I love seeing the ideas of the class come to fruition. Whether it is an inquiry that takes hold of our centers, drives a lesson or activity, or promotes our class to cooperate. I have found that all of the aspects of the curriculum fall into place so magically when we put the learning in the hands of the children. One aspect of our classroom that has worked so well this year is the dramatic play. This year the dramatic play has been a buzz of activity for our classroom and anyone that passes by! Our dramatic play has been one area that embodied the whole idea of child directed learning. We started the year with the typical simple open play areas. We had a house with a stove, a dollhouse, and a school.
Around November something switched in our kinder classes. It was like an innate hunger to learn began to rise to the surface. They were ravenous for more information and to test the limits of their abilities. This is when as a team we needed to rise to the occasion. As an ECE my mentality has always been “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED” and that is what I have been attempting to do all year long.
Our dramatic play began with a subject that so many kinders love – SPACE. It was a great concept and with so much to teach. There are so many parts and pieces to this universe of ours that there was never a worry of running out of teachable information. We did have to pinpoint where to start and where to go. Luckily our classes are very vocal about what they want to learn and how they intend to learn it. Through our democratic process our class decided to make a spaceship from a cardboard box. This is where it all began.
Once the spaceship was created we needed to have a background. Once the background was created we needed to have a mission control. Once mission control was created we needed to have planets up. Once our planets were created we needed to know some songs. We then needed to make rockets at the science center. Once we had done that we needed to know poems. By the time the space theme had fizzled out it we realized we had something great in front of us.
Dramatic play was a lost center but you have found it again. It’s better than ever!
– Grade 5 Teacher
Since we are part of an English and French team, one day we have one class of 24 students and the next day it is another 24. To keep things fair we allowed each class a chance to give ideas and vote on which one they liked the most. Yes, we have taught our classes a bit about the democratic process. Our next adventure in dramatic play took us to Ancient Egypt. The children wanted to create a pyramid and a sarcophagus. How could I not accept that challenge!?
Thus, ancient Egypt was born in our classroom. The children helped to create a plan for what they wanted and how they thought it should look. There was a little bit of worry with the spaceship. The work the children put into it is evident. They planned the transformation from a simple white spaceship to an Egyptian masterpiece!
The second transformation of our Dramatic Play centre
The children took their play so much more seriously we found when they were responsible for its development. Our Ancient Egypt play took over every aspect of the room. Our art utilized sand, our literacy was enveloped in hieroglyphics, and our science was miniature pyramid construction! Our learning spilt out all over our classroom. It was amazing to see and amazing to be a part of.
I wish my class did this when we learned about Egypt
– Grade 3 reading buddy
From our stint in Ancient Egypt we let democracy reign again. Our class decided to travel back in time to the age when giant lizards roamed the land and humans had not begun to leave their tracks on this world. I am speaking of course about – DINOSAURS! The kids went head over heels at the idea of working on dinosaurs. It was a rousing ‘yes’ from all the children. They were weaving nests, creating paper mache eggs, and of course creating a large and in charge dinosaur to reign over the classroom.
The third transformation of our dramatic play area.
Our dinosaur inquiry reigned supreme in the classroom during our winter months. The dinosaurs unfortunately froze during that time and became extinct. Thus, when spring arrived the children were ready to launch into a new direction and leave the dinosaurs behind. We began to notice all the things that were growing. Also many trees being cut down interested our class.
“Why is it being cut down?”
“Who said they could do that?”
“What will happen to the animals homes?”
“Is the tree going to be reused?”
These simple questions led our class to mighty tree houses. Large leaves, mighty branches, a sturdy trunk, and areas for animals to thrive and live. It was an interesting concept. One that would require our class to grab books and look through different resources to find information. To the dismay of some the class did not vote for the idea of a tree house of horrors. Another lesson in democracy.
The fourth transformation of out dramatic play area.
Throughout this year the dramatic play in our classroom has been an amazing focal point for us. It was more than just an place to play pretend. It was able to embody the emergent curriculum we work so hard to promote. The learning was fantastic and the teamwork that our class was able to foster would make any educator proud. Thanks to our dramatic play we were able to create amazing activities that promoted languages, mathematics, art, creativity, science, and free learning. So much of what we were able to teach our children came from the dramatic play catalyst. It all began with a refrigerator box. By the end of the year we can definitely say it was more than a cardboard box.
If you have some dramatic successes in your classrooms that you would like to share, let us know at theeverydayeece@gmail.com
AN EVERYDAY ECE
The Everyday Ece 