In May 2021, the Kindergarten 2 children were introduced to the theme of “Plants and Flowers”. In line with the iTeach principle of “Authentic learning through quality interactions”, where children learn best when given opportunities to interact with objects, the physical environment and people, the teacher planned a class visit to the nearby community garden.

Through this outdoor learning activity, the children had opportunities to learn and make meaningful connections across two learning areas, as well as between their indoor and outdoor experiences in an integrated approach

Learning Areas

Learning Goals

Children will:

Discovery of the World (DOW)

LG 1: Show an interest in the world they live in

LG 2: Find out why things happen and how things work through simple investigations

Language and Literacy (L&L)

LG 2: Speak to convey meaning and communicate with others

Learning Objectives

Children were given opportunities to:

1. Use their senses to explore the natural environment during their visit to the community garden.
2. Observe the natural environment and ask questions, seek answers to their questions and respond through sustained conversations with the teachers and peers.

In this activity, the teacher elicited children’s prior knowledge before visiting the garden with the children. Thereafter, building on children’s observations in the garden, the teacher helped the children to make connections between what they already know and newly gained information. To consolidate learning, the children were also provided with opportunities to grow green beans back in the classroom. Read on to find out more about each aspect of the activity.

Before visiting the garden: Tapping the children’s prior knowledge

An important element of quality interactions would be providing children with sufficient time to talk about their experiences, ask questions, and express their thoughts and ideas. For this activity, children were given opportunities to share what they already knew about plants and flowers before the visit to the community garden.

How?

1. The teacher and children brought pictures of plants and flowers they had at home.
2. The teacher brought dried leaves, fresh leaves, twigs, and branches for the children to explore using their senses within their classrooms.
3. The teacher then provided the children the space and time to share their own experiences in interacting with plants and flowers in the neighbourhood gardens, parks, or nature reserves with each other. The teacher used a KWL chart to record and organise the children’s thoughts and questions

The teacher helped the children to relate their own experiences in nature with the need to care for plants and flowers, as well as the importance for everyone to show responsibility, care, and respect for living things and the environment.

The visit to the garden

The iTeach principle of “Authentic learning through quality interactions” stresses the importance of giving children opportunities to interact with objects, the physical environment and people in contexts that are real, relevant, and meaningful to them. With that in mind, the teacher brought the children to the nearby community garden.

How did the garden provide opportunities for quality interactions?

1. Environment: The community garden offered a rich source of stimuli for the children, where they could use their senses to observe, feel and explore the various plants and gardening items.
2. Teacher: The teacher engaged in sustained conversations with the children by asking relevant questions to stimulate their thinking further. Tapping their sense of wonder and curiosity, the following questions were used to prompt children’s thinking:

• What do you see/hear/feel/smell?
• How are the leaves alike/different?
• What are the parts of the plant you see here?
• How do you think the plants grew so tall?
• Can you see any insects?
• What made the insects live here?
• What do you think is going to happen if there is no rain?

3. Peers: Children observed the things around the community garden, asked questions and engaged in conversations with their peers about their observations

After they found the chili plant, the children started to look for other edible fruits in the garden. The excerpts below demonstrate how the children interacted to expand upon each other’s knowledge and engaged in shared and sustained conversations about their observations.

Co-constructing knowledge about papaya plants

Child A: Look, there is a papaya up in the tree!

Child B: Is it a coconut?

Child C: Coconuts are not oval, so I think it’s a papaya. This papaya cannot eat yet, must wait until it becomes orange in colour.

Using open-ended questions and providing additional information to expand children’s understanding

Child A: Why is there a bottle stuck in the soil?

Teacher: How do you think the bottle got into the soil in the planter?

Child B: The gardener put it there, but why?

(Children asked questions and discussed among themselves, but they could not reach a consensus. The teacher stepped in to facilitate children’s learning by promoting the children and provided additional information to help develop children’s understanding.)

Teacher: Can you see that the pot is very big? If you were to pour water, do you think the water can go down all the way to the roots? What do you think would happen if the roots do not have enough water?

Children: The plant will die.

Teacher: The gardener cut the base of the bottle off and stuck it into the soil. This helps the water reach the roots at the bottom if you water it through the bottle.

After the visit to the garden

To provide children with an opportunity to apply and reinforce the knowledge they had acquired through their discussions and visit to the community garden, the teacher provided a hands-on activity for the children.

How?

1. The children had an opportunity to plant their own green bean plant.
2. The children recorded their plant’s growth at different stages through drawings and emergent writing

Growing the green beans in the classroom helped to make the whole learning experience meaningful as the children could apply and consolidate their learning from the visit to the garden and use the new vocabulary which they have just picked up. It was also a valuable experience as the children could then better understand how a plant grows in relation to their topic of investigation on ‘Plants and Flowers’.

Conclusion

It was evident that the visit to the garden and the opportunities for quality interactions enriched the children’s learning about plants and flowers. It was a fruitful activity where valuable vocabulary was learned and meaningful interactions took place through the back and forth exchanges amongst the children and between children and the teacher. As the children explored the environment and sought answers to their own questions, they also gained ownership over their own learning.

Through this activity, the children were seen to be more observant of the environment around them. They showed more interest in their surroundings and were keen to explore the world around them. They were also more willing to share their thoughts and feelings with their peers and showed eagerness in finding out answers to their questions.

Contributed by:
Sobha Ramu (Teacher)
Kindergarten 2
Bumble Bee Child Care Centre

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