Since the beginning of this term, we have had a selection of birds and
nests on our central table at kindergarten. The children have enjoyed playing
with the birds and listening to each bird’s unique call. From this provocation,
we have had many nests arriving at kindergarten, a few hatched eggs that
children have been finding at home and even a guinea fowl skull.
Wishing to extend the thinking of the children a little further, I made
a trip to the Whangarei Central Library for some New Zealand bird books. When I
shared these books with the children on the first day, we simply looked at all
the stunning birds that call New Zealand home – noting how big they are, what colour their
feathers are, observing any other interesting features and discussing if we had
ever seen birds like these when we were out and about.
Because art is a major component of our planning and curriculum, our
children at Mairtown are experts when it comes to observational drawing. After
a day of simply studying the book and talking, I observed how children were
gathering their own resources, picking a picture and beginning to draw what
they could see.
Observational drawing is a tool we use a great deal at Mairtown. We see
first-hand that when children are drawing an object whilst looking at it in
front of them (even when it’s a
picture in a book) rather than drawing from memory or imagination, this
is when discoveries are made, and when children notice so many new things, often
loving to point these findings out and share them with others.
The results of these
observational drawings, are very stunning, almost breathtakingly so, yet the
learning for the children goes much deeper than the finished product. Observational
drawing fosters not only creativity but also cognitive development and creative
thinking, it invites children to look very closely at things and to
notice all the details. In turn it encourages children to make more intricate
drawings than they do from memory alone, often leading to joyful discoveries.
It is part of the process of ‘learning to see’ (Kolbe, 2009).
As the days have progressed we
have been drawing (lots and lots) and making new discoveries. This is also a
way for the children to share what they already know, and perhaps more
importantly what they would like to know! I have observed how, as the children have
been drawing their birds, how their creative thinking has really blossomed. I
was amazed by the questions the children were asking, and then answering,
whilst working together in small groups.
I am also reminded about the
words of Loris Malaguzzi, founder of the Reggio Emilia approach to education,
who felt it was important for the art studio to be subversive; a combination of
both art studio and science laboratory. This is certainly evident in the small conversation
below I recorded, as the children drew and talked about kiwis. Whilst the
children are drawing, you can read how they are able to work through ideas,
hypothesise, test theories and answer their own questions. Read this wonderful
example of rich conversation as a group of children drew kiwi’s and shared their stories.
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| Brown Kiwi |
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| Bellbird/Korimako |
Ezra: I know about kiwi’s, they live in a forest.
Piper: There are lots of kiwi’s.
Ezra: Yes, some have spots (Ezra is currently drawing a brown kiwi).
Me: The one
with spots is called a little spotted kiwi, or a great spotted kiwi. The one
without spots has a different name, its name is a brown kiwi.
Ollie (finds the kiwi’s in the
book): Hmm, I see they look quite
different (he begins to draw a little spotted kiwi) some of him is white.
Ezra: But I can still see brown and a little orange.
Piper: I notice the spots are brown and white, and on its head you get
spots.
Ezra: The kiwi has a beak to peck stuff.
Ollie: And to protect themselves Ezra.
Ezra: Yes, to get away from predators!
Kobi (turning to explain this idea to me): That’s so no one can eat them!
Me: What else
do we know about kiwi’s?
Max C: They fly.
Ollie: No they don’t fly, see they have no wings.
Ezra: Yes, no wings, I haven’t drawn wings, only feathers!
Ollie: I know they have a good sense of smell.
Me: Why would
they need to be able to smell?
Ollie: So they can hear people.
Ezra: They need to be able to smell where the predators are.
Ollie: So they can know what the things are and so they know what they
are going to eat.
Kobi: So, they may smell for other animals that like eating kiwi? So
they can smell the cat,
when the cat is coming?
Ollie: Yes! Then they might use their beaks to protect themselves. My
question is, the reason kiwis have these colours, is when they are next to
something the same colour they can’t get eaten. We need to look after
them, not kill them.
Me: So the kiwi
is camoflauged Ollie?
Kobi: I know that word, it means the same colour.
Ollie: Yes, camoflauged, but we have to hope no one steps on them!
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| Pied Stilt |
When
thinking is part of their routine, children become alert to situations that call
for thinking (Salmon, 2010)
As we continued to work on our study of New Zealand
birds, what happened next, came as a big surprise to everyone (including me!).
As the teachers arrived into kindergarten one morning, lying on the step was a
dead bird.
Because we had been studying birds for several
weeks, but only being able to see the details of them up close through books, I
was really keen to share this taonga (treasure) with the children. Children are
natural scientists, full of questions and wonder, not at all as squeamish as we
adults can be, yet I was still mindful to honour the occasion and role-model
respect. Before I shared this beautiful bird, I carefully wrapped it in some
fabric and placed it in one of our lovely boxes. We paid tribute to the bird by
saying our ‘Mihi ki te Ngahere’ and I talked about the bird being gifted to us from
Tāne Mahuta, who in Māori legend is Guardian of the forest, his children being all
the birds and trees.
The children all sensed the
significance of the occasion and were extremely respectful and very empathetic.
They all wanted to hold the bird and stroke it, but showed care, consideration
and lots of revere. We looked through our books trying to identify what kind of
bird it was, the children took their time to look at each picture (and there
were many) and look for similarities and differences. We soon settled on the
blackbird page, and from further investigation we were able to conclude that we
felt our bird was a young blackbird. As you may imagine, the conversation
during this time was plentiful, rich and meaningful, many children wanted to
contribute their thoughts and findings. Some of the topics we talked about
included how the bird arrived at kindergarten and why we thought Tāne Mahuta gifted one of his children to us?
In Māori tradition, people and forests are vitally connected – both were created
by Tāne Mahuta the Guardian of
the forest and all the resides in it. A magical realm guarded by lizards, birds
and other creatures, the forest also provided Māori with the necessities of life
(Roimata Macfarlane, 2017)
Here is some of the special conversation that took
place.
McKenzie:
Is it dead?
Max: Yes.
Freya: No I think it’s just sleeping.
Olivia: Is it a real bird?
McKenzie: Yes, yes it is! I think it’s dead cause it’s not flying.
Freya: But maybe it’s having a rest.
McKenzie: No it’s not asleep, it’s dead. I know cause it’s not flying and I’d wake up
if I was asleep with me touching its wings, and it’s not waking up, so it must be dead.
Max: It has sharp claws.
McKenzie: It’s not a water bird (pointing to some in the book) as water birds have flippers for feet.
Max: And we know it’s not a seagull cause this one is brownie with
yellow and black.
Me: Why do you think Tāne Mahuta gifted us this bird?
McKenzie: I think he took it from the forest, and put it on the step in your box
with a lid on when no one was here, no kids or teachers, perhaps at night time.
It’s cause we’re Tāne Mahuta’s friend.
Lucas: He wanted to give us a special present.
McKenzie: Or he gave it to a teacher, so when the kids came to kindergarten the
teacher can show it to the children.
Freya: I think he gives us this present cause he thought we look at birds all
the time.
Ollie and Archie join us for the first time, the
other children explain what we know so far.
Ollie: Ah, feel its wings,
they feel like fabric, its beak feels like plastic and its leg feels like glass
and its feathers feel like feathers.
McKenzie: And see, it’s claws have spikes.
Ollie: Yes, they do.
We go back to thinking about why Tāne Mahuta
gifted us this bird.
Ollie: I think he wanted us to see what it feels like when we touch it.
Archie: Maybe Tāne Mahuta gives birds to everyone? Hmm, yes that is the
truth!
Me: What shall we do with Tāne Mahuta’s bird when we have finished looking at
him.
Ollie: We must be very careful with him, we should pop him in a precious
place. If it’s dead the skin will start to come off.
Lucas: We will have to bury him in the cemetery.
Ollie: Yes, lets bury him and I’ll make a present so it’s special.
McKenzie: That’s like Father Christmas, he gives presents to us as we are special to him
and love him. We are giving presents to the bird cause we love him, the bird is
special to all the teachers and children.
Ollie: Tāne Mahuta will be happy about how we have looked after
his bird.
‘As children listen to each other’s ideas and see each
other’s work, they have opportunities to learn that there are different points
of view. Through exploring a topic in different ways and from different
perspectives, they expand their understandings' (Kolbe)
And our special morning ended with the children
burying the bird at the back of kindergarten with rose petals and special
pictures they had drawn for it. I can’t help but agree with Ollie, I think Tāne Mahuta would be very happy about how the children of
Mairtown took care of his precious bird.
Learning such as this is so very
magical. When children are left to their own inquiries and creative thinking,
and we as teachers follow their lead (rather than take over), we can see just
how much the children take charge of their own learning. I can only imagine how
empowering this must be, as they have clear ownership over what they feel they
need to, and want to, learn more about. I can’t
help but get excited when I’m working with children in small groups and listen to them telling their stories, working out
their ideas and inquiring as they have done (in just this small example of some
of our bird study). The learning the children are each undertaking here is so
personal to them as for each of them the learning will look different, each
will be asking their own questions, then each will be researching their answers
in different ways. Such a very valuable aspect of learning, and one that I feel
honoured to be a part of as an early childhood teacher.
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| Morepork |
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| Song Thrush |
‘Children who respect the
environment feel an emotional attachment to the natural world, and deeply
understand the link between themselves and nature, will become environmentally
literate citizens. The task of environmental education for young children is to
forge the bond between children and nature’ (NAAEE).
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Kingfisher/kōtare
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Hei konā mai,
Christine
