A Map of my Heart

A couple of weeks ago I introduced the children to a book by Sara Fanelli, called 'My Map Book'. As the title suggests this book is full of wonderful illustrations and suggests to children the concept that maps can be drawn or written about many different themes. For instance some of Sara Fanelli’s unusual maps include a ‘map of my day’, a ‘map of my face’, a ‘map of my tummy’, a ‘map of my dog’, and my favourite: a ‘map of my heart’.

It was this map, ‘a map of my heart’ that I used as a provocation for the children whilst asking them the question, ‘If you drew a map of your heart, what would you include?’ My idea was to encourage the children to think deeply and honestly, to be self-reflective and to develop their 'metacognitive' thinking.

The term metacognition was introduced by Flavell in 1976 to refer to "the individual's own awareness and consideration of his or her cognitive processes and strategies" (Flavell 1979). It refers to that uniquely human capacity of people to be self-reflective, not just to think and know but to think about their own thinking and knowing.

It has been a wonderful experience to work alongside the children in this project, and so interesting to listen to their words, thoughts and ideas, as well as watch their ‘thinking taking place’.

Marcus, for instance, was quick to draw a first map which included his superman cape, train tracks and himself, yet returned a little while later asking to do another: “I want to do another one as I didn’t give that one enough thinking”.

Here is his second map along with his words:

 “I put in Chester my cat and his tail. And I guess Carla, she’s our dog. She’s got a big fat body and a head and a pointy nose and a long tail and 4 legs and floppy ears. I guess me now and now Daddy with his heaps of prickles, and Alice with long hair. Now my Mummy, now my Katie and the last person Heidi.”

Lucas spent absolutely ages in front of his blank piece of paper, thinking so very hard. As he told me, “I only want special things”. He took several breaks over the course of completing his map, returning every once in a while to add another element with each extra idea.

Here is his final map and words:

 "The moon and the stars at nighttime. I love my donkey with long ears, I sleep with it and it has a dress and a white nose and his name is German. And I love pancakes, pancakes on top of each other with syrup. And a Christmas tree, I love getting presents, I put a little heart on the top. And I want to draw an elephant, look he’s twisting his trunk!”

By creating a map of their heart, children are able to bring to the forefront the things that matter most to them, the memories, passions, people, and places that a child cares most deeply about; the things that they each hold close to their hearts.

Here are some other wonderful examples of the children’s works:

“Chocolate chip cookies. Now my sister Caitlin. And the fish Nemo and the other one was shining star, they are dead now which makes me a bit sad. Lollipops, and my mum and dad. This is Emma, cause we are good friends, and this is Zair, and that’s you. I need to draw another heart.  Now I’m going to draw Donna and now Kim with her hair tied up. I don’t have a cat, but I’d really like one and if we move I might be able to get one. This is the Sun. This is my special toy, a baby jaguar. This is a swing, I love doing that and touching the roof. And here’s me painting a picture and I like stars!” (Claudia)

“I love Lollipops, this is Mummy, she’s holding a lollipop and candy. That’s Mia and she’s holding a treat. This is Thomas, I love Thomas, he’s number 1. That’s a snowman, I like the snow, and I like the beach so I’ll draw a bucket and yes a spade. And one more - a car, a fast car, I like fast cars" (Kito)

“I like to give my mum a cuddle. I also like my Pippa, she’s a pussy cat... (thinking break)...I have more to add to my heart map. It’s a shaker at my home; my nanny gave it to me. I like all the roads, and hearts, and cookies - plain ones with dots on, and caterpillars. Oh, I forgot me – I like me” (Kate)

‘The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the Heart’ (Helen Keller)

Christine

'Kiwi... the real story'

Some of our children were very inspired when Kim read this great book called ‘KIWI, the real story’ by local author Annemarie Florian and illustrated by local artist Heather Hunt.

 

 

They wanted to represent a little bit about what they knew about kiwi’s through their drawings. Pictures from this book were used as provocations and as they drew, their language around what they knew and what they wanted to share just flowed. This is what we often refer to as observational drawing.

 

 

“Drawing is the backbone of almost every art discipline and a fundamental form of communication. This makes the ability to translate what the eye sees onto paper a valuable skill for all artists.

Before one can toss aside convention and explore the abstract and the fantastic the original form and realistic representation must be understood. Observational drawing is the way to exercise the connection between what the eyes see and what ends up on paper or canvas. It requires focus as well as attention to detail and the ability to find relationships. The relationship of one object to another and the relationship of those objects in space.

The practice of observational drawing will improve concentration, drawing skill and your overall ability to see the world around you.”  (Kunstler)

 

The children all shared their thoughts and ideas around what they knew about kiwi’s.

“I know how to say the noise a kiwi makes – key key key key! They hunt for food, bugs and ants. Kiwi’s are scared from dogs because they kill them. I love kiwi’s because they lay eggs and their beautiful feathers and their beautiful claws and their beautiful beak.”  (Liliana)

 

 

“Kiwi live in a bush and then they eat bugs and then they want to go to their dads and then they want to go to their mums. I love kiwi’s because they don’t bite me.” (Kate B.)

 

“They live in the bush every day and come out at night time and they play. Kiwi’s like to eat bugs. They are afraid of scary sharks and monsters too.” (Kate G.)

 

“Kiwi’s live in the bush and they eat bugs. Dogs and cats and rats worry kiwi’s because they might bite them.” (Jaimee)

 

“Kiwi’s live in a burrow and they come out at night. They look for food. Dogs scare kiwi’s and cats and rats scare them too cause they can eat their eggs. Dogs kill the kiwi’s. I am making an egg and this is a nest with lots of sticks. I drawed my kiwi and a snail because the kiwi likes to eat the snail” (Lucas)

 

“Kiwi’s live in the woods and they find bugs. They sit on their eggs for 15 minutes. They then might be cracked and the babies will come out.” (Emma)

 

“This is a kiwi eating a bug. Kiwi’s live in the grass. They say ‘Brrr brrr brrr’.” (Chamodhi)

 

“Kiwi’s live in the bush and them eat bugs. Kiwi’s like hiding and playing hide and seek.”  (Hori)

 

After creating these first kiwi masterpieces the idea of making a clay kiwi was introduced and many of the children jumped on board with this notion. When working with the clay we talked about the shapes that we needed to make to create our kiwi. The children involved really enjoyed this tactile experience, seeing their ideas and knowledge of the kiwi come to life in 3D form and the end result was such a wonderful little clay bird.

 

 “Clay work can be a language for exploring and communicating ideas. Like drawing, clay work enables children to make their ideas visible – but in three dimensions” (Koble)

 

On a later occasion some of the children also drew another great picture of a kiwi using black vivid on white paper with a bit of coloured pencil. This was very effective and they were very proud of their pictures.

 Their interest in these iconic native birds carried on for quite a few days and on a few occasions I have heard the children sharing their knowledge of kiwi’s with others. This interest flowed on to the teachers reading other stories about kiwi and from this many more children had the opportunity to learn about them.

 

It so lovely that this interested was sparked when reading a story book by a local author and a local artist. We have some very talented people among us in Northland and in this case they have created a fantastic learning opportunity for a wide group of children in our Kindergarten.

Pai te mahitahi – good sharing!

Zair

 

 

 

Hanging Bars

On Thursday 13^th of June, a local shipwright; Mike Lyon arrived at Kindergarten to install our much anticipated ‘hanging bars’.

These bars were envisioned by the teaching team after we had noticed and observed the frequent gross motor play taking place in our bark area. Our goal was to create a more permanent climbing structure without harming our beautiful trees.

This is where making connections with community and bringing in experts provides on-going benefits to our children’s education. Mike’s training as a shipwright includes knowledge and expertise with rope, and more importantly knots.

Using Tea Tree sourced from Donna’s bush, Mike expertly lashed rungs onto poles which span the distance between our two biggest trees.

The new hanging bars have five rungs and have immediately provided a new area for the children to be physically challenged, take sensible risks and engage in hours of imaginative fun.

 

On her Moving Smart blog site, child development expert Gill Connell, explains some of the benefits of ‘Hanging’ or ‘Monkey bars’:

Climbing, hanging, swinging, and any other high-energy activities that build strength in the upper body and core muscles are vital precursors to fine motor skills.

Twisting, turning, dangling, and swinging helps develop the flexibility and agility necessary for rotating the shoulders, elbows, wrists, and fingers.

Pushing, pulling, tugging, and lifting yourself up builds strength while developing an intuitive understanding of simple physics such as weight, pressure, and resistance.

As well as encouraging and enabling children to develop many gross motor and movement skills, the Hanging or Monkey bars also support our thinking about the benefits of children engaging in managed risk-taking.

Our planning for the hanging bars included positioning them ‘out of reach’ for the children. This means that it is difficult for our youngest children to touch them, for other children the V of the tree provides a stepping stone to reach up and grasp the first rung before moving across. For our most agile and competent climbers, the hanging bars offer a physical challenge to be mastered.

Children need the freedom to take risks in play because it allows them to continually test the limits of their physical, intellectual and emotional development (Tranter, 2005).

Risk taking is a vital component of quality outdoor play. Managed risk-taking opportunities introduce challenge and excitement for children to test their skills and try new activities. They gain mastery and a sense of accomplishment, thus further encouraging them to face new challenges. Furthermore, risk taking has been found to be positively related to self-confidence and creative ability (Goodyear-Smith & Laidlaw, 1999).

The skills and attributes of managed risk-taking are reflected in the Te Ao Māori leadership responsibility; Te kawe takohanga – which focuses on taking responsibility – it is about courage, risk-taking, having a go and trying new things.

Our goal as teachers is to provide our children with opportunities and challenges which benefit all levels of interest, ability and competence. The hanging bars are an area which children can ‘grow in to’. We look forward to observing and celebrating the new learning and play which will unfold in this wonderful enriched area.

He orange ngākau, he pikinga wairoa

Positive feelings in your heart will enhance your sense of self-worth

Kim

The children give Mike high 5's for great work!

If you would like to contact Mike Lyon call 0272048122, The Woodshed, Riverside Drive, Whangarei