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table relates to the topic. The water bin is full of busy hands. As the boys move the plastic
snakes about and engage in a dialogue of symbolic play.
The actual room does not have documentation displayed connected to the topic of snakes.
This is a shared space used by a kindergarten class during the day. The kindergarten
teacher moves about the classroom doing some clean up and preparation. She seems
undeterred by the action in the room and the children don’t pay much attention to her.
There is a front entrance to the classroom that is shared as well as common foyer of sorts
leading to the outside in the rear of the classroom. This is the area used for project
documentation. This is where the snake project comes alive!
When I do training on the project approach I am always confronted by the issues of
shared space. It becomes one of those road blocks that many use as an excuse. They have
to keep doing the common traditional approach to curriculum because they are in shared
space and are not allowed to display documentation. Rose has not let this stop her. She
has obviously negotiated well with the classroom teachers. When I ask her about this she
says “anyone not able to do the project approach in shared space hasn’t not worked it out
with the teacher, which is what you have to do.” The comfort level of all tells the tale of
collaboration. The walls of the back foyer are covered with brightly coloured
representations of the topic both 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional. The use of display
boards provides the answer as they are portable and can be put out at the start of the
afternoon and put away at the end.
On the boards are webs – activity webs, teacher’s or topic webs and children’s webs
where the children’s prior knowledge of the topic has been recorded. The boards are
colourful and creative with a combination of teacher created material and children created
material. The program plan is posted which describes past events and coming events.
Rose seems excited and proud as she shows me around the foyer. She seems particularly
enthused about a planned trip to a pet store specializing in reptiles. We have a little
discussion about bringing an actual snake into the classroom and the question of health
and safety becomes the issue.