“Ohh I have a important idea, should I put it in my bubble catcher?”
A bubble catcher is a place for an ideas to grow and form.
As the class and I were discussing the novel, Under the Mountain, one of the children had a thought he wanted to remember later.
“Yes of course what a brilliant way to keep track of your ideas..”
Since that day, it’s been like a light has gone off in my class’s head. The kids have started to jot ideas down without me asking them.
Better yet, they are using the principles of sketchnoting to help them remember key points.
During the read aloud, most of the class are now quite content to doodle away as I read the novel.
It’s now a ritual for my class come back from morning snack.
The kids gather their tools and sit on the mat. I read to the class while children while they doodle their thoughts and feelings about the book.
The best bit?
I didn’t ask the children to do any of this.
But what I do give the kids is time and space to explore their thoughts for each other before moving on.
Key points:
When kids lead learning, it becomes so much more powerful.
‘Downtime’ doesn’t need to look the same. Music and relaxation is one way to set the scene for learning. However listening to a story, doodling are also avenues to calming bodies and minds.
How else can we set the scene for learning after periods of play?
Teaching the Teacher 