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!

Travelling Tuesday: Passionately Curious Educators: Connecting Lifelong Learners

Welcome to Travelling Tuesday!

This week I am so excited to be featuring Tracy Pickard and Cheryl Emrich, Kindergarten teaching partners in Kitchener Ontario and the authors of the blog:

Passionately Curious Educators: Connecting Lifelong Learners

 I have learned so much from reading this blog. It is full of ideas, reflective thoughts and practices relating to education, and provides a wealth of wonderful resources for both classroom use with your students as well as on a professional level.

What message does your classroom send to families and children? A must read blog post on things to consider when setting up a classroom space.  

Intentional and purposeful provocations. An example that less is more at the beginning of the year. 

 
The construction/building area have clipboards and pencils to support the children in play. They use them to make signs, lists, and notes. For example, small groups may discuss the roles of architects and create blueprints or plans for building.

Providing different and unique loose parts encourages children to be creative, to think outside of the box, and to create pieces of art that can easily to altered or "tweaked".

Providing materials that allow for explorations and investigations to take place. 

Using 10 frames to show their thinking to a mathematical problem. E.g., "How many ways might the dogs be in and out of the bed?"


Using hands on explorations to discover math concepts!

 The dance studio, an idea sparked by the interest of a student.

Measuring and installing a dance floor in the dance studio. Visit the blog to read further about the Dance Project!

Classroom documentation containing photographs, student work, quotes, and thoughts. Read more about the Wind Inquiry and other inquiries by visiting the blog.

Please share an insight...

'"Thinking about the upcoming school year, our biggest advice is to give yourself (and your team) permission to slow down. We often hit the ground running in September and put unnecessary pressures on ourselves as educators. We try to find out how many letters our new students know, whether they can write their name, and if they can count to 10.

While all of those things are important, our focus as we begin the school year should be on building relationships with our new students and families. Relationships are the foundation and without them the academics and project work will be much more challenging.

We have found that it is so important to take time to build trust and relationships with students. Slow down in everything that you do so that the children can understand the new routines that are in play. When children understand routines it eases their anxieties and makes them feel more confident in their interactions. 

Slowing down also supports educators in getting to know children (and not in the academic sense). We learn about their families, their developmental needs, their temperaments, their mindset, and their interests. All of this information supports educators in planning meaningful provocations, small group experiences, and learning opportunities.

Families are also very important to us as educators. To foster relationships with families we host Open Houses monthly when families can come into the classroom to experience learning with their children, read their documentation, browse portfolios, have conversations with educators, and network with other families. We also share our learning on social media via Twitter and Facebook so that families can remain connected to what is happening in the classroom. 

We feel that these relationships support us in having consistent messaging with children both at home and school, it supports parents anxiety as the new school year begins, and it provides families with insight into what is happening on a daily basis while their children are at school."

For further information on specific projects and reflective insights please visit Tracy and Cherly's blog!

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!

Travelling Tuesday: Inquiring Minds: Mrs. Myers' Kindergarten

Welcome to the second week of Travelling Tuesday!

This week I am so excited to be featuring Darla Myers, an educator that teaches Kindergarten in Ohio and the author of the blog:

Inquiring Minds: Mrs. Myers' Kindergarten

 I have been following Darla's blog and teaching journey for quite some time. I love the way she makes learning visible and offers the students choice as well as a variety of materials and experiences to demonstrate their learning.

Purposeful materials are placed to encourage building and engineering.

The art area displays materials arranged by colour supporting intentional selection of items.

-How does the sun move across the sky?

-Why does the moon change shape?

-How are clouds made?

These are some of the children's questions that lead to an inquiry about the sky! What a beautiful display of documentation! For more information, visit Our Sky Inquiry on Mrs. Myers' blog.

Areas that focus on literacy explorations.

Areas that encourage numeracy explorations.

A provocation focusing on the exploration of measurement.

Please share an insight...

"I would say that one helpful insight for me when teaching through an emergent curriculum is to let go and look at the world through the children’s eyes instead of my own. I was so used to controlling what the kids learned in the past. Once I let go of that control and spent more time listening and observing the kids, I started seeing things through their eyes and realized by giving them control and the freedom to follow their interests, their learning was so much more meaningful. Through this they have taught me to slow down, look closer and wonder about even the smallest things. This insight is what helped me to start to create environments that allowed for them to explore and wonder."

For a more inspiring ideas please visit Darla's blog!

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!

Travelling Tuesday...Let's Go!

Welcome to Travelling Tuesday!

I am so excited to be hosting with Alessia Albanese, from Mrs. Albanese's Kindergarten blog.

The two of us will be featuring a learning blog each week on Tuesday that embraces emergent curriculum...

"Emergent curriculum can be defined as a cycle that involves:

-watching and listening to children with care;

-reflecting on and engaging in dialogue with others about what is happening; and

-responding thoughtfully in ways that support children's ideas, questions, and thinking."

(Susan Stacey, The Unscripted Classroom)

Please visit Mrs. Albanese's Blog for her first featured blog!

Stay tuned for next Tuesday as I feature Darla Myers' classroom blog:

Inquiring Minds: Mrs. Myers' Kindergarten