Pezzettino

We read a story called Pezzettino by Leo Lionni.  Pezzettino in Italian means "little piece.”  In the story the characters are constructed out of coloured squares. At the light table, the students used their own tissue paper squares, coloured cubes and imagination to create their own pezzettino characters. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunflower Inquiry

A few weeks ago, a parent brought us a sunflower from the community garden.  She asked us if we wanted it to observe it in our classroom.  We said yes!

 

 

We put the sunflower at our Discovery Centre. Students spent time observing it and many “I wonder” questions emerged and theories about what was happening to the sunflower.  A reoccurring question was “Will the sunflower grow?”  We had a Knowledge Building Circle and students shared their theories.  Many students thought that if we take a sunflower seed and put it in water it will grow.

A few experiments emerged to test out students’ theories.

Experiment #1 – Put a sunflower seed in a box and give   it water.

 

Experiment #2 – Put a sunflower seed in a clear jar with water.

We waited and waited but did not see any changes in the sunflower seeds.  A plant was not growing.

We looked at other plants in the classroom and students noticed that what was missing from our seed was soil.

We then read books about how plants grow and learned that plants need soil, air, water and sunlight to grow.  We then planted a sunflower seed.

 

 

Our sunflower head is continuing to change.  The students are now coming up with other theories of what is happening to the sunflower and why it is changing.

 

 

 

 

 

Classroom Entrance Way

We wanted to create an entrance way that was inviting to the parents where they could sit and look at the inquiry projects that we have been working on with our students. We also wanted to share any books we, as teachers, have been reading that inspire us every day.   Below is a picture of what our entrance way looks like.  Our two inquiry binders on snails are on display.  We have also put up on the cork board our monthly calendar for parents to refer to. 

 

 

Our New Light Table!

We introduced our new light table to the students today and were amazed by their enthusiasm and what they created.  Below are some images of their creative expression and discoveries at the light table.

O: "I make a people and I put two hands."

  

A: "We made different kind of colours. 
We put all of the stones on the different colours and
we saw the stones were changing colours."

F: "I can make green!  Yellow and blue make green." 

 

Z: "I made the sky, the stars in the night time."

We cannot wait to see what else the students create at our new light table! 

Designs, Creations and Constructions

The following photographs represent ways children have used the materials we have made available in our classroom. We have been thinking a lot about our language when talking to children, using words such as design, creation and construction. We are trying to be mindful of how we speak when we interact with the children in our classroom in a way that provokes richer dialogue between us and the children.

Light and Shadow

I'm always in awe of what children can create given materials that reflect and play with light. I've attached some images of last years Light & Shadow Inquiry that continue to inspire me with their beauty!

Stephanie

Before and After: Science Table

Before

After

You may notice the shelf on the far right, it's actually an old play fridge and we simply recycled by removing the door and displaying materials in clear plastic containers.

Before and After: Cubbies

Before

After 

Before and After: Book Bins

Before



 

After

 

Before and After: Sink

Before

After

Our Snack Table

This year we have decided to have a snack table where the students can go and eat their snack throughout the day whenver they are hungry.

 

Before and After: Blocks

Before

After



Before and After: Art Storage

Before

After

 

 

Before and After: Art Studio

Before

After

 

Before and After: Meeting Space

Before

After



Before and After: Teacher Desks

Before

After 

Our Classroom Environment Transformation

We spent the last two weeks of August setting up our learning environment to reflect our personal inspirations from the principles of Reggio Emilia.  We wanted to create an environment that was aesthetically pleasing, organized, clutter-free, calm, transparent, comfortable, inviting and engaging.  While transforming our classroom environment we reflected on a powerful quote from the book Designs for Living and Learning: Transforming Early Childhood Environments.  This quote has had a big impact on us.



"Children are miracles.  Believing that

every child is a miracle can transform the

way we design for children's care.  When

we invite a miracle into our lives, we prepare

ourselves and the environment around us.

We may set out flowers or special offerings.

We may cleanse ourselves, the space, or our

thoughts of everything but the love inside us.

We make it our job to create, with reverence

and gratitude, a space that is worthy of a

miracle!  Action follows thoughts.  We can

choose to change.  We can choose to design

spaces for miracles, not minimums."

    - Anita Rui Olds, 1999



Throughout the year we will continue to reflect on our classroom environment and make any necessary changes.



View from the front doorway before...





View from the front doorway now.



View from the back before...



View from the back now.

More pictures to follow.......





Last Day of School

On the last day of school we wanted to visualize our classroom space without anything in it, so we pushed all the furniture to the sides of the room.

The purpose was to see our space without any pre-defined areas. We wanted it to be a blank canvas, where we could visualize new areas and new ideas for spaces. We also wanted to talk about sight lines and the flow of movement in the room.

We ended up sitting at the round table (the only furniture we didn't push out of the way) and just talked about what we could visualize in the space. We had a piece of blank paper and started to map out some of our initial ideas. We also wrote down a list of the learning spaces that we felt strongly about having in our classroom for September.

Learning Spaces
-light table
-art studio
-discovery table (a place for natural objects and found objects to be brought inside)
-inquiry project area
-communication table (what would traditionally be called the writing centre)
-dramatic play
-big blocks
-quiet reading area
-meeting place
-math exploration (with access to floor area)
-sensory exploration
-water
-sand

We then started to visualize where and how these learning spaces would fit together into the classroom. We drew an initial plan that we will play around with when we come back into the classroom at the end of August to set up for September.

Next steps:
1) Meeting to plan for September
2) Trip to Ikea for new materials
3) Repainting the dramatic play furniture and making repairs
4) Reading, reading and more reading

Here are some before and after pictures of the great room purge!

Stephanie and Helen. (Also a big thank you to Catherine for helping us dismantle our room!)

View from the back before...

...and view from the back after.

View from the front doorway before...

...and view from the front doorway after.

Reading List

To help us prepare our new classroom environment we have been reading books that were suggested to us or that we have picked up ourselves.  Some of the books below are ones that we have read or are currently reading.




Natural Curiosity: Building Children's Understanding of the World through Environmental Inquiry by OISE - The Laboratory School at the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study


Natural Curiosity Website - Download Free Copy

-an excellent book that looks at inquiry through the lens of environmental education, we highly recommend it 
-we have used this book throughout the school year and have participated in a monthly professional learning community
-we like the four branches that comprise Environmental Inquiry: Inquiry-based Learning, Integrated Learning, Experiential Learning, and Stewardship

QUOTE: "When direct experience in nature falls to the wayside, the opportunity to explore the ditch gets replaced by memorizing lists of plants you might find if you actually ever went to the ditch." Natural Curiosity

Authentic Childhood by Susan Fraser
-highly recommend this book as an introduction to Reggio Emillia philosophy of education, especially since it's with a Canadian focus

QUOTE: "A number of principles, including aesthetics, active learning, collaboration, transparency, "bringing the outdoors in," flexibility, relationship, and reciprocity, need to be addressed to create an environment that acts as a third teacher." Susan Fraser






Insights and Inspirations from Reggio Emilia: Stories of Teachers and Children from North America. Edited by Lella Gandini, Susan Etheredge, and Lynn Hill
-wonderful collection of articles and stories, helpful to see Reggio Emilia represented through the eyes of others in North America

QUOTE: "...start from an explicit declaration about the very open image of the child...An image in the sense of an interpretation, strong and optimistic about the child; a child who is born with many resources and extraordinary potentialities that never fail to surprise us; a child with autonomous capacities to construct thoughts, ideas, questions and attempts to give answers." Loris Malaguzzi





Designs for Living and Learning: Transforming Early Childhood Environments by Dev Curtis and Margie Carter
-new resource recommended to us by Dr. Carol Anne Wien as a great place to start looking at the space in our classroom







We Are All Explorers: Learning and Teaching with Reggio Principles in Urban Settings. Edited by Daniel R. Scheinfeld, Karen Marie Haig, and Sandra J Scheinfeld.
-this resource is a good basic introduction to Reggio, we found the chapter on team-teaching valuable