Establishing Connections; Creating Transformations Encounters with Relationships
Artwork by Roy
Establishing Connections; Creating Transformations
“Dare to dream and make dreams come true”
-To Hoai
At the core of the Reggio Emilia philosophy and our own, is the emphasis on building and sustaining relationships. We believe that strong communities are built on relationships.
So when we gathered as a teaching team early in the year, it was only right that we had many discussions about what we had been noticing in the classes when observing our children. How were they developing a sense of belonging? What were the signs of a community of learners connecting and how could we strengthen this?
We know that it is through responsive and reciprocal relationships with people, places and things that children have opportunities to try out their ideas and refine their working theories. We noticed common threads that resonated throughout the school; attachment and change therefore Establish ing Connections; Creating Transformations was born.
Empowering children to learn and grow requires teachers to foster children’s agency to create and act on their own ideas. So it was vital that the children were able to discover the connection between themselves and their environment, the connecting links between family and school, the relationships between materials and how all of these could be transformed.
Through the hundred languages we have explored these very broad concepts of connection and transformation in meaningful, age appropriate ways.It has also been a journey of discovering and strengthening the wonderful dispositions of learning we had noticed. The resilience, courage, curiosity, persistence and determination found in our children alongside the kindness and respect they were displaying as they connected and formed relationships. At the beginning of our project we also met Cricket. We honoured To Hoai,the great Vietnamese writer through his wonderful book written in the 1930’s ‘The Adventures of Cricket’. Connection and transformation were two very strong themes that ran throughout the story. Connection being the joining together in harmony thatcricket discovered through the relationships he made and the transformation cricket undertakes throughout his journey, of his character, his beliefs, his attitudes and his way of life.We all felt cricket’s journey became our own.
Introduction
As soon as we started our journey together, both parents and teachers noticed a great appetite for learning, exploring, and playing together. The favorite explorations were cutting, riding bicycles, painting, and water play. The collective awe shown when observing changes that were created by the children was very obvious. Closing scissors and watching a piece of paper falling down or mixing colors together and noticing a new color appearing... There were so many experiences for the children to try!
Throughout all of their play, strong and caring friendships were developed. Lotus children went from playing with one or two friends, to playing with the whole class! They inspired each other as they found common areas of interest throughout the year. In this book we will revisit these.
Artwork by Lily
Lotus’ Scissors
Millions of pieces of colour
The interest in cutting kept growing over the weeks. We noticed a strong urge in cutting different materials. Following this interest in cutting, we provided strips of long colorful paper along with scissors in the atelier..
A large group of children were really enthusiastic about cutting. There was much focus on opening and closing the scissors to create many little tiny pieces of paper.
Inspired by Matisse
Ms. Charlotte knows how much the children love to cut so in the first visit to the Atelier she introduced the artist Henri Matisse. He was an artist who loved to cut too. The children started to cut many many shapes, in lots of bright colours.
It was so interesting to see how the scissors were used in their own unique way. Some of the children cut small tiny shapes, some trimmed around the edges of the paper, others made shapes in the style of our artist Matisse. So many amazing shapes were created so it was definitely time to use these to make something cool and colourful! In the next step to our art a collage was created by gluing all of the cut paper onto a large piece of felt. The squeezy bottles of glue were loved and the children spent lots of time squeezing the glorious glue all over the surface of the felt.
The final layer on our big collaborative and colourful piece of art, saw the children printing using found objects and adding paint using rollers The rollers were very popular.
What Can We Cut Outside?
I was cutting pieces of tape in the garden and the children came to observe my actions. They wanted to help me and asked for scissors. Cutting the tape was difficult. They had to use all of the strength in their hands, but there was such pride once they managed to cut it successfully. The children wanted to stick onto the tape. They had the idea to collect leaves, cut them into little pieces and then place them on the tape.
After going back and forth to the bamboo pot a few times, the children decided to go directly there with their scissors. The children started to cut the grass inside the pot. Cutting all kinds of leaves and little weeds was so much fun. It was discovered that the bamboo was too strong and thick to cut.
Magazine Exploration
We offered old magazines and waited to observe what angle the children wished to take. The children showed an interest in cutting the pages of the magazines. They then put these cut pieces of paper into a bottle and watched attentively. Meanwhile, some children had a great idea after observing the paper wet after cutting, The paper became sticky and it was discovered they could stick the paper on mirrors.
Under the Water
As Lotus children are growing up, their pretend play is expanding. It is wonderful to observe the interests driving their play. Before and after the Christmas holidays, we noticed how they love to pretend to fish by holding a piece of string from the mezzanine.
It all started when Lac Lac noticed a little fish swimming in the water pot. Ms Thao, our cleaning lady, put it there. Each time Lac Lac passed the fish he would point towards it and say “Fish!” . Slowly this interest in fish found its way into all of the Lotus Friends’ hearts.
“I am a fish… I caught a fish… you are swimming underwater…”
Watching them play, we naturally decided to dive into their interest in the underwater world.
What animals live under the water? What does a baby fish look like? What does a fish eat? How can we care for them?
We projected videos of life around the corals on the floor of the Light Atelier. Children were excited to watch the sea creatures swimming next to their feet. They enjoyed spotting sharks, turtles, jellyfish, and many other sea creatures. They brought loose parts to the projected images and enjoyed pretending to feed the colorful fish.
We had the opportunities to explore the fish habitat both inside and outside. Lotus Children loved experimenting with water and sand to create tiny ponds and rivers with running water.
Welcoming real fish in the class was particularly exciting for the children. They set up a lovely home for them with rocks, water, and seaweed. Lotus children loved to feed their fish and to watch them swimming slowly around their aquarium.
We discovered the story of the Rainbow fish” written and illustrated by Marcus Pfister. They enjoyed the colorful illustrations and they loved interpreting what the story might be about from them.
“Sad fish… No, no, thank you… Starfish… Scary octopus… Happy fish… can I have one scale, please?” - The Lotus children, retelling the story of this beautiful fish learning to share.
A wonderful time was had creating unique shiny fish with wires and sequins. While painting a home for our fish the children enjoyed exploring the feeling of mixing paint with salt.
As we investigated the life cycle of the fish our Lotus friends started pretending to be mummy and daddy fish, carrying fish eggs thus continuing to expand their wonderful play experiences.
The Wonders of Aerospace Engineering
I was so surprised when I noticed that many of the children were building the exact same objects with magnets. "Airplane" - Lac Lac, Men, and Ewan From observing the growing interest in planes, we invited the children to explore more about aeroplanes. They were really attentive to the details of the real planes projected on the screen.
The interest in planes was continuing to grow. 'The Airplane (Inventions that changed the world)’ was being read over and over together. The children loved reading the first few pages about the very first airplanes. The engineers created so many different shapes of airplanes with various materials before creating the airplanes that we know today. We invited the children to explore and design using wooden sticks, cardboard tubes, bolts, screws, and other metallic loose parts. What airplane would they build?
"Airplane... plane... water... fly" - You all said, repeating after each other.
"Varoom" - Ewan, flying a paper airplane towards Lac Lac. Lac Lac, you ran away and Men, you joined the flying immediately.
“See, Bo. This is a big plane, And here is a small one." Bo pointed at the big plane and said: "Dong co" (Engine).
Airplane using loose parts - Sua
Airplane using loose parts - Ramen
“No more fire”
- Lotus friends, using noodles as hoses and screaming in the pool
Actors of Change: Firefighters
Lotus children became really curious about page 4 in 'The Airplane (Inventions that changed the world)’. They could see a plane flying over a burning forest and emptying a red liquid over it.
“What is that?... What’s happening?... Is a fire?....” - Everyone was wondering “Firefighters are jumping in the fire” - observing the image on the next page. The bravery of the firefighters inspired them! The children enjoyed the many opportunities provided to pretend to be firefighters. In the light atelier, in the pool, in the garden, in the class,.... Everywhere friends would pretend to be in distress and others would save them.
"Firefighters!... Fire!" - Roy, on noticing the outdoor set up from the window. "It's a house! Is on fire" - Emma "What can we do about it?" - Ms. Anh "Washing the fire with water" - Sua
Firefighters in the Light Atelier
Noticing this growing interest, we decided to set up an invitation in the light atelier for a deeper exploration of their two favorite pages in the book. We offered various fabrics, paper, tubes, and projected images of firefighters jumping from planes.
“Firefighters... Fire" - You said as soon as you arrived "Nee-Naw, Nee-Naw" - went the fire engines, made of fabric and bean bags, as victims of the fire were taken to hospital.
“Help me!” - Ewan
“Are you hot?” - Ramen, rescuing Ewan from the fire
“Yes!” - Ewan
“Here, drink water” - Ramen
Artwork by Lac Lac
Making Fire With Ms Charlotte
Using the technique of marbling fire images was explored. The children gathered around the table in the Atelier of Nature. A special water mixture was poured into a bucket and then the children took it in turns to choose the colours that resembled fire. Once the coloured inks had been dropped onto the surface of the water a lollipop stick was used to slowly and gently make a swirling whirling pattern. After waiting for 5 seconds the paper was peeled off from the water’s surface to reveal FIRE!! So many shocked and amazed faces as the children saw the pattern the inks had made on the paper.
Ms. Charlotte discussing with Lotus friends:
“What colours do you see in fire?”
“yellow, red orange.”
“Who stops a fire?”.... “A firefighter''.
“How does the firefighter stop the fire?”....''water!”
by Ewan
Artwork
Marbled Paper - Khang Marbled Paper - Nu
Lotus’ Homes
Our Lotus’s friend’s thirst for creating high towers and houses in a variety of materials was noticed, so we provided recycled materials to watch what would be created. After carefully stacking the recycled materials, Ms. Ana used the hot glue to attach. Wonderful collaboration with friends was noticed as new ideas were investigated. The urge to connect and disconnect materials has been a huge interest in Lotus for a long time...the magnetic tiles is just one example of this. Stacking and connecting boxes and cartons is a great way to satisfy these urges... disconnecting is also a joy with great delight evident when knocking down structures...only to happily rebuild again.
Building to Tell Stories...
“The dog is taking a shower" - Sua "Vita is sleeping" - Nu
"House for Kha Di, and Mummy and Daddy and Ramen" - Kha Di
"I am eating egg" - Vita
Exploring Building Possibilities With Magnet Tiles and Blocks
Looking at our Lotus friends drawing, cutting, and sticking their drawings onto the board, it remind me of a busy beehive! Each one of Lotus class was working independently to create a collaborative project. We loved the creative energy!
Upon sharing in one of our assembilies that we sometimes miss our families, Lotus children jumped into the idea to draw them and to place them in the white houses on the board. Eveyone went to get pencils and scissors by themselves, setting up an improvised floor office.
