Animal tracks, snowflakes, outdoor learning, snowmen, and hibernation are interests that children revisit year after year each winter. In an effort to support learning in literacy and music and movement, our team introduces shared poems and songs that we sing with the children each day for one week. We also send a copy home for… Read More Winter Poems on Google Slides
Our team has previously shared how we document children’s learning with tools like Seesaw and Google Forms. However, the tool we’re sharing in this post is about what we document with regards to noticing and naming the learning. It’s a compilation of “I can” statements in the form of Learning Goals in Kindergarten which correlates to the 2016… Read More Documenting with Learning Goals in Kindergarten
Let’s begin with a story. A year 2(senior kindergarten) student enters the outdoor classroom on the first day of school with his mom smiling quietly behind him. His first words are, “Look Mrs Max. I found a worm in my peach pit at breakfast. I wonder why he’s in there?” Some might think, he didn’t… Read More Creating a Culture of Curiosity in Kindergarten
It’s exciting to reflect on the year gone by not only to support forward thinking for the new year, but also to appreciate precious moments and memories. My Top Nine Photos on Instagram of 2017. Handle: meljmaxwell Spatial Reasoning Provocation A clear plastic table cloth with Sharpie paint pen shapes drawn on it invites children… Read More Best Nine Photos of 2017 on Instagram
Wondering/Driving Question: I wonder what the worm is doing in the peach pit? James(JS) One morning JS found a worm in his peach pit when mom was cutting into it at home. JS wanted to bring it into school to “investigate it and figure out what it was doing in there”. JS’s mom and he… Read More James and the Giant Wormy Peach: A Kinderland Inquiry
It’s not just another classroom with neutral colours, stones, and baskets. We live in Muskoka and our environment as the third teacher reflects our culture of living and how we encourage children to care for our forests. We spend lots of time exploring forests using a forest-school type approach: playing with bugs, building dens, and inquiring about… Read More A Reggio-Inspired Classroom Design – Kinderland Tour Part 2
Can you build a parachute that can transport a figure safely from the top of the playground to the ground? Challenge: List of materials Plan: Detailed sketch of model with/without instructions model Chart explaining what happened after each test flight. What changes/modifications did you make after each test? Strategies you would recommend to someone else doing… Read More 3 Engaging STEAM Challenges
Welcome to Shapeland! Kinderland has been excited to build Shapeland using 3D shapes with blocks, tree blocks, rocks, and cut up pool noodles with long tooth pics and skewers. Our early learners began exploring shapes through play and then their own inquiries. They added materials as they wanted to use them. This constructivist approach enabled our… Read More Pool Noodle Shapeland
Our early learners showed interest in bird’s nests. The children had been building birds nests in the sand outside and we thought we’d bring that interest indoors for them to explore further. So, the DECE (Designated Early Childhood Educator) in our team collected materials from our room to create this lovely provocation. The children loved it.… Read More Bird’s Nests Provocation
In striving for our early learners to thinking critically, question their way forward, and explore their oral languages skills our early years team is always searching for questions to ask our early learners. The file below is a working document that continually evolves as our understanding of how our early learners develop also evolves. It is… Read More Open-Ended Questions for Centres
inspired by play 