The children have settled back into school beautifully. Every day they demonstrate what strong and capable children they are, following our daily routines with ease and confidence. It is a joy to have them back!
We continue our inquiry into what it means to “collaborate”. To grow the children’s understanding of “collaboration” and make connections to our inquiry into nature, we read Jeanie Baker’s “Where the Forest Meets the Sea”. We asked the children:
“Can we see collaboration in nature?”. Below is an excerpt from our conversation which demonstrates the children are developing their ability to listen to each other and build on what others have said:
Sometimes trees’ leaves and sticks twist together – it’s like one tree or two trees joining together. Winnie
Trees connect with each other from their roots. Orlie
They connect together to kind of talk to each other. Jonathan
Trees help animals breathe with the leaves. Coen
They help animals make their burrows. Elsie
Trees help trees grow because they share nutrients and they swap over nutrients. Louis
If it rains and there’s seeds on the grounds the more plants will grow into a forest. Daisy
In a reading workshop with the children, again, using the text “Where the Forest Meets the Sea”, we asked the children:
“What do you think the message of the book might be?”
Don’t cut down trees Jonathan
Then we don’t have any forrest Miro
Because we want animals to live there Jack
The falling Autumn leaves provided an ideal opportunity for a numeracy focus. A series of workshops covered the following mathematical concepts: counting, ordering from shortest to tallest and creating patterns. To begin, the children shared their observations about Autumn.
I know it’s Autumn because the leaves are falling off the tree. Coen
The leaves are changing because in different seasons they’re not the same because they match with the seasons. Winnie
Some plants are deciduous – which lose their leaves. And some do not lose their leaves. Kian
The trees tell the leaves that it’s time to fall off. I actually heard in a Podcast. (It’s called) “Imagine This”. Jude
In Autumn, the leaves fall off by the trees sucking out the sugars and in summer the tree gets as much light to make the sugars. And that’s why the leaves change colour. Jack
Not every season is the same because some season are like this season, Autumn, there’s summer winter and spring. Harriet
The leaves fall of the tree because they are getting ready for winter because winter has no leaves on the trees. Josh
We are seeing the benefits of our writing workshops and targets – with children eager to “have a go” at writing during provocation and workshop time, through creating books, storyboards and documenting their learning.
Likewise, the children are enthusiastically having a go at reading independently.
We look forward to continuing our learning journey with the children over the course of this term.
PICTURES