Written by artist Cat Boot
Today I appeared at the door of Star Classroom in role as an explorer, Mo, who had become lost. Through this simple character and narrative the children were cast as experts in helping me to understand what they understand about their environment - where things are, what rooms are used for, when they are used, by whom and so on.
Initially I worked with all of the children, allowing them to explore my rucksack and its contents, so that they could get to know me and start to feel safe. Then a determined and self appointed group started to show me around their room - to the home corner, the place where you read books, the bricks, the dinosaurs, the shells and so on. I was immediately struck by their focus on the objects within the room. No one tried to take me into the garden or into the rest of the nursery. When I pointed to the cupboard door and asked what it was, one child replied “a door”, before diverting my attention elsewhere.
Gradually the exploration developed, and with a group of children pre-agreed with Kate, we explored the outside area. Again, their attention was focussed on what you could do there. We made an interesting discovery in the shepherd’s hut, which all the children agreed was for shouting and jumping in, making for a loud 5 minutes.
We also explored the inside space visiting the hall, the office (which is where there are registers and keys), Jake the dog in Matt’s office, soft play, and a whistle stop tour of the other classrooms and library.
Interestingly, when Kate asked the children if they could tell Mo where we were (as in what is the building called), none of them knew how to answer, beyond “we are in star classroom”. Kate asked them if they knew the name of this school, or this nursery, and even when she said “Ilminster Avenue”, the children all confirmed they had never heard that before.
Throughout our exploration there was great focus from the children on the objects and things within each room, much more so than the architecture. I was surprised, as we entered the foyer of the nursery, that the children were immediately preoccupied with the ‘spider cupboard’ and hobby horses, rather than the beautiful glass ceiling that floods the space with light, making it feel very different to anywhere else in the nursery. This was something they didn’t seem to pick up on.
On our return to the classroom (after a much needed snack), we set about filling in Mo’s map that she had brought with her, which was totally blank when she arrived. The children were very happy to draw and remember the spaces we had visited, and inspired their classmates to start drawing their own maps too. We made the map tactile by sticking on real sand from the sand pit outside, some fluff for Jake the dog and a rubbing of bark for one of the trees outside.
For the next steps, I will be holding a meeting with parents to enable them to find out more about the project and me to find out more about what they think/know/feel about their place/s. This will be facilitated with tea and cake. I’m also going to suggest a digital way for them to become involved in the project, using an app that tracks where you’ve been and threads this together with photos taken throughout the day.
For my next interaction with the children I will use the character of Mo again and this time see if they can take me beyond their nursery setting to the streets of Knowle to see what we can discover there.
Today I appeared at the door of Star Classroom in role as an explorer, Mo, who had become lost. Through this simple character and narrative the children were cast as experts in helping me to understand what they understand about their environment - where things are, what rooms are used for, when they are used, by whom and so on.
Initially I worked with all of the children, allowing them to explore my rucksack and its contents, so that they could get to know me and start to feel safe. Then a determined and self appointed group started to show me around their room - to the home corner, the place where you read books, the bricks, the dinosaurs, the shells and so on. I was immediately struck by their focus on the objects within the room. No one tried to take me into the garden or into the rest of the nursery. When I pointed to the cupboard door and asked what it was, one child replied “a door”, before diverting my attention elsewhere.
Gradually the exploration developed, and with a group of children pre-agreed with Kate, we explored the outside area. Again, their attention was focussed on what you could do there. We made an interesting discovery in the shepherd’s hut, which all the children agreed was for shouting and jumping in, making for a loud 5 minutes.
We also explored the inside space visiting the hall, the office (which is where there are registers and keys), Jake the dog in Matt’s office, soft play, and a whistle stop tour of the other classrooms and library.
Throughout our exploration there was great focus from the children on the objects and things within each room, much more so than the architecture. I was surprised, as we entered the foyer of the nursery, that the children were immediately preoccupied with the ‘spider cupboard’ and hobby horses, rather than the beautiful glass ceiling that floods the space with light, making it feel very different to anywhere else in the nursery. This was something they didn’t seem to pick up on.
On our return to the classroom (after a much needed snack), we set about filling in Mo’s map that she had brought with her, which was totally blank when she arrived. The children were very happy to draw and remember the spaces we had visited, and inspired their classmates to start drawing their own maps too. We made the map tactile by sticking on real sand from the sand pit outside, some fluff for Jake the dog and a rubbing of bark for one of the trees outside.
For my next interaction with the children I will use the character of Mo again and this time see if they can take me beyond their nursery setting to the streets of Knowle to see what we can discover there.
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