The Early Achievers Equation Part 2

 

You may remember the Early Achievers Equation posted earlier –

Free Play + Open Ended Questions and Conversations
= Learning About the Child

At our October Reflective Practice group, we took a look at this equation.  Small groups rotated through different kinds of activities and answered the following questions:

1.        What can the child learn playing with this?

2.       What are some open ended questions and conversations I can initiate when I play with the child here?

3.       Through these open ended questions and conversations, what can I learn about the child?

4.       What can I do with this learning?

 

Here are the results from the group:

 

BOOKS

What can the child learn?

·         How to read a book, turn pages

·         Colors, numbers, animals, etc.

·         Imagination and creativity

·         Connecting books/stories to real life situations or experiences

·         Different characters

·         Moral or lesson

·         How words connect to make sentences

·         How letters make up words

·         New vocabulary

·         Communication

·         Parts of a book

·         Just about anything!

What questions/conversations can I have?

·         What’s this story about?  What do you think will happen?

·         What did you like?

·         Have you seen something like this?  Tell me about it

·         What would you do in this situation?

·         What do you think will happen next?

·         Ask child to retell the story

·         Pointing out items in the book, or parts of the book and asking, “What is this?”

What can I learn about the child?

·         What are the child’s interests

·         Cultural views

·         Child’s range of current knowledge

·         Attention span

·         Life experiences

What can I do with what I learn?

·         Get books that reflect their interests

·         Expand elements of the book into other activities

·         Find books or activities on the same topic but a deeper level

 

DRAMATIC PLAY

What can the child learn?

·         Different cultures

·         Different family roles

·         A sense of who they are

·         Cooperating with others

·         Exploring roles, cultures, genders, etc.

What questions/conversations can I have?

·         How and why questions

·         What are you planning?

·         Do you need anything from me?

·         What happens next?

·         Who do you know that does that?

·         Where are you going?  What will you do there?

·         Tell me what you know about that.

What can I learn about the child?

·         Interests, temperament, personality, etc.

·         What is happening in child’s home life

·         How they see others

What can I do with what I learn?

·         Scaffolding – expand on their play

·         Inspire curiosity

·         Expand vocabulary

·         Curriculum planning – building on interests

Fine Motor

What can the child learn?

·         Problem solving skills

·         Hand eye coordination

·         Critical thinking

·         Communication and language

·         Self help skills

What questions/conversations can I have?

·         Tell me about your building

·         What can you do with this?

·         What would you add to that?

·         How else could you use that?

·         What else could you try?

What can I learn about the child?

·         Their level of development

·         Dominant hand

·         How easily they get frustrated

·         How the solve problems

What can I do with what I learn?

·         Provide activities that meet their developmental level

·         Provide time to practice newly emerging skills

Blocks

What can the child learn?

·         Cause and effect

·         Imagination

·         Engineering

·         Sorting

·         Confidence

·         Problem solving

·         Physics

·         Sharing

·         Shapes and sizes

·         Balance

What questions/conversations can I have?

·         What are your ideas of what you can build?

·         What would you need to make it bigger?

·         Tell me about your building

·         How did you figure out how to do that?

·         What would happen if…

What can I learn about the child?

·         How they solve problems

·         What kind of learner they are

·         How they interact with others

·         Interests

·         Developmental skills

·         Attention span,  dealing with frustration

What can I do with what I learn?

·         Find ways to challenge them further

·         Add more accessories to expand play

SCIENCE AND NATURE

What can the child learn?

·         Textures, measuring, sorting, etc.

·         Life cycles

·         Caring for the environment

·         Basic scientific laws

·         Observing

·         Scientific method

·         Cause and effect

·         To love nature

·         Curiosity

What questions/conversations can I have?

·         Predicting – what do you think will happen if…

·         How and why questions

·         Why do you think that happens?

·         What do you notice?

·         What can we try?

·         Have you seen this before?

What can I learn about the child?

·         What they already know

·         Interests

·         How they learn

·         How much time they spend outside

·         How they figure things out

What can I do with what I learn?

·         Curriculum planning

·         Adjusting activities to the child’s interests and abilities

·         Add tools to expand learning (magnifiers, etc.)

·         Take anecdotal notes for child’s portfolio

·         Provide next steps