Dream and Design

Discovery Time

Each morning Mellor students engage in Discovery Time, a crucial part of our daily routine that provides an opportunity for children to play and explore their environment. Students explore new ideas and concepts and also transfer what they already know into new contexts.  They are actively involved in purposeful hands-on learning experiences and have the opportunity to direct their own learning. These experiences provide opportunities to demonstrate creativity and ingenuity. They help students to develop socially, emotionally, physically and cognitively. Children often encounter and overcome challenges and extend themselves to problem solve creatively. Discovery Time fosters curiosity, creative and deep thinking, problem solving, making meaning, self motivation, teamwork and collaboration. During Discovery Time, students take on many roles. They are…

  • Mathematicians
  • Authors, Illustrators, Storytellers , Sculptors and Artists
  • Engineers, Builders and Architects
  • Chefs and Shopkeepers!
  •  

Just add Loose Parts!

Loose parts in our environment empower our creativity.

They are materials that can be moved, carried, combined, redesigned, lined up, taken apart and put back together in multiple ways. They bear no specific set of directions and can be used alone or combined with other materials.

 

The possibilities are endless for our learning while we explore with loose parts. We are...

Demonstrating how we learn as individuals and in groups

Engaging in problem solving and abstract thinking

Establishing social interactions and exploring our community of peers in a shared space

Experiencing wonder through experimentation and discovery of new worlds and the unknown

Experiencing happiness and a sense of joy in new experiences

Using stones, stumps, sand, gravel, fabric, twigs, wood, pallets, balls, buckets, baskets, crates, boxes, logs, rope, tyres, shells and seedpods we can create anything!