Entry Five

During the past few weeks the children in my centre have been learning about where they came from. This could be when they would visit their home country or a surrounding area that they live in today. One afternoon, Betty was playing outside in the sand pit with the buckets and spades. Play in the sandpit usually consists of making a range of different castles but today the teachers and I had provided buckets of different shapes “Digging and filling tools such as buckets, clear containers, funnels, scoops, and sieves are traditional sand implements, but children often come up with their own ideas of what to use in the sand” (Gonzalez-Mena, 2014). Betty filled a construction cone with sand and proceeded to tip it over and lift it off. Her response “It looks like the sky tower”. Betty and her family have been to the city and visited the sky tower and is now bringing these experiences into the centre (Ministry of Education, 1996). From this discovery, Betty began to use different buckets to create the surrounding buildings to make her own version of the city. To encourage her learning I printed off images of the sky tower and large and small buildings to inspire her. The interest in the buildings then changed into creating a river which later became a beach. Betty has been using her past experiences and surroundings to create in her learning environment and sharing with others. This is the first time that Betty has been involved in an activity where she has continued her exploration through her interests and included others on her journey.

To further Betty’s learning and understanding of the world around her we began to draw images of our own houses and the places that we liked to visit. Other children were observing the activities and decided to join the experience. As I had the camera with me taking photos, the children were able to look back to see what they had done and would then find other ways they could share their experiences with the toys around them. This activity links in with Bronfenbrenner’s theory as Betty Is making connections from her experiences, home and centre life (Berk, 2007). It is through these wider connections that she is developing her understanding of the world around her but what also affects what and how she does things.

From this experience, Betty has shared her stories about her family making trips to big houses and lots of people. “Attachments to parents, siblings usually last a life-time and serve as models for relationships in the wider world of neighborhood, school, and community” (Berk, 2007). Since this activity Betty has been telling me stories about what her family did in the city and would then change to what animals lived in her river/ beach. The topic then changed from building to sea animals as she searched through the sandpit container and found a seahorse and starfish molds. Throughout the activity children would come and go but Betty would not get distracted and only focus on what she was doing in the moment. To further her interest I would like to plan an excursion where she could visit these places with others from the centre.

References

Berk, L. E. (2007 (4th e.d.)). Development throught the lifespan . United States of America: Pearson Education Inc.

Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2014). Foundations of early childhood education: Teaching children in a diverse society (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki. He Whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media Limited.