Caitlin: What is something that we did at bush kinder today?
Children: Roll down the hills.
Caitlin: Roll down the hills!?
Child 1: Climb the tree.
Caitlin: Climb the trees.
Child 2: Run down the hills.
Caitlin: Ran down the hill. What did you do when you ran down the hill?
Child 3: Ran backwards.
Caitlin: Did you run backwards down the hill?
Child 2: Me too.
Child 3: It's true.
Child 2: It's a bit tricky.
Caitlin: What did that feel like?
Caitlin: What makes?...
Child 4: I was really fast.
Caitlin: What makes you go fast down the hill?
Child 1: The wind.
Caitlin: The wind made you go fast down the hill. Ooohh!
Caitlin: Did it?
Child 3: When she turns it might slow her down.
Child 1: Yeah, and also I keep going the other way instead of straight.
Caitlin: Oh, how come you go? Do you, so you turn when you're rolling down the hill?
Child 5: Like this,
Child 5: I know how to do my arms out like that.
Caitlin: Yeah. So you lie straight and you put your arms up, don't you?
Child 3: And I do this.
Child 5: I do this.
Child 3: Or you do this.
Child 2: When I runned down, I feeled like I was flying on a aeroplane. On the wing, on the wing!
Caitlin: On the wing of an airplane!? What made you do that?
Child 2: Ahhhh, because it was so fast.
Caitlin: Because of the wind as well. So it felt like you were on the wing of an airplane. Can you roll backwards down the hill?
Children: Noooo.
Children: Yes!
Caitlin: How do you roll backwards down the hill?
Child 3: Flip, flipwards!
Caitlin: Flip backwards? Oh my goodness!
Child 2: Maybe ike a cartwheel, so many cartwheels.
Caitlin: MMmm. What do you think? If you're going really, really, really, really, really, really, really fast, like you were. What does that feel like in your head?
Caitlin: Dizzy? Do you feel dizzy?
Child 3: You're drowning!
Caitlin: Does it make you feel like you're drowning!? Oh I don't think that's very good, is it? You feel like you're flying? I feel like I'm going to bed.
Child 2: Me too.
Caitlin: Why do you feel like you're going to bed? Because you're lying down?
Child 2: Well, I once did that ... in the tent.
Caitlin: In the tent? Slugs will get you. So what? When you're rolling and you feel dizzy, how do you stop yourself from feeling dizzy?
Child 3: Umm you ... Stop me. Stop. Stop being doing this!
Caitlin: How do you stop? If you go really, really fast, how do you stop though?
Child 2: You maybe do this?
Caitlin: Ahh you sit up?
Child 1: You do this.
Caitlin: You guys are pretty clever.
Child 3: No ike this. If you're rolling, can't you just do this? There. Or maybe you could ...
Caitlin: Ohhh. So you can put your arm out? Put your arm out and down and that stops you.
Child 3: Or up, and then it'll slow us down when it goes sideways. And if someone holds your foot ...
Caitlin: Mmmm ...
Child 1: Because I wanna see where, how much you think of it.
Caitlin: Do you think if we went to a bigger hill, do you think you would go faster or slower?
Children: Faster. Fast.
Caitlin: Why would you be faster?
Child 3: Because it's bigger and higher and the wind would go more pushier.
Caitlin: So you think if you're on the top of a really big hill, you're going to go faster?
Child 2: Well, maybe bigger than this day care.
Caitlin: Maybe. How do you think that would make you feel if you went on an even bigger hill?
Children: Happy! Happy?
Kirsty Liljegren: Hello, I'm Kirsty Liljegren. This vignette gives us a window into the interactive process of reflection as children gather to discuss their experiences at bush kindergarten, particularly running and rolling down the grassy hill. What modes of communication stand out to you as children exchange their feelings and ideas invited by the attentive educator? Let's consider the climate for learning that was evident in this group experience. We know that children communicate in varied ways and can do so when they feel welcome and safe and know that they can contribute in their own unique way.
Kirsty Liljegren: Honoring their identity. I observe the educator encouraging children to be focused without instructing them. The educator trusted the children to sit comfortably, honoring their sense of agency and fostering their capacity to pay attention and sustain their thinking. Through the children's varied, reciprocal interactions with the educator and each other, ideas and questions were communicated both verbally and non-verbally. The intentionality of the educator is evident as she asks open ended questions that encourage the divergent thinking of the group.
Kirsty Liljegren: What potential has she or other team members signified as important to revisit or propose to the children? "I was really fast" declares one of the children. With the educator, then asking "What makes you go fast down the hill?" This declaration really captures the group's attention. "The wind!" is the response. This theory becomes contagious and is a catalyst for further thinking; with children expressing ideas connected to concepts of speed, motion, direction, momentum and more.
Kirsty Liljegren: The children's ideas and theories grow and new understandings are shared through interactions with the educator and each other. The pedagogical strategy of repeating children's thoughts back to the group gives space and time for further thinking and the construction of understanding. We also see the educators interactions responsive to the children's ideas and feelings. Many possibilities for exploration generate through this group conversation.
Kirsty Liljegren: What knowledge, concepts or ideas did you see as being significant? "I keep going the other way ... (the child demonstrates with her hands) ... Instead of straight". A shared problem that captivates the group and one that is pointed out by the educator as a potential focus for the subsequent hill encounter. Really encouraging to see the planning cycle in action.
Kirsty Liljegren: Childrens solutions, ideas and new understandings of shared verbally. But movement is a predominant form of communication in this experience.
Kirsty Liljegren: Children demonstrate through small and large whole body movements how to stop once rolling down the hill, go straight and so on. There are also children quietly attentive and observing. I was drawn to the child following the conversation with his eyes moving from one participant to the next, listening intently. What might he be thinking or wondering? And how might you invite him to contribute building from his strengths? You might find the following questions useful for reflection ...
Kirsty Liljegren: What do you pay most attention to as you observe children's varied communicative strategies? What might you need to be more conscious of assessing? How might this illuminate the growing capacities and strengths in children? What opportunities do you create as part of the planning cycle to revisit experiences through conversation or documentation with children, to draw out potential areas of focus or inquiry? And, how do you see the group experience enriching the learning of the children? And finally, what role did the educator play in creating opportunities for interactive communication?
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