Beginning with Inquiry in Kindergarten: Looking Forward to a New Year

It is with excitement that we always start off a new year. I have to admit I will miss Miss Blundell as she is beginning a new life with her precious baby girl, however I am eager to work closely together with Ms. Liu this year as our DECE.

We have set up the classroom to invite the children to explore their curiosities, and forge new friendships along the way. This year we have a large returning group of Butterflies (Senior Kindergarten students) and a smattering of new Caterpillars (Junior Kindergarten students).

Planning a nest for the bird.

Creating an ocean picture.

Making a cake for a birthday.

Drawing a backdrop for the animal farm.

Making a castle with a flower garden.

Creating with playdoh.

Working with dry and wet sand.

One of our main goals this year is to spend an hour outside first thing every morning - rain, shine, or snow! So far the kiddos have had a great time exploring our own playspace just outside the classroom. Instead of keeping the kiddos "inside the pen" we have opened the doors and allowed them to freely roam on the grass and treed areas just outside the pen. Here we have explored the trees for pinecones, the gardens for a variety of flowers and berries. Ants, snails and spiders have come out to greet us; enticing our curiosities. You can also find us out in the parkland adjacent to the schoolyard. Taking cover from the sun and rain under the awning at the picnic tables, we often draw and write about things that interest us. We can be found playing and creating in our large sandbox (otherwise known as a baseball diamond) while the City Worker lets us finish up before moving in to give us a clean slate for the next time we return.

Drawing and writing outside.

Drawing and writing in the sand.

Finding secret places to play outside our classroom.

Being curious about living things in our environment.

Using outdoor spaces to engage our senses in learning.

Back in the classroom we have been engaged in a colour inquiry. I put out an experiment into colour mixing, hoping the children would be curious and have had a line up ever since for all the kiddos to have a turn to learn about colour mixing in our newly created Art Atelier.

What do you think about these colours?

We are documenting the children's learning throughout this inquiry and have already begun to post their comments and photos inside the classroom. Here are a few of the photos so far, however stay tuned for an entire Blog post about our learning.