Term 2 Week 4

The last two weeks have been a hive of activity in MZa! The children's interest in the world of the imagination is continuing, alongside a long-standing fascination with what surrounds Earth; namely space and rainbows!

A giant question...

The children and I have been exploring the existence or otherwise of giants. Are they real or imaginary? Last week we all completed a survey, and analysed the data ,which showed that the majority of us believed giants to be imaginary. Over the next few days we read some books such as Jack and the Beanstalk and Gulliver's Travels, and viewed a short video about the world's tallest man.

A few days later, a revisit of the survey showed that us that, in many cases, our thinking had changed. So now, many children think that giants are real, some insist they are imaginary, and a few are as yet still pondering. It has been so exciting to listen to the children articulate how their thinking is changing as they process new information...

"Giants are imaginary because we've never seen a beanstalk before."

"Giants are real because they can walk by themselves. Giants are the same as persons, so it's real."

"In the book they were bad and eat people, but I'm not scared...only in stories."

"China is a real country, so giants are real."

The video we watched also led to some measurement fun. We wanted to know what 2.46m (the height of the world's tallest man) looked like, so we used a metre ruler to mark this length on the carpet. Some children then used a combination of unifix cubes, the metre ruler and their own feet to count how many units long. This then sparked the idea to measure each other!

Space...

Many of the children have been designing and building vehicles which could travel in space. A lot of thought has gone into the pieces of equipment used and what purpose each one will serve.

Over the rainbow? Not yet...

Many children remain enthralled by rainbows. What are rainbows? According to MZa...

"A rainbow is colours."
"A rainbow has treasure on the end of the side."
"The rain stop, the rainbow come."

Some children have enjoyed discovering how to make their own rainbows with mirrors and have been noticing rainbow colours in bubbles.

 
"Just look down, you can see a rainbow!"

Welcome to Term 2.

Happy New Year! It was lovely to welcome the children back and we are looking forward to a busy and exciting new term.

Many children have maintained their interest in our metaproject and shared information about the world from their holidays, such as countries that they visited and what they saw and did. I showed photos of my trip to the Glasshouse Mountains in Australia, and asked the children to share any thoughts...

"It looks like a volcano."

"But no lava is there."

"It is extinct...that means the lava is gone."

The sea has been of interest to the children lately. We have been using our prior knowledge as well as non-fiction books and the internet to share information and begin our inquiry. Some children have made a sea collage and created creatures to add.

I posed to the children the following question...

"Why does Earth have seas?"
"If not...all the people couldn't have water and they will die."
"The fish need water."
"The sea's got treasure in it and there's water and sharks and whales."
"Even the sea has fishes; like an aquarium."

Something that I have noticed in my observations of, and chats with, the class is their interest in the realm of fantasy and magic within the world. The imagination is a powerful meaning-making tool for young children who may not yet have the experience or language to construct and convey understandings in a "rational" way. Fostering the ability to "think outside the box" is invaluable to children's (and adults!) problem solving. Recently we have seen drawings about Lord of The Rings, songs from and discussions about  Frozen, scenarios created with fairies and wizards and play based around the idea of zombies!  They children have enjoyed sharing their knowledge of imaginary characters in the world.

One of our classmates lost his first tooth a couple of weeks ago, and I overheard the following conversation...

"When your teeth fall out and then you put it under your pillow and then the Tooth Fairy will come."

"But you know...when your tooth fall out you throw it in the window and when you sleep you can see it's in the outside place."

"The Tooth Fairy is special. Some fairies are different and some are the same. They are very special and they can come anywhere."

"They don't come if you are awake."

"Yes, yes...and fairies can make magic with her magic wand."

Our Student Led Conferences on Tuesday 13th were a great success! The children did a fantastic job of  sharing with their parents how they learn in K1. I was very proud of the independence and confidence shown by MZa children.

During the K1 Arts Exhibition, many children in our class contributed to the making of this wonderful sea / ocean.