Kei Tua o te Pae

Black and Wiliam also conclude that all learners should have an opportunity to express their ideas:

The dialogue between pupils and a teacher should be thoughtful, reflective, focused to evoke and explore understanding, and conducted so that all pupils have an opportunity to think and to express their ideas.31

In early childhood, assessments frequently include, or follow on from, children expressing their ideas. Teachers ensure that all children have this opportunity to express themselves and…

Experiences in early childhood settings can encourage children to puzzle over questions of responsible behaviour, the rights of others, and fairness. (Aspects of this domain are also found in Goal 1 of the Contribution/Mana Tangata strand).

Documented assessment can have a role to play here, especially if the assessments are accessible to children, families, and whānau. Opportunities to reflect on these topics are frequently provided by revisiting events with other people and considering a rang…

Child’s name: Suelisa

Date: 19 February

Teacher: Karen

 
 
Examples or cues
A Learning Story

Belonging

Mana whenua
Taking an Interest
Finding an interest here – a topic, an activity, a role. Recognising the familiar, enjoying the unfamiliar. Coping with change.

Recently Suelisa has been unhappy when she comes to kindergarten. She has just started morning sessions and due to sickness has not been coming regularly.

Today Suelisa was upset when it was time to say goodbye to her dad. I gave h…

Working theories is another name for knowledge, and the term reflects the dynamic nature of children’s exploration. Jane Gilbert writes about new ways to think of knowledge and learning.11 She suggests that significant knowledge is often important for what it can do, that is, for its usefulness. Working theories are exactly that: they are useful for solving problems or making sense of the world, and when they become less useful, they can be changed.

The world outside education is increasingly v…

This domain relates to the topics of music, art, drama, and dance. It links closely with the Exploration/Mana Aotūroa strand, especially where it refers to pretend or dramatic play. The dramatic play in “Harriet’s mermaid” illustrates a number of ways to be creative and expressive, including making a movie, while “Jorjia’s imaginary turtle” documents a two-year-old’s imaginary play.

Child: Colette

Date: February

Teacher: Karen

Colette's duck houseA View from Each Side

Short-term reviewToday Colette worked independently on the task she set herself – creating a duck house. Colette shows great skill and confidence with the process of art and craft and often uses this medium to represent her ideas. (Te Whāriki, Communication, Goal 4.2)

Colette is very aware of the power of print and often requests that her stories be recorded. (Te Whāriki, Communication, Goal 3.2) L…

Proposal presented by Kirstlee, Kelan and Shava

ProposalTo set up a lemonade/juice stand and sell juice to customers.

Target marketCustomers (People who pass by the kindergarten)

Action plan
Decide what juices to sell.
Design juice stand.
Name the stand.
Decide on where we will get the fruit from for the juices.
Decide on cost of juice.
Promote our product to potential customers. 


Designing the tableclothThe design team set to work on the tablecloth under Kirstlee’s supervision and instr…

Critically questioning or transforming includes:

critiquing oral, visual, and written accounts, formats, stories, symbols, and books;
inventing oral, visual, and written accounts, stories, symbols, and books;
choosing from a range of possible and appropriate tools;
questioning conventions or suggesting alternatives.
In the exemplar “A sticky end”, Joshua critiques the ending to the story and devises an ending that he finds more satisfactory.

 

Joshua has a pretty good understanding of what is going on around him. He can recognise different faces and he expresses his feelings through body language and facial expression.

Joshua is very vocal and he will babble away while he is playing with toys and during interaction with his peers.

We have been encouraging Joshua to sound out simple kupu like “kia ora”, “hōmai”, “inu”, “kai”, “pakipaki”, “ihu”, “waha”, etc. He can understand and respond to simple instructions like “pakipaki”, “pūkana…

Critically questioning or redesigning in mathematics includes critiquing the options for classifying and representing data for making meaning. It includes using mathematical symbols creatively and reflectively and representing the world of numbers, shapes, time, and space in personal and unique ways. In the exemplar “Jake’s survey”, the teachers have demonstrated a number of ways to display data from surveys. Jake has reflected on these and makes up his own mind by choosing and adapting one of t…

Child: Tom

Teacher: Rosie

Date: February

A learning story

Tom held up a long piece of play dough he had squeezed from the piping equipment and exclaimed, “Look, Rosie – it’s sooo long!”

“Yes, you’re right, Tom, it sure is! Let’s get a ruler and measure it to see how long it really is,” I suggested.

Tom placed his play dough strip along the tape measure.

It’s 19 long!!

Can you see the numbers, Tom? They tell you how long it is,” I explain.

After studying the numbers carefully, Tom clever…

Critically questioning or transforming includes: critiquing arts formats, symbols, and conventions; inventing and redesigning formats, symbols, and conventions; creatively combining different arts disciplines, perhaps with other symbol systems and technologies; and choosing from a range of possible and appropriate tools and suggesting alternatives.

In the exemplar “Tegan plays for the birds”, Tegan finds a creative and imaginative purpose for playing the guitar, transforming the conventional pu…

It all began when some children began to take on the role of cats in the family play area. We decided to hire the video of the musical Cats 19 and see if there was any interest in this, especially after the children’s interest in ballet earlier in the term.

Watching the video on the Friday.

We hadn’t really expected that many of the children would watch the video, or that they would watch it for any length of time, so we were amazed when we put it on and not only did a large group appear in fr…

Critically questioning or redesigning includes critiquing the options for representing, communicating, and making meaning that are available through ICT. It includes choosing the ICT tool for the task at hand (or choosing not to use an ICT tool and suggesting alternatives).

In the exemplar “Charles publishes his stories”, the teacher models alternative ways of representing ideas, using ICT. Charles, originally not interested in drawing and writing, is enthusiastic about the new design opportuni…

3 MayToday the children experienced a sensory activity using paint. They first created pictures using the stamps and then, later on, they used the roller brushes on large pieces of paper. Some of the children wanted to experience the paint on their skin so they painted their hands, and those with bare feet walked through the paint making foot prints.



Tuesday 10 AugustWe have had a busy time inside today. We have had lots of sensory activities for the children. The play dough was out. Lat…

"The child learns through active exploration of the environment. Children experience an environment where their play is valued as meaningful learning and the importance of spontaneous play is recognised; they gain confidence in and control of their bodies; they learn strategies for active exploration, thinking, and reasoning; they develop working theories for making sense of the natural, social, physical, and material worlds.

Ko te whakatipuranga tēnei o te mana rangahau, me ngā mātauranga…