The documentation concerns an activity called “Stacking cups & investigating counting.” The documentation provides both pictures of the child being engaged in the activity in question and the comments made by the child. The documentation enables one to determine different types of learning which took place during the activity. For instance, in one of the pictures presented as part of the documentation, it is visible that the child had written down five lines representing the five cups that they later stacked. Such an activity corresponds to one of the overall expectations, which is the ability to “demonstrate an understanding of numbers, using concrete materials to explore and investigate counting, quantity, and number relationships” (“The overall,” 2019). The documentation also presented a quote of the child containing his analytical conclusion about his cup construction falling due to being tall. Such a piece of information indicates another overall expectation, namely, that the activity enabled the child to “use the processes and skills of an inquiry stance (i.e., questioning, planning, predicting, observing, and communicating)” (“The overall,” 2019). Thus, the child demonstrated the ability to exhibit activities corresponding to overall expectations belonging to two frames.
Specifically, the documentation contains evidence in support of the idea that the cup-stacking activity addresses the two overall expectation frames, demonstrating literacy and mathematics behaviors and problem-solving and innovating. For instance, the documentation pictures of the child drawing lines representing the cups they plan on stacking point to the child’s advanced understanding of numbers as abstract entities. Essentially, the child was able to relate materials, cups, numbers, and lines; therefore, the activity can be considered an effective exercise for children to learn basic counting skills. At the same time, the documentation also features a quote where the child states, “It is like magic because cups can roll and mine didn’t” (“The overall,” 2019). Such a phrase indicates that the child managed to engage in analytical reasoning and to note one of the characteristics of objects, such as cups. Therefore, the activity stimulates scientific inquiry in children encouraging them to solve problems.
The activity in question also can be further adjusted to target even more overall expectations and integrate additional elements. For instance, the child can be asked to measure the height of certain objects or people using the cups. Specifically, the child can measure their own height in cups and then record the number on paper. Such activity will enable the child to further develop their mathematical skills and abilities. There is also an option of introducing new materials in addition to cups, such as blocks. The child can be asked to build structures out of blocks and cups and then count the number of each type of material used. Although the documentation in question features certain interesting elements about the activity, it cannot be considered to have high quality. The documentation fails to provide a more detailed overview of the activity and lacks a clear description of the exercise. Moreover, the authors also could add more quotes from the child in order to show how the activity stimulated their learning.
Reference
The overall expectations in the kindergarten program, by frame. (2019). Ontario. Web.