Extraordinary in the Ordinary by

Context/ Place walk

elena_jones2 — 2020-10-16 23:13:18 UTC

My setting is at Bluebirds Childcare Centre Soldiers Hill over 10 days from the 5th to the 16th of October in the Kangaroo studio also known as the Kindergarten Studio. The Kangaroo studio has 35 children on the role aged between 4.5 to 5.5 years old, all of whom are excited to be back in the centre after being home more due to Covid-19.
There are two teachers in the Kangaroo studio Amy and Peita and I, Elena was lucky enough to join in or 10 days. Bluebirds Soldiers Hill is set in the hilly setting of Ballarat North. The centre situated on Wadawurrung land of the Kulin nation is situated close by to many Forests/ Parks and walking tracks. The centre is a 7 studio centre from birth to Kinder who's philosophy is centred around WITH children, meaning there voice is centred to programming and planning. Children are often covered in mud and water where they are encouraged to investigate and explore their natural classroom after first saying there Acknowledgement of Country.

Question

elena_jones2 — 2020-10-16 23:14:50 UTC

How does engaging in child led activates promote creativity and imagination, can we use this to help building a relationship to the local community?

Rationale

elena_jones2 — 2020-10-16 23:15:20 UTC

This week in Ballarat the weather was off and on between sunny and full rain, this never deterred the children though, with each of my three moments taking place outside in the yard gumboots ready. Each moment is connected by simple wonder that children can turn something ordinary into something extraordinary that I was only able to raise once I sat down with them and participated listening to the conversations the children had with each other. The fist moment I saw a few children sitting at the rock pit smashing away at rocks with a hammer making a fine dust, when I sat next to them the children were talking about how they can make paint with the rocks and water, 'that's what aboriginals used to make paint and they drew on rocks". These children had shown an understanding of something they've seen in a book and applied to another context in real life. The second moment I had a a few boy rush up to me saying he had found a baby grasshopper on this big plastic yellow teapot. A few other children rushed over to take a look and straight away there was conversation about "he is so small we need to be careful", 'should we get a stick?", "a leaf?" "does it need water?". The children went back and forth discussing what was best for this lost little baby grasshopper. The children showed an understanding for respect and care to land we are on. Much like the last two moments the third is I saw something that I see everyday and at all centres I work at, Children making mud pies in the outdoor sandpit or mud pit. This time instead of passing it off I sat down and listened to what was being said, the group of children were conversing about making a Christmas dinner. Talking about adding flour and cherries to make a cherry pie to share for everyone. They viewed the mud, dirt, water leaves was something more, cherries, pie filling, turkey potatoes. From all of these moments the children have connected to their outside world building a lasting, respectful relationship with the natural world around them. Through each of these moments children have turned something that adults might view as ordinary or mess into something extraordinary learning through from what their endless imagination creates.

Artefact 1:

elena_jones2 — 2020-10-18 01:56:35 UTC

"this little baby grasshopper cant be touched, we need to just watch it with our eyes, not our hands"

Interpretation

elena_jones2 — 2020-10-18 01:56:55 UTC

Use three child developments to interpret my rationale and artefacts, what learning is taking place? How do the theories connect these?

Plan

elena_jones2 — 2020-10-18 01:57:13 UTC

Bluebirds Philosophy is WITH children ensuring children's voice are at the centre and forefront of any planning, I believe connecting this goes hand in hand with the my question of promoting creativity and imagination in engaging experiences can also reflect the centres strong want for community connection and inclusion of the indigenous perspectives. Each of my three ordinary moments show that children's imagination is endless and drives their learning if giving the opportunity. I wonder though what other learning is possible here? If we removed the adult placed conceptions on what children know or how they learn where can children lead learning go? Allowing children to take their enjoyment of being outdoors, learning through play and exploring the natural environments through things like Bush Kinder or forest school. If we removed the limits of the centre and allowed children to explore what is around them what will they make of a stick? Will it be a wand? A Broomstick to fly on? A sword? Will a tree be just a tree or something to climb? A forte? Paper? I wonder what learning the children's can explore when allowed.

References

elena_jones2 — 2020-10-18 02:07:49 UTC

Department of Education and Training Victoria 2016, Victorian Early Years Learning and Development framework (VEYLDF) 2016, Department of Education and Training, Victoria, viewed 09 October 2020, .
Mascarenhas, P 2020, Week 2 session 4: A basic Intro: Child Development theories 2, lecture notes, Practice In Partnership ECE2002, Victoria University, delivered 05 October 2020, .
Rinaldi, C 2001, The pedagogy of Listening: The listening perspective from Reggio Emelia, VU collaborate, viewed 09 October 2020, https://vucollaborate.vu.edu.au/content/enforced/198377-ECE2002-1-2018-SEM-2-97246/The%20Pedagogy%20of%20Listening-%20The%20Listening%20Perspective%20from%20Reggio>.

Artefact 3:

elena_jones2 — 2020-10-20 10:08:31 UTC

Artefact 2:

elena_jones2 — 2020-10-20 10:09:21 UTC