The Lighthouse - 5s
The Lighthouse Keepers
Welcome to Term three for the Lighthouse Keepers. We have two new keepers, Max and Chloe who we are looking forward to getting to know. This term we are planning to do just a little more bush cooking, some more planting in our garden beds, and we’ll be celebrating our first 100 days of school!! Are we that old already? In true Preshil style, the children will be in charge of the celebrations, and we think they’ll do a rather wonderful job.
We will also be investigating the systems of the human body under the theme 'Who we are'. To do this we are taking a Conceptual Playworlds approach to building our inquiry. We are very lucky to be supported in this by Rebecca Lewis. To learn more about this teaching and learning model, we encourage you to visit Fleer’s Conceptual Playworlds site on the Monash University website. The following is taken from this site.
What is a Conceptual PlayWorld?
The Conceptual PlayWorld is a model of intentional teaching that Monash Professor Marilyn Fleer developed based on extensive research and experience working with young children and how they form concepts in science, technology and engineering.
A Conceptual PlayWorld is an imaginary scenario created by an educator where young children are invited to go on imaginary journeys, meet and solve challenges, and learn STEM concepts – all while playing. A Conceptual PlayWorld can be inspired by a children’s book or a fairy tale story, and it can be setup in an average classroom. Imagination is the limit!
This imaginary world enables educators to deliver play-based programs for young children where they get to experience and live through concepts that would otherwise be difficult to explain.
There are three elements to all Conceptual Playworlds: a book to introduce characters with which to empathise, and frame the imaginative play; a problem which arises for these characters and which must be solved by the children; and the science concepts that are investigated to discover the resolution of the problem.
We will be reading James and the Giant Peach and getting to know James and his lonely existence with his terrible aunts Sponge and Spiker. While James escapes in the magical peach with his new insect friends, has his loneliness been resolved? Could the resourceful Lighthouse Keepers help James yet?
We’ll become scientists and designers and engineers to help our friend James. How will we do this…? We can’t know what our children will design, but we suspect something rather ingenious.
Cressida Batterham-Wilson & Clinton Morgan
The Fives Classroom Teachers