I work in the toddler room. My co-workers in the 3-5 room have taken on a challenge for themselves and are narrating not only the children's experiences but their own learning experiences as well. I was inspired! I think you will be too...
Saejin had the idea to do a pedagogical narration on why we take our children on outings. She completed her PN entitled “Beyond the Field Trip” and after reading it, I knew we had to expand on this. We talk a lot about encouraging the children to take risks in order to develop deeper learning and the same goes for us, as adults. We realize that the easier thing to do would be to stay in one of our yards every day but we have challenged ourselves to provide the children with meaningful experiences outside of the centre and in turn, both us, and the children have benefited. We decided that all four educators in our program would complete a pedagogical narration involving on/off campus outings. We hope you enjoy reading them and finding out more about how your children spend their time with us.
Sincerely,
Mary, Sr. Teacher in the 3-5's room, Saejin, Noeleane and Alex
Pedagogical Narration #4
Where We Go and What We KnowWe love being part of our campus community. We go exploring every week and find new and old reasons to be engaged with nature and our local community. Here are the areas we visit the most:
Fern Gully - We know we can run and roll on the green, grassy hills here. One of our favorite games to play is ‘gingerbread cookies.’ In the winter we climb up mountains of snow and have a blast sliding down the hills.
Library Square - We know we can run and play in this wide open space. We also love to climb the trees here, which gives us confidence and the chance to take a risk. We like to sit under the umbrella tree and chat and giggle with our friends while others make mud balls or play chasing games.
Basketball Court - We know we can bring balls, chalk and bubbles here. We can run, play pass, shoot a hoop, play puppies and stomp in puddles on a rainy day.
Horticulture - The horticulture gardens are beautiful! We know we can explore here, run up, run down and roll down the big hill. We can use our imaginations and look for dragons and play superhero’s. We can find a variety of delicious fruit here and a rainbow of flowers. We can look for goldfish in the pond and make crowns our of willow branches. In the winter we slide down the hill on our snow pant bottoms over and over again.
Hike - We know we can walk and walk and walk and run and run and run on our hike behind the trades and technology building. When we find tracks and scat we guess and ponder what animal has passed through here, usually being a deer or a dog. We climb on dead fallen trees and play make believe games. We find special treasures like rocks, charcoal and bark. We have a great view of our city and shout out, “I can see the river! I can see superstore! I can see my house! I love my city!” We know to keep our eye peeled for cactus. Sometimes they jump onto our pants or shoes but our educator quickly removes it and on we go. On our hikes we have the opportunity to be curious about nature.
Science yard - We know we can run here, and in the winter slide down the hill. Our favorite games to play at the science yard is ‘Colored Eggs.’ We learn boundaries here, as we do on all of our outings, to keep us together and safe.
Enchanted forest - We know there is magic here. Small animals and fairies live in this forest. We’ve seen their fairy houses, danced on their stage and found many fairy treasures here. It’s a place to use our imagination and be sharp with our eyes.
Track - We know we can run and be athletes here. At the track we have races, climb in and out of giant tires, have long jump competitions in the sand, play jail in the soccer nets and build in the sand pits. It feels great to be out doors and get exercise.
ELC - We know we can swing, climb, run, ride and play here. We visit with new and old friends, we share and show respect for their space but we feel welcome.
Old Main - We know there are friends we can visit and chat with here. Especially during the school year when the therapy dogs are waiting for our visits. We also like to stop in to say hi to Megan’s mom, Mila, and pop by the adventure office to chat with Greg (Noeleane’s husband). As a little bonus sometime they give us stickers. We also like walking down the art hallway to see interesting pictures the art students have made. A highlight of visiting Old main is taking the glass elevator up to the top to see the view of Kamloops. This really invokes a lot of conversation about what we know about our city.
Trades and Technology building - We know we can see big trucks and machinery getting fixed here. We have been invited into classrooms where we can ask questions and have conversations about what the students learn here. In the past trades students have make projects for our center, like a toy car the children can sit in with real parts, some of our large blocks and a log cabin that’s in the top toddler yard.
Arts and Education building - We know we can play and try different activities at the Children’s Program. Before the program started up again in October we would climb up the stairs all the way to the third floor to spy on the students and have a peek at the classroom. Sometimes we explore the other floors or take the elevator down.
Library - We know we can find lots of books here to look at and read. After running and playing at library square, we put our whispers in to enter the library. There is a little room just for kids where we can choose our own books off the shelf. Here we learn to self-regulate so others can concentrate of their studies.
Gym - On very cold days we know there is a place for us to be active at the gym. We play all kinds of running and chasing games here, throw and kick balls and tumble on mats. We love how welcome we are here.
We are so lucky to be part of the TRU community and to have the campus as part of our play space.
-Noeleane
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