It started with a road

For the past few months, I have been working in the EC classrooms (3-5 year-olds) for a couple of hours a day. EC is where the magic happens. EC is where personalised learning is happening in its purest form. Yet it wasn’t until this past Thursday that I felt like I had witnessed something truly remarkable.

Every day, I am present for ‘inquiry time’. EC students (two classes) have free choice in how they want to use this time. What they want to explore, how they will explore, and who they want to explore with. Since I have been there, I have been focusing on Maths provocations and inquiries, and have collected a large amount of anecdotal evidence in this area.

This week, I have been asked to focus more on one of the units of inquiry – How The World Works. Some students were initially interested in ocean life, just like the class next door. However, the class I am working with, Kiboko, did not seem to retain that fascination as the other class did. While every student was still inquiring, still learning, I could see that some students, particularly the older ones, needed something different.

I went into the store cupboard and tried to find something that might start the ball rolling. I pulled out a tub of cars and a piece of paper. I put the paper on the table, grabbed a pen, and said “shall we make a road for the cars?”.

I swear that is ALL I said.

Within seconds three students were all drawing roads on the paper and it quickly became evident that one piece of paper would not be enough!

The whole time they were drawing they were talking. And listening. Communicating. Collaborating.

Child A: “We need those bump things”(as he drew yellow lines cutting across the roads) Child B: “To slow down the cars”. Child A: “Yes, but what’s the proper name?” Child B stopped and thought carefully for about 20 seconds – AWESOME to watch! Child B: “SPEED BUMPS!”

The whole time they were drawing they connecting their experiences of the real world to what they were making. Thinking. They sustained this play for over 40 minutes! More students joined. At one point I counted 10 students all working collaboratively, sharing the space, and adding their own ideas to the ‘city’.

The enthusiasm continued into Friday. By the time we had to stop, we had an airport, a police station, a park, a beach, a car park, a Target, a pet shop, a restaurant, a lake, and a maze of interlocking and overlapping roads.

Where will this inquiry go next? I can’t WAIT to find out tomorrow!

#EarlyYears #EC #PersonalisedLearning #Thinking