Verita Insights Magazine VIS magazine final | Page 13

HIGHLIGHTS PROGRESS IN EARLY YEARS Exploring the IEYC units in Reception B Child: " I wonder what the Troll is going to do next?" This is what one of our 5 years old students likes to ask almost every time we start a new IEYC unit. Why? Well, the Troll is his friend, he is 4 years old, lives under a bridge - that is why he is mean to the goats (yes, he is the Troll from "The 3 billy goats gruff" which we read during our IEYC unit "Once upon a time") and he has learnt how to be kind and respectful after he met some very interesting friends such as The Three Little Pigs, Rapunzel and the Gingerbread man. They all told him their story and offered him lots of help and guidance together with their 5 years old friends from Reception. They decided to build him a house and, thus, during our "Loose parts unit", we explored lots of materials and means of working with them in order to build the most beautiful and fun house, which we decided would borrow lots of elements from our own houses that we explored during the "This is me" unit at the beginning of the school year. This is just a little sneak-peek at how we teach and connect the IEYC units in Reception. I have been teaching the IEYC units for two years and, as a teacher, I was immediately drawn to its structure and the creative, inclusive learning opportunities. The complexity and diversity of the activities allowed me to explore children's creativity and imagination because, as we know, at this stage in their development, children start exploring the world and integrating different situations from their everyday life into their play and are masters at creating complex narratives that would incorporate all kinds of characters. Thus, being supported by the exciting themes of the units, it was simple for us: we just had to create a story, in which a character needed help and was asking it from a wonderful team made out of 5-year-olds who, naturally equipped with the magical power of imagination, were ready to go on the journey with him.  "The complexity and diversity of the activities allowed me to explore children's creativity and imagination because, as we know, at this stage in their development, children start exploring the world and integrating different situations from their everyday life into their play and are masters at creating complex narratives that would incorporate all kinds of characters." Being able to connect the dots of their own learning process, helped the children develop their enquiry skills as the passage from one unit to the other was designed to feel just like a natural development of the story. And by the end of the process, having children ask us `what is going to happen next?` was the assessment result that mattered the most: it was a direct and clear evidence of the learning process and excitement for learning that, together, we have managed to create at this critical developmental stage where the approach to the learning process is shaped and carried by students throughout their academic lives. Article by Roxana Din Teacher,  Reception B VERITA INSIGHTS  |  13