Valentine’s Day is a very low-key affair at our school. Some years the children are oblivious to Valentine’s Day, but then after the event there is a flurry of activity making love notes. Other years we are so engrossed in projects and investigations that this holiday is irrelevant in the classroom. Every year is different depending on the children’s interests.
This year an interest in hearts started in January when one
of the two year olds came to our classroom with the gift of a paper heart for a
friend.
This friend was so pleased she
immediately wanted to reciprocate the gift.
She didn’t have much experience making hearts, so a teacher helped her
figure out how to draw hearts.
Before long she was making lots of hearts and teaching other children how to draw hearts.
We started to notice more children making hearts.
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| A heart made with bicycle chain |
And then when a child was missing his mother he
decided he wanted to make a heart for her.
He fashioned a heart out of a blue pipe cleaner (because “blue is her
favorite color”). He also showed other
children his technique by making pipe cleaner hearts for them.
He had such a clear idea of how to go about making these
hearts that I asked him if someone had shown him how to make hearts – how did he
come up with this idea? He replied that, “I figured it out in my brain”.
I then asked him if he could tell me more about how he came
up with the idea – I drew a circle and said, “if this is your brain, can you
show me how you figured it out?”
He started by drawing his idea for the pipe cleaner heart
inside his brain. Next he drew his
mother because he was thinking about her when he had the idea. Then he drew the process of his brain working
on the idea.
Finally he drew a picture
of his mother receiving his gift – she has a big smile.
This drawing of how an idea takes shape is a compelling
example of metacognition – thinking about thinking.
It is always thrilling to observe moments of metacognition
because we know that children who are aware of how their brains work are
actively engaged in learning, which is a critical part of being an independent
thinker.
Happy Valentine's Day!
