Writing in Play

After the webinar and as the school started back, I have my writing time quite different from before. Listening to Stacey about how we can incorporate writing daily in our children's play really encouraged to change my writing practice.

At the moment I have a group of children who have good understanding about letter sounds and can write a sentence. Others are still in the process of developing these or who do not have letter sounds yet. I think it is so important to understand where children are in terms of their development and provide developmentally appropriate practice accordingly.

What I have been doing with the children are providing writing opportunities during their play. I go into their play and talk about what we can write about while they are playing. We have made signs for their shops/house, name tag, writing a story about their play, and also talking about how our writing looks like. Mark making is a part of writing and since I started talking about this, the more children are doing mark making and are not afraid to do so.

Here are some examples of their writing

I have been taking photos of writing and documenting in my writing recording doc so that I can see a progress when they move onto the next developmental stage.

Wibinar on Wellbeing

Melinda Webber, Stuart McNaughton, Raiha Johnson, Maya Edmunds, Jason Swann

Developing self-regulation
Social skills opportunity to develop social skills through online learning
Building on strengths

Re establishing routines

Stresses are caused at home - depressions, family violence

Collective resilience: community of whaanau
Preserving tikanga while protecting health

Whakamana
What did you learn about yourself? What is one thing that you did to look after each other in your family?

Culture, Identity

Opportunity to speak te reo, cook, bake

Leading up to Matariki

Time to reflect, celebrate and come together

Ease back into things
Listen more than we speak

Feeling safe, cared for and loved
Classroom environment: hands on activity, have fun, positive and active
Connection and relationships
Ready to adapt to change

Perspective of being Patient and Gentle
Listening carefully to the children
Reconnecting

Diverse needs of everyone
Pacifica family 
Strength based and solution focused

What we have gained from the lockdown
Whare tapa wha, Taha tinana
Taha wairua: to appreciate the small things, to be grateful and show gratitude
Hinegaro: slowing down
Whaanau: to be with the family and to reconnect

How we can take this learning and time to school: looking at the value that was gained at home
More breaks and kai time
Look at what we did online together

Shared experience- conversation starter
Keep building and maintaining

Listen to the children
Children can co-construct their day
We had a routine before the lock down, but what can it look like? what are we going to change?
Use Seeawa as a way to communicate to their families

At the heart of Te Rito toi

Facilitators: Peter O'Connor, Carol Mutch

Te Rito Toi

Disaster outreach, role of school and disaster recovery

Not just about doing on the first day, before going back

Thinking about the needs of the team
1 How are we going to support each other
   What was good and what was bad?

2 what we need to do before students come back?
   They need to see things that are familiar
   Have a sense that they can connect to
 
Focus is not about catching up with lost work
Primary focus is the children's well-being

They need to feel safe, cared for and love.
"School is a safe place."

Not about the academic but building relationships, strengthening them

Classrooms have to be fun!

Pedagogy of love and care  article

Learning happens in a range of ways, talking to each other, getting to know each other, developing a sense of belonging,

Talk about what they did during online learning, what is the learning here?

Be very gentle about children who show anxiety

Through the arts to express their feelings

Singing together, to dance, to have fun
When they are busy with hands, questions are going to be raised

Lower the expectations of yourself

Carol's Bear books
Book 1 
Book 2
Book 3

To get to the learning in the most effective way

Engage with the community, finding a way to reengage with others

Physical difficulties as we wont be able to give hugs etc..

Other parts of the curriculum that are important
We don't have to bounce back but leap forward

Wellbeing
The Arts
Ways of being

Future that we embrace

Nga toi Maori Arts

Staff wellbeing
-Noticing
-Change of behaviour
- Safe place to talk
-Don't judge others as we dont know what goes on in their lives

School days do not have to run exactly to the routines, more flexibilities would be great

Connecting to the families and how can we do this?
Multilingual communities

Keep your community thriving from Seeaw

Creating and maintaining a classroom community
Facilitator: Shelley Fryer

Setting up a room like a classroom- developing a connection with the children
Students need to see our faces and hear our voice.

Greeting
Face to face contact
Games/movements

Film yourself reading
Screen record lessons
Interactive meetings
Leave voice comments
Record your instructions

Connecting Students: Post to Journal
Not only connecting to the teacher, connecting with each other, so that other children can see each other's work in a controlled way

Seesaw Blog - students can see each other's work

Connecting with Families
helping families engage
The parents need reassurance and let them know it is ok to have a break too.

Reflecting on what was discussed in this session.
I feel that I have been able to create a community during this online teaching time. and just like Shelley has mentioned I made a goal in the beginning of the lockdown that I would post a video everyday so that the children would be able to see my face. Just like her, I also believed how important this would be for the children and families.
Although I think it might be a little bit difficult to set up an online live meeting with our children, I think if they are a bit older, this would be possible and that the children might enjoy seeing each other. I think something I can do more of is to share the children's posts so that others can see what everyone else is doing.
It is important to leave comments on children's work so that there are engagements and that it also shows that I value their work and time spent on it.
During this time, I have also made a personalised comment sheet which I used to make it fun and personalised.

Teaching Literacy in a Play based classroom 2

Well rounded view of literacy, reading with, to, by,
Knowing how people acquire to read
Consistent approach to learning
Developmentally appropriate

Feeling confident about shared reading, guided reading?

can get caught up in the system-look at our learning literacy- thought constrativist view.
Children choosing the readers?

The children need to be active in the participation when reading
Best follow up is more reading

What is the why? Is this meeting the needs of the children for them to be successful at reading?

Still aiming for the balance, not in a rush, connecting with the children, developmentally appropriate

Writing 
Shared writing: photo of the play-
Playful writing in play
Fantasy play- imaginary fairy, wizard,
Everyone has done some writing
Supporting personal writing
Children understanding different types of writing

Modelling or Demonstration? 
Handwriting on the wall
Children to see someone write, Partnership about what we write
Guided writing: a lot of the modelling
Demonstration is not modelling

Find out what the child can do. Mark making-pick up pens/pencil?
Oral language

Cake model-foundation: oral language/how to listen/social cues/ 

Icing: letter sounds, phonics

Lots of talking and embedding- making nuero pathway
Writing is more than about a story
Can pick up a pen and mark make? so then what can we do to support developmentally?
Mana around writing, having audience, not just a story with a teacher on the jellybean table
Treasure map, photo taken,
How you approach to the problem is not just one way, but it needs to be developmentally appropriate
and wide range of way

Emphasis on developmental writing
Value this in class
Fairy story
Message that is important, having a purpose, keeping it, preserving it
Purposeful writing
Shaving foam on table/mirror
Anytime they are mark making, conversing- developmental stage

Having a wall to place their playful writing (something new, iconic)
Link to Seesaw
Process is also an important part
Did you know you were being a writer? Author?

Stand with bulldog clips
Children stand-characters

Oral Language 
Children love dinosaurs
How do we learn our first language- happens with family
Supporting children's oral language in play
Other children with knowledge are continuously modelling
Expressive language-lots of practices and listening to a good model
Loose parts- expand oral language

NZ curriculum 
Teachers need to have a good working knowledge about all aspects of the Documents.
Find the learning through the play

Supermarket flyers, clipboards, open/closed signs
Writing money
markers

Books about archery
Record measurement -purposeful

Doll house
Signs for each room?
Attic, basement?
Making a letter box

Executive Functioning Skills 
Ability to adapt to changes
Dispositions
Working memory

Supporting other teachers with ICT needs

Over the last 4 weeks, I have been creating little how to videos for teachers so that it will be really helpful for the teachers to navigate themselves during the time of online learning.
First thing I did was download Screencastify which allows me to record the desktop of my laptop. This way, I can show people how I am doing certain things on my laptop without videoing myself with a phone.
I have created videos about how to use Sunshine Classics and how to upload a video on Blogger. More helpful Seesaw videos were added as well.
I have shared this with the whole school so that the teachers can have access to it and saved it on our drive. 
I think I find myself always wanting to up skill myself and learn new things. I like to be creative and using Seesaw, I can add some creative aspects to it in terms of how I present the activities to the children and families.
I have also really enjoyed working with other teachers and communicate about how other people are doing certain things online and learn from each other. This itself has been a great professional development. I think that I feel more confident about using Google drive, Seesaw, Screencastify, Vimeo, and IMovie.
When I go back to school, I would really like to keep up the use of Seesaw with the children. Now the children have had some chances to use Seesaw and how they can communicate with me or others, I think this might encourage and extend the use of Seesaw in the classroom.

Teaching Literacy in a Junior Play-Based Classroom Webinar 1

Facilitated by Stacey 

Message about play-when they go into the classroom of play, it does look very different. Once we become confident about play, play is not a narrow field, but comes from a wide background. 

Constructivist Theory:

it is not just about teaching, new way of believing how people learn, how our brains are neurological process. 

Children come to you with their kete of knowledge, children come to school knowing a lot about literacy. In relation to the environment, others, 

Learning through play-everything that we are doing

Group learning-less of switch and flick, but consistent approach 

Stimulate children in all areas of learning 

Aspects of many things happening- social emotional skills, academic skills, physical skills, Multi sensory

Language development: Oral language in the centre of learning/play 

Process of learning- children see themselves as learners 

Getting children to connect, how do we do this? We are internalising it and we get out of schooling differently-how constructivists think... 

Providing opportunities to do it differently 

Developmentally appropriate, practical, hands on so that they can learn

How children learn literacy 

We need to engage children in a rich way, getting children talk about the topic, listening to children 

A lot of language use happening when they are playing 

Jerome Bruner 

Scaffolding-assitence needing to build on what they already know 

Create an environment -our third teacher 

How are we creating readers and writers from their eyes? 

What children are learning? What they already know? 

Level of pressure- can affect the children's pressure 

If they dont know letter sounds, what else do they need to know? We are looking for what it is that they cant do.... 

Do they know songs? rhymes? Old Macdonalds? 

Pre writing stages - making marks, scribbles, making symbols, making letters 

What children can do independently

What books do they know? enjoy? If they speak another language, how willing are they to speak? 

Children's interests-big book? library books? browsing books? Guided books? key words on the wall? 

Responding to their interests

If they are interested in making a cafe- how are we supporting them? 

Wait for the answer for 2 seconds at least 

Play is not what the children are doing but this is what we think, how we think 

Oral language is the base of everything 

We are not taking the learning away from the children 

Constructivism: Active participation from children 

reluctant writers/readers are often our target children-get to the point where they are constructing meaning, Thier kete of knowledge that we are influencing 

Phonics learning: at the point of needs- research at Massey uni  

children not making links between phonics learning and reading and writing 

Culture of learning: continue to challenge ourselves 

How do we know how children best learn? Small groups? 

Children do it at their own pace and their time 

what's the end result of learning literacy? 

Joyfuly love reading 

Motivate to be persistent 

Chat about what is important to them 

Children learn words that matter to them 

Role play, fantasy play 

Balanced reading programme 

Reading to: Teacher in total control: support the love of reading 

Beautiful way to poking a bubble, access to a story 

Reading with: Shared reading

2 guided groups and shared reading with 2 more groups 

Reading with: Guided reading 

quality, less groups 

Reading by: personal reading 

Independent reading by children 

When are they reading for enjoyment? 

Browsing books systems 

Children to have a level of ownership 

old skill new content 

new skills old content 

Children know the content and has experiences of it Lavalava 

Collect students voice 

write down the children's voices 

Shared reading 

Finding whys 

Intentional and purposeful 

Links to the interests of children? 

Introduce it and simple, short 

Read the story first 

Guided 

Instructional 

What children's needs are, meeting their needs 

Successful literacy classroom 

let children read

not so successful worksheets/word games 

Repetition is really important 

Browsing boxes 

Dramatic play 

Links to literacy- developmentally appropriate 

Student led 

practicing real life 

Relationships 

links to what you are doing with literacy content 

Invitations and provocations 

Use loose parts 

Reading to and shared reading 

Concept of characterisation 

Pre-operational stage 

Story table with loose parts 

Children interact with them anyway they like 

Inferring and comprehension (changing the story line) this is why you do not have to have the exact set of things 

The books that children really loved listening to 

Mark making-writing 

pre learning wiring lense 

Big sheets of paper 

different materials 

Need some introduction 

Explore from a fantasy perspective 

They cant take things out, but add things in. 

                         

Make a kete of it so that it has resources already and easy to access 

Writing resources: chalk board and chalks, note pads, clipboards, little notebooks