As part of kindergarten’s first unit of inquiry, Who We Are, initial encounters between children and educators, as well as families, began with sharing information about ourselves, developing agreements and spending time together in the spaces of our learning community….
All posts tagged “Exploration”
How The World Works: Developing Theories About the Winter Forest Through the Arts
The children in Early Years 1 have a strong relationship with the nearby forest as we spend weekly time exploring there. This natural ever changing setting provides countless opportunities to develop and explore theories connected to our unit of inquiry’s…
International Schools in Host Culture Contexts: Supporting exploration of the PYP learner profile through outdoor learning
“Must we always teach our children with books? Let them look at the mountains and the stars up above. Let them look at the beauty of the waters and the trees and flowers on earth. They will then begin to…
Den Building
Connecting Threads of Learning in Different Spaces As our class groups develop a growing sense of community, we intentionally plan learning provocations based on children’s interests which promote connections among our environments both indoor and outdoor. We aim to have threads of…
Making Connections through the Language of Movement
It is a new school year filled with wonder, curiosity and hope. Many children have joyfully reconnected with familiar friends and we have had many new faces join our Early Years community as well. As we embark upon our first Unit…
Listening to Children’s Theories and Ideas About Our World
How do you know the wind is there? Frequently perceptible, but often invisible, the wind can be a fascinating weather phenomena. Its mysterious nature can bring the languages of science and imagination together. When thinking about the question, ‘How do…
Exploring Wood Work with Early Years Children
As part of our transdisciplinary unit, How We Express Ourselves, we have been inquiring into ways we can communicate our ideas and feelings through play. The children have been building their understanding, through many exciting experiences and interactions with each…
Child Initiated Inquiry: Building Bird Nests.
In our Early Years Programme there is a strong emphasis on child-initiated inquiries as we believe that children learn best when their interests are acknowledged as worthy of investigation. Children’s thinking is not only valued but supported and extended through…
Waldkinder: Explorations in the Forest
Each week we visit the forest by our school for our Waldkinder, or ‘forest children’ explorations. This week it felt as if the winter had melted away. We spent a perfect morning exploring an area of the forest that we had not…
Exploring Water Beads
Children are naturally curious about their world. They wonder, question, discuss and make discoveries. We felt that water beads would be an ideal way to provide our little scientists with an opportunity for discovery. We began our experiment by placing…