Learning Story from School - 1

妈妈失职，最近实在没时间写。看看老师写的learning story吧（图片就不上了，在老师的主页上）。老师真是负责啊，每周给每个孩子写这么一大篇。

Learning to assign meaning to drawing - Thursday 24th November

What I observed:

On Thursday 24th November I explained to NC that I had put out various different papers, glues, tapes and scissors on the art table. I shared with them that I was wondering what they might do with these materials and left it completely open ended. Aiden immediately came over to the art table and selected a piece of black paper. I asked him what he thought he might like to do with it and he said, “I could tear it”, and demonstrated this (see picture 3 and 4). A few minutes later he said, “I could cut it”, and proceeded to use scissors to do so (see picture 2). Sebastiaan was also at the art table at the time and Aiden said, “The green scissors are for me and the blue scissors for Sebastiaan”, he then passed the blue scissors to Sebastiaan. For the next 20 minutes Aiden was engrossed in his work (see pictures 5 and 6). When he was finished (see picture 7) he came to tell me and was keen to share what he had made. He said, “It’s a train, a steam train. It needs coal and water. The water is to cool the engine down. Look here is the engine (the first piece of black paper carefully torn by Aiden), here is the coal (the circle drawn on the black paper) and here is the steam. Lots of steam. I have been on a steam train. It was noisy (demonstrated the noisy with lots of whooshing) and there was lots of steam. This is the coal truck (second piece of black paper) and these are the carriages. It’s a freight train.”

What it means:

Aiden has talked of his experience of riding the steam train before but this was the first time he had talked about his work in such detail. His ability to relate his work to previous experiences, and his knowledge of steam trains acquired from other sources, shows Aiden’s ability to make connections. It was also the first time he had come to me to offer to tell me about what he had been doing. This shows me he is feeling more secure in the classroom, and with me. Aiden’s fine motor skills are well developed as shown by his ability to tear the paper to his desired shape and draw the funnel and steam clearly coming out of it. This was the first time I had seen Aiden using scissors and although he preferred to tear the paper he was able to make a cut in it with the scissors. I also chose this story because it demonstrates Aiden’s increased interaction with other children. Unprompted he selected scissors for Sebastiaan, a kind gesture showing an awareness of Sebastiaan and thought towards his needs. Aiden and Sebastiaan have played together with the transport toys on many occasions. Aiden’s independent engagement in this task for 20 minutes shows his ability to focus and concentrate.

Opportunities and possibilities:

I would like to provide as many natural opportunities as possible for Aiden to share his ideas and experiences. His base camp might be a way to do this. I think Aiden is more likely to do this on a one to one or a small group as he still seems a little overwhelmed in whole class circle time and does not like to contribute. I would like to find other art and craft opportunities for Aiden to engage in, perhaps relating them to transport. We will continue to share books (fact and fiction) about transport and the children’s other interests.