Despite quite liking Christmas really, I'm glad to say that it (and its many associated nativities and other distractions) has passed and normality* has returned to my class.
This also means I've been mantling again, though not as successfully as I'd like. It's been an interesting few months, learning how to mantle in an R/1 classroom while juggling all of the other things which that particular age-mix requires. However, with the help of some good mantling colleagues I think things are beginning to work.
The story so far:
The children did some learning around bears (if you haven't watched it, there's a BBC documentary called 'Meet the Bears'. Book it in for your next rainy Sunday afternoon).
They heard a story about a panda bear in trouble and agreed to become the International Bear Rescuers. This panda bear was a 'mini commission' to build their experience as (and investment in) the team. They rescued the bear and sent it to a bamboo forest.
Next, the children heard of another bear in trouble. They met an Inuit woman from Greenland who explained that she had seen a large, white bear on an iceberg off Greenland. It wasn't moving and she was concerned it was in trouble.
We started planning a trip to the Arctic.
Slowing it down:
There was a time when a colleague and I spent an afternoon in Australia, searching for a significant landmark. I blogged about it at the time - it didn't go too well. Since then, a couple of people (@LucyCoatesReay and @lizzie_h18) have advised me that, when using Convention 1** with children, it's okay (and advisable) to slow it down, pause the story regularly and scaffold the drama so that children are thinking about it more.
With this in mind, I decided to take such an approach with our trip to the Arctic.
My original plan had been to get ready to go to the Arctic across a few afternoons (transport, clothing, vet kit, snow shoes, map work etc) and then spend another afternoon going to the Arctic, finding the bear, etc, using the skills and knowledge acquired.
Instead, I am taking a step-by-step approach.
First, the older children made some maps of Greenland.
Then, the whole class spent spent one afternoon looking at a map, discussing transport and building a cardboard plane, submarine and boat-with-wheels (a compromise: we only had three boxes and couldn't decide whether a boat or a car was needed more).
The next afternoon, instead of doing more preparation, we travelled to Greenland using our transport and convention 1 children-in-role drama things.
However, when we reached Greenland we discovered it was very snowy. There was also a huge snowstorm (I used a helpful YouTube video for the children to visualise this) so we found shelter in caves etc.
Finally, we all gathered in one cave and agreed there was a huge problem. We had not come dressed for the Arctic weather.
I paused the story, we gathered back on the carpet and then talked about what we should be wearing. This led to a lovely afternoon of children trying on all sorts of clothes and discussing what was suitable and what wasn't.
Lesson learnt:
It's good to step in and out of the story on a regular basis and it's good to pause the story.
Adding the tension during the story also gives more purpose for the 'curriculum' tasks.
As a side note, I think this helped a couple of my younger Reception children to understand what was going on.
Notes:
* for example, looking for lost shoes in hawthorn bushes and breaking into spontaneous cuckoo song.
** Here is a list of the very useful Dramatic Conventions
This also means I've been mantling again, though not as successfully as I'd like. It's been an interesting few months, learning how to mantle in an R/1 classroom while juggling all of the other things which that particular age-mix requires. However, with the help of some good mantling colleagues I think things are beginning to work.
The story so far:
The children did some learning around bears (if you haven't watched it, there's a BBC documentary called 'Meet the Bears'. Book it in for your next rainy Sunday afternoon).
They heard a story about a panda bear in trouble and agreed to become the International Bear Rescuers. This panda bear was a 'mini commission' to build their experience as (and investment in) the team. They rescued the bear and sent it to a bamboo forest.
Next, the children heard of another bear in trouble. They met an Inuit woman from Greenland who explained that she had seen a large, white bear on an iceberg off Greenland. It wasn't moving and she was concerned it was in trouble.
We started planning a trip to the Arctic.
Slowing it down:
There was a time when a colleague and I spent an afternoon in Australia, searching for a significant landmark. I blogged about it at the time - it didn't go too well. Since then, a couple of people (@LucyCoatesReay and @lizzie_h18) have advised me that, when using Convention 1** with children, it's okay (and advisable) to slow it down, pause the story regularly and scaffold the drama so that children are thinking about it more.
With this in mind, I decided to take such an approach with our trip to the Arctic.
My original plan had been to get ready to go to the Arctic across a few afternoons (transport, clothing, vet kit, snow shoes, map work etc) and then spend another afternoon going to the Arctic, finding the bear, etc, using the skills and knowledge acquired.
Instead, I am taking a step-by-step approach.
First, the older children made some maps of Greenland.Then, the whole class spent spent one afternoon looking at a map, discussing transport and building a cardboard plane, submarine and boat-with-wheels (a compromise: we only had three boxes and couldn't decide whether a boat or a car was needed more).
The next afternoon, instead of doing more preparation, we travelled to Greenland using our transport and convention 1 children-in-role drama things.
However, when we reached Greenland we discovered it was very snowy. There was also a huge snowstorm (I used a helpful YouTube video for the children to visualise this) so we found shelter in caves etc.
Finally, we all gathered in one cave and agreed there was a huge problem. We had not come dressed for the Arctic weather.
I paused the story, we gathered back on the carpet and then talked about what we should be wearing. This led to a lovely afternoon of children trying on all sorts of clothes and discussing what was suitable and what wasn't.
Lesson learnt:
It's good to step in and out of the story on a regular basis and it's good to pause the story.
Adding the tension during the story also gives more purpose for the 'curriculum' tasks.
As a side note, I think this helped a couple of my younger Reception children to understand what was going on.
Notes:
* for example, looking for lost shoes in hawthorn bushes and breaking into spontaneous cuckoo song.
** Here is a list of the very useful Dramatic Conventions
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