𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀, 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗹, 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 "𝗜𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗪𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱"!

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Ｃｌａｓｓ　Ｄｅｓｃｒｉｐｔｉｏｎ

In this class, we will play and learn in the magical, mythological world of dragons. We may even meet a few dinosaurs and modern-day dragon animals along the way! 

Each week, we will use dragon stories, art, play, engineering and experiments. Our stories and hands-on activities will introduce many new maths, science and language skills. This class also has a strong emphasis on critical thinking skills and problem-solving. At the end of our five weeks together, children will have created a beautiful collection of dragon treasures to keep their imaginations (and their learning!) alive. 

This class uses a teaching approach known as "scientific playworlds", which helps young children develop high-level STEM skills through imaginative play, art and story-telling. Research shows that, compared to 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). 

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Ｄｒａｇｏｎｏｌｏｇｙ  Ｃｏｕｒｓｅ：  Ｗｅｅｋｌｙ  Ｃｏｎｔｅｎｔ

This Dragonology course is structured to provide children with high levels of learning autonomy. In other words, this course does not use “pre-selected” topics or themes. Instead, each week we introduce a ‘big idea’. Our story-telling provides an opportunity for young children to both develop some vocabulary to engage with that idea, and to begin exploring what that idea means to them – and to others.

Subsequently, our open-ended activities invite children to explore and develop a deeper understanding of of that idea. Rather than ‘giving’ children abstract ‘facts’ to memorise or telling children 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 to think, we use art, play and child-led experimentation to support their skills in 𝘩𝘰𝘸 to think and learn for themselves. This approach helps children develop their language, literacy, mathematics and science/ STEM skills as resources or ‘tools’ for engaging with their ideas in the real world.

𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟭: 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗗𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗮𝗺𝗲.
➡ Big idea: Diversity.
➡ Exploration/ Activity: Multimedia art.
➡ Some of the focus skills we will use this week: Language and literacy (rhyme and rhythm, narrative language); Mathematics (tessellation, algebraic thinking, shape composition); other STEM (predictive thinking, scientific observation).

𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟮: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗼𝗻 𝗘𝗴𝗴𝘀.
➡ Big idea: What makes something beautiful or special?
➡ Exploration/ Activity: Making dragon eggs.
➡ Some of the focus skills we will use this week: Language and literacy (temporal language, social-emotional language, science vocabulary); Mathematics (fractions, subitization, shape composition and decomposition, measurement); other STEM (hypothesising, scientific observation, behaviour of matter).

𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟯: 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴.
➡ Big idea: Caring for others through problem-solving.
➡ Exploration/ Activity: Fire-breathing art.
➡ Some of the focus skills we will use this week: Language and literacy (social problem-solving, prediction and anticipation); Mathematics (shape composition, measurement, patterns and algebraic thinking, spatial orientation); other STEM (properties of water, behaviour of colour).

𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟰: 𝗙𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗼𝗻.
➡ Big idea: Courage
➡ Exploration/ Activity: Creating paper dragons that fly.
➡ Some of the focus skills we will use this week: Language and literacy (narrative language, social-emotional language); Mathematics (spatial awareness, shape composition, patterns and algebraic thinking, measurement); other STEM (physics/ aerodynamics, prediction and hypothesising).

𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟱: 𝗗𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗼𝗻 𝗛𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀.
➡ Big idea: Facts or fantasy?
➡ Exploration/ Acitivit: Dragon home sculptures and constructions.
➡ Some of the focus skills we will use this week: Language and literacy (persuasive and description language); Mathematics (spatial awareness, shape composition and decomposition, measurement, comparing and composing number); other STEM (engineering, problem-solving, design thinking).

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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 and learning styles. 

I endeavor to ensure that this class is inclusive of all learners (including E, 2E and other neurodivergent 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 memorable for them.

In this class, where we will be undertaking our own dragon projects, I structure each experience so that children may elect to engage through any one or more of the following ways:
~ sensory experience
~ exploring and discovering the properties of materials
~ manipulative and fine motor activity
~ sorting/ aligning/ categorising/ patterning activity
~ exploring cause and effect
~ problem-solving
~ construction
~ imitation and role play
~ fantasy/ imaginative play and creativity
~ art and artistic play

Because I maintain very small group sizes, I am able to ensure that each child is able to participate in whatever way is most meaningful for them. This means that each child is able to enjoy the benefits of a group class, while at the same time being supported with an individualised and personalised learning experience.
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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 (not their 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.