Pushing Practice Forward: An Introduction to Play Schema

In May of 2016, I was fortunate enough to attend "Reflective Practice and Play as Complex Learning: A Thinking Lens Institute" with Deb Curtis and Associates from Harvest Resources. This two day event was hosted by the Canadian Association for Young Children at the University of Saskatchewan.

These two days were a turning point in my practice for many reasons. For the first time, I had been asked to play for an extended period of time as an adult, without children. Although I had tested out the odd item in my learning environment prior to this conference, I had not really spent time digging in to consider the possibilities that a material may have to offer. I quickly had a new appreciation for the work that children engage in each day as I challenged my own thoughts and beliefs with the natural loose parts that were made available. The realization that I need to play with all materials in my environment for extended periods of time to understand their potential became very apparent. Why had I avoided doing the one thing I hope for children to do each day? Why did taking the time to slow down and play seem like such a new idea? I love to play side by side with children on a daily basis; but just as the children need time to better understand the possibilities that exist without the aid of an adult, I too needed time to find what experiences might live within an array of play experiences without children.



Later on in the day, we were again asked to play, this time with a partner. We were to play in silence with one another while a third party observed and analyzed our play. I was fortunate to play with (at the time) an unfamiliar colleague. Even though we were silent, communication easily flowed between the two of us through out actions and the way we interacted with the intelligent materials. Little did I know, this colleague would become an inspiration within my practices in the years to come.  I feel fortunate to have developed a relationship with Michelle Dizy, an early childhood educator from Saskatchewan that practices play based learning with grades prekindergarten through first.



Playing as an adult and making new early learning friends contributed to my growth; but there was a third item that really pushed my practices forward. For the first time, I was introduced to play schema. This was a brand new term for me and I instantly fell in love with this framework. In our institute packages, we were given a handout written by Michelle Thornhill. "Loose Parts and Intelligent Playthings Categorized by Schema" changed the way I observed play and the way I responded to the children that were engaging in the play.

https://brucecounty.on.ca/sites/default/files/Loose%20Parts%20By%20Schema_0.pdf

I used to look at children that were tossing items into the air repeatedly and cringe. A few children building in the block area and crashing down towers, I wanted to scream. This document helped me to see that they were exploring trajectory and breaking through barriers. All of the things that caused me stress during play fell by the wayside. I believed I could now embrace these desires by offering purposeful play experiences that allowed children to explore such phenomenons as enclosing items and transporting them around the environment.



I shared this document with early learning educators that I collaborated with. Each time this document was shared, a high level of excitement and relief was followed. It was as if a light bulb had been turned on and we were no longer in the dark; but rather privy to the secrets that children were exploring. I cherish this article now and refer to it on a regular basis. This is a document that I can no longer teach without and is the first item I share with student teachers, interns and early learning colleagues.



In the winter of 2018, I had the opportunity to visit several prekindergarten classrooms in The Battlefords, Saskatchewan. While in discussion with Angela Yeaman, a prekindergarten teacher and early learning consultant, play schema was brought up. She shared that she had a document from Diane Kashin on play schema in relation to seasons and loose parts. She quickly sent me this document after my visit and it too has become a beloved item. Living in Saskatchewan, the seasons play a large part in the ways in which we live and play on a daily basis which makes this article so fitting within my practice.

https://tecribresearch.wordpress.com/2018/01/28/emergent-curriculum-across-the-seasons-let-nature-be-the-invitation/

Flow of Day

Following a post on Instagram of our photograph schedule, I had many messages inquiring about what our day looks like. Each year, I make tweaks to the day based on my personal observations as well as the educational associate that I work alongside, student suggestions, family feedback and current best practices. The following post is relevant to my current practices but keep in mind this is forever morphing as I grow within my craft.

As I have morning supervision on the playground at 8:30 each day, the children meet me outside and spend time playing among grades prekindergarten through fifth until the warning bell rings at 8:45. At this time, we head to our boot room to take off our shoes and gather our personal belongings before heading to our learning environment. We encourage independence and therefore ask that the children hang their belongings; which, in the winter, can be somewhat overwhelming for some children. We assist them as necessary but like to take a coaching approach while doing so. As per our program standards, children wash their hands upon entry to our indoor space. 

Following our morning routine, the children engage in a soft landing. They may go to the sign-in table to add a sticker, write their first letter or write their entire name to our sign-in board. A second choice is to read books; yes read! Young children are more than capable to read images and familiar marks. If a child has not yet had breakfast, we will provide them with a morning snack as we know the importance of fueling the body. We are fortunate to be housed in a prekindergarten to grade twelve school that has a breakfast program. Throughout these experiences, the children engage in conversation with one another, as well as with educators, because this helps to strengthen their oral language skills and their relationships.

Once the children seem settled, I gently ask them to put their books away and join us at the meeting area. I begin to sing a song which I change each week. I find music to aid in transitions as this engages children that have completed their clean up and allows the remaining children to complete their task.I warmly greet the children and either share something exciting that I have done the evening before or over the weekend. I then invite children to share a personal story if they so desire. We go through our picture schedule which often creates discussion if a card is out of order, a special item has been added in or a child requests that we count forwards or backwards the number of photos that have been presented for the day.

 























Following this, the morning meeting can go in many directions based on the interests and needs of the class. I may read aloud a book, model the use of a new language, share documentation from a previous day to continue on with the work we have begun, or create a meaningful discussion. The possibilities during this time are really endless. At the end of our meeting I remind students to use "green actions" which is part of our school wide goal of using Zones of Regulation, I tell them to think about where they might play today and always end with "have fun".

 I did not realize the impact of saying "have fun" until last year when a student mentioned that that is always their favourite thing to hear from me. 

As the children engage in their play block, I may work with a small group in a guided learning experience, document play that is occurring, confer with a single child or engage in play myself. This decision is always made in the moment based on the play that is occurring. I love to act as a prop manager of children's play when the opportunity presents itself. Our play block lasts sixty to ninety minutes depending on the day and the play that is happening. I like to be flexible to best support the learning that is occurring and to honour the ideas that the children are engaged with.

I dim the lights and let children know that it is time to clean. We add mini cones next to any play that is to be left alone and also announce to the class any areas that can be left as they are still works in progress. As children begin to finish cleaning, I put on music and place specific dance or music materials out for use. We begin to dance and sing until all children are able to join us. Once everyone has had an opportunity to engage with the dance/music materials, we clean them up and move into the second part of our three part body break. This involves heavy work which typically involves using our body weight in a variety of poses. The third part of our body break involves deep breathing but we often change our method. 

Sharing time follows our play block; which could be in the form of picture/video share, First Nations Sharing Circle, artifact share or open share. This is a time to reflect on our play and gather more information on what was occurring throughout the environment. We learn a great deal from one another during sharing time which often propels our play for the following day. 

Each week, we learn a new finger play to build on oral language skills, mathematical concepts and fine motor skills. We repeat the same finger play for an entire week to build fluency in language and actions. This also assists in building comprehension. 

Throughout this time, our educational associate is busy preparing our healthy snack which is either provided by our program or through a family donation. The children move to their tables where they use a hand wipe for cleansing and then self-select from a small platter the items they would like. They must cleanse their hands and face again as well as place their dirty dishes in the dish bin following snack. 

As children eat at different rates, another transition is required. They have the choice of drawing in their journals, playing with puzzles or retrieving a small play container which may have an item like Play Doh or cube links. When I notice that all children are done eating, I tell them that if they are ready, they can put away their materials. Because we have an educational associate, those that are not feeling done can complete the work that they have begun.

We then have three choices depending upon the day. We share spaces with our entire school so we are often dictated by schedules. We may have library time where we have a read aloud and book exchange, physical education in the gymnasium or outdoor education. 

Our day then comes to an end at 11:45 and families or childcare providers have a pick up window until 11:55. Our program runs Monday through Thursday mornings with Friday mornings rotating between preparation time and family engagement days. We begin the second week of September once we have completed all of our home visits and run until the end of June. 

Family Night Potluck

In lieu of participating in student led conferences this fall, we have decided to host two family nights. Family days are a part of our program and occur every second Friday morning. With many families working outside of the home during the school day, it makes it difficult for every family to attend on alternate Friday mornings. We wanted to honour the schedules of each of our families and attempt to engage more members of our classroom community.

Tonight was a huge success! Pre-kinders and their families were given a homework assignment... to cook together and take photo evidence while doing so. Our goal was to encourage families to spend quality time together engaging in an activity that does not add additional stress to the family. Cooking is something that needs to be done daily and families are then not required to purchase anything out of the ordinary to complete the activity. We also hope that this homework assignment will encourage families to cook together more often.

Children love to cook and gain so many amazing life skills while doing so. Learning about nutrition, personal hygiene, kitchen cleanliness, measurement, counting, numbers, fine motor, gross motor, kitchen safety, vocabulary, reading, oral language, collaboration, science, art, culture... the list of developmental skills is truly endless.

Asking families to take photographs of the process is not a check in but rather to help them understand the value of documentation and making visible the learning that occurs through each life experience.

Having a potluck allowed for families to sit down and eat a meal together which often does not happen with everyone's very busy schedule. This also offered an opportunity for our classroom community to create deeper connections by sharing a meal and engaging in conversation.

There were so many amazing items to choose from and each student was so proud of the dish that they had created. This also gave families new items to add to their rotating dinner menu.

 

Following dinner, invitations were set throughout our learning environment to create a family portrait. It was amazing for families to engage in side-by-side learning with their child as well as experience provocations just as their children do each day they attend school. Materials available to create the portraits included liquid watercolours, clay and loose parts.

D's family in their own country.

L's family created out of clay.

A's family created out of loose parts.

H and his mom creating their family using watercolours.

We are creating a large documentation panel to represent the entire experience. The original family portraits that were created will be displayed within this panel. Photographs of the loose parts portraits will be included.

In the future, if we were to host a potluck, I would like to ask families to send a copy of their recipe to be shared with our classroom community. I loved this experience and I feel that bonds were created amongst families by coming together to share a meal. It was exciting to observe families engaging in our daily classroom practices!

Facebook in the Classroom

Facebook has been a part of my kinder classroom for the last five years. It began as a communication tool with parents. I found that traditional communication methods with parents were not working as they were not reading newsletters or responding to messages in the student's communicators and mailbags. I was spending copious amounts of time creating letters and writing to parents/guardians only to find out that families were uninformed of our daily happenings. Facebook allows a post to be created within only a few minutes which would save a lot of valuable time! I knew that almost everyone had facebook and utilised it daily, so why not begin a class facebook account?

I began adding families in our classroom and let them know about the account as well. I soon had the majority of families looking at the facebook account on a daily basis which was apparent by the number of likes to posts as well as comments.

I would post each day about something that had happened throughout our school day as well as include photographs with the student's faces covered for privacy reasons. That being said, our account was private and only those associated with the classroom were welcome to join. Both my principal and vice principal are part of the group which keeps them up to date in regards to what is happening in our classroom. 

In addition to the comments and likes from families, I had many parents/guardians using the messenger function on a regular basis to share information with me about their child or to check in with regard to their child's progress.

At the end of my first year utilising facebook as a communication and family engagement tool, I began to wonder if it was effective enough and if families were receiving enough information to be engaged in their child's school experience. After speaking with several parents it was noted that they would like to have pictures posted that showed their child's face. I then sent out permission letters to be signed by parents/guardians so that I could then post images of children without any editing. I had all forms returned indicating that each family would like to have images of their child posted. It was agreed upon that the photos could not be shared or printed due to privacy. If an image only included one child, the family of the child was welcome to share or print the image.

Relieving the account of image restrictions also allowed me to begin posting videos of our day. Families loved watching each clip and it allowed many parents/guardians that work during the school day to feel like they had joined us in the classroom.

The students and families that were part of my initial facebook trial fell in love with this method of receiving documentation. The families actually requested that the following year teacher create a class facebook as they had become accustomed to the daily communication.  

Currently, I have two facebook accounts to share documentation and information with families. I have one account or my pre-kindergarten class as well as one account for my grade one math class. Families are still so appreciative of this practice and make a point of letting me know on a regular basis. Our kindergarten teacher and grade four teacher now use facebook as a means of communication and engagement as well.

 For those families that do not have facebook, they are welcome to access that account while they are at the school. During family engagement days/evenings I have the account open so that families can look at what we have been doing. This is also a great way to promote the use of the account as it serves as a reminder to all of the families.