28: Imagine
"Imagination is the most marvelous, miraculous, inconceivably powerful force
the world has ever known."
-Napoleon Hill
If you had the chance to travel to a far away place where magic exists and people have special powers, would you go? If you had the chance to go back in time where dinosaurs still rule the world, would you take it? If you had the chance to be someone else for a day, perhaps a robot hero, a talking tiger, or a unicorn princess, would you say yes?
In the Kinder 2 classroom, these adventures happen everyday -- from the big roar of the dinosaur who is in search of its prey, to the twirl of the unicorn princess who dances ballet. These are some of the stories that were born from the imagination of the kindergarteners and have come to life through their play.
In our final Unit of Inquiry under the transdisciplinary theme How We Express Ourselves, we will delve deeper into the power of one's imagination and how we can use it to create and relate to stories.
One thing is for certain: the kindergarteners' storytelling and questioning skills have skyrocketed since our first ever show and tell session in class. I had to extend the session to another block as all of them just had too many wonderful stories to share and compelling questions to ask.
His classmate asked, "Did you sleep in a tent?"
"Yes," he answered.
Her classmate asked, "What did you put in the bread?"
"Cheese and chocolate," she said.
His classmate asked, "What are the things outside the hotel?"
"There are many slides outside the hotel. The yellow one is the highest," he said.
Eimi stayed at home and played with her family.
Her classmate asked, "What are you doing and what is your mom holding?"
"I was playing with Peppa Pig and my mom is holding the egg that she cooked," she said.
His classmate asked, "Why are there many colors outside the pop-it?"
"Because the sun hits the glass in my house and it makes many colors," he said.
His classmate asked, "What is the big circle in the picture?"
"It's the wind. There was some wind when we went snowboarding," he said.
His classmate asked, "What is the small circle in your picture?"
"It's a shell on the beach," he said.
His classmate asked, "Where are you in the picture?"
"I am inside the house making pan," he said.
Her classmate asked, "Did you enjoy riding the airplane?"
"Yes," she said.
His classmate asked, "What did you play?"
"The slide and the merry-go-round," he said.
Her classmate asked, "Did you go swimming?"
"Yes," she said.
"Wow, you're brave. It's so cold!" her classmate commented.
Her classmate asked, "What are those in your picture?"
This is the Moomin family. This is the dad with the hat, the mom, and the kids. There was also a girl there with this hair," she said.
Her classmate asked, "What did you do in Sapporo?"
"I played with the snow," she said.
"How about you, Ms. Pam? What did you do?"
"I went to Kawaguchiko and saw Mt. Fuji for the first time," I said.
Then I showed them a time lapse video that I took during the trip.
It was wonderful to hear about the children's adventures throughout the break and the tidbits of lessons they learned in their experiences.
To exercise the imagination of the kindergarteners, we tried to complete some pictures with different lines and shapes. Can you decipher what they made?
Since I am into photography, I also shared with the children a series of photographs by a mom who used her creativity and turned her baby's sleeping time into small adventures.
Have a look at her photographs here.
I then challenged the children to use their imagination and turn their own photos into an adventure that they would like to take.
The children's creations are spectacular and would be the foundation of a bigger project that we will complete throughout the unit.
Our imagination is the seed of our stories. Much like the soil that has the potential to grow trees and plants, all of us have stories inside us that are waiting to be told. All we need to do is to tend to it with care and nurture it to help it grow.
"Is it like a garden, Ms. Pam?"
"Yes, very much like a garden."
The possibilities are endless with these kindergarteners.
I can't wait to see where their stories take us.
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