Today part of my pedagogical choice was to follow alongside with the children really deeply listening. Well, me and the children were exploring the yard by them asking me to follow alongside with them as they showed me magical moments that they wanted to share with me.
One of the moments that they wanted to share with me as footprints that they found in the yard.
One child said it was a lion footprint
Another child standing up to us said no it’s a lion dinosaur footprint
I then said I’ve never seen a lion or a line dinosaur before what color are they?
The children then told me that it was the color purple.
As we moved around the yard and they showed me different footprints of big ones and small ones we came across a footprint that wasn’t the same as the rest I asked the children what kind of a footprint this is, as this one looks different than the rest.
Three of the children turned around and looked at me and said silly Chrystal this is a human footprint.
I said oh maybe it’s my footprint they then said no your feet are smaller than this one as I help my foot next to it.
Each of the children then tried to put their feet in the same footprint they all said that their feet were too small.
There is a child up on the hill looking at one of the footprints from the lion dinosaur The child looked at me and said I’ve never seen a line dinosaur in the yard.
I then looked at them and said to me either.
I said where do you think it is
one child said Well they are invisible you can’t see them.
As we were discussing this a child came up to me and said crystal Chrystal come you have to see these holes their snake holes.
We went up to the side of the mountain where we found one single hole the child such as there’s the snake in their.
I looked at the child and said how did you know it’s a snake hole?
The child said because it was round and small they knew that a snake must live in their.
We then walked down the hill a little bit more where there was two holes side-by-side the children’s at the same thing book here’s to more snake holes but look there’s two of them so two snakes must come out of these ones.
I looked at them and said wonder what colour the snakes would be?
The children then told me that the snakes were brown and black.
I said oh have you seen them before?
One child said yes
another child said no.
We ended up calling a water break for the children they end up going in to water play at this time. I’m excited to explore this some more I have took in some photos and I’m going to print them out and bring some paper and pencils for them to draw with and continue on the conversation.
As I went over to the table with the children for the water break and then had another child bring me over to their area that they were working on.
The child had finished the water and was running back and forth from the woodpile over to where the table as I watched intently for a couple of minutes before I said anything.
I looked at the child and said what are you doing with that wood?
The child looked at me and said well there’s lots on the ground and we need somewhere we need to step out of the lava
another child looked at me and said we have to work on her balancing skills over top of the lava these flat ones are easy to walk on but these other ones are super wiggly and really hard to walk on.
As the children were walking on the super wiggly ones they said they didn’t need them and would throw them aside and gather some more flat ones as I observes them doing this.
I then asked can I try the course to step out of the lava?
The children in the area said yes they made sure to show me where the front of the course was and where the end of the course was and to not step on the round ones as they wouldn’t keep me safe.
As you can see in the first picture if you look to the left there’s round pieces that they have thrown out of the course but they’ve kept around one that could be stood up because there was a flat surface on it as I asked the children why did you keep that brown piece?
They told me that they could stand it up and there was a flat piece to stand on so we could keep it.
One of the questions that I asked the children, what else do you think lives within our backyard here at the centre?
They said birds and snakes, dinosaurs and spiders, Beatles, worms, butterflies.
I think it would be interesting to continue to explore this topic I know a lot of the children are interested in different creatures bugs etc. in our backyard I have created a basket with some bug books and also have magnifying glasses so that the children can look closer to some of these creatures but I’d like to expand to what else lives in the backyard alongside with us. This will nurture a connection with the land, connection with each other, inspire relationships and so much more.
As you see in this picture below some of the things that they gather within the yard of creatures or things that they want to take care of and have empathy for this gathers them together and they work together to have a place where these things can live.
I’m leaving the stuff at the bottom of this page to remind me of different things to help me plan my documentation for my pedagogical choices I want to continue to explore these ideas I know that I have to pick one and go with it but at the same time following along with children in our outdoor space really deeply listening and understanding is part of my pedagogical practices as an educator I will continue to strive and work on the alongside with the children.
This section is where students collect observations, pedagogical process, curriculum choices, implementation, documentation, reflection, and notes as they create environments and experiences with children indoors/outdoors. Students will refer to:
- ECED 1200
- ECED 1350
- BC Early Learning Framework (2019) Section 2
- Living Inquiries (BC ELF, 2019)
Pedagogical documentation (Pedagogical Narration) is a creative process and there are many ways to design and document what you, staff, children and programs are exploring. The following examples may help you plan your Pedagogical Documentation space.
Example: Learning Stories in Practice (Carr & Lee, 2019)
