For the past two months, we have been discussing our adventures exploring movement with you – movement through materials, directions and actions. Throughout our journey, we have noticed that a lot of you have been reading and participating along with us at home. This is extremely exciting for us and a prime example of how our Shale community has become a place of vitality for children, families and educators. Together we are co-constructors of relationships, knowledge and care.
“Co-construct refers to a process of creating in relationship with others. Learning takes place in a social context – as children interact with and work together with educators, other children and materials.”
Makovichuk, L. (Play, participation, and
possibilities: An early learning and care
curriculum framework for Alberta. Retrieved
from page 52.
After careful observation of the children’s engagement and interactions within the classroom and with peers, we have noticed the children’s interests growing and shifting towards building and stacking. This has much to do with our exploration of movement through materials. During our exploration, the children have been stacking the materials to watch them fall down – an example of movement through action. As the weeks have progressed, they have become more immersed with the concept of stacking, and continuing to stack until it’s too tall to reach. This is a huge step in concept development, as you know most of our shale friends are accustomed to immediately dumping and knocking down objects. During our weekly educator planning meeting, we discussed the possibility of moving forward from movement, into the concept idea of building and stacking. We feel it is a perfect opportunity to branch from our movement idea but still keep it a constantly evolving idea within the room.
With all of this being said, this will be the last week we will be focusing on movement. Please take a look at our planning webs on movement and reflect on what you have accomplished at home throughout this journey as well. On Monday, we will start a new planning web on building and stacking to continue our quest for discovery and exploration!
A few notes to remember:
- Thank you to everyone for signing our video/photography permission form!
- Please fill out the holiday form as soon as possible so we can plan for December.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Sarah, Michelle, Cassi and Young