12: Dreamers and Doers
"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."
-Harriet Tubman
Everybody has a dream. Whether it's a big one or a small one, having a dream is a common human experience. Sometimes, our dreams come from the things we like or those that we love to do.
This week in Kinder 2, we connected our yearlong unit to this concept, and began to unlock the word INTEREST. After much discussion, the children decided that interest means things that we like to do or learn about. Our interests also make us special.
Can you guess who they are based on their interests? 😀
The children also made an interest graffiti that represents the whole class and everything that we like collectively.
It was beautiful to see the diversity of Kinder 2's interests and to show them that despite our uniqueness, we also have many commonalities.
I asked the children,
What if you were given the chance to rearrange our classroom based on your interests?
What would you put? What would it look like?
The children excitedly came up with a list:
-Legos
-a painting and drawing station
-a hair salon
-a pirate ship
-a sports car
-lots of dinosaurs
-a hospital or clinic
-a tree for the pigeon
-a small beach with sand
-Christmas decorations
In the IB, we value agency and giving the children their voice, a choice, and ownership of the things they do. I told the kindergarteners that I will give them a chance to make their ideas come to life by redecorating our classroom. So they planned, collaborated, and used the materials that we have to create interest spaces in the Kinder 2 classroom.
It was agency in action and the results were amazing. So far, the children were able to put together a pirate ship, an art station, and a hair salon. We will slowly put the others in place next. Have a look at what they came up with:
Perhaps we can have a room tour once everything is in place? 😀
To connect our yearlong unit with our inquiry on transportation, I read a book to the children called The Little Engine That Could. It's a story about a small train who has an I CAN mindset, and was able to help others because he believed in himself.
I told the children that just like the train, they are dreamers, too. If they believe in themselves (and work hard for it too, of course), they can achieve anything they put their mind to.
I shared with the children that there are dreamers throughout history that helped make our lives better through the transportations they invented.
I asked them, "How is your life easier using the different forms of transportations?"
Through a Show and Tell session, the children shared their daily routines and what transportation they use to get from place to place.
Emma goes to school using a car.
Hana goes home from school using a train.
Koh goes to his little farm using a bicycle.
Kanato goes to the supermarket using a car.
Haruto goes to his Daddy's office using a Benz (car).
Chanin goes to the Entente Park using a bicycle.
Yorinobu goes to a farm using a scooter.
Emma goes to school using a car and goes home by bicycle.
Kallea goes to school using a bicycle.
Kennosuke goes to the park using a bicycle.
Ryoichiro goes to the shops using a car.
Thank you, parents, for your help in this activity,
and for sending the pictures for our Show and Tell. 😀
A big part of the inquiry process is using what you have learned to take action. It gives our learning process a purpose, and at the same time, it teaches us to share what we have learned to make ourselves and the world a better place.
As an educator, this is my favorite step of the inquiry process albeit more challenging to teach in the Early Years. The beauty of taking action is that it doesn't have to be big. In fact, the small actions that we do are the ones that are the most sustainable. Think about The Little Engine That Could when he decided to believe in himself -- that's a simple personal choice but it had such a big impact.
For our Story Workshop, I asked the children,
"What if the dreamers never invented any form of transportation?
How will our lives change? How will your routines change? What will you do?"
Chanin
If there were no transportation, I will put wheels on our house. I will bring my whole house to school. I will park it in the green field. After school, I can go home right away.
If there were no transportation, I will swim going to school. I will have to wake up early exactly when the sun rises so I won't be late to school. I will walk to the sea. I will dive and swim like a dog. Because I will be wet, I will change my clothes when I reach the school.
If there were no transportation, I will just ride a giraffe. I chose a giraffe because I can see places well when I ride on top of a giraffe.
If there were no transportation, I will walk with Mommy going to school. I will see birds and butterflies flying. I will look around and I will also see other people walking with us.
If there were no transportation, I will walk to Daddy's office with Mommy. It will be a long walk. I will see trees and buildings. I will be so tired when I get to Daddy's office. I will drink lemon tea.
If there were no transportation, I will ask Daddy to buy a house beside the school. If our house is beside the school, we can walk everyday. Mommy will bring me and Ryoichiro to school.
If there were no transportation, I will go to school using a dinosaur. It will be a t-rex and the name is Rex. I will sit on the tail of Rex and hold the spine. Rex will walk to school. My friends will play with Rex. He will sprinkle everyone with water.
If there were no transportation, I will walk from my house and go to the mountain. It's a long walk. I need a lot of water and my Mickey Mouse toy. I will not sleep in the mountain because it's dangerous. I will play there when the sun is out. I will walk again going home. It will be long.
If there were no transportation, I will walk to school and back home. I will see flowers, trees and grass on the way. I will be with Mommy. I think the walk will be fun because I can play with a ball while walking. I think I like walking better than having transportation.
If there were no transportation, I will make a chair with wheels to take me to school. I will call it Emaku. It takes me to school while I sit down. I will see trees and the sea, even the fish. I love my invention. When I get to school, I will eat carrots for snack.
If there were no transportation, I will call Daddy and Grandma to come to school. We will knock on the gate and call Ms. Pam. We will tell Ms. Pam that there's no transportation. We will borrow the mattress for Quiet Time so that we can sleep in school. After sleeping, I will go home with my family. We will walk.
If there were no transportation, I will walk to school and back home. I will cross the bridge. When I cross the water, I will wear my swimsuit and I will swim. After walking when I get home, I will sleep because I am tired from walking and swimming.
If there were no transportation, I will sleep in school even if my house is near. I don't want to walk everyday so I will only walk on Mondays to school, and go home on Fridays. In school, I will bring my snack and lunch for the whole week.
If there were no transportation, I will use my feet and run to buy ice cream. I will go to the elevator. I will go to the ground floor and run as fast as I could to buy ice cream. It's fun to run.
What do you think of the children's stories and how they reimagined their routines? 😃
Sometimes, taking action can be as simple as appreciating what we already have as it opens our eyes to how invaluable are some of the things that we take for granted.
What if dreamers never existed? What if people didn't have the capacity to dream in order to change the world? What would our lives be like?
Very different, for sure.
Thankfully, humans are given the capacity to dream -- to be interested in something deep enough to pursue it. Whether it be in the form of a pirate ship, a hair salon, or an art corner, a dream is a dream. If we put it in motion and take action, our dreams don't just make us special, they give us the power to change the world.
Have a wonderful week, everyone.
Your Kindergarten teacher,
Pam
Thank you so much for a lot of fun for our kids!! Kids express with their own words, I am glad to read them all. So interesting!
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