September in the Classroom

 I'll be totally honest, I planned to blog way more in September about my return to the classroom. But you know how September goes, fast and furious and then all of a sudden it's October and you can't find your hat or mitts for the morning. 

Wow, September. What a month. 

I've been documenting my journey back into the classroom on my Instagram. I did this when I started in the library as a #100DayChallenge and I thought it would be good to do the same now. Most of the pictures are also making it to my Twitter. I do, however, use my IG for a different purpose than Twitter so it's locked on private mode. Sorry, not sorry. 

As I tried to explain to my daughter yesterday, once the school year gets started it feels like a giant ball rolling down a hill and it's only going to get faster! I meant to write this blog (and others) throughout September... but here we are in October and I still feel like I'm trying to get my feet under me. 

I started out with a Grade 3/4 class and while my class was in French I was responsible for covering Grade 1/2 Science. That's 16 strands of Science for anyone who is counting! The first few weeks were a whirlwind of planning. However, after re-org I am with a straight Grade 3 and no more coverage for other grades. Thank goodness. 

We are slowly building our routines and slowly getting to know each other in our class. I won't say we have built a relationship yet because that takes time and work but we are adding small steps each day. 

We have spent a lot of time talking about our classroom agreements from brainstorming, to goal setting, to listing actions that show accountability and making promises to ourselves. We refer back to our agreements everyday and very soon we will be starting a new routine where students will be able to recognize their classmates for how they have helped them, supported them and encouraged them in their learning activities. 

We had many discussions leading up to Truth and Reconciliation Week and Orange Shirt Day. I'm sure some of it was over their heads and confusing, I know they still have many questions but this is not a one and done conversation and we will be returning to our learning throughout the year. 

We started to unpack the land acknowledgement we hear each day and discovered many words we do not understand. Then I connected with Nicole Reynolds, the PDSB Indigenous Lead, and we learned of a new updated land acknowledgment written in community with Elders. We will unpack that one as well and add on to our learning as we start to talk more about Ontario in our Social Studies unit. 

Finally, we got OUTSIDE! We have a huge yard and small "forest" area that the students love to explore. We spent some time gathering natural materials and combined them with loose parts to create transient art connected to Orange Shirt Day and our reading of Be A Good Ancestor by Gabrielle Prince and Leona Prince. 

We also attempted our first painting project for art... stay tuned! I think they are going to look amazing when they are done. 

Math. Oh how I missed teaching math. We have started building our daily/weekly routines with our morning math meeting, Which One Doesn't Belong, Number Talks and Estimation mysteries. 

New to me this year is starting our day with a soft start. Students have free choice to explore an activity of their choosing for the first 20 minutes of the day. Many students choose to have a snack, play/trade Pokemon cards, build with Lego or create with playdoh. I am able to circulate through the room saying hello, checking in with students and observing their relationship and community building with each other.

You may have noticed there aren't any pictures of our literacy work yet... with the new learning connected to structure literacy, the science of reading, phonics, etc it really feels like the weakest area of my planning so far. I know I am making it up as I go everyday. We are working on routines to help us start centres so that I can meet students where they are and we have done quite a lot of work on practicing our read to self routines and writing simple sentences. I am working my way through assessing each student individually and building our vocabulary/spelling routines. 

All in time. 

I hope.

And so, welcome to October... lets get progress reports written, have Open House, Picture Day, Thanksgiving, a PD Day and hopefully, more blogs. 

But no promises. Remember that ball rolling down the hill?

It's only going to go faster.  

It's that time of year... placement sheets!

 It's that time of year in my board when we have to start filling out our placement sheets for the next school year. Depending on the admin we sometimes have to list our top 3 or 4 choices, stop/start/continue for the school community, goals for the next 5 years and we can discuss it at a fireside chat of we wish.

It's an interesting time. 

People are curious as to what other people requested. Who wants to change grade levels? Who is looking at a support role? Who is thinking of switching schools or boards?

I have asked for full time library (of course) but in looking at the writing on the wall I can see how much our school population has dropped and that there's a pretty big chance my library allocation will be reduced. So then what? What is the optimal combination to effectively re-start our free flow book exchange and maker space programs should we be back to a somewhat "normal" school year next year?

I know in many, many schools and in many, many boards that teacher-librarians, library technicians and other school library professionals are split across roles, schools and in many cases, across distances between schools. I know the huge path of school library privilege I have always walked in as a full time teacher-librarian. 

I am also aware that the last 2 years in the school library have in some ways soured me to the role. Don't get me wrong!! I love the school library. I love being a teacher-librarian. BUT, there's been a lot of piece stripped away from the role as I knew it due to COVID protocols and the need for various support roles within the school community. 

For me it comes down to the students. I miss them.

I miss our day to day interactions when they would come to exchange books. I miss the kids who would visit multiple times during the week excited to find the next book they would devour. I miss the kids who would come to the library to just sit and play not knowing that while they were there they were gaining experience and skills towards their own self-regulation that would support them when they returned to class. I miss the thrill of starting a new inquiry with a class and filling a white board with a Notice/Wonder chart. I miss watching students building and share their ideas using loose parts and explore communicating their thoughts using a variety of modalities. I even miss the tangle of glue guns and glue sticks that came with large scale maker projects.

I miss being in the mess with the students.

The mess of learning. 

I've been looking back at my three year plan from when I started in the LLC 5 years ago as I do feel as though September 2022 will be a re-start. None of the students in our school will have participated in free flow book exchange in over 2 years. Our oldest students (Grade 5) will have been in Grade 2 the last time they accessed the library independently. It's going to be a complete refresh which on one hand in exciting and on the other is terrifying. 

I do feel as though I need a jolt of some kind to pull me back into what I love the most about teaching (and school libraries, if I'm being honest).

So on my placement sheets for next year, if I am not full time in the library, I have asked for Kindergarten planning time. Why not start at the beginning? Why not immerse myself in the full-on messiness, inquiry-based, wonder of learning? Why not take the opportunity to co-learn and co-teach with kindergarten educators? Why not?

Of course, full time in the library learning commons is the gold standard of library placements but a small part of me is really hoping that I'll get to experience some kindergarten joy as well. 

I guess we'll see what happens...

What might the LLC look like if/when we go back to school?

This has been the question on the mind of every school library professional since the start 

of the shut-down. At least, I know it has been on mine. 

The LLC is a space where students and educators come together to tinker, 

explore, play and of course READ. 

What happens when we need to stay apart for the safety of all? 

How might we re-imagine the methodology and pedagogy behind the LLC in order to bring the learning to the students, educators and their families? 

Jenn Brown and I facilitated an open discussion at the end of the school year with school library porfessionals across Ontario (and from BC!) discussing what the future might hold for our LLCs and the stakeholders we serve. 

You can listen to our debrief here as a podcast episode of Read Into This. We also looked over the notes taken during the discussion and the thoughts submitted from the participants in Google Form to come up with six "big" questions K-12 library questions in a pandemic world. 

These questions can be seen listed in Open Shelf. 

Of course my mind as been whirling and swirling all summer long. An educator's mind is never far from school and what might be...

A few thoughts I have had about how I might adapt my library program to move beyond the wall of the library space and into the classrooms of students....

BOOKS.

Most importantly, in my mind, is getting books into the hands of students. Each class can have a designated bin of books that is delivered on Monday and picked up the following Friday. The books can be kept in "quarantine" if needed after I pick them up before being distributed to other classes.

Pros: 

-students will have access to books in their class that they can read through out the week

-classes can put together request lists or topics of interest to help guide me in choosing books for their bin

Cons:

-students don't have access to the entire library collection and the self-regulation that comes with choosing their own reading materials in the space

-it will be time and labour intensive to choose and deliver bins of books to 30+ classrooms each week

INQUIRY. 

Last summer when we moved to Caledon East I was very excited to see inquiry style bags that had been curated for busy families. The idea being that families could choose a bag of 10 or so books to bring home without needing to spend time browsing and choosing. Also included in the bags were artifacts, games, and other items that connected with the books or might spark an inquiry at home.

Pros: 

-students love to explore and play with the tinkering stations spread through the library when they visit as part of our free flow routine, by creating this type of inquiry provocation in a bag or a bin student can continue to enjoy and explore within their classroom

-students may get an opportunity to explore a material they haven't previously explored or revisit an old fave

-the bins can be tailored to specific curriculum based inquiries that educators are exploring with their class (this can also help educators with their planning, grade level teams can co-plan with the teacher-librarian to create a set of bins related to the curriculum that can be shared among the classes (with proper disinfecting completed as needed))

Cons: 

-a lack of of free choice in materials to explore, students usually have free range of the library space

-do we have enough materials to spread out among the entire school population?

-completing the necessary disinfecting and tracking of materials to ensure equitable access

-once again time is a factor... 

MAKER. 

Cultivating a maker mindset and a maker culture within our school community has been a huge focus during my time as the teacher-librarian and I'd love for the momentum and passion for making that has been developed to continue to grow... even if we can't create together in the LLC space. I documented our journey and wrote a paper about it for Treasure Mountain Canada 2020. (You can access the paper and accompanying photo essay here.) (I also recorded my paper and was interviewed by Alanna King for the Read Into This podcast. The episodes can be found here and here.)

Once again.... bins, bags, boxes. 

Different maker provocations could be bundled up and delivered to classes. 

Perhaps each grade level could explore a different material? Perhaps it's just a box of materials and the invitation to create anything you can think of? Perhaps it's a guided maker project where the students can explore and learn a new skill? Perhaps it's a focus on the process of making and the creation must be deconstructed (like with loose parts) once the making has been completed and documented. 

Pros:

- students get to make stuff

(That's it... in my mind that's the best rationale there is. Students. Get. To. Make. Stuff. 

Cons:

-materials (budget? containers? disinfecting? amounts?)

-always time...

At this point, no one know what the fall might bring in terms of school or in terms of of school library learning commons but I'm hopeful that the magic of the library will still be there. Perhaps in a different form, perhaps in a better form? 

Time will tell.

Do you have an idea for how you might spread the magic of your school library program if/when we return to school? I'd love to hear about it. 

Sharing the LLC Space- An Advocate's Infographic

It is true not all has been accomplished that the earnest advocates would desire, but a start has been made. Frank B. Kellogg
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/advocate

I am currently taking my Teacher-Librarian Specialist AQ and one of our assignments was to create something to promote the use of the LLC to one of our stakeholders- the learners, the educators, the caregivers, etc. I ended up creating an infographic aimed at the students that use the space and the uses available within the space. I think this could also be aimed at caregivers who might be unsure of the direction the LLC is going, at staff who are new to our building, and to advocate for school libraries in general.

It also got me thinking that I wanted to create a second infographic outlining the co-planning, co-teaching, collaboration from an inquiry stance opportunities available to educators who might be interested in teaming up with me (or their teacher-librarian) to help develop students #InquiryMindset.

Advocate. Promote. Share.  

After creating the first infographic, I shared it on Twitter (because that's what I do with pretty much everything these days...) and it got a lot of attention and it really began to make me think. Why do we share our pedagogical journeys on Twitter, or on a blog, or on a podcast, or or or...

Why do I tweet?

I tweet and share my journey in the LLC because not only am I proud of what my school community has accomplished in transitioning to a Learning Commons space and the risks that are being taken by learners every day but to pay it forward. 

I was helped along my journey. 

My questions were answered. 

I was given support.

So as an educator, it's my job to help others on the same path as much as I can.

So if even 1 tweet finds its way to someone who was looking for help, then I have added some good into the world.

I also feel that in our current educational climate any and all advocacy for school-libraries is important.

I want to shout from the rooftops about the importance of a school library. 

I want to share every good news piece, no matter how big or how small, with every person I pass on the street.

I want to reach policy makers and care givers.

I want to reach skeptical educators.

I want to preach to the choir of teacher-librarians so they will also advocate.

Advocate for their space, for their learners, for our future.

And so in that spirit I share here my infographics.

Free to "copy" from, "borrow" from, modify and re-share.

Always re-share.

Maker. Space. Inquiry. Place. What might be the connection?

Maker Space. Maker Ed. Open Making. 

Maker Opportunities. Fab Lab. Maker Culture. 

There are many names and motivations behind implementing 
maker learning with your students. 

The maker movement and its benefits for student learning has been an ongoing focus of the Library Learning Commons transformation over the past two years. The staff at my school have been working to implement curriculum focused maker learning to help both students and other educators see the value of hands-on maker learning as a way to work through the process of their learning, to integrate 21st century competencies into their every day work, and ignite a passion for making and creating. 

Maker Culture: A Place to Start

Last year we created a Maker Culture PLN to develop our understanding of the Maker Movement, to attempt maker opportunities to explore with our students and to share our learning with the staff in our school community. Our learning over the course of the year culminated with an opportunity to "hack the staff meeting". We shared our learning with the staff by creating a carousel of maker stations for the staff to tinker, play, and explore with their grade level teams. 

The stations were well received and many educators began to seek out time to co-plan and co-teach maker infused lesson in the Library Learning Commons. 

Make. Literacy. 

Another attempt to integrate maker learning was through our Forest of Reading program, specifically Blue Spruce and Silver Birch. In the 2017- 2018 school year, both programs were run primarily as classroom based activities. Teachers were invited to share an inquiry bag with their students to spark interest in the books prior to reading. Each bag contained an item or theme word related to the book that could be used as a Minds On for students. Educators and students would then read the book together and explore a maker task or inquiry prompt together related to their reading. 

A collection of these maker inquiry prompts from the 2017-2018 school year can be found at bit.ly/TinkerInTheForest under Archive/2018. 

We adopted a similar program for the the 2018-2019 school year with one small tweak- the Silver Birch program is running as an open book club for students in Grades 4-5 who are interested in joining. Students have been invited to explore their own making interests as they connect to their reading by creating artifacts to share at our Museum of Learning. This has also provided an opportunity to explore badging and the concept of attaching success criteria and goal setting to our making. 

Open Making. Genius Hour. Passion Projects. 

One of my main goals in exploring maker culture and the maker movement has been to provide students an opportunity explore their own maker passions and maker inspirations OUTSIDE of the curriculum. I am a full believer in hands-on learning and the belief that students (and adults!) learn best through doing and so we should look for opportunities to uncover the curriculum through making. 

But I also believe in making for the sake of making. 
Making for the joy of making. 
Making for the learning about making. 
Making for the beauty of making. 
Just making. 

And so the Genius Cart was born. 

Part open making. Part genius hour. Part passion project. 

And as it turns out...part inquiry. 

Behold... the Genius Cart. 

I wanted to provide an opportunity and a space within the Library Learning commons for students to explore making that interested them outside of their classroom activities. After combing through many posts (and of course, Pinterest!) the idea for the Genius Cart was born. 

As educators we love to approach things from an If - Then stance in order to measure or gauge the success of our endeavors to improve the learning of our students. I developed this If - Then statement as way to promote ongoing reflection of the Genius Cart and the success (and failures) as we worked to develop the students' capacity to work in an open making atmosphere.

I launched the Genius Cart by first presenting the idea to the staff at my school and providing time for the educators to explore the cart and discuss how this make opportunity might help to support the maker learning happening in their classrooms.

You can access the slide deck I used for this initial launch by visiting 

bit.ly/GeniusCart . 

Additional slides have been added since that first launch as we reflected and refined the use of the Genius Cart.

And then we launched!

A few observations about this initial stage of the Genius Cart:

• most staff were interested in bringing their entire class for an orientation activity involving a design thinking task
• a few teachers had thought ahead and booked the library space to integrate their ongoing maker activities with the Genius Cart
• many of the students who were coming during our scheduled open making periods did not come with a project in mind
• there was a lot of repeat making based on what had already been explored in class (e.g. structures)
• many, many, many students equate making with using a hot glue gun!
• students needed a lot of prompting to develop a plan prior to making, most wanted to jump in and "see where it went"
• at times the making appeared "purposelessness"- students were not engaging with the materials in order to learn a "maker skill" or to create a product, but mainly to tinker with the materials

Now what?

Moving forward we will be exploring the intersection between inquiry, design thinking and the maker movement during our time with the Genius Cart. To begin our exploration I developed a Zip Line challenge after consulting with another teacher-librarian who explored a similar design thinking in her LLC. Students were invited to work their way through the launch cycle by examining photos and videos of zip lines and sharing their ideas on an inquiry chart. A Wonder Wall documented the questions developed by students were recorded as well.

Students created plans and materials lists for their carrier designs and then we built, tested and shared our success. I documented the process, student observations and discussions as we worked through the iterations of their designs and testing on the zipline. You can see the video and photos I shared with our school community by visiting our virtual library learning commons. 

I'm still working through the qualitative data I collected and hope to share my thoughts and observations around the challenge soon before we head into a second Genius Cart inquiry. Stay tuned...


***********************************
I used the following resources/educators to help me with my planning:

Inquiry Mindset: Nurturing the Dreams, Wonders, and Curiosities of Our Youngest Learners

https://www.trevormackenzie.com/

@trev_mackenzie

@rbathusrthunt

Launch: Using Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring Out the Maker in Every Student

http://www.spencerauthor.com/the-launch-cycle/
@ajjuliani
@spencerideas

Jenn Brown, Teacher-Librarian

@JennMacBrown

Playing the Long Game: Teaching from an Inquiry Stance

Teaching and learning from an inquiry stance and the benefits it provides has long been an interest of mine, long before I was a teacher-librarian. As a classroom teacher I looked for ways to have my students co-creating their own learning through questioning, researching, problem-solving, design thinking and developing our success criteria. But unless you loop with your class (move with an entire group of students from one year to the next) you don't always get to see the progress the students make as they move on to the next grade.

As this is my second year in the Library Learning Commons and we have reached just about the halfway point (yeah for 100th Day of School!) I feel that I can start to make some observations about the students that I interact with frequently, either when their class comes to the LLC for collaboratively inquiry, those students who have joined the Silver Birch book club, those student who are starting to make frequent use of the Genius Cart and even just casual encounters with students tinkering and playing with the provocations in the LLC.

So far the biggest takeaway from teaching and learning from an inquiry stance is that it involves playing the long game. That is, the rewards come down the road and you have to be willing to be an active participant in the achieving the goals necessary for student success (e.g., 21st Century Competencies) which will take some time and some effort. Ensuring our students are prepared and able to be active participants in their society and to tackle the problems of our world is a long game. It's going take some time. It's not a "one and done" proposition. One can't "do inquiry" and then move on, that's just not how it works. If we expect our students to exhibit a growth mindset, to reiterate when they are solving problems, to be reflective and communicate about their struggles with achieving their goals, then we must also do these things.

Teaching from an inquiry stance is the ultimate iterative practice. 

This year I have had the opportunity to co-teach with a Grade 5 educator on two different occasions and for both of those we have been actively working with the students to co-create the inquiries and use their passions and curiosities to guide the learning. Which makes this co-teaching/co-learning situation unique is that she did loop with her class this year (most of her Grade 5 class were with her for Grade 4 last year when we also co-taught and collaborated together often) AND even more unique is that 5 of her students were in my class in Grade 3 the year before I moved into the teacher-librarian role. This means that these students are well practiced in the art of inquiry learning and have started to teach us a thing or two!

We are currently working on a guided inquiry of Black Canadian History. I say guided because I am also a big fan of Inquiry Mindset: Nurturing the Dreams, Wonders, and Curiosities of Our Youngest Learners by Trevor MacKenzie and Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt and in particular this sketchnote:

Trevor MacKenzie and Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt

We choose the topic- Black History but the students really took off with the inquiry. If you are interested in following along with our inquiry (and believe me, it's awesome!) just click here and visit the "Artifacts from Our Inquiry Process" page.

So what caused all this reflection on "nurturing an inquiry mindset" in students? Well, if I do say so myself I had just about the perfect day in the LLC. I had a class in this morning to read a Blue Spruce book and begin to explore a #makewriting activity that will branch into an art piece. Then the Grade 5 class I mentioned above visited to go deeper with our Canadian Black History inquiry. We are at the stage of starting to narrow down our focus after researching, asking questions, viewing videos as provocations, discussing, asking more questions, reading more articles, watching more videos... (you get the idea!) and after an amazing discussion last week where we asked the students what the end goal of our inquiry might be today we posed this question-

How might we share our learning?

And as well-prepared educators we had a small list (on a post it!) of ideas that the students might be interested in exploring to share their learning with world... however, the students had other plans. In a short 20 minute popcorn session of ideas here's what they thought-

Isn't it just incredible to see?

Finally, the day ended with open making at our new maker space endeavour- the Genius Cart! Student are able to come and explore making with various materials and challenges. Today there were students from Grades 3-5 exploring K'Nex, building tinfoil boats, and building constellations on the light table. And there was a hum. A hum of thinking, a hum of questions, a hum of discussion. Was it a little noisy? Yes. Was it a little messy? Yes. Was it purposeful? YES.

Each student there launched themselves into their own mini-inquiry cycle. They developed a question about how they might construct an object/a boat/a constellation and then tried their first design which in most cases didn't work or they didn't like. But they tried again. We discussed solutions. We discussed failing forward. We discussed, and tried, and discussed and tried. 

We were playing the long game of inquiry and the students knew the game. 

And they liked it.

On Being a "Teacher-Librarian"

It's the night before the Ontario Library Association Super Conference for 2019 and I have been thinking about how this year's experience differs from last year. At this time last year I was only 5 months into working in the library learning commons at my school and while we had under gone a huge transitional period (e.g., introducing free flow book exchange, implementing new collaborative inquiry methods and starting to use more hands-on materials- such as loose parts) everything was still the first time. Including my trip to OLASC.

The experience at OLASC last year was amazing. I felt that I learned and absorbed so much new information that I was able to take back to my school community and to the library. I felt renewed and invigorated after being able to meet so many fellow librarians from across the various library panels and locations.

Now that we are on the eve of this year's OLASC I am excited to return and to be re-energized again for the months to come working with the educators and students in the school library learning commons. I also feel that I have a much better understanding of the role that a teacher-librarian can play within the school community.

Being a teacher-librarian is a special subset within the world of education. We are small in number (when compared to the rest of our fellow educators) but our role is mighty. We bring our past experiences as educators with us into the library learning commons which provides us with a deep understanding of pedagogy, curriculum, and assessment. In my case I taught for 13 years (every Grade from 3-8) before taking on the role of Teacher-Librarian last fall. This means we view the space, the collection, the maker-ed opportunities, the inquiry process, the technological integration through the lens of an educator. Because first and foremost, we are educators. We are teachers of children and in may cases, we are teachers of teachers. This is a privilege that I do not take lightly.

As I have grown with this role I have made a few observations about how we are educators first:

1) It all starts with the books. This is the basis of our role- to curate the library collection for the school community. This means purchasing texts with an eye towards the curriculum across all the the grade levels in our school buildings, with the reading levels of our English Language Learners in mind, to provoke an interest and passion in important social justice topics, to provide texts that will spark a love of reading and educate our learners in equal measure, to push readers beyond what they may already enjoy, to seek out books that educators can use as a provocation for a maker-ed opportunity, to provide rich texts that enable readers to formulate questions and to keep in mind the most important ideas of- "what is needed for this learner at this time".

2) We have time to delve deeper and wider into the new and unfamiliar areas of pedagogical research and bring it to our fellow educators. One of the most rewarding experiences of the past year is to connect with an educator who is willing and open to trying something new with their class but due to the every day demands of their job may not have had an opportunity to fully plan or formulate their ideas. By providing opportunities to co-plan and co-teach with the educators in our schools we are able to say "Yes, and..." on almost a daily basis. I find that so many educators are very interested in trying new modes of teaching and learning with their students. They want to provide maker opportunities. They want to explore coding. They want to teach from an inquiry stance and they want to promote an inquiry mindset. They want to empower their students. Collaborating with the teacher-librarian provides an opportunity to have a fellow educator as a sounding board, to have a second set of eyes to observe students, a second set of guiding questions that can be asked and a second set of reflections to move everyone's learning, the educators' included, forward.

3) We use our space and resources to help drive the understanding of using our time with students- our observations, our conversations, photos of products-as assessment for learning. The bulk of an educators time with students is spent working to move each student forward along their personal continuum of learning. Teacher-Librarians help to promote an understanding of "uncovering the curriculum". By intentionally curating the collection, creating makerspaces, promoting a maker culture, and sparking inquiry we are consistently providing opportunities for our fellow educators and students to learn from and with each other. To use their learning time together to grow as a community of learners. So that everyone benefits.

Being a teacher-librarian is one of the most rewarding and exciting roles of my career. It is a gift. And one I do not take lightly.

I hope you don't either.

Sparking Inquiry with Loose Parts: MakerEd TO 2018

Earlier in the summer I had the privilege of sharing my love for using loose parts and inquiry in the Library Learning Commons with a group of maker educators and to learn from the maker endeavours of other educators at MakerEd TO. 

It was a whirlwind of a day... in the best way possible!!

Over the course of my first year in the LLC I came to love loose parts for the 

learning opportunities they provided to so many students in the space. 

I would see students from grades 4-5 come just to play and tinker with the available pieces. They would use the time to reset, to calm themselves, to re-center and then perhaps return to their class better prepared to tackle their learning endeavours.

I would see students from all the grades come with a purpose and a plan for using the materials. They knew what they wanted to create and what materials they would need. As I often rotate the materials students soon learned to advocate for a material that might have been stored away. They also began to advocate for documentation- "Mrs. Lyons, will you take a picture of my.... I want my teacher to see what I did." They were proud of their creations, their tinkering, and wanted to show it off.

I would see students who came eager to see what new provocations might be set up. During the Winter Olympics I set up a light table with a variety of materials and the simple prompt- "How might you create a sport from the Olympics using these materials?". Along side the provocation were books about the winter sports and updated articles as Team Canada began to compete. Student created hockey games, curling rinks, snowboard half pipes... and so much more. Where the real excitement came in was when we tweeted out our pics to Team Canada and the responded! An authentic audience appreciating the student's creations with loose parts.

The Library Learning Commons offers a safe space for all learners, students and educators alike, to take risks on their learning journey. In the Library Learning Commons we have been exploring how loose parts can be used beyond the Kindergarten program to spark an inquiry mindset and inviting learners to try new models of learning as their natural curiosity is stimulated and imagination is given free rein. Loose parts help learners to develop critical thinking skills, creativity and problem solving as they manipulate the pieces to communicate their reasoning and thought processes. 

They also allow for multiple entry points for learners and encourage voice and choice on their learning journey. Learners are able to create representations of their ideas and exhibit flexible design thinking.

Here's a slide deck with a few examples of how I used loose parts in collaboration with educators in the LLC last year.