Kei Tua o te Pae

Assessments value the interactions between adults and children and with peers. They are specific about those aspects of verbal communication that the children are developing. The exemplar “Starting with photos” illustrates how powerful photographs are in initiating a network of other communication modes and in maintaining a connection with the home.

Working theories developed by teachers are relevant here; one teacher’s working theory relates to the value of te reo Māori.7 All early childhood t…

The busy puzzling morning – Part 1Phoebe often enjoys setting herself the task of solving puzzles. Today she carefully tips out an interesting puzzle that shows lots of pictures about te ao Māori – the Māori world. She turns the pieces over and then is soon absorbed in studying the features of the puzzle. She holds up a comb piece and puts it into the appropriate place, commenting to Ann that she has combs at her house. As she selects hei tiki she wrinkles Phoebe is keen to work from left to rig…

Micah and Jak had built a construction with blocks and then added treasure. Suddenly Micah left, followed by Jak, who then returned and with great delight slid into the construction and it collapsed. Micah came in and was very disappointed. Jak said to him, “It’s okay – we will build another one,” and they did.

This time they began with the beads and the blocks together from the beginning and they included the beads as they built it in a very clever way. Micah had a beautiful golden buckle and…

Date: 5 June

  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.

Hikurangi and Joel held hands and were very quiet and focused during the karanga as we were called onto the marae – as were the other children. Hikurangi liked the waiata in the wharenui, especially “Whakaaria mai”, which both tangata whenua and manuhiri sang together before th…

Child: Nicholas

Observer: Julie

Date: 14 March

$29.95

Nick asked me how much this was.

“Twenty-nine dollars, ninety-five cents, Nick,” I said.

“That’s a lot of money – but I’ve got heaps of money. When my Nana died, she left me some money,” Nick told me.

“What will you spend it on, Nick?” I asked. “A motorbike!” he told me.

“How about drawing me a picture so I can see what sort of bike you’ll buy?” Nick drew several bikes and ordered them from small to large.

“The big one is a Harley-Da…

We have observed that George (12 months old) has a long concentration span. He will continue trying out a new skill he has developed over and over. If he is having difficulty with a toy, he will persevere until he succeeds, taking just a few goes or days or months to achieve his goals.

George’s parents, Fiona and Chris, also notice this perseverance. The attached message was written by Fiona in George’s home-centre notebook and illustrates their recognition of George’s strong desire to walk, ho…

Where assessments take a narrative approach in context, the assessments – and the notions of valuable knowledge and competence that they take as reference points – can be legitimised by calling on multiple perspectives.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which New Zealand signed in 1993, includes the child’s right to have a voice and to have it listened to and respected (Article 12). Respecting children’s views means that their views can make a difference.

Teachers who p…

Including families and whānau in the early childhood centre’s curriculum and assessment enhances children’s learning. Families enrich the record of learning, reduce some of the uncertainty and ambiguity, and provide a bridge for connecting experiences. Early childhood settings can include families in their assessment and curriculum in many ways. Documented assessments that are sent home regularly invite and encourage families to take part in the learning community. As many settings have found, n…

This was Anna’s idea. She decided what she wanted to say and only needed help with spelling some words.

Parent’s voiceEmma got very excited one evening as I put her to bed. She told me she was visiting Warrengate Hospital the following day. I told her there probably wasn’t a visit, as I had not received a notice about it. When we arrived at kindergarten the next day, I spoke to the teacher, who told us the Warrengate residents were visiting the kindergarten a few days later. We counted down the…

As children learn, they explore a variety of roles and literacies and the skills and understandings that are allied to them. These roles and literacies may be valued nationally, or they may be specific to certain social or cultural groups.

In learning communities, children will have the opportunity to try out a range of sociocultural roles and their associated competencies, for example, tuakana, teina, friend, measurer, jam maker, tower builder, kaimahi, observer of insects, reader, citizen of…

Te Whāriki also suggests learning outcomes that relate to children’s need to explore social roles and literacies that are culturally valued. It reminds us that:

"Language does not consist only of words, sentences, and stories: it includes the language of images, art, dance, drama, mathematics, movement, rhythm, and music."

Te Whāriki, page 72

For example, language also includes the signs and symbols of kapa haka, waiata and mahi toi. In addition, Te Whāriki emphasises the importance…

27 JuneGeorge took an interest in music today after I encouraged him to join in. He sat on my knee and gripped a stick puppet of a cow while we sang “Old McDonald”. He chewed on the cow’s leg and smiled at me. He really enjoyed it when I said “Moo, moo” quickly and loudly in a deep voice.

28 JuneGeorge became more involved in music today and danced to The Wiggles while standing and holding onto my hand. Previously, George has preferred to continue in solitary play during our music sessions, exp…

Child’s name: Ngaio and Izak

Date: 6 October

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.

Izak came over to play from the Over 2's. Ngaio was watching him as he went inside and picked up a play phone from the toy shelves. Ngaio followed him and found a phone of her own. When Izak went outside, so did Ngaio. The…

Many of the assessments in Kei Tua o te Pae (books 11–15) are learning stories. Learning stories integrate learning dispositions into a story framework and include an analysis of the learning. They frequently include Possible pathways or What next? suggestions. In the original research with teachers,17 five dispositions-in-action followed a story sequence: taking an interest; being involved; persisting with difficulty, challenge, and uncertainty; expressing a point of view or feeling; and taking…

At 5 months of age Jedd is able to express his wants and needs verbally. He will cry when hungry, tired or when he wants to be picked up. He will laugh and smile when spoken or sung to, showing his delight to his teachers Nadine (primary caregiver) and Shaz.

Jedd can sit unassisted for brief periods and will reach out purposely for objects, sometimes bringing his hands together to grasp objects. Jewellery and people’s faces are of special interest to Jedd.

Jedd recognises familiar people, show…

Children develop a sensitivity to place and occasion that provides them with capacity to “read” the environment and to recognise places where they trust the people, places, and things to keep them safe while they become focused and involved over a sustained period. Revisiting stories about learning can assist with this development, to the point of their recognising that the resources available to help them overcome their fears10 and to keep themselves safe in their early childhood education cent…

 
A learning story

Belonging

Mana whenua

The centre was delighted by the invitation to attend the pōwhiri for the new principal.

Significantly we sat at the front, reflecting that we are valued.

The kaupapa of the centre – to encourage respect and understanding of Māoritanga – was evident in our children who sat quietly, stood to waiata when required and remained respectful throughout the hour-long pōwhiri.

Two children who were tired simply leaned against adults and fell asleep – no grizz…

This domain of Contribution/Mana Tangata is about children’s growing capacity to develop relationships with other people who are different from them in diverse ways. Relationships between teachers and children, and between teachers, provide models for the social skills and attitudes that support this capacity.

In her book You Can’t Say You Can’t Play, Vivian Gussin Paley begins by discussing children in the process of developing an understanding of relationships and of dealing with rejection:…

As Hirini Melbourne has explained above, exploration of the wharenui is an opportunity to introduce the language and symbolism of whakairo. Here, Jak is calling on an example of written literacy – a book – to add to his knowledge, as well as referring to a photograph on the wall. He asks, “Why does it have a triangle pointy roof?”, and the teacher replies in terms of the symbolism of the design rather than the spatial mathematics of architecture; however, Jak is also exploring for himself the st…

Child: Aimee

Teacher: Chrissy

Aimee brought her “Peter Rabbit” book to kindergarten. I began reading the first page and the names Flopsy and Mopsy caught Aimee’s attention.

“Those rhyme!” she exclaimed.

I wrote the words “Flopsy” and “Mopsy” on a piece of paper.

“Which one do you think says “Flopsy?” I asked.

Aimee thought for a moment and pointed to the word and then she said, “And that must be Mopsy!”

I asked her to think of other words that could rhyme with these names. Aimee took grea…