Bowls, water, brushes and containers of different small items like rice and lentils were left for the children to experiment with on the discovery table. As the day passed with lots of experimentation going on, the kids then invented their own game by including animals from inside the tent, they borrowed the bridge from the sand table and used it to connect different bowls to allow the animals to walk across.
On one of our adventure walks along the river the children began to collect rocks to make their own pool for toads. They worked together communicating all the time to get the stones in a round shape, packet tightly together. They carried water in buckets, in their hands and splashed it in from the river to fill up their toad swimming pool.
The children love to create a pirate ship from the slide and tree house platform - they collect treasure from around the school (games and toys they place on the platform) and then attach tunnels and playground equipment to make exciting entrances and exits to their pirate ship. They invite their friends to play with them in the ship and they get totally immersed in their games in the unique space they have created.
A group of children created a watering hole for the animals in the sand table working together to dig trenches and transfer water from the neighbouring water table, discussing which animals liked to be in the water and which preferred the land.
One of the great things about having a multi-aged group is the little ones get inspired by the older children and they in turn are able to help the little ones get the materials they need. Here one of the older kids wanted to paint cardboard tubes to use as props in his game, he set up all the material and soon attracted a younger member of the school who he assisted to do the same.
Fun with blocks, shapes and play figures - I love seeing how focused the children become when they sit down with a box of blocks and I am fascinated by how they choose to use them, what other items they add and how they weave this into their games. They create, they tell stories, they problem solve, they experiment with size, shape, balance and symmetry and they practice team work skills.
We moved one of the spiky palm trees out of the play garden to give the children more space - this created a temporary sand pit which the children soon put to good use! They love creating water holes which they decorated with pines cones and shells and of course they soon got stuck in themselves.
Mud was a reoccurring theme this Spring as Morocco experienced an usually high amount of rainfall for long periods and much lower temperatures than normal. So we embraced it! The school is primarily outdoors and we have a saying - there is no bad weather only badly chosen clothes! So donning coats, boots and hats we made sure to go out and explore the aftermath of rainstorms - slipping about in mud, splashing in puddles, taking in the dramatic scenery, the dark clouds and the cool winds.
Every Monday we go out on an excursion day. Adventure walks have been a major hit with the kids. We find a trail near a river and explore for four hours. We stop for a picnic lunch, to draw or paint, to observe wildlife, to talk about interesting rocks we find (this area has amazing rocks particularly quartz but there are great examples of igneous and sedimentary rocks around too) and to splash about in the rivers.
We visit gardens and farms and discover the different flora and fauna.
The children observed beehives both the conventional Western models and a traditional Moroccan bee hive made from earth. They tried on beekeeping outfits and learned all about how to harvest honey from a hive:
We also attended some different workshops on our excursion days. The children took part in a 4 hour capoeira introduction workshop with a break for lunch and for colouring pictures of different capoeira movements.
And an Arno Stern method painting workshop:
And for our last excursion day of the year we all went to Oasiria, the water park, along with parents, to have some good fun...
...celebrating a wonderful year of learning, new friendships, self directed projects and lots of creativity!
SALAD SPINNER PAINTING - drop in the paint, spin and marvel!
We threaded all the kids spin art with string and made them into hanging decorations
AIR DRY CLAY, TOOTHPICKS & PAINT -
the kids made snakes and soon discovered that the long thin ones fell apart but the curled up ones stayed intact and made beautiful paper weights!
BUBBLE PAINTING -
we experimented with two different techniques:
We used cotton bud bundles to create a rainbow tree. The children chose an art video from youtube and then attempted to create their own rainbow tree using the same methods they had seen the artist use.
WATERCOLOUR RESIST ART ON CANVAS -
we removed the tape after the paint had dried to reveal the first letter of their name which made a nice decorative piece for their bedrooms
CHANGE YOUR PERSPECTIVE! -
having a go at painting lying down
COLLAGE SELF PORTRAITS -
I drew around each child and then they used different materials - scraps of fabric, raffia, string and felt tips to give themselves hair, clothes and shoes
FREE PAINTING -
great to see the different techniques the kids like to use, one likes to paint, fold and press, one likes to flick paint on her picture creating random flecks of paint, another uses sponges and creates deliberate marks on her paper....
GROUP PROJECT - FOOTPRINTS
this was a lot of fun and a lot of mess (the two usually go together!)
ACRYLIC CUP POUR ON CANVAS -
what a fun project this was and it produced stunning results! Spoon the different colours of paint into a cup, place the canvas on top of the cup and flip! Hold for a few seconds then lift off the cup and tilt the canvas until it is all covered.
ACRYLIC POUR OVER BOTTLE END -
spoon paint over the end of a bottle to create a cool flower effect
ACRYLIC SCRAPE PAINTING -
dot the paper with paint and then scrape down using a plastic card
DIY SCRATCHBOARDS -
the kids made their own rainbow scratchboards using oil pastels to cover their paper and then painted over them using acrylic black paint. When the paint had dried they experimented using kebab sticks, toothpicks and pencils to scratch off the black paint and create their own designs onto the paper.
More child led creative exploration with our inspiring discovery tables:
The children can interact with the materials anyway they please. I observe and document their choices, noting problems they encounter and how they try to resolve them, trying to quote their speech directly. They are free to add materials and search for what they want from the art room, school tent and garden. At the end of the school year the children take home their books with my observations and their quotes written in them alongside photos of their learning adventures.
We support children's developing literacy and numeracy skills throughout the day with different games, projects and one to one time. We have been using the Julia Donaldson Songbirds Series to support reading, the children like working with these word cards connected to this reading series and I often get the children to make a sentence from the stories we read using the cards during our one to one reading time.
For the younger children I hung letters in the tree on ribbon and when they felt motivated to do so they could pull them from the tree, identify the letter and sound and then hunt for an object around the school that began with that sound.
For the children who were already reading I hung words on a different tree they could try and read and then match up with the corresponding object around the school
A bowl of green slime is always a good motivator! The younger children enjoyed the sensory experience of feeling the slime with their hands and retrieving the different letters.
The children made Ramadan calendars using origami pockets this year. For the younger ones we traced the numbers from 1-30 in pencil and they used a cotton bud and paint to go over them. The older ones created the numbers for themselves using whatever techniques with paint or pen they wanted to use.
One of our topics this year was to explore which sports and hobbies the children were interested in. Many of the girls are fascinated with gymnastics and loved to read about, draw and practice gymnastic moves.
Since we were moving into Summer we thought it would be a good idea to learn about snakes and scorpions this year. The children wanted to learn about different types of snakes around the world, which snakes lived in Morocco, how to identify them and what to do to keep safe.
On a rainy day we read a book about snakes, discussed different types of snake, where they lived, what they ate and whether or not they were venomous, or if they were constrictors. I cut up pictures of snakes into two parts and they searched through the box to match them up and glue them in their books. We then discussed each picture to see what they could remember from our discussion.
After spending the morning learning about scorpions one of the students asks for the book to trace from.
Another decides she wants to draw the different parts of the scorpion we have just learned about - the legs, pincers, abdomen, head and tail with its stinger. She then invites the other students to link them up together in the right order.
Being Spring it was also time for a lot of harvesting:
Broad beans came first
Followed by the soft fruit
Red plums
Keeping the basket out of the sun and a good place for a handy snack while reading!
Of course we cooked every day - biscuits, cakes, veggie burgers, fish fingers, fish cakes, pesto, bread...
Making shortbread biscuits
Mozarella & pesto rolls
Pistachio & raspberry cake
Morning snack of watermelon hearts and freshly made juice
An afternoon treat - dark chocolate biscuits and banana ice cream all made by the kids!
And last but not least the newest member of our school - Paddington. He was an immediately loved member of the school and probably the most mischievous! We look forward to more learning adventures with him in September. Hopefully he will have grown out of chewing shoes by then!
