Final Version May 5 07

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child seems to be searching around the room for something and ends up bringing to the
carpet area a small scrap of paper and calls it a snake.
At this point Franca begins to discuss “words that start with E.” She is sitting in front of
chart paper and she prompts the children and they mention words such as eel and earth.
Franca draws pictures to match the words printed. At this point a child says “Franca we
have been here long.” Franca then discusses the activity options for the children and
name cards are distributed.
The children are dispersing with their name cards and going to the activities. There is a
light table set up with animal forms for the children to trace. There is a table set up with
animal forms created from cookie cutters and modeling clay. The children are retrieving
their creations and painting them. There is another table set up with the modeling clay
and some tools such as rollers. The carpet area has large plastic animals and a number of
children gather there. There is a table set up with animal related cognitive activities such
as classification and counting. A number of children are in the dramatic play centre and
are acting the role of “dogs.”
I spend some time at the carpet area and I am amazed as one child is able to sort the
animals into categories of those found in Africa and those found at the farm. Another
child seems to be somewhat obsessed with the Lion King and only wants animals in front
of her that can be found in the movie. I move over to the table with the modeling clay and
watch as two boys surround plastic animals with clay. I wonder whether they are doing
this so that the other child who wanted all the animals from the movie cannot find these
particular ones!
At this point I begin to take notice of the documentation in the room related to animals.
There is a web, there is graph “what is your favourite animal” (zoo animals are the
obvious favourite). There is a chart of zoo animals with beautifully drawn pictures and
related observations about these animals. I'm not sure whether these are the children’s
observations or the teachers. Outside the classroom is a record of a discussion held with