After seeing the children’ s excitement about birds during recess, Mr. Ridgley and his colleagues discussed ways to support this interest, encourage autonomy, and facilitate guided play. They also asked the children what tools might help them observe better. By adding these materials and scaffolding children to notice and capture what they saw, the teaching team incorporated several important elements of guided play. These included
› A clear learning target( Weisberg et al. 2016; Masterson & Bohart 2019; Skene et al. 2022; Zosh et al. 2022). As children observed and noticed the features of birds, Mr. Ridgley helped them compare what they observed to what they had read in class(“ That bird seems to be collecting grain or seeds. What do you notice about its beak?”).
the ones they have been studying. Mr. Ridgley often joins them, using his own set of binoculars and encouraging children to sketch what they see. Some draw pictures; others make lists of what they observe the birds doing and eating. During the last group meeting of the day, Mr. Ridgley invites students to share their observations and drawings.
Guided play is an effective tool for enhancing a curriculum and encouraging children to learn more about specific content. Children benefit from the materials, interactions, and scaffolds teachers offer when they observe children’ s current knowledge, questions, and interests and work to encourage deeper learning( McDonald 2019).
The curriculum adopted by Mr. Ridgley’ s district had an extensive study on birds that addressed comprehension skills and science standards. These specifically focused on making observations and learning how animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs( NSTA 2013).
› Materials to support the learning target( Weisberg et al. 2016; Zosh et al. 2022). By providing binoculars, children were better observers and could connect features they had read about in texts to the birds in their community.
› Modeling and scaffolding( Weisberg et al. 2016; Zosh et al. 2022). While children were not required to engage in bird observations or documentation on the playground, Mr. Ridgley facilitated their learning by modeling specific behaviors, prompting, and asking questions. For example, one day on the playground, he pointed out how robins hopped along the ground looking for food while cardinals and sparrows landed on the bird feeders to eat. To capture his observations, he quickly sketched a robin with a worm in its mouth and a cardinal at the birdfeeder.
To assess children’ s learning, Mr. Ridgley listened carefully and took anecdotal notes when they shared their observations. He specifically noted what children shared about types of beaks and how those beaks helped the birds find the food they needed to survive.
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