In Chapter 4 of Purposeful Play, the Early Years team explored and reflected on ways to facilitate effective collaboration within our ISNS community. Collaboration is more than sitting next to one another. Collaboration is thinking together while working toward a common goal, problem solving and making personal connections by empathizing with one another. One of the best ways to help students develop these skills is through play! Play that is self-chosen and self-directed helps students to figure out rules and the compromises needed to keep everyone engaged and happy if they want to continue to play. Our EY educators work hard to provide a balance between different types of play to foster collaboration while observing and taking note of areas students need to develop. Our staff also model collaboration by working together to plan and reflect on teaching and learning happening across the EY Programme. 

Collaboration in

K3

In K3, we work on developing our social skills, this a is a key part of collaboration. Students read together, build together, create together and even share together. They are their own community, working together to create a homey environment by collaborating. 

Collaboration in

K4

When we read a story, we captured the word  'fort'. Students were asking " What is FORT?" Hmmm.... That's how our FORT PROJECT began! First students collected all the fabric we had.  They had to communicate with each other to hold, pull and get the clips to build the fort. Students wanted to nap in the fort. There was so much excitement that a waiting list was created! The building center play became a whole class construction project.

Here are some examples of the communication that was happening during this learning experience: