You don't have to look far...

........to find things around you that are fun to use in construction.

Using junk from your tool box.

Wow....how did you do that?

Have fun exploring - magnets.But what else can you add to the mix?

A wonderful way to start the year in Palmerston North

Routines and structures - set up the structures that students will need to become independent in a thinking classroom.

Time - the things we give time to are the things we value.  What messages are we sending in the way we organize time?

Opportunities -To be excited, to explore and to think 

Modelling - in an instructional context, but also modelling who we are as a thinker, as a learner, as a reflective practitioner.

Interactions and relationships - show respect for student's thinking

Physical environment - Create an environment where the process of thinking is made visible. Wall displays etd.

Language - bring the language of thinking into everyday use.

Expectations - what kind of thinking and learning do we expect from our students - surface level thinking or something deeper?

Books are in the family

Of course you will remember to bring a load of driftwood too! Great for mobiles, making boats, carving ,structures etc.

This huge truck arrived this week with the reprint of our "Fantail's Quilt" book.The first print run of a thousand books sold out in 6 weeks. Children are loving the book and heaps have been sent off overseas by grandparents to their young ones living far away - just to remind them of our wonderful New Zealand natural environment.
We know school libraries will be wanting this book. 
Go to your local book store or send email to :
discoverytime88@gmail.com
or
use Paypal to buy on line at:
www.discoverytime.co.nz

ENJOY!!!!

It has been exciting to hear all the wonderful feedback from our new book, "Fantail's Quilt."We have heard we are going to be in the Top 50 children's books in the Listener, coming out soon!
TV one's Good Morning Show is going to be talking about our fantail this Tuesday morning. 
We are hoping you have a copy in your school library! It is available from our web page and many book shops near you.

http://ht.ly/4gWEa -this is a site worth checking out if you are interested in children's language development and of course if you follow Vygotsky and his theories of play.
I love the wonderful language children explore and confidently use.

Nga Manu trust opened their wonderful new Education Centre today.What a treat it was to meet all those passionate about saving the treasures in our environment . I got to meet David Mudge, the famous photographer  who has recorded so many of the images that make up the "Nga Manu Images" collection - what a treat.

The "Fantails Quilt" picture book for children was given a warm welcome.

Wonderful night at Pataka Museum & Gallery launching our fantail book.Thanks to all that  came and supported us. It has been overwhelming to hear all your positive affirmation.
We went on a hunt for native snails on Friday with Ian Crooksley from DOC. This is the start of our next book.

This is an interesting video clip from TED.

Click here to watch!

Tim Brown talks about the importance of play to develop ideas.

The Oxfordshire Play Association shared their passion and enthusiasm for children learning through play.

I really loved this idea for children to be actively involved in play during their free time at school.

Once again teachers saw their students doing and creating things they had never thought possible.

Go to:http://www.oxonplay.org.uk/

or 'Play Pods' on youtube           

While in Oxford (UK) I found out about a team with a dream for a different way of educating their children. This proposal is targeted at secondary age pupils.

Sir Ken Robinson has been a big part of their motivation and vision.

Check out this web site - makes you stop and think.

"Places of Woe:Places of Possibility".

- try a Google search.

"New Playwork"

- a wonderful resource book for anyone working with children, written by Annie Davy & Jane Gallagher.

Session 1: Find out about Discovery Time

Thursday 22 September 3.15 - 6.00pm

-Essential components

-Getting started

-Practical ideas

Cost $30. Afternoon tea provided - pay by cash or cheque on the day.



Session 2: Open Class and Open  Forum

Friday 23 September

-See Discovery Time in action, between 9.00 and 10.30 am

-Chat with Brenda, Gay and the Teachers between 11 and 12.30

No cost for this session

To register email kate@welcomebay.school.nz or elaine@welcomebay.school.nz

I received this email from Carol Cowie and Judy Hawtin in Nelson New Zealand

At Clifton Tce School in Nelson we have Discovery time with my Year 1 class and the Year 0 class next door. Last Friday we had a focus on washing. We read "Saturday Morning: form the Ready to Read series and then watched two "Mrs Wishy Washy" stories, by Joy Cowley, on Youtube.

The Key competency was cooperation. We had our cars for the children to wash plus they could wash the dress ups. It was a very successful and enjoyable Discovery time. There were lots of opportunities to practise cooperation. We also have photographers each session. At sharing time we download the photos and watch them in a slide show.
 

WE really enjoy our DIscovery time and feel that it is such an important part of the week... thought some other teachers might like this idea.

Check out their school blog sites

http://room6cliftontceschool.blogspot.com/ and http://cliftontce72011.blogspot.com/

.

We would love more of these stories you are all so creative and imaginative

Please send them in to us. email: discoveryt@gmail.com

Being kind to others - day three

We introduced the focus - 'Being kind to others' (Relating to others) by exploring with the class what they thought this meant.  What it would look like / sound like, if we were being kind to others.

We then asked the children to think about being kind as they worked and to remember if anyone was kind to them.

During the session the class teacher and I moved around the various activities observing and asking if they had noticed anyone being kind.  The children had all sorts of examples for us

As we collected examples it reminded children of what the focus was and helped them use appropriate language.  We stuck the post-its on the board and shared them during reflection time.  This made the reflecting time much faster as we had the examples already recorded and could talk about why each one was kind and how it made people feel.

A great strategy and one I will use again.

"Take Time Out To Play"


I am in Oxford for three months enjoying the arrival of my new grand daughter. What a treat. She is wonderful.

Whilst here I've been looking at to opportunities for young children in the local community and I am hugely impressed with the educational focus on PLAY.

 I came across the Oxfordshire Play Association - This is play for all ages.
Here are some quotes from their publicity brochure:

Play is the most natural way that children & young people learn about themselves and the world around them.

The United Nations states that children have the RIGHT to play.  It helps them develop skills for life: - social, physical, creative, emotional, intellectual, moral, spiritual and communication.

Play enables children to experiment and take control which raises confidence and self esteem. Studies show that children who do not play much have slower physical and social development, and may show signs of aggression or withdrawal.

So - it is vital that we provide a variety of play opportunities for our children and young people.

Sounds as though Discovery Time would find a lot of support in Oxford.

I'll continue to keep you posted with news from the UK

Great email from Selwyn Ridge School.

Have a look at what they've been doing  click here

What a great start!

So here's a challenge to all you other schools doing Discovery Time.

Send us the links to your school website and let everyone see what you've been up to. 

Kids have more toys than ever before, but what do they really need? Ran the headline in Saturday's Dominion Post

When presenting workshops we are often asked about equipment.  What would a school need to buy to get the programme underway?  As Gill says "what kids need is the collaborative stuff... the open-ended toy that the child uses as a prop with which to create an entire imaginative world." These things frequently costs very little and can be sourced from op shops.

How high can we go!

If you are planning to buy some equipment, choose carefully.  Select  equipment that is open-ended with many different ways of being used.  The Groovy Dolls fit into this category, as do building blocks, farm & zoo animals, tea sets, play dough, water/ sand trays, microscopes, magnets, magnifying glasses,

Gay will be doing a workshop in Balclutha

'Snapshot to Discovery Time' 

18th March 2011

3.00 - 4.30

contact:

dawn@balclutha.school.nz

rtlb@balclutha.school.nz

Four Thousand students from Christchurch are now in schools around the country.  Teachers are not only faced with settling these students into their classrooms but also in helping them deal with major upheaval and emotional stress.

Psychologists are telling us that one of the useful things we can do to help students deal with stressful situations is to play.

Over the last week we have had many stories of schools that are using Discovery Time at the start of the day to give children time to settle and to work through some their experiences in a variety of ways:

• painting
• drawing
• building with blocks
• sandpit play
• play dough / modeling clay
• drama / dressing up
• Puppets

Use this time to let the children lead the learning.


Remember that parents may want to stay with their children for the first part of the morning and Discovery Time is an ideal time to spend together. 
  

I have just had a lovely email from Bex who lives on the West Coast and is just finishing her teacher training through Canterbury University (course now delayed just 5 weeks from the end!!!)  She has prepared this voice thread as part of an inquiry project for her studies and has agreed to putting it on the blog.  Great work Bex, many thanks.

For those of you, like myself, who are unused to 'voice thread' you can stop the thread to give yourself time to view all the material on each slide :)

Our thoughts are with all our friends, colleagues and children in Christchurch.  Take care and stay strong.

Arohanui
Brenda and Gay

For those who want the presentation slides from our session at Palmerston North please send us an email discoveryt@gmail.com and we will email them.  Can't manage to get them onto the blog.  Sorry about that, thank you all for your patience.