Our learning on Friday after break did not follow the plan, because we took a detour to explore more of the children’s questions in the moment they arose. It takes a lot of confidence to do this and a bit of skill and knowledge to do it well.
As part of our focus on vocabulary, Kiara had brought in her word, ‘colleagues’ and Mason had brought ‘prehistoric’. We used Kiara’s word to apply our reading and comprehension skills and we used Mason’s word to apply our spelling skills. We know all about suffixes and used the word prehistoric to introduce the idea of a prefix. Then the questions started about History, so we reviewed our timeline of events and realised that prehistory was a long, long time ago.
We looked at how long a lifetime was and how many lifetimes had passed since the year 0. Then the questions about the years before zero started! Luckily, our last detour had involved discussions and explorations around temperatures in space and we had developed an understanding of negative numbers. This prior learning meant the children found it fairly easy to grasp the concept of AD and BC in relation to years and so were able to attain a better understanding of what history and prehistory meant.
It took a bit of time away from our literacy session, but it was well worth it, as learning in the moment, when the children’s needs and interests are evident, is far stronger than simply following my plan for what I want them to be able to do.