As we dive into rocks, plants, and wildlife - we mirror a "big idea" we've dove into a lot this year; zooming in. As Christine ChaillƩ says, "this big idea capitalizes on something that children find fascinating - changing perspective".
Using our microscope one morning, we zoom into details of life around us. We take a walk around campus to find bugs, plants, ordinary objects, hair follicles. As we zoom into a piece of hair, Anna says 'it looks like a rope up close'. Then we use loupes to look up close at rocks, crystals, petrified wood. Kieran notices "there's dirt stuck in this rock' while Morgan zooms in and notices paint on another rock. This act of slowing down is a subtle way we engage in emotional regulation as well.
One way we take big ideas and learning with us is by jumping into symbolic play / role-play. Piaget says that "pretend play is a way that children assimilate concepts and ideas, practicing and expanding their ideas about how things are 'supposed to work'". We add props to support these scripts and interests. As our wildlife and rocks study continues, we noticed more collaborative play around animals - studying what 'pacts' and 'herds' are - seeing some risky play surrounding these ideas, and then moving into our social-emotional curriculum within the context of these role playing games.
Some games persist over weeks, like the wolf pack in our class, the bears that climb, the unicorns that have elaborate parties. Within our social-emotional curriculum, we notice these skills emerging: cooperative play, emotional awareness, conflict resolution, bargaining, communicating ideas, etc. Most of these skills emerge through peer to peer interaction through play. There are challenging moments, scary moments, tricky-to-navigate moments... and we always work through them. Growth is not rapid or linear.
We explore transformation with natural materials. We offer invitations such as painting gems and crystals, creating a kaleidoscope with rocks, painting wood outside, mixing rocks with clay, other multi-media projects.
Literature and storytelling are huge parts of how we learn and communicate as well. We introduces stories around rocks and wildlife - some from an indigenous lens-talking about cultural meaning of stones, some stories about magical stones, some about worry stones / the peaceful qualities of rocks.
We weave in elements of storytelling to scaffold new ideas about friendship, problem solving, and concepts that are directly related to our class. The other day we offered a story about a dragon who learned to harness their fire breath by carrying a worry stone. We then read about about a friendship where two friends can't live without each other, but learn to recognize when they need space, and it strengthen their friendship.
All these big ideas and threads of inquiry we have followed all relate to the potpourri of learning going on within the class. Learning is so embedded into every part of children's days, within stories/art/play/hard times/transitions/drama.
