Hello and welcome to Blooming Curious, a podcast
that's all about nurturing that natural curiosity
in our earliest kids and students. I'm Edwina,
your host from the Ed's Lessons blog, a passionate
advocate for play and inquiry and on a mission
to keep children curious and questioning. The
days of talk and chalk are over. We're diving
into the world of integrated inquiry and nature
-based learning. and exploring the strategies
that create lifelong learners. So if you're a
classroom or homeschool educator or even a curious
parent, then this is the place for you. Hello
everyone and welcome to another episode of Bloomin'
Curious. Today is the third episode in our Getting
Started series. We've looked at knowing your
philosophy and how to use the curriculum to plan
lessons. And today we're focusing on scheduling
and timetabling our daily non -negotiables and
how to integrate inquiry into our timetables.
So first off, let's talk about visual timetables.
So visual timetables are a game changer. Kids
thrive on routines and knowing what to expect.
And when life is predictable, kids feel safe.
And when they feel safe, they are, of course,
better able to learn. Picture schedules with
colorful images or icons can guide children through
the day, making transitions smoother and reducing
anxiety. You can use images of the daily activities,
playtime, story sessions, snack breaks, whatever
suits your schedule. It's like a roadmap for
the day that even the youngest learners can understand.
And when you're starting off, you can display
the visual timetable in your morning circle so
that students know what to expect for the day.
And eventually... You can give that job of displaying
the day's activities to children in the class
as part of their classroom responsibilities and
roles. You can download ready -made visual timetables
from websites like Twinkle or Teach Starter.
But of course, you can also create your own.
I have found over the years that children with
neurodiversity really appreciate visual timetables
and of course for some of these kids it might
be useful for them to have their own visual timetable
just with three or so activities that they could
be following as a whole day may be too overwhelming
for them. Now onto non -negotiables. Every day
has these little nuggets. of essential activities,
whether it's story time, outdoor play, snack
time, show and tell, or circle discussions. These
are your anchors. These activities create stability
and familiarity for the kids. And once you identify
these non -negotiables, you build your schedule
around them. Flexibility is key, but these core
elements should remain constant. As an educator,
you have to find the time in a week to cover
your learning areas, English, Mathematics, Science,
Haas or Humanities, Health and Physical Education,
Art, Music and Technology and perhaps even another
language. The curriculum is so overcrowded and
I'm going to state my own opinion here, which
might not go down well with many, but this is
my podcast and I'm going to say what I think.
And in fact, I'm going to ask you an inquiry
question. Do young children actually need all
these curriculum areas? Do any of us actually
remember what we learned in science or history
when we were five or seven? I sure don't. The
only thing I remember from my early years at
school were the things that I actually did. Things
like growing beans in a window sill. I remember
that so clearly. knitting a coat hanger cover
at age seven I kid you not and very strangely
learning to form my letters in what was then
called grade one and this is back in South Africa
in the early 70s I turned seven in my first year
of formal schooling and I've turned out just
fine I distinctly remember trying to shape the
letter A we were given these little blue cards
about the size of a postcard and we had to just
go for it on this little card and form the letters
of an alphabet. There were no lines to stress
about staying on a line. It was just simply that
motion of forming the letter. I remember that.
So if I had my own way, I would only focus on
English, math, art, music and STEM, or more specifically,
inquiry projects sparked by children's interests,
nature and picture books. But unfortunately,
I'm not in charge. So how do we create time in
our schedules for all these learning areas? English
is a daily non -negotiable. From pre -primary,
or if you're in America, kindergarten, you will
focus on phonics and building phonological awareness,
and that is the sounds in words. Phonics should
be taught daily, systematically and explicitly.
and you will need to find or use a program that
delivers phonological awareness on a daily basis.
This shouldn't take more than 10 minutes or so.
Actually, phonological awareness begins way before
pre -primary, when children can be made aware
of the sounds in words through nursery rhymes
and rhyming picture books. What's happened to
nursery rhymes, by the way? Oh, and I have a
blog post where I've created a list of my favourite
rhyming picture books for children and I'll drop
the link in the show notes for you. Mathematical
concepts too are non -negotiable. I personally
love Dr. Paul Swan's resources where he tells
you exactly how to plan and how to reach every
mathematical milestone. I'll link this in the
website and in the show notes. And by the way,
I have no affiliation with Dr. Paul Swan. I just
really love using his resources. And if you're
in Perth, I highly recommend you attend one of
his workshops. So English in all its nuances
and mathematics are non -negotiable. But wait!
Here's the real cherry on top, inquiry -based
learning. This method is like the secret sauce
that makes lessons engaging and meaningful. Instead
of just telling kids facts, which they'll never
remember, because do you remember anything that
the teacher just stood there in front of the
class and just kept telling you? Let's nurture
children's curiosity. Let them ask questions,
explore, experiment, and discover. For instance,
during playtime, if kids are fascinated by insects,
turn it into a mini project. Build on their interest
by reading books about bugs, creating an insect
habitat, or even going on a bug hunt outside.
It's about harnessing their natural curiosity
and make learning an adventure. So just by taking
this interest in insects, for example, You can
teach language concepts, mathematical concepts.
So if you have three beetles, how many legs would
they have all together? And right there, you
are now learning about groups of which actually
repeated addition and multiplication, so three
groups of six. What about teaching kids about
asking really good questions that lead to discovery?
This forms part of inquiry skills, which is part
of the science and the HASS, Humanities and Social
Sciences, curriculum. And then in year two, for
example, you teach report writing. And you can
check out my favorite book in the world, which
is Pi Corbett's talk for writing across the curriculum,
which I'll link in the show notes. So now you're
linking your writing to this inquiry project
about insects. And then, of course, kids can
draw and paint or even make models of their favorite
insect, which ticks off the art and technology
curriculum. It's impossible. to teach the different
subjects a stand -alone. Each should be integrated,
because life is not neatly organized. Everything
is integrated. By integrating your subjects through
an inquiry approach, not only are you meeting
more curriculum outcomes, you're also saving
your sanity, and more importantly, teaching kids
in a really meaningful way. Now the big question,
how do we integrate inquiry -based learning into
our daily schedule? So many of my colleagues
and educators across the world, when I'm listening
to other podcasts, their biggest concern is,
well, how do I fit it into my already overcrowded
timetable? Well, it's simpler than you think.
You dedicate blocks of time where kids can delve
into their interests. It could be a part of your
morning circle or an afternoon session. You allow
for open -ended exploration within these time
frames. And this approach not only fosters a
love of learning, but also allows you to intertwine
various subjects seamlessly. I've always found
that English and maths are the heavy lifters
and they're best taught in the mornings when
kids are fresh and alert and in the afternoons
you can use that time for inquiry and investigation
which will cover everything from art, technology,
science and humanities. Now you need to teach
science and has topics so it's not just about
saying to kids off you go do an inquiry on living
things for example no no no no you need to teach
the process of inquiry by modeling each step
of the process in an I do we do you do fashion
oh so hey hang on a minute isn't that explicit
instruction well of course it is Enquiry doesn't
take the place of explicit instruction. It dovetails
with explicit instruction, as I've said before.
For example, if you're talking about life cycles
in year two, then you teach the life cycle of
one animal. The kookaburra, for example, or,
I don't know, the frog. And the whole class follows
along. And then they replicate the process later
in their investigation of an animal of their
choice. In these early years, it's about modeling
and scaffolding. Kids need those boundaries and
scaffolds and the guidance, your guidance, to
feel comfortable and confident. There's nothing
more frightening for a child than to have to
do something they don't understand independently.
No one gains anything from that. And if you want
to know how to get started with inquiry, just
how to dip your toe in and have a go, I have
created an e -guide called Inquiry 101, which
walks you step by step through the process and
will help you integrate inquiry into your lessons.
I give you examples and some templates you can
use in lessons too. So you go to resources .edslessons
.com forward slash inquiry 101 to get your copy
and I'll link it in the show notes for you, too
So remember guys your timetable is a tool. It's
not a strict rule book be open to change and
adapt based on the needs of the interests of
your children and Most importantly stay flexible,
you know all sorts of things happen during a
day. There's an assembly or you know, you've
got a an incursion of some kind. Or if you're
homeschooling, you know, you're going to take
your kids to the park or whatever it is, so you
stay flexible. Go with your children's interests
and go and listen to episode 9, which is last
week's episode, where I talk about using the
curriculum for lesson planning. So that's a wrap
for today, people. I hope that these insights
help you create a more structured yet flexible
learning environment and if you thought any of
today's information was helpful then please share
it with someone else who could benefit and that
way we spread the word and ultimately more kids
benefit and that's really what's most important
and the purpose of this podcast. Don't forget
to tune in next Tuesday for more exciting tips
and discussions about how we can best serve the
educational needs of our children in this day
and age. Most importantly, keep them curious.
Next week we'll be talking about how to set up
an inspiring learning environment. So until then,
stay blooming curious.