𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗹, 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 '𝗜𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗪𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱'!

From May 2023, group classes from 'In The Real Wonderland' will only be offered on Outschool on a limited/ occasional basis. One-on-one, individually tailored play-based learning sessions will continue to be available on Outschool for the remainder of 2023.
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Ｃｌａｓｓ　Ｄｅｓｃｒｉｐｔｉｏｎ

What sort of world would your little dinosaurs, minions or kitty-cats love to live in? Will your world have a magical faraway-tree? Or will you re-create the layers of Minecraft deep in the earth? In this class, children will create their very own terrarium, making a miniature world for their favourite characters and stories. 

In this class, we will make a closed terrarium. This is a type of mini-world forest that has a lid, so water is constantly evaporating, condensing, and precipitating. A terrarium, brought to life by a child's imagination, is a wonderful way for children to watch, see, feel, discover and wonder at the way water continuously moves around our ecosystems. This class uses a teaching approach known as "fictional science" or "scientific playworlds", which helps young children develop high-level STEM skills through imaginative play, art and story-telling. Research shows that, unlike circle time classes, this interest-led and play-based approach increases memory retention of science, maths and language concepts, and promotes children's longer-term interest in STEM (Chung, 2016; Fleer, 2017; Williams, 2010). 

We will start our session with a story of daring and adventure, to help introduce some of our important concepts. After our storytelling we will get "hands-on" and children will be able to create their very own rain terrarium! We'll use our scientific imaginations to plan, plant and ponder ideas about our miniature earth-in-a-jar. Because it is living and lasting, a home-made terrarium can inspire children to continue discovering, asking, and learning long after the class is finished. A variety of resources (adaptable for different ages) will be provided after class to support ongoing learning at home. 

Please view the "Learning Goals" section below, to read more about the underlying concepts and skills that children will gain in this class. 

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Ｉｎｃｌｕｓｉｖｅ　Ｐｌａｙ　＆　Ｌｅａｒｎｉｎｇ　Ｅｘｐｅｒｉｅｎｃｅｓ...Ｆｏｒ　Ａｌｌ　Ｌｅａｒｎｅｒｓ

All children have preferred ways of engaging with learning content. 

Typically, children learn best when they can engage with content in a way that reflects their own unique preferences. 

I endeavor to ensure that this class is inclusive of all learners (including E and 2E learners). I do this by structuring classes, activities and conversations so each child can choose to engage in the whole class, using whatever way is most appropriate, meaningful and rewarding for them.

In this class, where we will be exploring the water cycle through making our own terrarium, I structure the experience so that children may elect to engage through any one (or more) of the following ways:
~ sensory experience
~ gross motor
~ exploring and discovering the properties of materials
~ manipulative and fine motor activity
~ sorting/ aligning activity
~ exploring cause and effect
~ problem-solving
~ construction
~ imitation and role play
~ fantasy/ imaginative play and creativity
~ art play
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Ｔｅａｃｈｉｎｇ　Ａｐｐｒｏａｃｈ

This information will help you decide if my approach is a "good fit" for your child.  

This class is capped at a maximum of five learners, to ensure each child has the best possible child-led, personalised learning experience. I believe that learning comes not from memorising abstract facts, but though children being able to create and make sense of new ideas. To guide this learning, we need to have immersive, two-way conversations with children. Small class sizes allow me to work personally in this way, with each child. 

Child-led learning means that your child decides how they participate and what they focus on in our class. In this class, I do not tell children what to think about, or what to focus on. Instead, my goal is to understand your child's unique internal motivation. I do this by using stories, art, creativity and conversation to spark engagement. I then support each child to respond to these ideas and to follow their interests in a way that the class content and material comes to life for them. This helps make their learning become meaningful and sustained. 

You may see some differences in my classes, from the traditional US-based pre-K/ K/ early elementary and seated classroom approach. My aim is to extend your child's learning beyond our allocated screen time, through teaching and classroom practices such as:

🦋 Child-led learning (not teacher-led instruction)

🦋 Shared understanding (not imposing meaning)

🦋 Individualised and humanising relationships (not standardised expectations)

🦋 Hands-on, authentic play (not lectures)

🦋 Deep experimentation with creative, scientific, mathematical and relational process (not factory produced products or worksheets)

🦋 Collaboration and meaning (not rote memorising)

🦋 Imaginative resourcefulness (not mundane replication) 

🦋 Growing children's passions and intellectual discovery (not their externally measured performance)

🦋 Reading and responding to children’s cues, behaviours and signals (not managing, pathologising or fixing them)

🦋 Being an adult who is in calm control (not an adult who is battling for control and compliance)

My teaching approach tends to suit families who are seeking a humanising and wholistic learning experience for their young child.