Hi! I have to share this “teachable moment” that happened this week outside of the kindergarten classroom. What great excitement when we looked out the window! This little friend was there grazing! The kids wanted me to go out and take its picture…with my iPhone in hand, I stepped just outside the door and approached slowly to get a good pic without scaring it. The pressure was on as the children watched through the window. I discovered that if I clicked my tongue…the deer was curious, and lifted his head to watch me approach. Anyhow, I got very close and was happy with the picture to show the children! They were thrilled! Well, the picture prompted all kinds of questions from the children! For the rest of the afternoon, we read about deer, googled deer facts,  discussed sounds deer might be interested in, drew deer, made play-dough deer, painted deer, shared deer stories, made a KWL chart and had fun taking learning stories home to share with families! This week we are going to watch a video…Stranger in the Woods by Carl Sams II & Jean Stoick featuring beautiful deer in their natural environment.

“Inquiry is an approach to learning whereby children find and use a variety of sources of information and ideas to increase their understanding of a problem, topic or issue of importance. it requires more than simply answering questions or getting a right answer. It espouses investigation, exploration, search, quest, research, pursuit and study. It is enhanced by involvement with the community of learners, each learning from the other in social interaction.”

Kuklthau, Maniotes & Caspari  2007  What is Inquiry? p. 2

 

Through pedagogical documentation, educators are finding creative and lasting ways to…

1. Create shared understanding.

2. Celebrate rights of individual learners.

3. Recognize student ownership of knowledge.

4. Actualize shared responsibility.

5. Provide voice in learning for everyone.

Assessment beginning with stepping back and listening??

I have found these resources very helpful!

The concept of documentation is a procedure used to make learning visible, so that it can be recalled, revisited, reconstructed, interpreted, and reinterpreted as a basis for decision making. In-depth documentation can reveal the learning paths that children are taking and processes they are using in their search for meaning. Documentation is a tool for helping teachers and children reflect on prior experience; listen to each other’s ideas, theories, insights, and understandings; and then make decisions together about future learning paths. Taken from p.274 The Hundred Languages of Children

Traces of learning e.g. notes, photos and videos can be shared with children so they can examine their work.  Teachers scaffold the children’s reflections with probing questions which encourage the children to take their thinking further, or to look at their ideas again and explain to others. Children learn to self-assess.

The concept of a responsive curriculum and negotiated learning, that puts documentation at the centre of learning and teaching may raise questions from some observers.  As we share the advantages of this learning, mindsets experience change.

Documentation moves us beyond an interest in outcomes and moves us to an exploration of relationships and feelings that form the stuff of educative experience. (Yu, 2008)

Below are some sites you may want to visit to deepen your roots into inquiry based learning.

http://resources.curriculum.org/secretariat/kindergarten/inquiry.html

http://www.edutopia.org/kindergarten-project-based-learning

edugains videos on ministry website

http://www.makinglearningvisibleresources.org/

http://www.starfall.com

The Capacity Building Series at http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/

Leaders must have a  comprehensive and current understanding of inquiry, play-based learning.

An inquiry stance is critical to engagement and sustained learning across grades. Taken from The Early Years: Transforming Vision into Reality A Conversation with System Leaders Ministry of Education

Margie Carter’s article, “Making Your Environment The Third Teacher” in Exchange, The Early Leaders’ Magazine is wonderful!  The environment is actually a powerful teacher.

“Every person needs a place that is furnished with wonder and hope.” Maya Angelou

Gandini suggests creating flexible environments that are responsive to the need for children and teachers to construct knowledge together.