NZ Teacher

The classroom environment, or the third teacher, can provide opportunities for us to find out what a child knows or can do. One of our learning outcomes is for children to use ordinal numbers. Today, C. was looking at the hour glass which is made up of one minute,two minute and five minutes. He talked about how the last one, 5 minutes, had the most sand because it took the longest. He told me which one would be first. We talked about which one would be second. On his way out of the classroom he noticed that his bag hook is "second" in the row. He is able to use ordinal numbers. The third teacher has provided the opportunity for me to find out what C. knows about ordinal numbers.

 What should we do with them?" I asked as I sat down at the table with the apple and pear in the middle. "Break them?" "Break it like this." The rest of the conversation focused on what they liked and then onto seeds. Seeds that can be eaten could be an emerging interest. Here's what the children said: "I like pears." "I like apples." "Do you like pear better?" "I want the apple." "I want the pear." "I want one hundred apple." "I want some pear." "You can't eat the seeds." "Watermelon seeds. I eat the white ones." Maybe there is an interest in seeds I can foster. I could introduce more seeds into the environment and see what happens.

This group was presented with an apple and a pear. We had to wash our hands before eating them. A. said, "We have to wash the apple." I told him I'd already washed it. He replied, "But there's no water on it." I told him it was dry, then realized I should let him go and wash it, the same way we washed our hands. So he did. B. had an apple in his hand and said, "I need a manifying glass." He went and got the magnifying glass to look at the apple and he shared it with the other children at the table so they could look too. C. is new to speaking English. I cut the apple into pieces for him and counted 1,2,3,4. I realized that I should learn the Polish numbers to help connect with him. I asked: Do you like apples? Do you like pears? Do you like falling down the stairs? Do you like white? Do you like pink? Do you like falling down the sink? Would you like to do that. "No, you'd get hurt?" said D. B. talked about the app...

"We don't teach phonics but they learn letters and their sounds."  That's what I heard myself say when a parent asked if we teach phonics.  I pointed to the name labels on the tables and told her that we're always talking about letters and their sounds, like the sounds in their names.  I pointed to the alphabet puzzles and the magnetic letters which had been incorporated into the home center play. On display is the recipe book, A-Z of recipes, that we will make over the year. It is through their play that the children begin to connect letters to the sounds they make.  We don't teach phonics but they learn letters and their sounds through play. We don't teach phonics when the environment, or the third teacher, does it so beautifully.

During registration day today, one of the girls in my class came in with her older sister. They went straight to the OHP and began to experiment with the 3D transparent shapes.  The older sister turned to me as said, "She must be thinking, what's that?"  That is exactly what I want the children to be doing when they come into the classroom.  To be interested, to ask questions, to discover. 

Towards the end of the school year I took an easel and chart paper into the classroom. It wasn't for me to use.  The classroom belongs to the children and (almost) everything that can be seen is for the children to use.  That includes the easel and chart paper. The artist in the room spent hours at the easel drawing her creations.

"OK everyone. It's time to stop playing." "We're not playing. We're making." When we listen to the children we hear the truth.  The truth is that play is important.  It's through play that children make, create, communicate, problem solve, and so much more.  We just need to listen to the children and we hear the truth about play.