Cloudy with a chance of meatballs
Venturing outside and asking, 鈥淲hat do you see? What do you notice? What do you think?鈥 led to Miss Richardson鈥檚 Kindergarten students becoming budding meteorologists.
Inquiry and research skills are fundamental parts of Science, so to foster our Kindergarten students鈥 independent learning, Miss Richardson encouraged them to venture outside for a 鈥榳eather walk鈥. Armed with small picture frames to view the world around them, the students were encouraged to use their sense of wonder - as well as their eyes, ears and senses - to observe what they saw and to reflect on why this information could be useful.
鈥淚t was all about drawing on their natural curiosity to make meaningful connections and to encourage them to think more critically about what they see around them,鈥 said Miss Richardson.
They quickly noticed that the leaves had fallen off the trees and that the leaves on the ground felt very dry and 'squishy' compared to those on the trees. This led to discussions about the fact that the weather was changing and that there are different seasons, all with different temperatures and weather conditions.
鈥淭he leaves are changing colour. They are changing because it is autumn. That鈥檚 when the leaves fall down so that winter can come and they don鈥檛 get freezing. The leaves can鈥檛 get icy,鈥 said Josie
鈥淲inter is coming because the leaves are turning orange,鈥 said Leela.
But why do we need to know this information, Miss Richardson asked them? And how does this affect our everyday decisions in terms of what we need to wear and how we plan our day?
The girls then began to think about how we find out about what the weather is going to be like in the future. Using Google, they discovered that an effective way to represent different weather conditions was through the use of icons and symbols, which are often used on apps to convey meaning.
Kindergarten reflected long and hard about symbols. What would be the most appropriate symbol to represent 韩国AV, they pondered?
Overwhelmingly, they voted for Dottie the Labradoodle, who belongs to our Head of Boarding, Ms Ayling!
Miss Richardson then asked the girls to work in pairs to make their own weather report, which they had to record on their iPads.
It was up to them to think about what sort of props they might need to 鈥榯ell the weather鈥 and what area they were going to concentrate on.
Some even went home and watched the news and the weather bulletins on television to help them think about ways they could approach the task.
The results were incredible. Some groups elected to illustrate their weather report by drawing maps of Balmoral Beach. Others decided to talk about Sydney or Australia.
And rather than drawing maps, other groups opted to mock up a series of icons to represent the different weather conditions for the days of the week.
Presenting their weather reports to camera proved to be tricky. There were lots of things to think about, including voice projection, lighting, camera angles and of course, trying to engage the audience by referring to their weather maps and icons.
Reviewing their footage led to a few 鈥榮easonal highs and lows鈥, but the students gave each other lots of positive and constructive feedback about how to improve their reports. Some elected to refilm theirs altogether due to wobbly camera moments that chopped off heads or background noise, which distracted from what they were saying.
Australians have a warm relationship with our weather forecasters, even when they bring us news about cold fronts and scary cyclones with names like Ernie, Debbie, Blanche and Bruce. But as our Kindergarten students learnt, a lot more inquiry and research goes into weather reporting than just looking out of the window! We all want to know what鈥檚 going to happen next. Our farmers and drought-affected communities need to know if they can expect rain. And if an extreme weather front is on its way, we need adequate warning.
Learning how to approach the world around us with a sense of wonder has resulted in all sorts of fabulous learning.
Well done Kindy!