Learning through Play-PMI

Learning Through Play in the Kakano Hub-Team PMI

Positives:

Children excited about coming to school, happier to leave parents and play

Parents interacting with their child other children/preschoolers in play

Parents peace of mind, leave knowing their child is happy playing with friends

Children more settling at school going into the daily routines

More like preschool

Smoother transition to school

Children have the opportunity to be creative 

Children are able to voice and choose their learning through provocations 

Teachers build relationships with all children tin the hub - benefiting all

Children mixing and interacting with children they might not usually choose to play with.

Caters for all children - no one is left out.

Teachers working with each other using different strengths 

More time to talk to parents and establish good relationships

Lots of variety and choice of activities for children

Easy to locate/communicate with parents

Fun!

More friends to go around

Lots of opportunities for sharing and celebrating the learning

Minus:

Can be difficult to observe and interact with children

Some children struggle when first starting with the amount of children.  

Budget can be restrictive

Keeping the Hub tidy, making sure everything goes back in the right place - hard to keep track of children’s books

Noise - can get noisy

Storage and resourcing

Hard to fit in to the curriculum.

See so many ideas but they potentially cost too much to implement

Harder to find specific children in a timely manner

More doors for children to ‘sneak’ out of, to toilet etc.

Interesting:

Children can pursue own interests

Providing children with a different set of skills including problem solving etc to fit with the 21st century

Brings different children together who would not normally interact with each other. 

It provides a great opportunity to talk to children and get to know them a bit better in a less formal setting

Change in teacher language ie ‘provocations’, ‘learning space’ etc.

What the children create

Children's talents shine through 

Constant change over of activities in provocations room

Digital Passport

Workshop 3 Years 6-7

This workshop got me thinking about the transitions we have already made in our lifetimes and how the future will be so different for our children. We have changed to mobile phones, using apps daily, skyping friends and family overseas and using wearable devices to track our health to name a few. Not to mention drones, augmented and virtual realities which are all going to be developed more in the future.
I learnt about sequence, iteration and selection in Scratch, different search and sort functions using algorithms, error detection, evolution of technology and software testing. I also looked at the additional learning for Augmented and Virtual Reality, Networks and Internet and Spreadsheets. Every workshop and additional learning video has been beneficial, increasing my knowledge in technology and giving me the motivation to try different things with the children in class. I feel I keep getting extended in my knowledge with Scratch and are eager to try out what I have learnt on Scratch myself.

Digital Passport

Workshop 2 Years 5-6

This workshop talked about how the digital world is global and we need to embrace change. It listed many digital devices that we already use today in our everyday lives. It made me think how relevant and just in time teaching this is for us teachers using the Digital Passport as our professional development this term. I found this workshop very interesting as I learnt about how computers use a binary system and how bites are used to form pictures. I learnt more about Scratch like Walkthroughs to help us understand if our code will behave as expected, I have been doing this myself but didn't know the name. I have been accessing the additional learning and the Stop Motion Module has really interested me. I learnt about how Stop motion is an animation technique that uses still images, different frame rates and variations in the movements of images to create different visual effects. I thought about how we could do workshops with the children and come back and share the animations they have created.

Digital Passport

Workshop 1 Years 1-3

I agree that children are racing ahead with technology and we need to be upskilling our learning in this field. I think it is great to be doing the Digital Passport now to get us ready for 2020 when it is compulsory to implement this new curriculum in primary schools. I agree it is our duty to prepare children for a world where digital tools and new technologies are integrated into every aspect of life. I found the Digital Passport easy to use and enjoyed listening to the testimonies of experts in their fields. It was great how you could watch some videos and then come back at a later time to continue on your journey.
 I have learnt that computational thinking is a specific thought process that involves formulating problems and their solutions. Algorithms are a step by step process that helps you reach a solution to a problem. Debugging is a process of trouble shooting problems. We test and update solutions until we reach a desired end result. I have also learned about inputs, processing and outputs. I was familiar with Scratch which is a child friendly block based coding website used to teach coding. I have been joining in on Code Club with the Juniors on Fridays and have enjoyed learning along side the children how to use Scratch. I think it is great for the children to start learning coding already and look forward to taking lessoons in our Hub eventually.

Swimming

We went to the Graham Condon Swimming Pool for two weeks every day in Term Three. Most children enjoyed the swimming lessons. They learnt about entering the water correctly, balance, buoyancy, water safety and water survival skills. They learnt about boat safetly and how to use a life jacket correctly. These are all very important life skills. Some parents came to watch and they commented how much the children had learnt since their first visit. The bus timetable was well organised and we were always on time for our lessons. I enjoyed the change to our daily programme, we got to have more contact time with our own Homebases. It was great to have these lessons in the lead up to Summer. It was also great to see the children more confident in the water. The instructors were amazing with the children, they quickly picked up on the ones who were nervous and needed some extra one on one time.

Ferrymead Visit

The children enjoyed dressing up in clothes they would of wore to school in the 1900's. Some children didn't like Miss Green who was the teacher in the school. They couldn't believe how strict and mean she was for that time 100 years ago. They tried writing on a slate board for their maths. The discipline that Miss Green handed out scared some of the children. They couldn't believe that was what school was like for children back in the those days. They enjoyed the General Store challege where they had to get a delivery ready for the shopkeeper. I thought this was a great idea we could use in Learning through Play. The children had lists of items that they had to walk around and find then they had to measure and wrap the ingredients. They learnt about what it was like without any electricity. I thought this also could be a good idea for acting out a day without electricity back at school. They could also make up their own games as the children played in a fenced off outside area with no equipment in those days. It was good for the children to get an insight into what life would have been like in the 1900's, I think they appreciate more what they have these days.

The Ned Show

1st August

The Ned Show had a great message. The children were encouraged to set goals and accomplish them to be champions. The N in Ned stood for Never give up, the E for Encourage others and the D for Do your best. They talked about persistance, having a positive attitude, believing in yourself, bouncing back from setbacks, complimenting others, helping others and learning from our mistakes. I liked how the Show was paying it forward, we got the NED Show for free and then from the sale of the yo-yo's we will give the next show free to another school. It got me thinking how could we pay it forward in other ways as a school, a question I would like to ask the children for student voice. Recently we have collected cans and donated them to St Vincent De Paul as a ticket to come to their child's production. We teach the children in school to have a positive growth mindset. This year I have continued to teach my homebase to be PeliCANS (they can do everything if they give it a try). I think this really helps the children to do their best and know that it's o.k if we make a mistake it is how we learn.

Teckie Breakie

Beebots
It was great to see again how the Beebots worked and to actually have a go with them. I think the children would love using these. Kath gave us some great ideas and we had a chat about all the things we could use the Beebots for:

Beebot Activities Ideas:
-Treasure Hunt
-Map
-Build a lego town and move around it
-Matching English to Maori e.g words, colours, numbers, body parts, food
-Simple maths sums
-Ordering a Maori Legend, fairytale story
-Ordering a timeline of events e.g morning routines, the Easter Story
-Counting in 2's, 5's, 10's
-Ordering biggest to smallest
-Planet order closest to the sun
-Time, matching analogue to digital
-Classifying 2D/3D shapes
-Position/orientation
-Obstacle courses
-Lifecycles
-CVC words, spelling, HF words
-Sentence structure
-Putting dance steps together
-Days of the week
-Months of the year

I think the list is endless, you could find a way to incorporate Beebots in whatever you are learning. I look forward to having a go with a group in class.

Production-PMI

POSITIVES
-Amazing script by Louise
-All children participated and had a part
-Simple props worked well
-Costumes looked really effective and we kept the cost down
-Hall became availiable for the production
-Amazing turn out and support from our parents
-Collaborative planning
-Each teacher was incharge of organising/teaching/practising with the children key parts
-Dress rehearsal and practises in the hall before performance
-Songs fitted in well, practised many times, most children confident
-Steves props were amazing, came together well for NZ
-Great practise public speaking to an audience
-Children enjoyed themselves and were proud of what they had learnt
-Provocations on Maori Legends worked well
-Individual solos for some children to showcase their talents
-Children remembered all their parts
-Learnt more about Maori Legends, learnt some new Maori words
-Children got to see all the other Hubs performances in the matinees.
-Their was such variety between all the Hubs performances

MINUS
-We would of liked to have more practises in the hall if it was availiable earlier
-Had to change the direction we were performing in the hall a bit last minute.
-Rakau group had to change to two lines they were sittting in at the last minute
-Boat fell down in the matinee performance
-Behaviour at rehearsals sometimes
-Needed a timeframe of exactly what we needed to complete for production set out more clearer
-Some children didn't turn up to the night performance with no notification and we had to fill in the places we could
-Some children had been absent during rehearsals and found it hard to catch up to the changes that had been made, usually had a short timeframe to learn. Especially difficult for Rakau sticks as they were performing with a partner. I had to go with a child who had no partner on the night performance
-Children had to learn to project their voices as there wasn't always a microphone they could use. (could also be a positive)

INTERESTING
-Louise's script that rhymed and had many funny parts
-How we planned togther how the North Island would be pulled up from the sea and how the South Island would come out of the waka.
-The clay necklaces that the children designed from examples
-The music pieces that we chose to fit in with the script
-The boats the children had made at Makerspace that we included in the performance
-How the children really took on their parts and made them their own
-How the performace all came together after breaking it down and practising individual/group parts
-The children experimented and came up with their own stick movements in Rakau and we included a move in our performance
-The amazing backdrop that Mikayla had made and let us borrow for our production
-The headbands that the children wore with different designs

Reflection

Reflection on Professional Reading

The following is a guide to challenge your thinking while reading professional articles.

CORE BLOG-Learning through Play

Play: The Four Letter Word in the Primary School

Other Relevant Readings:

L.T.P Northern Ireland Curr.

USA -Push for Play-based learning

The Case of of Brain Science and Guided Play

Learning Through Play powerpoint By Louise

Our Inquiry Question: How can we effectively implement learning through play to meet the needs of all learners?

Louise: How can we use learning through play to transition to school smoothly and extend their learning ? (teacher/child)

Ange.S/Katie: How can we cater for different learners with provocations during learning through play?

Ange.B: How can we incorporate our learning through play with our Project Based Learning effectively?

Paula: How can we extend our learners using learning through play?

Rebecca: How can I apply my research on learning through play in the classroom setting?

Name: Play The Four Letter Word in Primary School

Author of the article: Sarah Aiono

How does it link to your goals?

We need to get successful learning outcomes using play.  As teachers we need to dispel the myths that play is not as valuable in the school setting.  Using the term Learning Through Play as opposed to Playbase is important to us.

What is this article telling you? Key Issues:

People are reluctant to use the term play because it conjures up negative connotations towards learning.

What is challenging and interesting?

Through play, children can build all the necessary skills and knowledge required of them in readiness for adulthood.

Parents need to be educated to realise the benefits and importance of play. “Parents who vote with their feet, may not accept a schools competency to provide maximum learning opportunities for their children because by all appearances children are just playing”

What is the writer’s viewpoint? What led them to this view?

As teachers we need to educate our school community on the importance of learning through play. “The need to package and market play suggests educators are yet to truly understand and value the importance and validity of play as a powerful tool.”

We need to be mindful about the language we are using so as not to upset parents and give the wrong message.  

How valid are the claims the author makes? (Is this article substantiated by quality research?) Yes with the support of other articles as in the links above.

Research shows the success (Refer to Longworth folder).

What is one thing that you will change as a result of reading this article?

How mindful we are of the language we are using- rather than using” playbased” we will refer to this as “Learning through Play.”

What steps could you put in place to bring about the change?

Educate our parents fully with blog posts, meetings, newsletters and celebrating learning outcomes.

What steps could you put in place?

Invite parents in to see for themselves the benefits of Learning through Play.

Professional reading and PD course (Longworth course was very valuable for our journey.

Network with preschools and other teachers.

Tweek and improve our practice to suit our children’s needs.

How might this impact on your teaching and the teaching of others?

Taking a step back from the “formal” days of old and giving children agency and time to explore their learning in an environment of Learning through Play.

How might you evaluate the degree of success of the change or improvement?

Children will be settled and happy to come to school and their learning will evolve naturally.  They will be competent 21st century learners. Play encourages active, joyful engagement. It cultivates children’s social-emotional skills.

Synopsis:

It is important that we package and market the use of the word Play and change our language to Learning through Play so that we do not alter parents perspective about what children are learning in the classroom. The teacher’s role is crucial in extended individual learning goals eg questioning and noticing.

Network Meeting: Showcasing our Learning

Louise organised a Network Meeting with the Preschools that was held at our school on the 27th September. The focus this time was Showcasing your Learning. All the Preschools talked about their Learning Stories. I like the idea of Learning Stories for the children, I think we are using Linc Ed well to report on snapshots of learning at the moment. One of the Preschools mentioned they used an Ipad that the parents could access and look at what their children had been learning about that day. I thought this would be a good idea or even if we had a tv going every morning with a slideshow on it of what our children have been learning. This would be a good conversation starter with the parents and the children are so proud of their work and always want to share. Louise shared how we use Linc Ed to Showcase our learning and talked about our Maori Legend Production Showcase. She also summarised our Learning through Play Journey. As she was talking it dawned on me how far we have come and how many schools are at their beginning stages of Learning through Play like we were. We have had many visits from other schools to see our Learning through Play in action and I feel proud of what we have achieved. I realise this is a long journey but I am happy to be on this ride! I have learnt so much already and am looking forward to the next stage of the process.

Linc Ed

I have found Linc Ed to be easy to use. It was great to have professional learning as a whole school at our staff meetings. I have found the roll easy to complete for your own Homebase and learnt how to complete others in our Hub too when the need arises. I have enjoyed collecting evidence to show how the children are progressing e.g photos, videos. I would like to look at other ways of showing evidence as well. I liked reporting in this way, we set ourselves a timeline at the beginning of the term and know what evidence we have to collect and how we are going to do it. We collaborate as a team looking at comments to support the evidence. We will make sure all the curriculum areas are covered over time. The parents are getting regular updates about their children which is great! I have also found the List Builder to be very helpful, sometimes it takes awhile to choose your list just because their are so many options that you can look through.

Longworth-Playing in the Classroom

A Foundation Workshop, West Melton School

Main points that I took from the workshop:

* There is extensive research behind the value of play.
* When engaged in authentic play more likely to develop higher order cognitive and socio-emotional skills then if exposed to direct teaching and adult structured learning opportunities.
* The children must have the freedom to quit (intrinsic motivation)
* Strong sense of self efficacy and resiliency result through peer interaction and negotiation.
* ''Play is the vehicle for the learning."
*The need to understand children's urges 'skema'. Urges underpinn learning for everyone.
* Quality of Learning through Play, role of the teacher, balance self directed and teacher directed.
* Conflict Resolution, strategies to cope
* Zone of proximal development-moment to teach in play
*Socio-dramatic play-most important part of play
* Teacher's Role: watch, observe, extend play, resources, model/scaffold, introduce language, give more information, direct, recognise where children are in their learning, invite children to think differently
* Three times a week share e.g slideshow, photos, models etc
* Five year journey to get Playbased established
* Planning: flexible, anticipation, reflective, observation-data driven (key competencies, urges, observation-greatest tool in playbased.
* Playbased Learning: 1Developmental stage-2 Current urges-3 Functional types of play-4 Provocations with loose parts (resourcing of play, preparing)-5 Authentic play (teaching through play)-6 Documented learning through assessment of play-7 Observation. Then start back at number 1.
* Document what seen (observation/urges), respond, connect to the curriculum.
*Take time to teach: sharing, turn taking etc to manage themselves in play.


''An environment which is rich in open-ended materials and real materials, invokes children to experiment, engage, construct and invent, invites them to tinker, to manipulate and to play."
Nicholson 1972

I thought these were all very good interesting points about Learning through Play. It is great that we have lots of research to fall back on and support us that a Learning through Play environment is so valuable and how big a role authentic play takes. It is a challenge for me to think that the children should be able to quit the task they are working on as we see perseverance and the success of completing a task a very valuable lesson too. It is important to give the children the opportunity to develop resilience themselves through peer interactions, so the role of the teacher sometimes needs to step back and be more like a coach at times. We have learnt how big a role urges have to play in Learning through Play and now have to work on using these to extend the child's learning. I see a need for time to share what they have been doing in Learning through Play but it is finding the time in the classroom programme to include it daily. I also agree we need to take time to teach the skills of conflict resolution, turn taking, sharing, constructive feedback etc so the children can collaboratively play and self manage themselves in this environment. The role of the teacher is always changing in this environment, I am learning when I am needed in play and when to observe. I also see how important questioning is through my inquiry to extend the children and get them to think deeper. I think we need more open ended, real materials. We have started with some loose parts which are very popular on the construction table. We now have a beach themed table and a play dough making table. I can't wait until we get into wet play. We have come along way but theres still a long way to go and I'm excited about the journey! Definately some great ideas to think about.