When a centipede visits kindergarten

Poppy arrived at kindergarten this morning with her Dad and she had a special something with her……a centipede.

And it really sparked an interest in the tamariki...

Comments ranged from…..

“It’s a huge caterpillar, wait no, yes a caterpillar” said Gideon.

“It’s sooo long” noticed Stella.

“Where’s that praying mantis thingee?” Gideon asked.

“It’s a long legs aye. No that’s a spider. It’s a long legs too then” said Kaden.

“I see his legs” said Alex.

“That’s a cricket aye. Is that a cricket?” asked Joshua.

Tain wanted to know “Can teacher’s touch it? Can Poppa’s touch it?”

“What a lot of legs it has. I can see him moving. He has lots of legs on him” said Vitali.

“Does he have a mouth?” asked Breakah.

Children are naturally drawn to nature and all things from nature. They look, they listen, they talk about their findings. This centipede was no exception.

We set the centipede in the middle of the table and invited the children to take a look, “What did they notice?” 

They began to put their ideas onto paper and as the children drew they bounced their ideas off each other.

“I’m scared of him. He might get me" said Breakah.

“He wont get you. He is more scared of you. You are bigger than he is” Myllah told Breakah.

“Does he have a mouth. How can he eat? What does he eat?" asked Tain.

“Is that his tail? Why does he have two tails?" asked Gideon.

Drawing helps to generate and develop ideas, it clarifies ideas, observations and relationships ; it represents and analyses concepts and it develops understanding and communicates with others. These perspectives explain why drawing is useful in developing children communication in the early stages of life. (Joyce, 2012).

"Poppa found it at his work. It has a long body and lots of legs" - Poppy

Erenora

"Its a Mummy centipede and her baby centipede and her other Mummy, and other Mummy and other Mummy and a other baby too" said Addison.

"He has lots of legs, and that's one curly leg too" said Joshua.

Tain

Bailey

"Look I draw his legs, he has 100 legs. And he has 100 eyes too. I draw them too" said Alex.

 

Our guiding document Te Whariki, expresses the importance of offering children an environment where they learn strategies for active exploration, thinking and reasoning. The centipede experience shows children developing a perception of themselves as explorers, competent, confident learners who ask questions and make discoveries (Exploration, Goal 3).