Well, what a fantastic couple of weeks we've had full of family fun before school starts up again! And my super husband treated us both to a quiet couple of days in Co. Monaghan at Castle Leslie. How I loved our copper bathtub!!
Relaxation: Just what was needed with only two months left now before we have our new baby keeping us ultra busy! :) Anyway... back to blogging!
One of the most viewed pictures on my photostream is this planning board that my class created together after watching an episode of Sesame Tree. (Rubbish and recycling)
It's fun to encourage children to take responsibility for their own experiences in a creative, collaborative way. Planning like this promotes the development of thinking skills too. Here is proof that even really young children can direct their learning; their own activity ideas included:
- interviewing the school 'bin men'
- designing new bins for the playground
- litter picking
- rubbish sorting
- junk art - making musical instruments
- visiting the local recycling centre
Your starting point for investigating a theme could be a story, poem, piece of music or even a special visitor. Here is another planning board we created together after reading this fantastic book: Pirate Pete by Kim Kennedy.
Try using a mix of resources to present your ideas: drawings, internet images, children's writing, photographs, etc. Pipe cleaners work well for connections.
We often use KWL templates in our planning too. But what I really love about the whole mind mapping process is that children tend to focus on the activities they want to do.... not what they want to know, but how they are going to find out more.
Take a photo of the finished mind map and insert it into your own planning. Display it during the weeks of your topic so children can add any new thoughts too! Have fun! :)
Further Reading to inspire your children:
