Reflect and Reimagine

As collaborating educators, we come together at the start of each school year with an expanded understanding based on our discoveries with last year’s classes, coupled with fresh inspiration for ways of learning and playing with our upcoming classes. Each year, we open up the Innovating Play book, reflect on our foundational collaborative routines and rituals, and start to reimagine!

For the 2024-2025 school year there are three foundational collaborative routines that we are reimagining together:

What it looked like: We used to treat these two routines as separate times of the day. The Wish You Well ritual (Chapter 1, Innovating Play) and Days of School Counting (Chapter 6) each took place at different times of the day. This year, Jessica’s district is implementing a new math program, and her math block will look different. 

What’s changing: Instead of dropping the routine completely, we are choosing to combine the shared Wish You Well ritual along with a simplified version of the Days of School counting. We will still use the Wish You Well Heart to note which students are/are not in school that day, and to share the number of school days each class has had.

What it looked like: We have always loved recording weather reports in each of our locations and sharing daily weather observations with each other. For years, this process has opened up an abundance of learning opportunities across content areas. For example, using information from our weather reports, we have been able to record and analyze data in Google Sheets. This has allowed us to track patterns over time and discover the importance of predicting the weather, along with the exploring impact of weather on humans, animals, and plants. (Chapter 5, Innovating Play)

What’s changing: We continue to consider the most effective ways to use Google Sheets to organize and analyze data with young children. This year, we will be using a new template that allows patterns to be viewed in a chart format alongside an auto generated bar graph that changes and updates with newly inputted data. If you would like to play with us, you can purchase your own copy of our Monthly Weather Data Charts and Graphs!

What it looked like: One of our favorite inspirations that has come from weather reporting was when our students began to initiate their own weather reports by sending us videos when their families were on vacation during the school year. These special reports became treasured pieces of evidence for us to analyze as we gained an authentic look at the weather in each of our locations and a bonus look at where one of our friends was spending time in an additional location. 

What’s changing: We are expanding our authentic view of the world by inviting friends and family members who live in or visit different locations to send us a video weather report during the school year. This video collection will live in its own folder (on the Seesaw app) and can be accessed by both classes. We are excited to see the ways that this invitation to family members and friends expands connection, learning opportunities, and understanding of weather and seasons in different locations.

1. Each year brings new understanding and expertise that can be used to adjust the following year. This keeps teaching and learning fresh and exciting!

2. Adjusting and adapting to the changing needs of both classes is essential in sustaining long-term collaboration.

3. When using technology to collaborate, investing time learning to use tools that are open ended and easily adapt will help you to expand for years to come.