February is a month that celebrates family, love and friendship! Of all these things, I am extremely fortunate to have so many inspiring colleagues that are also wonderful friends. Within the realm of education, practices and pedagogy are constantly evolving and it is because of these friends that I continue to push my own thinking and learning, reflect, and take risks for myself, my program and with my students. Whether it be lunchtime conversations, after-school workshops or casual coffee dates, three friends in particular have allowed me to pave new roads in my journey which I couldn't be more excited about!

Trista Dutt, Joanne Babalis, Vanessa Bianchi, and myself are all teachers, bloggers and passionate risk-takers who have enjoyed connecting as colleagues but also as friends, through networks like #CTInquiry: Connected through inquiry: A curious community of learners, social media (twitter, blogs), and in person.    

“Four-ever Inspired” was created out of these unique, organic and inspiring conversations and connections that I've been fortunate enough to have created over the last four years of teaching within the York Region District School Board. To begin this exciting new chapter, the ladies of Fourever Inspired met at the Indigo Starbucks in Yorkdale Mall to brainstorm, collaborate and develop a plan for what we wanted our blogging community to be about...

A mosaic of creativity, learning and dreaming.

Each member of Fourever Inspired is colourful, creative, and dynamic in their own unique way. But...when together, the colours, creativity and passion that comes alive paints the most beautiful picture of collaborative learning.

-Vanessa Bianchi-

The Evolving Educator

Vanessa Bianchi is an educator for the York Region District School Board, who is currently serving as a Grade 5 Homeroom Teacher. Through various leadership opportunities, workshops, conferences and collaborative efforts with colleagues, she has gained an interest in building positive and collaborative climates within the school environment. This collaboration allows for the design of intriguing spaces for students and teachers to learn, as well as construct curricular expectations around student-interest and passions, allowing for a dynamic educational experience.

Vanessa Bianchi and I became quick friends while teaching at the same school for the past three years. She is an extremely passionate, dedicated and driven Junior/Intermediate teacher, and we discovered quickly that we had lots in common and shared philosophies when it came to teaching, friendship, love and life. Our journey together as educators and friends continues to grow as we bounce ideas off each other constantly, share the many celebrations going on in our classrooms, and seek outside learning opportunities to fuel our passions.

-Trista Dutt-

Kindie Korner

Trista Dutt has a degree in Early Childhood Education, as well as her Bachelor of Education in Primary/Junior divisions and Kindergarten Specialist. She is currently teaching FDK at Moraine Hills PS, where she is a K-2 Lead Teacher and Learning @ Schools Classroom. She is passionate about the early years and exploring the world of play- and inquiry-based learning.

Trista and I had the privilege of meeting each other four years ago when we both landed our permanent contract positions with the York Region District School Board. I think back then we already had inklings that we would be seeing each other lots in the future! We were fortunate to be involved in a collaborative Math Hub with our two schools at the time which led to some wonderful new learning as we began our kindergarten journeys. I was instantly drawn to how passionate and knowledgeable Trista was, how eager she was to take risks in her learning and try new things within her program. We soon came to realize that we had lots of mutual friends within the field and I feel very lucky to have her within my Professional Learning Network.

-Joanne Marie Babalis-

TransformEd: Transforming our Learning Environment into a Space of Possibilities

Joanne Marie Babalis is a Teacher-Librarian, Early Years/Inquiry Lead Teacher, PhD student, and Kindergarten Additional Qualification instructor at York University.  She is passionate about designing spaces that inspire inquiry-based learning and creative innovation for twenty-first century learners.  Her blog, "TransformEd: Transforming our Learning Environment into a Space of Possibilities" www.myclassroomtransformation.blogspot.ca continues to reach educators throughout Canada and beyond. With each post, she hopes to make visible the power of inquiry, as well as the strong potential of all learners.

I was first introduced to the incredible work of Joanne Babalis by my old teaching partner, Heidi Theis who was an avid follower of her blog. After visiting Joanne's first Open House session, I witnessed firsthand the endless possibilities that classroom environments and the kindergarten curriculum can have on our youngest learners and how the practise of inquiry-based learning can have such a profound impact within the walls of our classrooms.

And so the journey begins...

We look forward to having you follow our journey!

Reflectively Yours,

#4EverInspired

xoxo

“Four” more on the ladies of Fourever Inspired and the unique stories that brought them together, including those essential “work bag” items...

...visit Vanessa’s post, “Fourever Inspired: A Collaboration”: http://www.vanessabianchi.com

...visit Trista's post, “The Start of Something Truly Inspirational”: http://www.kindiekorner.blogspot.ca

...visit Joanne’s post, “4Ever Friends”: http://www.myclassroomtransformation.blogspot.ca

What's in my work bag?

Kate Spade Spiral Notebook, Michael Kors Glasses, iPad Air with iPad Air Smart Cover, MacBook Air, Learning in the Early Years (ETFOpley professional resource), Classroom Keys, Staedtler Coloured Pens, Sharpie Highlighter and Pen.

Enjoy the show!

Over the last few weeks, our socio-dramatic play area in our classroom has undergone a transformation from a very successful bakery to a movie theatre! The reason I wanted to highlight this on the blog was because it has truly allowed for our students to build on their imagination through play, incorporate rich and meaningful learning opportunities for both literacy and mathematics, and lastly, "spark" our students' ownership over their learning space! It is truly inspiring to witness our youngest learners so eager and excited to take charge in their learning and, as an educator, it couldn't feel more rewarding to support them throughout the process!

Here are some highlights from our transformation; all of which have been led by students' interests and ideas and supported by us as a teaching team:

After brainstorming ideas for our dramatic play area, students then voted on the one they wanted! 

Movie Theatre was a clear win! Students enjoyed analyzing our collected data and even made a list of students who had yet to vote due to their absence! It was wonderful to watch them take such pride on ensuring the decision-making process was inclusive of all students!

Students began brainstorming as a team what our movie theatre needs and what sorts of materials we will need to create! A list of movies that they wanted to have playing in our theatre was also co-created!

After posing this question to students: 

"What special jobs does our movie theatre need?" 

students came up with the following:

1. Ticket Agent

2. Ticket Taker

3. Popcorn and Drink Maker

4. Customer

5. Poster Maker

Afterwards, we brainstormed what materials we could use that were already in our classroom that could help our movie theatre feel more "real"! Our students' imagination continues to amaze us as they thought of 

some of the following materials:

- small cups and large cups

- variety of cubes (linking cubes and wooden cubes)

- baking trays

- tissue for the napkins

- clipboards

A special thank you to Jennifer Tompkins, an FDK Teacher at Bond Lake Public School, for inspiring us to use linking cubes for our popcorn! Our students have easily named the "yellow" ones as buttery popcorn and the "white" ones as plain popcorn!

Students have truly taken on the various roles throughout our movie theatre! Their dialogue, exchanging of ideas, teamwork and oral language skills have really helped make our theatre come to life!

So much so, that it has officially been named "Room 109 Movies!" and has a list of "rules" that we follow based on our prior knowledge!

 As part of showcasing each movie at our theatre, we really make it official by watching a short clip of the "featured" movie using our classroom's tech cart! This has really made our theatre feel real since once the clip is over, students practice leaving the theatre and tidy up as a team before 

the start of the next movie! 

Since our movie theatre was becoming so busy and popular in our classroom, we problem-solved as a team and came up with the solution that the movie space has room for only 6 chairs! In doing so, one SK decided that by keeping track of who has bought tickets (using tally marks), we can tell people when the show is "SOLD OUT!" - how awesome is that! Whoever is the "Ticket Agent" now has this responsibility added to their job! Moreover, our "Popcorn and Drink Maker" is in charge of reading each ticket order and choosing the correct size container (small or large) which has given us the opportunity to begin to explore mass and capacity!

We hope that this transformation leaves you feeling inspired to think about the ways you integrate literacy and mathematics into your dramatic play areas of your classroom! 

We hope you enjoyed the show! 

Somewhere over the rainbow...

Spring has sprung (finally!) and a lot of exciting things are unfolding in our classroom! To provide you with some context of where we are now, I'd like to highlight where we started from over a month ago whereby our students had shown a profound interest in putting on "plays." In order to honour their interests, we worked with our students to help rearrange our learning space to provoke and support their curiousity by turning one area of our classroom into a puppet theatre! After much excitement and many celebrated performances, a few students realized that we didn't have a name for our theatre! After a small group of students brainstormed some possibilities, one SK student (E.S.) decided to create a survey and collect data from her peers around what we should name our theatre based on the four collected names. 

Little did we know, that the winning name itself would shift their gears to begin inquiring about a completely new topic! "Rainbow 126" was the most popular name voted on and that has now opened the doors to our students wonderings about rainbows!

Here are a some of our colourful theories:

What does a rainbow look like?

It looks kind of like a semi-circle because a semi-circle really looks like a rainbow because it’s half of a circle. - D.K. (SK)

A rainbow is like this (makes an arch motion). It’s good because then it’s like a slide and maybe you can sleep on it! - R.V. (JK)

To make a rainbow, you need water because the word “rain” is in rainbow! 

- T.B. (SK)

I see that when rain comes you see a rainbow! It looked like there was red, orange, yellow, green, blue and pink! - J.Si. (SK)

Where do we see rainbows?

We see rainbows when there’s lots of rain and when the rain stops. We see it start on the ground and it reflects on the sky. “Reflects” means that the same things goes on that one thing. - D.K. (SK)

One time, I saw a water sprinkler and then the sun comes out and then I saw a rainbow you know? - Z.P. (SK)

I saw a rainbow in my cousin’s house. I saw it in the washroom and I caught it and then it got out of my hand. When the sun went away the rainbow did too. But then I found it again when the light comes back. - M.D. (JK)

In the sky where the sunlight is! Rainbows don’t live inside our house. Rainbows can shine on people you know? I was driving in my car and I saw it in the sky! 

-R.V. (JK)

Sometimes where it’s a beautiful rainy day and when it stops raining a rainbow appears. It looks like a beautiful rising colours in the sky! - C.S. (JK)

In the sky! It has to be day time because the sun helps and you can’t see a rainbow in the dark. - R.K. (SK)

Can you catch a rainbow?

When you touch a rainbow, it goes on your hand. It just feels like air so you can’t slide down because you’ll fall. It’s too high and there’s no oxygen there. 

- E.Sz. (SK)

No it’s because rainbows disappear after a long time and they come back when the rain stops. - R.K. (SK)

I think you can’t because rainbows are too big to get in a net and you can’t really hold a rainbow. When you touch a rainbow your hand goes right through it! It’s made of air too. - D.K. (SK)

I think it’s made out of sunlight. - S.R. (JK)

Rainbows are nothing but colours in the air. - T.L. (SK)

Some of our wonderings...

I wonder if rainbows fade and disappear? - M.P. (SK)

I wonder how the colours pop out? 

- E.S. (SK)

I wonder where rainbows come from? 

- J.H. (SK)

I wonder how a rainbow is born? 

- C.S. (JK)

I wonder why rainbows have different colours? - J.Sa. (SK)

To fast-forward a few weeks, our class has been actively engaged as Scientists as we continue to generate new theories, pose and answer our wonderings and collect information based on our discoveries and our own experiences with rainbows! Stay tuned for a post that highlights our first of many rainbow experiments! 

Who are we and where do we come from?

Over the past 3 months, our class has been inquiring about who we are and where we come from! This wonderment around "identity" and what makes each of us special and unique was something Ms. Theis and I wasted no time on exploring with our students. What started from one of our SK students leaving to visit family in Egypt before the holidays and our students wondering where Egypt was on the map, led to a multi-facted inquiry that has branched off into many authentic directions! 

A world map by T.D. (SK)

Our documentation panel 

As we began to explore our "identity," many wonderful learning opportunities began to unravel. This post will sum up in brief some of those wonderful highlights to ensure privacy is still protected for our students' and their families!

We hope you enjoy our "Highlight Reel":

1. An interview with T.B. in Egypt through Skype! 
Here are some of our questions and T.B.'s responses:

What does it look like in Egypt?
T.B.: "Plants are green and I can see the ocean and lots of pools. The weather is summer and I have been making sand castles and see the pyramids too!"

What is your favourite Egyptian food?
T.B.: "I like lots of carrots, beans and rice. It's yummy."

V.D.: "I wonder if you talk a different language?"
T.B.: "Yes, I speak Arabic!"

J.S. (SK - boy): "How many pyramids did you see in Egypt?"
T.B.: "I saw big, medium and small. There's also a guard for the pyramid to control if they're open or closed and who can go in and out and the guard has to say 'yes' or it's not safe."

2. "Whoever You Are" - by Mem Fox:
After reading this story as a Read Aloud on Wednesday afternoon to support our inquiry, our class had a very insightful discussion around what makes each of us special and unique!

"My Dad comes from Poland and my mom comes from Italy."

"My family is from Jamaica and it's hot there!"

"My family is from Sri Lanka!"

"My Dad comes from Cambodia and my Mom comes from China!"

"My family is from Canada."

"My Mom comes from the Phillipines."

"My family comes from Vietnam. I don't see rain or snow in Vietnam but I see leaves on the ground sometimes."

"People's skins are different colours because everyone's countries are different."

"Everyone speaks Indian in my country. That's my language."

"We speak Tamil at home."

"Skin colours are different and they change because of the sun you know?"

Here is a list of some other fantastic Read Alouds that we have used to support this inquiry:

"Skin Again" by Bell Hooks

"This is me and where I am" by Joanne Fitzgerald

"The Skin You Live In" by Michael Tyler, David Lee Csicsko

"The Colours of Us" by Karen Katz

"Who's in a Family?" by Robert Skutch

"Whoever You Are" by Mem Fox

3. Creating our Self Portraits out of clay:
Creating a self portrait was one way we felt our students could be invited to celebrate their identity. It was truly a remarkable experience watching them pay such close attention to the details on their face when drawing their sketches and when crafting their design out of clay! 

4. Our families on the map:
To celebrate the diversity within our classroom, one activity that drew in a lot of excitement was creating "Country Cards" and plotting ourselves on our world map in our classroom! It was so wonderful to see how multicultural our classroom is and how many unique backgrounds create the community within the walls of our learning space! Our students continue to look up and observe each other's family identities and talk about what they see! 

5. Holiday "Think Work":
Over the Holiday Break, we invited our families to share with us some of their cultural traditions! Families could create a "Country Collage" out of pictures that represent their country and/or share a recipe of a favourite cultural dish! We were beyond thrilled with the responses from our students and their families! It was also great to see our families experimenting with technology and creating their collages on PicCollage! Our plan is to create a "Class Recipe Book" including all of those shared with us as part of this Think Work activity! 

6. Our Collaborative "Who is Nobody?" Project:
Read more about this incredible project by clicking on the link:

http://whoisnobodycollaborativeproject.blogspot.ca

7. Designing Flags:
After one SK's response to her "Question of the Day" book based on the question: "If you could design your own flag, what would it look like and why?" - our students jumped at the chance of celebrating their identity by creating a flag of their very own! With the incorporation of water colours, here are their masterpieces:

Artists: D.K., C.S., G.V., E.Z.

Artists: G.B., J.H., J.S. (boy), J.S. (girl)

Artists: J.L. (boy), J.L. (girl), L.M., M.P.

Artists: M.D., P.B., R.K., R.T.

Artists: R.V., S.R., T.B., T.P.

Artists: T.D., V.D., Z.P

The above is just a snapshot into our "Identity" and "Map Inquiry"! We hope it helps to paint a picture around what has been going on inside our classroom these past few months! We truly can't wait to see where the journey takes us so stay tuned!