Downstairs: Circles
10/21/2022
Embedded Files
By now, we hope you have had a chance to look at our Circles Collection bulletin board that is living on the front porch!
After seeing the finalized collections, we wanted to share a bit more of the process with you. For both the circle scavenger hunt and the documentation review, we split into small groups. Small groups consist of six to seven students and one teacher. These small groups can provide comfort to a child who may not typically speak up, allow teachers to get to know each child in a deeper way, and create more space for each child’s voice, ideas, and questions to be heard.
To begin the small group, we first started talking about tool use since we would be using push pins to create our collections. How do we use the tool of a push pin safely? How much force do we need to push it into the bulletin board? We experimented with picking up and using push pins until we felt comfortable to proceed.
Next came our documentation review, or revisiting the information that we had gathered during an earlier small group. On the bulletin board, we laid out the many, many photographs of circles that we had taken during our scavenger hunt. As we spread the circles out, the children immediately begin making plans, sharing observations, and generating ideas:
This is the one I found!
We could make a book.
Let’s hang them.
I’m going to try to find the amphitheater.
Those are my panda pants.
This looks like a potato - no, it’s a mushroom!
There’s Hailey!
This is the one I found.
There’s circles in the tree.
How much can you see? Two thousand?
Is this lava?
After looking at the photos freely for several minutes, Katie set a challenge: can you make a connection between two photographs?
Wheel-wheel
The bottoms are matchy-matchy.
With support, each child found two photographs that had a connection. Then, Katie challenged them to either “grow” their current collection or create a new category to inspire a collection. Soon, the children were sorting through the photographs, collecting the ones they needed while also keeping an eye out to fill their peers’ collections, as well.
Does this grow?
I can’t find any more logs.
Can you tell that mine is steering wheels?
What skills are embedded in this small group circle documentation work?
Fine motor skills: developing a pincer grasp (holding the push pin), developing hand and finger strength (pushing in the push pin), grading (matching fine motor movements and strength to the task at hand)
Math skills: sorting, comparing/contrasting, one-to-one correspondence (how many are in your collection), recognizing patterns
Literacy skills: naming your collection, recognizing the title of your collection, understanding that words hold meaning
Social emotional skills: helping others and working collaboratively
Self-help skills: using “dangerous” tools safely, asking for help from an adult or peer if needed
Approaches to learning: demonstrating curiosity, documenting learning, revisiting past work/experiences
On Wednesday of this week, we arrived at school to see two messages on our board! Maria, a teacher in the Upstairs Neighborhood, and the Elder Guardians, the oldest group of students, had written messages to us. After reading their messages, we added our own responses and hope to continue the correspondence. Please add your own thoughts, ideas, and questions to the conversation!
Page updated
Report abuse