WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.960 I'm sure many of you can relate, teaching young children is a bit like herding 00:00:03.960 --> 00:00:06.585 cats, but it was completely joyful. 00:00:06.985 --> 00:00:10.855 And so today I wanna share some moments and some experiences 00:00:10.855 --> 00:00:12.775 that I've had in the past week. 00:00:13.465 --> 00:00:16.405 The first one was me coming to my senses. 00:00:17.005 --> 00:00:20.905 I had those name over writes laminated, and ready to go with a 00:00:20.905 --> 00:00:22.585 whiteboard markers the whole lot. 00:00:23.575 --> 00:00:23.875 And. 00:00:24.790 --> 00:00:30.580 Thankfully I came to my senses because otherwise I would've ruined kindergarten 00:00:30.880 --> 00:00:36.800 in the first week for 13 children, and I mean, these were four year olds. 00:00:36.830 --> 00:00:39.740 As I was looking at them, they were struggling to hold crayons and 00:00:39.740 --> 00:00:44.060 paint brushes, and I was ready to teach them how to write their names. 00:00:44.630 --> 00:00:45.770 What was I thinking? 00:00:46.460 --> 00:00:50.930 I mean, so very luckily, and I'm very pleased with myself, that I actually 00:00:50.930 --> 00:00:55.909 shook myself awake and realized that this would've been a serious rookie mistake. 00:00:56.540 --> 00:01:00.110 But there are two things that happened that I wanna share with 00:01:00.110 --> 00:01:04.489 you that were completely joyful and that really made this week. 00:01:05.150 --> 00:01:10.550 The first was we were outside playing and, in the area where we play, 00:01:10.700 --> 00:01:14.690 there were loads of acorns and some of the children got really, really 00:01:14.690 --> 00:01:18.320 interested in these acorns and started collecting piles of them. 00:01:18.740 --> 00:01:24.170 And so I got a plastic bag and I suggested to this little boy that we would put 00:01:24.170 --> 00:01:28.190 these acorns into our nature tray when we were back in our learning space. 00:01:28.250 --> 00:01:31.370 And it's just a tray on the shelf and I've got some other seed pods 00:01:31.370 --> 00:01:33.290 in there and a magnifying glass. 00:01:33.740 --> 00:01:34.740 So that's what we did. 00:01:35.139 --> 00:01:39.669 The next day we were in the morning reading once again 00:01:39.669 --> 00:01:41.169 from the creation story. 00:01:41.229 --> 00:01:46.959 And so I was talking about what things are from nature and what are natural objects, 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:51.250 and so I said, well, nature or natural objects are like the acorns we collected. 00:01:51.620 --> 00:01:56.900 They're seeds and so I went about explaining how seeds fall on the 00:01:56.900 --> 00:02:01.190 ground and they're covered in soil, and then it rains and the sun shines. 00:02:01.190 --> 00:02:04.850 And I was doing this of course in my very best curiosity inspired voice. 00:02:05.600 --> 00:02:11.540 And then a gigantic tree grows like the gigantic oak tree 00:02:11.540 --> 00:02:13.190 we have in our play area. 00:02:13.760 --> 00:02:18.920 And I especially used the word gigantic because it was in the story, in the 00:02:18.920 --> 00:02:20.510 creation story that we had been reading. 00:02:20.910 --> 00:02:25.050 And so the next thing you know, these children are gathering round. 00:02:25.830 --> 00:02:31.020 And in this tray was also a pine cone, and one of the children picked up a 00:02:31.020 --> 00:02:33.240 pine cone and one of the seeds fell out. 00:02:33.690 --> 00:02:38.670 And I explained that these pine cone seeds have these little wings and they flutter 00:02:38.670 --> 00:02:40.950 to the ground like little helicopters. 00:02:41.340 --> 00:02:45.990 And then of course they're covered in soil and rain and sunshine, and 00:02:45.990 --> 00:02:48.685 they too grow into giant pine trees. 00:02:49.405 --> 00:02:54.175 Well, lo and behold, I then took one of these seeds and I dropped it from a 00:02:54.175 --> 00:03:00.115 height and it fluttered down just as I had explained, and the squeals of delight 00:03:00.515 --> 00:03:07.235 surrounded the room and the children just became so enthusiastic and excited. 00:03:07.595 --> 00:03:11.644 They were shaking the pine cones, getting the seeds out, looking with 00:03:11.644 --> 00:03:14.855 the magnifying glasses coming up to me and saying, is this a seed? 00:03:14.855 --> 00:03:15.635 Is this a seed? 00:03:15.965 --> 00:03:20.555 They were completely fascinated with this whole idea of these seeds 00:03:20.555 --> 00:03:23.435 being planted and then, or, you know, falling into the soil and 00:03:23.435 --> 00:03:25.925 then growing into ginormous trees. 00:03:26.324 --> 00:03:30.914 So that was the first moment of highlight that was an absolute 00:03:30.914 --> 00:03:32.984 celebration of learning this past week. 00:03:33.614 --> 00:03:38.924 The next was a few moments before or after that, I can't quite remember now. 00:03:39.434 --> 00:03:44.684 Um, one of the little girls again about the creation story piped up 00:03:44.684 --> 00:03:49.814 and said when she came to school this morning, she saw the moon in the sky. 00:03:50.624 --> 00:03:53.174 And I just thought, wow. 00:03:53.574 --> 00:03:56.394 And I asked her what was she wondering about that? 00:03:56.724 --> 00:04:02.454 And she responded, why was the moon and the sun in the sky 00:04:02.484 --> 00:04:04.644 at the same time in the day? 00:04:05.514 --> 00:04:09.624 And so I could have just applauded her intelligence. 00:04:09.624 --> 00:04:14.934 I could have just applauded her fabulous, uh, observation and left it at that. 00:04:15.534 --> 00:04:20.154 But I hopped up, grabbed a big piece of paper and I wrote down her question. 00:04:20.554 --> 00:04:23.884 And so what we're going to do with that is that next week we are going 00:04:23.884 --> 00:04:28.474 to explore that question and go do a little mini inquiry on that, and 00:04:28.474 --> 00:04:32.434 I'll get some books and we'll read about that and we'll explore why do 00:04:32.434 --> 00:04:35.074 we see the moon in the daytime sky? 00:04:35.674 --> 00:04:41.684 And so these were just two little examples of how simple everyday 00:04:41.684 --> 00:04:43.934 moments that I could just have left. 00:04:44.204 --> 00:04:46.184 Those acorns could just have been left. 00:04:46.184 --> 00:04:50.264 I could have noticed, I could have said something and that could have been that. 00:04:50.514 --> 00:04:54.204 I could have just acknowledged the child's observation about the moon in the day's 00:04:54.204 --> 00:04:58.404 time, sky, and left it at that too. 00:04:58.834 --> 00:04:59.884 Nothing could have happened. 00:05:00.284 --> 00:05:03.164 That would've been it, and I could have carried on with other stuff. 00:05:03.974 --> 00:05:10.139 Instead, I let my curiosity and my enthusiasm infect these children. 00:05:11.298 --> 00:05:17.148 And without any fancy resources, I used their fascination to spark 00:05:17.148 --> 00:05:21.893 curiosity and awe and wonder about the world around them. 00:05:22.293 --> 00:05:25.113 And so now the trick is of course not to just leave it there. 00:05:25.623 --> 00:05:31.053 I now have to go and use those moments in the coming weeks and 00:05:31.053 --> 00:05:36.813 turn those fascinations into rich learning experiences that these 00:05:36.813 --> 00:05:38.673 children are going to remember. 00:05:39.723 --> 00:05:44.373 And so as you go about your teaching next week, either in your homes or in 00:05:44.373 --> 00:05:50.523 your classroom, look out for those little moments where you can turn everyday 00:05:50.523 --> 00:05:56.343 curiosities into rich learning experiences for children, because they will be more 00:05:56.343 --> 00:06:01.503 likely to remember those, than they're going to remember anything that you do, I 00:06:01.503 --> 00:06:04.653 don't know, on a worksheet or in a book. 00:06:05.053 --> 00:06:09.133 So as you go about your teaching next week, look for those little moments 00:06:09.133 --> 00:06:12.823 that you can go deeper and make learning come alive for children. 00:06:13.223 --> 00:06:17.843 And if you're interested in learning more about strategies that you can 00:06:17.843 --> 00:06:22.553 use to spark curiosity and make learning come alive for children 00:06:22.753 --> 00:06:26.593 Then my mini course professional development might be just 00:06:26.593 --> 00:06:27.763 what you're looking for. 00:06:28.103 --> 00:06:30.193 I'll leave a link for you in the show notes. 00:06:30.583 --> 00:06:31.718 That's it for today. 00:06:31.718 --> 00:06:32.648 Thank you for listening. 00:06:32.648 --> 00:06:33.878 Thank you for being here. 00:06:34.058 --> 00:06:35.198 Thank you for your support. 00:06:35.408 --> 00:06:40.058 If you found today's episode either interesting or informative, then 00:06:40.118 --> 00:06:42.248 leave a five star review for us. 00:06:42.248 --> 00:06:47.243 That would be awesome and it'll help other people more easily find the show. 00:06:47.693 --> 00:06:50.243 So until next week, same time, same place. 00:06:50.693 --> 00:06:53.123 Please stay blooming curious, and take care of yourself.