The Straw Eating Dragon

Mornings in Kinderland follow a pretty consistent routine. The children arrive, answer the question of the day, we sing a song or two, figure out the date and then figure out how many days we've been in school so far using our place value chart and our red straws.

Until the Straw Eating Dragon decided to make an appearance.

One morning we had been counting out our red straws like we always do when we realized we were missing a straw. I was baffled. "What happened to the straw?" 

One child jumped up and shouted confidently "It was a dragon!" 

I looked down and the straw lay by my feet. "He must have dropped it" I replied mysteriously.

I asked the children what they knew about Straw Eating Dragons. Every single child at the carpet took a turn to fill me in on the creature. By the end we had figured out that they can camouflage and that they are particularly fond of the colour red. 

One child was concerned because the leggings that she was wearing that day were red. We told her that we would keep an eye out for him.

I suggested to the children that we should put up some signs to let people know that the dragon was around. The next day, our ECE student Jenna brought in some posters for the children to fill out and put up. The children spent writing workshop that day drawing pictures and writing warnings on their posters.

Jenna also brought in some supplies to make a dragon trap. The children participated in creating the trap as a team. Part of Jenna's experience as a student in our classroom is to provide creative activities based on the interests of the children that both engage the them and help them to further develop important skills. 

The children used boxes, string and tape to create the trap. The collaborate amongst each other to come up with the design.

Group projects encourage further developing social skills like turn-taking, negotiating and sharing ideas. 

A material as simple as tape will not only allow children to create some seriously complex creations, but it will also encourage them to perfect fine motor skills such as scissor cutting.

Sealing up the holes so the Straw Eating Dragon won't escape.

Finally it was time to test it out. Children from both our class and Shelley's class gathered in the hallway to witness the magic.

Some of the engineers marvelling at their masterpiece. 

The children got to take turns testing out the trap to make sure that it would work when we needed it to.

The Straw Eating Dragon may seem like just a silly made up idea but to the children it was something much more. The fact that it was an imaginary creature allowed the children rather than the teachers to be the experts and allowed for some very creative thinking. When one child's idea conflicted with another child's idea the children simply followed along to sustain the excitement. They did not have to worry about being right or wrong which encouraged the shyer children to feel confident enough to participate.  

Unplanned projects based one spontaneous interests like this one engage the children and encourage development in each of the developmental domains. When what is being taught is relevant to the children they gain more from the learning experiences. Whilst the Straw Eating Dragon visited our classroom, the children participated in activities that helped improve their handwriting, fine-motor abilities, creative thinking, negotiating, turn-taking and teamwork. 

Interests of young children change all the time and teaching just based on individual or group interests can be a tough thing to do. But every once in a while it is amazing to see what happens when you follow a child's lead.

The Tea Party

It all started with an item in a Mystery Bag.

After a trip overseas to England with her family, a child decided that she would share something related to her experience. Slipped into her shiny mystery bag were three packets of tea. 

The sharing created a lot of excitement and conversation amongst the children and by the end of it all the they had decided that we should have our very own tea party!

So we got right to planning. The children offered suggestions of what we would need for our party and each idea was recorded on the white board. We picked a date and the rest is history!

This type of spontaneous, child-initiated focus is known as emergent curriculum. Emergent curriculum occurs when the learning experiences are based on the children's ideas, interests and input.

Children absorb more from an experience when what is being taught is relevant and appropriate for them not only developmentally but individually. When children are interested, active participants in their learning they are able to gain more from these experiences.

In the days leading up to the party, the children had a chance to create their own blend of tea. Containers filled with different ingredients were set out and the children had the opportunity to become acquainted with the different smells. Some of the most popular ingredients included marshmallows, chocolate chips and cinnamon. 

Also available were more earthy options like star anise, hibiscus and mint. It was surprising to see that some children took to the stronger, sometimes spicier scents of the earthier blends. 

Before stuffing their tea bags (created using coffee filters) the children had to write out their ingredients on an ingredient list and come up with a name for their new found flavour. The children were encouraged to use their sense of smell to come up with a catchy name. Some of my favourites included Feisty Lemon and Wa-Wa Boo-Boo Tea.

The ingredient lists allowed for the activity to transform from a scientific sensory activity to a writing activity as well. Word cards were set out so the children could copy them onto their lists. It was a perfect opportunity to see how far the children have come with their writing and help them out when they got stuck. The ingredient containers were labeled to allow the children connect up the word cards independently.

The creator of the Feisty Lemon tea! Only now am I realizing my spelling mistake!

The creator of Smelly Cinnamon tea!

The creator of Wa-Wa Boo-Boo tea! She selected ingredients from the more earthy options. And the name was just priceless.

Writing experiences like this one take the a lot of the pressure off of children. When writing practice is concealed in a fun, engaging activity children often won't feel as anxious about performing perfectly. This allows educators to gage where the child is at and where they need some extra support. Alternative assessment techniques are an important part of what makes Churchill so unique.

Some children had a chance to test out their tea creations with some warm water. They practiced their pouring which is an important fine-motor skill. Children often aren't given enough opportunities to practice their pouring due to the fear that they may make a mess. Practice makes perfect and allowing them chances to pour for themselves brings them another step closer to autonomy. Try it at home by pouring a portion of water or milk for their cereal into a measuring cup and letting them pour it. This will strengthen the little muscles in their arms and hands and give them the confidence needed for the task.

Sensory play is food for their developing brains. Sensory experiences stimulate the brain and create important foundation for future learning. They have a chance to categorize and sort objects based on characteristics such as colour, texture, temperature and smell. Intentionally providing opportunities for children to use their senses provides an environment where children can continue to learn about the world around them and how everything works. 

Finally Friday arrived, and the children showed up in their fanciest clothes. The styles ranged from Princess dresses to modern takes on 1960's shift dress to fancy ties and argyle vests. The children adorned their hand-crafted crowns and were all very excited to see each other dressed so formally. One child proudly declared that he was "The King of Soda-Ware!" 

Parents donated generous portions of scones, jams, butter, fruit, biscuits, cookies, kiwi-cakes, and rice-krispies. We were very spoiled by our families and their delicious home baking!

They all looked so good that we decided to have a fashion show. Each child had a chance to strut in front of their friends and have their outfits explained head to toe before a dazzling spin of bow. The children squealed with glee as their peers proudly showed off their outfits.

The pure excitement for the up-coming event was in the air; it was only 8:15 when one child tried to chance our daily schedule so that our party could start right then.

At 1:00 parent volunteers began to arrive and eventually so did our Study Buddies. 

E was so excited for the tea party that I asked him to help me set up. He was such an amazing, dedicated helper! He helped me to set up the napkins, setting them out in a perfect pattern. Then he went back and forth from the kitchen helping me to set out the butter, spoons and cups. Once everything was ready he still asked what he could do to help. It was very special. He walked around passing out tea biscuits before finally joining his friends for tea.

Even our lovely principal Megan and vice-principal Trish stopped by to be part of the festivities!

It is always a treat to spend time with our older Buddies. The bonds that they have made with each-other are very special.

Our beautiful flowers donated by one of our parents! 

Snuggling up with mommy enjoying some treats!

We opened up a photo-booth section for silly photos!

They were encouraged to be as silly as they wanted to be!

Thank you to all of the wonderful parent volunteers and for all of the yummy donations. Your time and effort allowed for our spontaneous party to go from an idea to a success!