Kei Tua o te Pae

Date: 30 August

Teacher: Lorraine

Learning storyPierre discovered a shape puzzle that seemed to fascinate him. He sat manipulating the shapes for about 10 minutes.

Each time he touched one, he’d look up and say, “Da, da.” I gave him the name for each shape in English and te reo.

He carefully examined each shape before attempting to place it on the puzzle – a very reflective, studied approach!

Although it was a wet day and there was considerable activity around him, he persisted at his task,…

Learning storiesChild: Alexandra

Date: 30 November

Teacher: Helen

 
 

A Learning Story

Belonging

Mana whenua
Taking an Interest

Alex brought her portfolio to me and asked if we could look at it together. She had rushed off to get it after observing me checking through Corey's portfolio, which he was taking home with him today after celebrating his fifth birthday.

We turned to the first page, and Alex pointed out her name in a learning story and then ran her finger in a straight line…

Assessments that are accessible and detailed enough to invite children and families to suggest developments and alternatives and to bring knowledge and expectations from home. They can be revisited at home with family, whānau, and the wider community of friends and neighbours. They also clarify teachers’ interpretations and expectations.
Assessments that include contributions from home that can be revisited in the early childhood setting. Teachers and children can make connections with the knowl…

Child's name: Andrew

Date: 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.

When Andrew's mum came to kindergarten today, she got Andrew's portfolio and began to write a Parent's Voice. Andrew's mum was writing a story about Andrew's exciting weekend.

Later on in the session, I ask…

Daniel has recently developed an interest or enthusiasm for babies, and much of his play is seen by the teachers in this setting as the re-creation of his own experiences.

Daniel found a doll lying on the floor and picked it up, saying “baby” in an excited voice. Next to me was a pillow and blanket, which I pointed out to Daniel, suggesting he might like them for his baby. Daniel smiled and dragged the pillow over to the doll, then covered the baby using the blanket.
He practised covering and u…

15 AprilMaria returned after the holidays keen to continue experimenting with koru patterns. She uses a range of drawing resources to create her koru patterns. Each time she makes a different drawing, Maria shows me her designs.

6 MayMaria showed me her work with koru patterns (using pencil). She went back to the office table and began to draw another range of koru patterns using coloured pens. The book “How Maui Slowed the Sun” by Peter Gossage was nearby. Maria identified spiral patterns in t…

Child’s name: Erica

Date: 3 September

Teacher: Ginny

 
 
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.

I've noticed that Erica often likes to have two of the same objects to play with at the same time.

Today she found two metal objects from the heuristic playthings and tapped them together, making a big sound. Shortly afterwards,…

Child: Sherina
Date: 6 October
Teacher: Janet

The child’s voice

 
 

A Learning Story

Belonging

Mana whenua
Taking an Interest
First day of term 4, Mum brought Sherina into kindergarten and took her to see Sue.
“Hello, Susie,” sang Mum.

“Susie, Susie,” sang Sherina.

“Hello, Sherina,” I sang to Sherina.

“Hello Janet,” sang Sherina, using the same melody.

Mum told me that Sherina finds it easier to sing people's names instead of saying them.

Well-being

Mana atua
Being Involved

Expl…

“The three friends” exemplar in Book 15 provides excerpts from the portfolios of three children, Tane, Sarah, and Leon, over a period of time when they collaboratively developed their interest in sewing.

Frequency and regular events

The children’s learning repeated the learning story framework several times as they adapted their original interest in a number of ways, sustained their involvement over time, persisted with difficulties (with the adults often providing more assistance), negotiated…

"What this [research] amounts to is that self-assessment by pupils, far from being a luxury, is in fact an essential component of formative assessment." 32

An essential element is for teachers to provide “the stimulus and help for pupils to take active responsibility for their own learning”.33 A number of exemplars provided in the Kei Tua o te Pae series include children commenting on and evaluating their own learning. Revisiting documented assessments with peers, teachers, family, an…

Teacher: Glynis

Date: May

Suelisa's Pictorial Learning Story 

Today Suelisa came to the woodwork area, a part of the kindergarten that she hasn’t spent much time in until today. She watched some children using the glue guns and decided that she would like to make something too!

 

She chose two pieces of wood and proceeded to glue them together being very careful where she placed the glue. When she finished doing that I suggested she look in the baskets on the shelves to see what else s…

Short-term review/What next?As they worked on their business venture, the children were developing a number of important skills. They were developing their awareness of literacy as they were writing their signs and developing the planning stages of their project. Their mathematical skills were extended as they calculated their money and counted their profits!! They were estimating quantity when they were working out how much fruit they needed to use and we focused on healthy eating as we promote…

Child: Rahsaan

Teacher: Carol

Date: 28 February

  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.

Because there has been such strong interest in playing quidditch created by the “pipes”, I brought Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone18 to kindergarten.

After mat time I told the boys with the pipes that I had the book and Rahsaan was…

28 February

Ezra wanted to be really tall today. He was walking around with the sawhorse held up high over his head. Later I noticed him under the tree house positioning the sawhorse in different ways, trying to reach the bottom ledge.

He tried standing on both the bottom and top of the sawhorse.

The sawhorse is upside down with its legs standing up.
Ezra works out how to reach the ledge more easily.

Then with intense concentration he walked around the playground. “I’m going to reach that tr…

A learning story

We have been encouraging the children to look closely at flowers and other objects before painting and drawing them. Today Ethan tackled the flowers, looking carefully at how spiky they were. When I thought he had finished he took his painting inside and put it on the easel.

“I haven’t finished yet,” he said. He chose some more paint and began mixing colours, which he added to his painting. He then went to the collage area and chose pieces of coloured paper to stick on his p…

Throughout the past few months we have been experimenting with PowerPoint® as a tool for documenting children’s learning. PowerPoint® allows the children to plan and construct their own interactive computer program. Previously we had been working on group documentation and Tori had been a keen helper. I wondered if she would be interested in making her own presentation, a prospect that she found very exciting.

Tori and I discussed a story topic and Tori decided that it would be about her good f…

There are particular dimensions for considering Māori educational advancement.

In 2001, Mason Durie set out a framework for considering Māori educational advancement. He introduced 3 goals, emphasising that they are concurrent (a “parcel of goals”) that should all be pursued together.

Goal 1: to live as Māori
This goal takes as its starting point the view that learning and education “should be consistent with the goal of enabling Māori to live as Māori”, including being able to access te ao Mā…