed this mission.
Literacy:
The children then had to draw, label and share with the rest of the class how they completed this mission.
An inquiry into feelings and love emerged from Valentines Day this past February. Our classroom participated in a door decorating challenge that prompted questions about “What is love?”. As we asked each child this question, and took photos that captured how each child choose to show love, conversations over the next few weeks continued about feelings. Recently we read the story “My Many Colored Days” and this was what the children had to share;
“MyManyColoredDays”
We wonder how different colors make us feel?
Red
James: Red makes me feel angry
Taijah: “It makes me feel angry because its hot!”
Luna: “Red makes me happy cuz it’s my favourite color”
Tristan: “Very angry, it’s hot!”
Benjamin: “Angry….on the shows I watch that have bulls angry and their eyes are red”
Blue
Noah: “Blue makes me feel angry”
Taijah: “Different kinds of blue make me feel different, the light one makes me happy”
Kaldyn: “Blue makes me not happy”
Benjamin: “It feels happy like swimming in a pool”
Anaya: “It makes me happy too”
Gia: “It’s my favorite color, it makes me feel happy”
Jerome: “It makes me feel dark angry”
Alyssa: “It makes you feel angry”
Brown
Alyssa: “feels quiet with brown”
Luna: “Happy”
Yellow
Anaya: “It feels happy”
Taijah: “Happy because it’s a light color”
Benjamin: “It feels like a hot day, so it makes me happy!”
Alyssa: “EXCITED!!”
Victoria: “Happy”
Luna: “My favorite color just like a rainbow”
….we will continue this conversation throughout the next few weeks and see where this learning takes us, and for those who are curious….we did in fact win the “Valentine’s Day Door Challenge”!
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[All Four Frames: SE 22.1- communicate their ideas about something (e.g., a book, the meaning of a word, an event or an experience, a mathematical pattern, a motion or movement) through music, drama, dance, and/or the visual arts]
