Welcome to an insight into our Kindergarten Discovery room. This is a collaborative learning space that is shared across 5 Kindergarten classes. It is a space dedicated to play-based learning pedagogies and discovery/inquiry learning.
Phonics Activities
The students love engaging in activities that are based around decodable words and high frequency words with irregular spellings. Repetition is key, in order to build automaticity and fluency when it comes to blending and segmenting words to read and spell.
Writing Station
The writing station is always very popular. Here, students have the opportunities to engage in pre-writing and early-writing skills, using a range of writing prompts.
Open-ended Numeracy Activities
Open-ended numeracy activities are fantastic for differentiation. Here are just a few examples of the maths activities that you might find in our Discovery Learning room!
Natural Loose Parts
Natural loose parts are a wonderful addition to any play-based learning space. Students find all sorts of open-ended ways to use these parts for literacy, maths, fine motor and creative activities. Natural loose parts are pictured here being used for transient art- a fantastic opportunity for students to think creatively and verbalise their ideas to one another.
Pretend 'School'
The 'school' section is without a doubt the most popular part of our Discovery Room. Students love the opportunity to teach their fellow peers, and in doing so, consolidate key concepts that they have been learning in the classroom with their own teachers!
Theme-based Oral Language Activities
Oral language is such an important part of developing early literacy skills. Activities with opportunities for oral language are always included in our play-based learning space, and they are often centred around learning and content themes that are being covered in class. Below is an example from our "All about Me" and "Families" unit.
Fine Motor Activities
Opportunities to develop fine motor skills are always present in our Discovery Learning room. These activities are often able to cover literacy and numeracy learning outcomes, as well as fine motor development.
Stay tuned for lots more information, research and practical tips for implementing play-based learning pedagogies!
