Ruby Tuesday

  Loose parts create such rich learning opportunities and engaging learning environments for children. They have the capacity to provoke thinking, stir creativity and arouse curiosity. Playing with loose parts, children use so many Approaches to Learning - communicating in different ways, socialising, thinking critically and creatively, researching as they observe and find things out for themselves and developing self-management skills such as organisation.   In The Art of Awareness, Curtis and Carter write, "Open-ended materials offered in abundance...are the perfect tools for children to use in exercising their abilities to think flexibly, imagine many possibilities, generate hypotheses and solve problems. They are simple materials, yet they invite children to use them in complex ways. (Olivia and Jake) remind us to observe the details of children's intellectual pursuits and remain open to seeing the value of their ideas. If we observe closely, many rich learning experiences

The Kindergarten Team has spent a lot of time thinking about routines that support PYP's Approaches to Learning and nurture children as agents of their own learning.  The children have shown amazing growth in so many of these skills, simply by having routines in place, so they have repeated opportunities for success framed by high, clear and developmentally appropriate expectations.  Examples of our routines: To come inside from the playground, we have to navigate 3 heavy doors and a spiral staircase. The children walk one person at a time and have learned to "pass the door" for the person behind them.  To have easy access to snacks, lunches, water and coats at different times, the children have different places to store each of these things and need to unpack their own backpacks and organise their belongings in the correct place. This took several "trials and error" to experiment with the types of storage and their location to enable the smoothest transitions. 

How might units of inquiry embed and build on the nature of play already in place in Kindergarten? Our first unit of inquiry is under the transdisciplinary theme of "Who we are". We identified strong connections to the nature of the self and what it means to be human.  Central Idea:  As humans we are curious and play to learn more about ourselves, connecting with others and the world. Lines of Inquiry: Different ways we play What sparks our curiosities  How our learning evolves through play Reflecting after play, children have been thinking about different questions such as "What is your favourite thing to play?" and "Why do we play?" Responses have included to learn and to not be bored. I asked the children to imagine a teacher that said there would be no play in Kindergarten and what they would say. One child replied adamantly, "We have to play!" I showed the book cover of "We All Play" and asked if this was true (before reading the s

Original Post - September 2021 I have now been with my Kindergarten class for 4 full days. Relationships have been the biggest part of our time together: Relationships between the children; relationships with the children and relationships with the parents. This paragraph is taken from IB's From Principles into Practice (The Learner): "Young children experience their world as an environment of relationships; these relationships affect virtually all aspects of their development (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child 2004). The significance of relationships in the early years is a fundamental part of establishing important skills and dispositions that centre on trust, agency and belonging. When the importance of relationships is reinforced, the foundations for an effective learning community are established." Some ways I have been intentional in establishing positive relationships include: - Planning these first few days without even looking at curriculum scop