In October we went on our first nature walk of the school year. In the weeks leading up to our walk, many children had begun to notice the changes that were happening outside. Leaves were being brought in to school, the children were wearing warmer jackets, and our special Maple tree out front had started…
Sarama and Clements stress that “the importance of well-planned, free-choice play, appropriate to the ages of the children, should not be un...
I don't buy things like color, number or letter charts from teacher stores because the kids make them so much more beautiful! I don't have c...
One friend decided she wanted to make a Chihuly inspired Macchia out of clay. She asked if she could paint it. I told her that particular cl...
You might have heard the terms provocation and invitation with regards to inquiry learning. An invitation is something that encourages students to explore a concept. A provocation is something that provokes action and stimulates thinking.
We purchased three Amaryllis bulbs as well as two Hyacinth bulbs to plant with the class. We showed the students all five boxes that cont...
We have some beautiful Ash trees on our playground that turn the most amazing colors in the Fall! The kids started noticing them and bringin...
A few weeks ago, a few students started to be very curious about the rocks found in our playground. During our time outside, they were cons...
The kids have been asking a lot of questions about space. I started out by setting out some invitations to learn around the room for them to...
Posts about provocations in kindergarten written by msmcdonell
The kids have apples for breakfast every morning but never really looked at them or noticed them. They just ate them without really thinkin...
Creating a provocation with loose materials and examples of different kinds of bridges was a way to expand on what was happening in ou...
This group lead me to their interest in birds while we were outside playing every day! They were really into building nests. Every day they ...
A love of learning through play and strong relationships
I am so pleased to share with you this video interview that I recently had with Natural Curiosity. Thank you to Nikki Fletcher and ...
One of the things I've noticed about inquiry projects is how everlasting the learning is. Our projects never really end; though we may "shelve" our thinking and ideas for a time, we often revisit our projects throughout the year - or even in the following year. Earlier in the fall I wrote about a nest…
As an interest based learning teacher, I usually start out with something most children have some experience and interest in until I get to ...
We spent lots of time identifying, describing, and sorting three-dimensional objects. Many of our families contributed to our 3D figures museum in the classroom. During the math inquiry our goal was for students to manipulate three-dimensional figures, and as they manipulated the figures to begin to make connections between what they were touching and the characteristics of the…
Please visit http:/creative-explorations-mvh.blogspot.com for all posts from the blog Inquiry Spaces and Wondering Places. I look forward to seeing you at the new blog.
