Tuesday 26 March 2013

Dinosaurs! Dinosaurs! And a museum?

Today our kiddos were very excited after we read them a wonderful fiction book about dinosaurs. They were all very interested to know all the names of the different Dino's featured within the story. As soon as the kiddos started to disperse from our meeting area, I had three little ones come up to me and ask if we could have a museum? Immediately I thought of turning our dramatic play centre into their dream.

In the past I would have begun to collect all the necessary items to make the centre entertaining - however this time I engaged these three students into a brainstorming conversation about what they thought it should look like. We pulled out some chart paper and began writing down all the ideas they had. "We need safety goggles" stated one of the kids. "What for?" I asked. "So we don't get sand and dirt in our eyes while digging for the bones" she exclaimed. We continued with our brainstorming web and determined that we needed to get out the I-pads for a little bit of research about guide maps and what tickets should look like.

After a bit of computer research, we decided to head over to the library to take out some books on dinosaurs. The library had so many to choose from but we were diligent and pick the best 10.

During our second learning centre times, a group of kiddos joined Ms Patel at the arts and crafts table to design the tickets for the museum. They made sure to include prices and times the museum will be open. Tomorrow we will put the finishing touches on our tickets; with dinosaur decorations on one side and all the information on the other. This will also be a good time to review some money and time concepts with a smaller group of students.

I am loving the "slowing down" process and getting the kiddos involved in all the steps to setting up their learning environment.

I can't wait until tomorrow when Ms Blundell puts out the mystery eggs we found. They have small holes in the bottom where the students can peek inside to see if they can figure out what animals belong inside! Hopefully if we treat these eggs well over the next week they will hatch Tuesday or Wednesday and we will see what's inside!?!

I promise to take more pictures tomorrow - we were very busy creating today!

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