As transition back to on-site learning has begun again this week, we are focussed on the wellbeing of our students and the assessment of their learning needs for the rest of 2020.
In the prep neighbourhood we have concentrated on observation and documentation of the children’s moments of re -connecting with their environments, friends and learning.
Throughout the first week back we have found ourselves observing, documenting and discussing moments of connecting with familiarity in our neighbourhood.
These moments were noted and documented right from the first day. Below we share some of our observations from these first days back together onsite.
A small group of children happily found the clay they were building expertise with in Term 2.
Another group seemed to find the space to reconnect with each other at the familiar heart art and the still life provocations. This appeared to afford them the chance to not only re-explore their success as artists but also to gently chat and connect socially.
Some children gravitated toward the construction area where old abilities to collaborate and construct were reignited again providing a platform for social connections to be re-established.
Dinosaurs provided another opportunity to reconnect with the familiar providing the opportunity for social connections through the sharing of knowledge, expertise and shared interest.
Some children sought out familiar experiences in The Studio. The studio may have been a place of comfort and the place they found their feet in term 1 as a new prep. One child in particular requested to do a drawing on black paper with light coloured pencils. This was an experience that afforded him success and feelings of pride in Term 1. Later He asked “Are we going to have the board again?” He was referring to our neighbourhood documentation board. We think he was hoping to see his new work on the board. This observation helped us to recognise the importance of sharing the daily successes on the board. How do we bring this back in our new normal? We are going to try and use Seesaw as a way of sharing these successes with the families from our neighbourhood community.
These moments of re-connection are providing us with authentic moments for writing experiences.
We look forward to re-connecting and continuing to observe and listen to learning moments together.