Volcanic Activity!

 

Over the course of this past term, an interest in volcanoes emerged and progressively developed. The initial spark has gone on to influence our curriculum provision and spontaneous learning at Mairtown Kindergarten. The experiences I have shared with tamariki over this period have been so enjoyable, and valuable, for me as a kaiako; and I would love to share aspects of our shared exploration with you!

It all started when I sat with a group of tamariki one afternoon, on our outside deck. We were looking through a book about dinosaurs together, and I noticed that much of the interest and many of the questions came from the pages which featured volcanoes. “What is lava made of?”, I was asked. We talked about melted rock, whole rocks, and gases, and how hot the lava would be to actually melt rocks “Have you ever seen a rock melt?” I asked. No one had, and we wondered how hot the middle of the earth must be for tht to happen! “I think we might need to find a book!” I said, and the journey began! 

Since that day, the involvement of individual tamariki with volcano related learning has varied. Some have greeted me enthusiastically each day with requests to continue with more activities, while others have come in and out of the various aspects of learning which have captured their interest; but across the span of the term, many of our tamariki have increased their understanding of volcanoes in some way.

In our library, we discovered the book ‘Volcanoes and Earthquakes’. Over a period of weeks, this book has been pored over, with tamariki discovering and discussing a range of interesting facts. We have learned about different types of volcanoes, where lava comes from and what it is made up of, the connection between volcanoes and earthquakes, historical events connected with volcanoes such as Vesuvius and Pompeii, and deities (or ‘Lava Monsters’ as they were popularly described!) which are understood by different cultures to influence volcanic activity – including the Māori atua, Rūaumoko, who since the separation of Papatūānuku and Ranginui, is understood to remain, growing and moving, inside Papatūānuku’s puku. As tamariki looked at the various images of deities on the page, I was asked, “Why do they look so angry?” We talked about how volcanoes and earthquakes cause destruction, and people can be hurt by them, so maybe that is why their expressions/images are often associated with fear and angry feelings.

Many artworks were spontaneously created by tamariki, either individually or collaboratively, as they sat looking through the pages and talking together. I have loved the stories which have accompanied these artworks, which indicate the thinking processes occurring alongside the brushstrokes.

“See, the silly lava is shooting up and all of the grass is dying!”, said one painter, with their co-artist adding,  “Sienna did it and me did it. I did the ash clouds. This is a volcano and lava comes out”

“What are you painting?”, I asked when I came across the artists collaborating on the above artwork. “Volcanoes!”, was the reply, “my sister is going to be really scared when it is blasting eh!”, “Yeah and my sister too, she will be freaked eh!” his e hoa said. “and this is the lava monster in the lava cave”, as he pointed to part of the painting

“This is a volcano”, Leo said as he showed me his painting. “The lava is spitting out this way and that way. The lava came out when the volcano erupted”.

Different tamariki have shown particular interest in different topics; but the burial of the city of Pompeii and its residents by the eruption of Mt Vesuvius was consistently the focus of many conversations; and led to discussions about our own maunga, Mt Parihaka, which is a remaining remnant of an ancient volcanic ring. I shared some of our conversations with whānau, in case tamariki expressed concerns at home. From my discussions with whānau, I learned more about the funds of knowledge held and shared within the homes of these tamariki, and came to understand more about the familiarity and interest with the topic these tamariki showed, and the understandings they brought to our group discussions.

Because a number of our tamariki showed an interest in this topic, we introduced a new pukapuka o te wiki, ‘Battle of the Mountains’, by Peter Gossage. This pūrakau describes a battle between four volcanoes, Tongariro, Tauhara, Putauaki and Taranaki; who all love the beautiful maunga Pihanga. The aftermath of the battle led to the eventual locations of the respective maunga, and the formation of some geographical features of the mid North Island. This pūrakau also appeared to strike a chord with tamariki. At the back of the pukapuka, there are templates enabling models of the maunga to be created. I printed some off for tamariki to use, and these have continued to be a popular resource. I have observed tamariki repeatedly come and spend time looking through the pages of the pūrakau and colouring in the various maunga templates.

As they engaged in this mahi together, I began to hear comments indicating what tamariki were noticing, such as while Taranaki and Tongariro hurled big rocks at each other, it was the smaller maunga Tauhara and Putauaki who used lava as their weapon in the battle. Over a period of time, tamariki moved from colouring the templates, to creating their own maunga within blank circles, and then began to expand beyond the confines of the circles as lava became a feature, flowing down the slopes and across the ground, or exploding into the air. Lava features were created and positioned, in order to emerge from the craters of their maunga. Maunga were also combined and glued onto backing paper, becoming scenes described within further imaginative stories!

“The lava is coming out because the volcano is angry. The volcano is exploding because it is angry, because it has a sore tummy that is full of lava. There is purple lava and black lava and orange lava. My house got covered in the lava for a long time ago and we built a new white house because the old white house got covered in lava so the builders made the new house far far far away over there from the volcano so it couldn’t get covered in the lava!” (Leo)

I have loved the way tamariki have interacted with their maunga as they have developed them, and the way that particular features of individual maunga have captured their individual attention and preferences.

“I’m doing Ruapehu”, Riley told me, and Lucy added “This is Ngarahoe!” “Do you remember that in the pūrakau, they are the children of Tongariro and Pihanga?” I asked. “Wow”, said Riley with a smile “Lucy, we are the children!”

Progressively, tamariki have moved from block colouring the templates, to focusing on specific features, the emotions depicted, or the characters and their role in the pūrakau. As tamariki began to create their own illustrations and features on blank circles, aspects of their mahi were pointed out to me, such as “Look, Anne, I have done lava eyes!” Technical skills and confidence have also visibly grown, as tamariki have constructed the maunga from the 2 dimensional image; cutting out the images created using an increasingly competent scissor grip, and fixing edges in place with glue or sellotape.

I decided I would create maunga with the templates myself, as illustrated in the pukapuka, to use as a resource in storytelling with the pukapuka. I sat at the picnic table on the lawn as I coloured, so I could work while watching tamariki play. My notebook was open beside me; and coming to sit beside me and taking up a pen, Kaia began to draw his own picture on one of the pages. He worked really intently, and when I looked across, I could see that he was in fact, drawing Putauaki, the maunga I was colouring! Kaia's drawing had clearly captured the essence of Putauaki, and his sense of battle anger, by carefully replicating the koru within his eyes and the shape of his mouth. Even without the remaining features of the template, the character was beautifully interpreted.

ICS learning centre (2013), explains drawing enables children to share experiences and thoughts, imagine and explore ideas, focus and concentrate, and observational drawing is a part of meaningful and authentic early childhood art education. Children’s engagement with drawing strengthens memory and helps develop fine motor skills and spatial understanding.

Using the maunga and pukapuka together, tamariki have been able to recreate the pūrakau independently, alone or collaboratively – and sometimes with the addition of their own maunga characters in the storytelling. We have also used the white board in combination with the maunga at storytelling time, which has assisting in adding a little geographical context for tamariki.

During this period of time, a real volcano began erupting on La Palma Island in the Canary Islands. I have had the opportunity to watch many news feed videos of this event with a number of tamariki, on my iPod. At different times we have seen footage of the lava; exploding into the air, flowing down the slopes, covering houses, and filling a swimming pool as it moved onwards to the sea. I believe I have also seen some of the observations I have shared with tamariki have later been reimagined in their artworks, constructions and within their storytelling too.

When I first looked at a video with Owen, he jumped up from the sofa, saying “Just wait there, I have to do something!” He walked quickly to the painting easels, got a piece of paper and rapidly painted an orange artwork. He then carefully carried his painting back to the sofa to show me, saying “Look, this is the force of lava!”

Another day, Owen again asked if we could look at the volcano. I found a recent news video and we watched it together, along with an e hoa.  The two e hoa then moved the art table and easel, drawing and painting. “Look at my map”, one of them said to me, holding up a picture. “Wow, that looks to me like it tells a story”, I replied, “Can you tell me what it is about?” “When the lava blasted from the volcano – the Parihaka, here is the crater”, he explained, “It was red, and it came around my house; and it was force lava and I stood in it, and it was really hot! Owen’s house is here, and it is trashed. It’s on fire with blue flames. The lava is coming over the road and it is coming into the water. The water starts here, this is the Whangarei falls, and it goes here down the river!”

The working theories tamariki have been formulating and developing as they have engaged with this information in different ways, have also been explored in the play of tamariki; especially as they have used Duplo, Lego, our big blocks and during sandpit play. These physical role plays and imaginative re-creations have further supported their sharing of knowledge and ideas within spontaneous play.

Hargraves explains the concept of working theories celebrates children’s unique ways of thinking and inquiring. Working theories are the way in which children draw on and apply the ideas and understandings they accumulate from their personal and social experiences, in order to make sense of their world. Children create working theories as they explore their routines and interests, improving and extending them through repetition over time. Claxton (1990), adds that learning can be seen as a gradual process of editing and improving a series of minitheories, using them to interpret new information and experiences and gradually improving them to become more useful and effective, more comprehensive and appropriate, and more connected together.

Examples of this interactive play include:

I came across a ‘destruction’ in the process of being created on our inside whāriki, created by tamariki using both large and small blocks. As they clambered around and over their ‘rubble’ they explained to me “It’s an earthquake, and there is lava and fire. This is a volcano, and we are the rescuers!” You indicated to me where the lava was flowing, and as, unlike you, I was not wearing the right safety equipment, I was careful to avoid this area as you continued with your important mahi. Eventually this destruction used up every block in the space, and some were even layered to form 'plates', which were then disrupted by further earthquake activity.

A Volcano at the Adventure Park was created one day with the Lego, and had a story that went with it – this story was about people who really did take a risk; by building a tower and putting up a giant slide on the side of a volcano that turned out not to be extinct after all – I hope no one was stuck at the top of that slide when the lava blocks started to flow around and down that slide!

Arriving to spend a little time at the sandpit one day, I found what looked like a group of tamariki involved in a major project together. The water was being piped, dammed and released, and piles of sand were being created. “We are making volcanoes!” Reuben told me. Elijah added,“The lava is coming out because the volcano is erupting”. “Why is it erupting?” I asked, and Leo replied, “Because the lava is coming up inside it!” I was then warned, “Don’t touch the lava, your hand will get cooked!” Another tama came close, observing the blocking of the crater pipe, and he was also told, “Don’t touch, cos it will be really hot when the lava gets out!” Once the pipe was sealed off with sand, Leo ‘planted’ a puka leaf forward of the blocked pipe, explaining as he worked, “Look, here is my tree, and when the lava pumps out of the volcano it will burn down the tree and it will fall down!” Elijah added, "This tree, it is alive now" The tamariki all watched eagerly as the pressure built up in the blocked pipe until the water pushed though the sand crust, flowing through the spot where the puka leaf was standing and knocking it flat! "Oh no! Look, the tree is dying because the lava has come on it and there's an explosion and real fire and the tree is all burned!" Elijah commentated. There was so much excitement from everyone as they watched the event play out, then quickly they were all back at work, starting the process over again – science exploration in action!

Te Whāriki (2019) suggests that in an empowering environment, children have agency to create and act on their own ideas, developing knowledge and skills in areas that interest them.

There have also been opportunities to be involved in the ‘creation’ of eruptions. During our August lockdown, I offered whānau an online learning provocation, with instructions for the creation of a citrus volcano. And then, just before the current lockdown brought our term to an early close, I noticed there were a number of tamariki in our environment with energy to burn. I suggested that if a giant volcano was built in the sandpit, I could find the necessary ingredients for lava! Very quickly the spades were at work, and a maunga was formed. We found a suitable container and used it to create a crater the right size. Then everyone had to use all their patient muscles to keep that maunga with its crater intact while I fetched the baking powder, dye, dishing up liquid and hot water. A little preparation and we were good to go! Everyone was so excited as the steaming red lava poured down the maunga – and keen to get involved with the eruption. Leo was right beside me with his pot lid, ready to cap it off if things got out of control! Once the jug was empty, I removed the crater container, and tamariki began interacting with the aftermath of the eruption – touching and handling the sand soaked by the hot lava, and using it to refill the crater. It was a great way to have some fun while further exploring working theories around volcanic events.

 So much learning, enjoyment and exploration has occurred within this topic since the first interest and questions emerged. It has been such a joy watching tamariki choose to return day after day to explore this area of learning. They have shown such a strong desire to not only revisit and repeat activities, gradually extending your skills, but have also engaged in following a real life event; and used a range of resources to reinvent and reimagine concepts they have discovered.

The University of Toronto (2017) tells us, Research consistently points to several common elements that are characteristic of the way that young children learn. First and foremost, we know that children use play as a medium for exploring and manipulating their physical environment. What is also evident is the fact that the integration of new knowledge is best assured when children are actively engaged and when learning experiences align with their interests, individual strengths and learning styles. Emergent curriculum is based on the premise that children are most successful at learning when curriculum experiences account for their interests, strengths, needs, and lived realities. emergent curriculum is never built on children’s interests alone; teachers and parents also have interests worth bringing into the curriculum. The values and concerns of all the adults involved help the classroom culture evolve.

Mā mua ka kite a muri, mā muri ka ora a mua

Those who lead give sight to those who follow, those who follow give life to those who lead

Ma te wa,

Anne