Into the EY2 Classroom

This week, to figure out what we will explore next, we paused the question of "Whose poop is this?”. Instead, we directed the children’s attention to our newly adjusted areas of the classroom. As time progresses, we will gradually open new areas to explore with children.

This week upcoming week, we’re also very excited to welcome our new EY1 friend Audrey! We look forward to including her and her family in everything our school has to offer, and look forward to Audrey teaching us about herself!

 

Thinking and Research

This week in English, we are focusing on the meaning that different print carries. Some print tells us a story, and other print tells us our names and information about us. The print we are looking at this week gives us instructions and keeps us safe. As we introduce our children to more and more of our surrounding areas and the wider world, it’s important for them to understand the things they might encounter. 

During our lunch and snack time, the teachers will often pretend their hand is a hungry spider looking to steal a bite of lunch. It is up to the children to hold their hands up and say “stop!” to prevent this. We already know the children are familiar with the meaning of “stop!” and how to act when told this. As we began our week, we introduced the signs for STOP and GO. The stop sign is red, in the typical fashion of a western stop sign you would see on the road. The go sign is green andcircular, like a traffic light. At first, we sat as a group and went over these signs. Ms. January began to dance when shown the GO sign and stopped dancing when shown the STOP sign. After we practised a few times, we started our journey. In a line, we walked around the Nursery. Children could walk when shown the GO sign and had to pause when shown the STOP sign. A few times Ms. Kathryn showed the STOP sign but continued to walk herself – some children tried to follow, but when they were reminded that the STOP sign was still up, they paused. 

After the lesson, the children continued to respond to the signs when they were shown. During outside time, Jennie and Lexi took over the STOP and GO signs, respectively, helping Milo navigate the traffic on his bike. When a bottle neck formed at the slide, the STOP and GO signs were used to help children wait their turn and know when they could go down the slide.

 

 

As we continued our week, we began exploring signs outside the classroom and in the wider Nursery. Every day we see signs telling us different things. They become so common place we might neglect to notice them. Considering this, we began our journey around the Nursery - using stop signs to navigate. The children were surprised when our first stop sign appeared at the door of our classroom – we had only walked a short distance! We looked at the door trying to figure out what the sign could be? What was giving us instructions?

Ms. Kathryn asked the children – “How do you open the door?”

“Push!” said Milo and Lexi

“But how do you know to do that?”

Pointing out the sign, Ms. Kathryn read out P-U-SH, push! The sign is telling us to push the door. 

As we continued our journey we were stopped at several signs. One telling us that there was a kitchen beyond the door. Another telling us that we needed to pull the door, not push. Others told us where toilets were and which doors we could enter. The children took note of what these signs looked like, what they meant, and where they were. 

During our Adventures in Nature walk, we’d noticed the children pointing out signs along the way. So, our next destination for discovering and understanding signage was a walk outside the school! As we walked around, we asked the children to keep their “binoculars” on to help us spy on any signs they might find. 

Milo found a sign – No smoking and no loud noises

Lexi found one too – No entrance, don’t touch the fence

Jennie found a green one – This tells us what street we’re on

And Rachel found one in the distance – Traffic lights!

Previously, we set up an activity to experience "A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains", which aims to inspire children to interpret the events in the painting from their perspective and present them with artistic means.

From the activity, we observed that the children were able to fully express what they saw. When we try to guide the children to create the scene, they used their imagination to fill it with more relevant content like sounds heard and conversations between people. This effort to round out the scenes with more content led to a new challenge for the children as well. The children present what they see and chose to create with a lot of colour mixing.

To meet the children at their own challenge, we adjusted our plans! We put away the famous paintings and started with diverse creations. We try to use paint to interpret the single sound that we hear. To stimulate the children's interest, we use the game mode of "I will, you won't", and let the children have a "competition" with the main characters in the picture book. The little boy in the picture book throws out "tasks" to the children.

In previous painting activities, we can observe that children's creation methods mainly focus on graffiti, and at the same time focus more on the feelings brought by mixing. This time, we introduced the children to three different patterns and helped them realise that the way to create is not just the mixing of big blocks of colour, but also the drawing of lines.

Corresponding to the three lines, we introduced the children to three pitch instruments, the tambourine, the triangle iron, and the tooth wood. First, we asked the children to look at three the musical instruments and explore the ways in which they make sounds.

Milo said, "You can make a sound by shaking a tambourine! "

Lexi said, "The wooden instrument can be a little snake! "

Jennie said, "Tapping it makes a sound! "

Then, through discussion, we guide the children to associate these instruments with the patterns they have just drawn.

Milo said, "The paint splatters like a tambourine because you have to beat it so hard! "

Lexi said, "The wood is like a curve, because the little snake is like that! "

We explained the ground rules to the children, which were that you have to start drawing when you hear the instruments. Then, we observed how the children create when they hear different sounds. Some will draw different lines according to different sounds, some will change the speed of their creation according to the change of rhythm, and some will change the intensity of their strokes according to the change of volume.

 

Intentional teaching and new learning

On Wednesday, we were excited to be invited next door for a special event – EY3 were making bread! Ms. Juliana led us through the recipe and told us the rules – you must have clean hands and you must roll your sleeves up! If you sneeze or cough you need to go wash your hands again, we want our bread to be hygienic! The measurements were laid out in cups – 1 cup, ¼ cup, ½ cup. As we scooped out the flour, we had to try a few times to make sure the cup was full all the way, or our recipe would not work! After we had all our ingredients, we began mixing. The mixing of bread is difficult because it is sticky and thick. The children used all their arm muscles mixing the bread as strongly as they could. Eventually, Ms. Kathryn took the bowl and began using her hands to knead and roll the dough. Each child wanted to try, so they were given a piece of dough to flatten and roll into a ball to feel how sticky and tough it is. Bread takes a long time to be ready to bake, so we left it in the EY3&4 classroom for a few hours so it could proof to perfection. At the end of the day, we came back from PE class to a fantastic smell – the bread was done baking! All the children and parents came into the EY3&4 classroom before going home to get a chance to try the fresh bread – some had it with jam and others with butter. 

On Friday, Ms. Irene brought us a "new" fruit – The grapefruit! The children were curious about the fruit in the bag. And so, we led a sensory experience!

This is a similar pattern to the previous sensory experience. But what's different is that we see language and cognitive development in the children's feedback. Instead of directly describing their feelings, the children began to describe the features and functions of the objects in the bag - "like a ball, round, rolling!".

And while observing, the children were no longer experiencing it and then passing it on to their partner. Instead, they began to look closely at the details of the grapefruit and ask questions. For example: why are there the yellow spots on the top, why are the top and bottom circular? As children record their impressions of the fruit, we see more concrete expressions in their marks. For example:

-The grapefruit was like a ball, so someone drew circles to represent the ball.

-Someone thought the recessed parts of the fruit were long branches and leaves, so they drew curved lines to represent the branches.

Finally, the children volunteered to cut open and see what was inside, and when they did, they found the inside was different from the outside. The hard yellow skin is soft white inside. The children stroked the white skin, feeling it. They wondered if it was edible, so they tasted it. The bitter taste left a deep impression on the children! 

 

Environmental talk

Let's look at some of the fantastic learning experiences children in EY3&4 had last week!

Milo asked, "why does it spin? Is it a battery? "

Jennie asked, "why is the front light on? Is it a light? "

When using this equipment, the children have a lot of questions. They solved these questions by asking and observing. Milo looked at the drill and saw that there was no battery case, but there was a charging port, so he decided that the drill was charged, just like the phone!

After Jennie's question was raised, Milo and Jennie had a small discussion, and eventually they decided that the lamp was used to illuminate the screw so that people could see where the screw was!

Drills are equipped with different drill bits. Milo was curious enough to open the box and turn the screws. But while installing the screw, he realised that it was impossible to turn the screw when the drill bit had a different pattern from the it. So, like a jigsaw puzzle, he began by trying to insert the drill into the screw. Once it fits, attach it to the drill.

Through the experience, the children gradually learn the functions of different drill bits and the basic steps of drilling.

 

 

Sawing wood is a team activity. It takes two to three children to complete. 

By observing that the children realised that sawing wood needed to be done on the small wood, they needed someone to make sure the wood didn’t shift. When sawing the wood, it takes two people to pull the saw up and down to complete.

Children need patience and focus when it comes to sawing wood. To feel the saw slowly sink through the wood and focus on their own movement. This helped them adjust their movement and find a better angle to saw from. We observed that the children sighed, and their minds wandered during the attempt, but after self-regulation or reminders, they were able to stay focused on the task at hand.