Friday 23 March 2018

Creating an Environment for Learning


Creating environments for learning happens each time we walk into children's spaces.  Whether we intend to or not, we set the stage for how the children feel about themselves and us when they are in our presence.

Our careful observations help us learn what children believe about themselves as learners. Their play and conversation with us helps us know how we can value their contributions to the classroom atmosphere.

Our goal is to learn to create places and events where children feel safe to show their courage. Standing up to show a dance move or read a song map are opportunities for children to expand their sense of self.  By being the "orchestra" the children demonstrate their ability to cooperate and give comfort so the "composer" can do her best as she explores the song.


As some of you already know through the excited stories of your children, we are studying the J. Strauss composition, The Beautiful Blue Danube.  Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLoe4tXisFw


We began by wondering aloud about such a river and if it really existed and then Ileana brought us her photos of Vienna and the river came alive.

We have looked at images of Strauss and have imagined what we might see if we were floating along the river in a boat.

In this piece of music there is a set of repeated lines and the children have practiced using some arm and hand gestures to express the sounds they hear.

This led to the study of the song map for Row, Row, Row, Your Boat.
Can you read the map in the photo above?

Because the children were so charmed by the map and had a strong sense of the song’s structure I was able to help them learn about being composers.  In this case the children take their own initiate to repeat lines or chunks of the song that they want the rest of the group to sing.  Each child brings his or her unique approach and interest to the project. 

What might you do if you were the composer?


Friday 16 March 2018

Living the ways of an Inquirer


Caring, courageous, open-minded, knowledgeable, principled, inquirer, communicator, balanced, thinker, and reflective 
are huge practices for everyone and we learn them from one another.

These learner traits are meant to promote the children’s abilities to be …

caring, inquiring, knowledgeable, young people who help to create a peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect and to become active, compassionate learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

To help support these ways of being in the world we started including the children more centrally in helping us explore the learner traits and how they are expressed and experienced each day at Creative Minds Early Learning Centre.

Jake started us off with his desire to wear the “inquirer” shirt.  He said,
“an inquirer is a person who knows how to look at things”.   
I added that an inquirer is also a person who asks questions.

In song study today (I tapped out Clickety Clack). I asked, “here’s my secret song.  What do you hear?” 

Other questions came from the children,
“Does it match?”
“Was I right?”
“How do I make the circle bigger?”
“Where will we end up when we get to the end of the song?”

When you think about yourself this weekend, ask “what questions do I ask and what do I wonder about?” and make those questions known to your child.  Feel free to share your experiences with us.  We'll have a Learner Traits wall soon to add your comments.