Name of material: Globes Image(s): Photo(s) courtesy of Think Education Supplies. Visit www.thinkeducation.com.au to purchase this material. Video : Point(s) of interest: The globes both provide visual points of interest in their aesthetic beauty. The Textured Globe has the additional appeal of the tactile sensation of the sandpaper ‘land’ against the smooth ‘water’, while the Coloured Globe provides further visual through its bright, complimentary colours. Primary purpose: Main objective Introduction of the concepts of land, water and continents. Secondary purposes
Incidental benefits To promote an awareness of, and connection to, the world. Control of error: The sensory input of the different textures (rough sandpaper to smooth wood) provides the child with a tactile memory of the land/sea distinction and of the continent shapes. This muscular memory scaffolds the visual recognition and helps the child to develop greater independent recognition of these concepts. EYLF Outcome 1.2: Children develop their emerging autonomy, inter-dependence, resilience and sense of agency by engaging in self-correction to notice a mistake and seek a solution (rather than relying on an adult to identify the error and suggest the answer). Presentation : Please ¡note: ¡Montessori ¡presentations ¡will ¡vary ¡slightly ¡according ¡to ¡the ¡specific ¡training ¡ institute, ¡Album ¡or ¡educator’s ¡experience. ¡The ¡following ¡outline ¡is ¡intended ¡as ¡a ¡guide ¡and ¡ highlights ¡important ¡points/procedures. ¡Educators ¡should ¡build ¡on ¡this ¡from ¡their ¡own ¡ experience ¡and ¡their ¡understanding ¡of ¡the ¡children ¡in ¡their ¡care, ¡so ¡that ¡all ¡presentations ¡will ¡ have ¡some ¡universal ¡similarities ¡but ¡no ¡two ¡will ¡be ¡completely ¡identical ¡because ¡of ¡the ¡unique ¡ needs ¡of ¡the ¡child, ¡cultural ¡context ¡of ¡the ¡school ¡and ¡interactions ¡between ¡educator ¡and ¡student. ¡ Preparation : • Demonstrate to the child how to hold the globe safely. The globe is to be carried by the wooden base, either with both hands on the base balancing the globe or with the dominant hand on the base and the non-dominant hand gently steadying the side of the globe. • Invite the child to take the globe to the table. • The teacher sits to the right of the child if the adult is right-handed and to the left of the child if the adult is left-handed (this avoids the issue of having the adult’s hand/arm block the field of vision of the child). Lesson 1: Tactile Globe (Land and Water) • The educator explains, “This is the globe. It is a model of the world that we live in. Our world is called Earth” • The educator demonstrates how to explore the tactile sensations of the globe with the hands and then invites the child to feel the globe with the fingertips. • As the child explores the educator explains, “Our Earth is made up of land and water. The rough parts of the globe are the land . The smooth areas are the water.” • The educator guides the child’s explorations, “Feel just the land.” • When the child has explored all areas of land the educator suggests, “Now feel just the water.” • The educator can then guide the child towards other observations such as, “Find the largest piece of land” or “find the smallest body of water”.
Lesson 2: Coloured Globe (Continents) • The educator asks the child to bring both globes to the work space. • The educator examines both globes, visually assessing them, touching them, turning them and so forth. • The educator observes, “These globes are very similar. They are both models of the world we live in. What is different about them?” • The child might identify – “this one has colours on the land.” • The educator explains, “This is the continents globe. The areas of land have different colours to show the continents of the world.” • The educator names the continents and can guide observations such as, “Find the smallest continent” or “find two continents that are connected to each other” or “find a continent that does not touch any other continents.” Conclusion : • After the presentation, say to the child, “We have explored the Globe. You are welcome to take it from the shelf whenever you would like to look at the land and water or the continents.” • Ensure that you guide the child to replace it to its correct spot on the shelf. This empowers the child to know where it is located so that he/she can independently choose the material again when he/she is ready and interested. This contributes towards the creation of a learning environment and promotes EYLF Outcome 4.4: Children resource their own learning through connecting with people, place, technologies and natural and processed materials. Links to the Early Years Learning Framework Outcomes: Participating in the Globes presentation with an educator and peers helps the child progress towards the following Learning Outcomes; 1.1: Children feel safe, secure and supported by engaging in one-on-one interactions with a nurturing and supportive adult. 2: Children are connected to and contribute to their world by being invited to step towards a global perspective of thinking. 3.2: Children become strong in their social and emotional wellbeing by feeling supported by the individualised attention of a caring educator. 5: Children are effective communicators & 5.1: Children interact verbally and non- verbally with others for a range of purposes by encouraging verbal and non-verbal (body language, facial cues etc) interaction between educator and child. Revisiting the Globes exploration for independent attempts helps the child progress towards the following Learning Outcomes; 4.1: Children develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and
reflexivity by starting to comprehend the scope of the world and, therefore, spark interest about all the fascinating elements within it. 5.4: Children begin to understand how symbols and pattern systems work by making sense of a small, symbolic representation of an extraordinarily large concept. Observation and assessment for learning: When the child is working independently the educator can gather and analyse information about what the child knows, can do and understands by observing the following: Indicators of progress ; • The child enjoys exploring the globe for sensory purposes but is not yet able to articulate the distinction between land/water or the continents. • The child enjoys exploring the globe, and differentiates between the land/water or the continents/water, but is not yet able to articulate the connection between the model globe and the real world. Indicators of mastery ; • The child is able to identify the guided observations that the educator initiates (such as finding small areas of land, large areas, connected continents etc). • The child begins making spontaneous observations about elements of the globes. • The child begins independently identifying connections between the globes and his/her experiences and explorations (such as identifying that they are going on a family holiday to Europe). If the child demonstrates the aforementioned skills the educator can engage in intentional teaching by introducing the following lessons with the Landforms or the Puzzle Maps. If the child does not yet demonstrate the aforementioned skills the educator can show responsiveness to children by scaffolding the learning by repeating the presentation. If the child still does not acquire the skills once the presentation is repeated then the task should be broken into smaller, discrete steps. If the child still cannot master the skills presented in the discrete steps the educator can support the child’s learning by reverting to the prior lesson. Questions for reflective practice: After presenting this material the educator might ask, • Are there other theories or knowledge that could help me to understand better what I have observed or experienced? What are they? How might those theories and that knowledge affect my practice? • Who is advantaged when I work in this way? Who is disadvantaged?
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