Bream Bay Kindergarten Video

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Pulley system...fostering curiosity





Cordahl was playing with the window blind.  Watching the roller end as he pulled on the cord to make the blind roll up.  Then pulling on the opposite cord to watch the blind roll down.  Over and over, up and down, again and again.






















I could tell by the look on Cordahl's face, the way his eyes lit up, that this was fascinating stuff for him.  The way that he repeated the action spoke of his need to work it all out.  

Cordahl is such a joy to watch in action...he is a real tutu fingers...he wants to know, he wants to understand and he's hands on and in there.  We describe this as a disposition of curiosity and this is important in terms of learning.

Carr describes dispositions as patterns of learning: patterns of behaviour, thinking and interaction.  Dispositions describe the child as a learner and supports children's own thinking to see themselves as "someone who...tries new things...keeps going when it gets hard...knows when to stop and ask...learns from making mistakes" etc. 

Introducing pulley systems as a provocation to foster curiosity...



            The allure of buckets hanging on pulley's from the rafters within the kindergarten were a temptation too irresistible for the children to pass by.                                                                                

Max is in a state of awe! 





 

This play and learning experience both excited and challenged children's thinking.  With encouragement they
showed persistence with a difficult task as they trialled ways to be successful with the challenge at hand.  They gained considerable satisfaction from their efforts too! 





Trying alternative strategies and pushing the boundaries of thinking...it is possible to overcome obstacles, work it out and achieve goals.



A look of wonder on the girls face as they work out how to raise the buckets using the ropes and pulley system.


Te Whariki states the importance of providing children opportunities to experience an environment where they learn strategies for active exploration, thinking and reasoning.  That children develop confidence in using a variety of strategies for exploring and making sense of the world...the confidence to choose and experiment with materials, to play around with ideas, and to explore actively with all the senses (Ministry of Education, 1996). 


Cordahl and Olivia are just loving the challenge of working it all out.




"The fundamental purpose of education for the 21st Century, it is argued, is not so much the transmission of particular bodies of knowledge, skill and understanding as facilitating the development of the capacity and the confidence to engage in  lifelong learning.  Central to this enterprise is the development of positive learning dispositions, such as resilience, playfulness, and reciprocity" (Claxton and Carr, 2002) and of course curiosity!



Thursday, August 7, 2014

Story Telling - The Three Billy Goats Gruff

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

  Offering children different Literacy mediums in the outdoor environment is a great way to capture those children who predominantly choose to engage with the outdoor environment.  Today we had the story of the The Three Billy Goats Gruff set up offering children story telling experiences.  Children were able to retell the story and with the props provided act out the experience as well.  This offered children a range of skills.  Learning to recognise how a book works - front to back and learning to work in collaboration with their peers. 
  










Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Literacy sound detectives

Following on from yesterdays outdoor literacy experience, we played a new letter game called letter sound detectives.  This is a game where you choose a letter of the alphabet, say the sound and then go around the playground looking for the things that begin with that sound.
"This is letter K"  We found Kitchen after much hunting.  We had letter h and found hammer.
We had letter S.  Lots of things started with S.... Swing, Sandpit, Sun and Summer.
What great letter sound defectives you all were today. 

Literacy is developed when children have opportunities to be involved with the playful use of sounds, words, rhyme, and rhythm of language.  Recognising letters and their sounds gives children confidence to engage in the beginning stages of reading.










Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Literacy whiz kids

A Literacy provocation that is inviting to children.  Early childhood is about following children's interests and when you have groups of children who generally choose to engage in the outside environment, how do you engage them in literacy?  No need to worry just take the literacy to them.  Have a look at some of these photos to see what the children did today.