Travelling Tuesday: The Curious Kindergarten

Welcome to Travelling Tuesday!

This week I am so excited to be featuring Alexis McDonell, a Kindergarten teacher in Toronto Ontario and the author of the blog:

The Curious Kindergarten

 I have gained so much inspiration from reading this blog. It is full of ideas, reflective thoughts, and wonderful documentation of the children's learning and thinking. Travel below to some of the learning that has been captured by Alexis!

 The importance of being reflective and observing the students engagement with materials. Read further about this 3D shape challenge and how it changed based on the students engagement!

What is love? What are the things that you love the most? If we could see inside your heart, what would we find there? Visit the blog to read more about the Map of My Heart project. 

 The Amaryllis Inquiry Amaryllis inquiry touched on learning expectations in literacy, mathematics, science and technology, and art. For more information on how this inquiry stared view the post titled: The Amaryllis Inquiry...a reflection on clustering expectations. 

Extending learning by offering the children a new experience to use clay with this provocation about sculpting a nest and making sure it could safely hold at least one egg!

New materials at the water table! Read more about the classroom set-up on her latest blog post!

The Math Centre. Students will enjoy having a raised surface on which to explore some of the materials laid out. Read more about the classroom set-up on her latest blog post!

What is a tower? How do we build a tower? Why do we build towers? Offering resources to support their questions about towers! 

The Butterfly Inquiry: Our literacy connection for the start of this inquiry was The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Here a child records a shadow-puppet retelling of the story on the iPad.

For further information on specific activities and inquiries, please visit Alexis' blog!

Please share an insight...

"I have been teaching kindergarten for the past 10 years, and in that time, my program has changed and evolved. Actually, it continues to change and evolve each year as I connect with other educators, read professional resources, and collaborate with my students and their families. Without a doubt, the most important change I made to my classroom schedule when I embarked on a Reggio-inspired approach was adding in a time to reflect daily with my students. Reflection time occurs at the end of our extended discovery block. During reflection time students are chosen to share their learning with the class. Some children are chosen because they have done something at a centre that I would like to encourage/highlight (e.g., when a student makes a plan for their learning or documents something they have done with the iPad). Sometimes a child is chosen to share because they have made an important discovery. And sometimes a student is chosen to share because they have encountered a problem they would like the class to help them solve. Whatever the reason, the discussion that occurs during reflection time is what drives our classroom discoveries. Much of my planning for next steps is derived from our reflection conversations and the children are often involved in suggesting new materials or centres that would help them with their inquiries. What I like about reflection time is that it is collaborative. While I sometimes help the children with their sharing (especially at the beginning of the year), reflection time is a part of the day that the children begin to take real ownership over.  Listening to them talk about what they've done, how they got their ideas, and what inspires them, I am constantly reminded of all the curiosity, knowledge, and determination each student possesses. "

Do you have a classroom that encompasses the same philosophies and beliefs about emergent curriculum as we do?

We would love to feature your blog/website for an upcoming Travelling Tuesday!

Please leave a comment below with a link to your site.

Thanks for travelling with us this week!