​This seemed like a powerful idea worth trying, so I had a go. Here is a summary of my experience and some advice for those who are interested in exploring this approach:

The Set-Up:

1. Intentionally select materials, but do not be attached to any particular product or outcome:  I selected materials that the children were familiar with, but combined them in new ways. The materials connected to our Kindergarten learning outcomes and benchmarks, but I did not set a particular goal or learning outcome for the experience. 
2. Plan teacher questions: Just like we do in our PYP Planners, I brainstormed some possible teacher questions that I may pose to children during the activity. I ended up asking many more questions than are listed below, but it was helpful to have a framework and idea of possible learning directions. 

Observation & Documentation:
Taking photos and scribbling notes helped me to focus my lines of questioning. They also served as helpful pieces for my assessment & interpretations after the event. When reviewing the photos I actually noticed some things that I hadn't earlier!  

Reflections & Planning Next Steps:
The most important thing about observation and documentation is doing something with it! The skills, strategies, and concepts I observed students exploring were used as assessment data in terms of charting students' achievement in the context of our Kindergarten learning outcomes and benchmarks, as well as planning differentiated next steps in learning.
​

​Observations & Interpretations: 
Students were...

• tracing & copying dominoes (counting & one to one correspondence) 
• matching dominoes that had the same total number of dots displayed differently (representing numbers in different ways) 
• counting dots and writing the numeral (representing numbers in different ways) 
• counting dots and finding matching numeral card (representing numbers in different ways) 
• ordering dominoes (concept of more, less, and number order) 
• combining dots on dominoes and writing addition sentences (number facts to 12, counting from 1, counting on, + and = symbols)  

Observations & Interpretations: 
Students were...

• placing pegs, counting, and matching to numeral card (counting, one to one correspondence, and representing numbers in different ways) 
• counting holes and placing pegs up to 100 (organized counting & one to one correspondence) 
• realizing that there are 10 holes in each column & row: "10 groups of 10!" (organizing large groups of objects for counting + concepts of addition & pre-multiplication)
• making colour patterns (patterning) 
• forming numerals and matching them to number cards (number formation)
• designing a forest and river: "It's like in Little Red Riding Hood" (making connections to other curriculum areas)

Wow! I was amazed at what my students could do. Most (if not all) were capable of counting higher and engaging with concepts (like addition and number sentences) that I hadn't observed yet. It was incredible to see students challenging themselves at their own personal level (self-differentiation) and with complete independence. Going forward, I am interested in experimenting with open-ended math centres as a context for summative assessment. 

​This feedback is important to me because:

1. I am absolutely touched and honoured by it, and
2. It really caused me to think about my practice and our learning community in a more extended way. 

Often when I think about the learning community, I think about students, families and teaching staff. But what about the rest of the community? Are they not also part of the learning (and feedback) process?

The feedback our auntie gave made me consider who I look to and seek out for feedback. It made me wonder: Can this be extended? To who? How? 

As Dylan Wiliam says "Feedback should cause thinking". And indeed, the best feedback always makes me think. It clarifies and consolidates. It urges me to probe further, wonder more, and extend in new directions. ​And last week, for me, this feedback did just that.

This article offers a solution to the portfolio reflection problem: SCAFFOLD! And why shouldn't we? We support children's learning in other areas with this strategy, so why not in the case of metacognition and portfolios?

On page 40-43 of the article, Velez Laski explains three phases we can support children through towards the aim of independence in portfolio reflections:

• Model and Think Aloud
• Conference and Co-Construct
• Independent Self-Assessment and Articulation of Thinking About Thinking 

I liked these ideas so much that I adapted the advice and created a 'cheat sheet' for easy reference when supporting students with their reflections.

Since adapting my approach I have noticed a great difference in the quality and depth of student reflections on their work. I have also been surprised by how quickly students have been able to develop their independence and ability to self-assess through the process. 

So, the routine needed to be re-thought. There is still a calendar in my classroom. Months, days and dates are still marked. This time though, it's all of them. Now our calendar is a co-constructed piece which evolves every day. The main purpose is not counting and temporal time, but rather reflection and the recording of community events. We look at our calendar in our Afternoon Meeting and discuss what happened during our school day. The Special Helper chooses one or more significant events and draws a picture on the date card.

The biggest difference? Now children are engaged in self-motivated and personally-meaningful dialogue around this shared tool - not just memorized songs and scripted conversations.

Check out these great reads on classroom calendar routines for more inspiration:

• 'Calendar Time for Young Children - Good Intentions Gone Awry' (Beneke, Ostrosky, Katz - Young Children, May 2008)
  
• 'Rethinking Calendar Routines. Is it time? Yep.' (Mardelle Sauerborn, Weeds in the Garden)

 Try it and see how the self-regulation and interpersonal skills that are discovered and demonstrated through the process are also extended to other areas or learning and interaction. 

We still have one 'Special Helper' everyday who leads our class line and organizes the Morning Meeting. This person also lends an extra helping hand to any other incidental tasks, but, in general, the culture in our classroom is that everyone is responsible for everything all the time. We are all responsible for recognizing when the recycling needs to be emptied. We are all responsible for keeping track of when the plants need to be watered. 

In the past, I found that designated classroom jobs didn't really work to support the class community and environment I wanted. While they did give everyone a sense of responsibility eventually, they narrowed it to one area and encouraged those without classroom jobs to 'check out'.

A few key issues I noticed about the chart:

• It publicly shamed children
• It was a point of comparison between children in conversations and friendships
• It wasn't developing authentic self-regulation   
• It glossed over real conversations between teacher and student about feelings and choices 

Now, there is no behaviour chart in my classroom. No traffic light, no stickers, no happy and sad faces. Instead, we emphasize supportive group dialogue, private conversations, and trusting relationships.  

Check out these great reads on class management for more inspiration:

• 'Beyond the Stoplight' blog
• Behaviour Management: Not Systems, But Relationships (Amy Night, Miss Night's Marbles)

In a 1992 interview with Vea Vecchi, Loris Malaguzzi explained: 

"The piazza does more than extend the classrooms for it encourages many different encounters and activities, and we assign still other purposes to it. For us it represents the main square of the Italian city, a space where people meet, speak to one another, discuss and engage in politics, conduct business, do street theater, and stage protests. The piazza is a place of continuous passage, where the quality of exchange becomes more intense, whether among children or adults. The more they meet, the more ideas circulate among adults and children. We might say that the piazza is a place where ideas arrive and depart."
(The Hundred Languages of Children, Second Edition, p. 164-165)

I December 2014 I wrote a post on my class blog about how Discovery Time had evolved in our classroom. I was excited by what I was observing during our Discovery Time sessions:

• High levels of student engagement 
• Commitment to a project or activity over an extended period of time
• Participation in activities with personal significance & connections to lived experiences 
• Cooperation and collaboration when personal interests merged into group projects 
• Independence (students taking out materials for themselves, solving problems) 

Something kept nagging at me though that I couldn't quite make sense of or even form into questions until recently:

To remedy this imbalance, I went back to an approach quite similar to what I had before: extended periods of uninterrupted free play time in the morning. I keep our schedule almost completely unplanned for these morning sessions until we find a natural time to break for our Morning Meeting (where students have the option to share their play and project work) and then snack. Some mornings this time is significantly shorter and sometimes it extends for a very long time - the schedule is all dependent on that active explorations and interests that are in motion that day. Of course there is also space throughout the whole day for divergence from the teacher's 'planned possibilities' if an important learning opportunity emerges.

While I'm now nearly back to what I did originally, the experience has had positive results:

• I have refined my documentation process and strategies for students' personal projects and inquiries. 
• I have evolved and strengthened the pedagogy of listening (careful observation) that exists in my classroom. 
• More than ever, I respect children's personal timelines and the natural moments that arise during the day for authentic discovery. I am re-committed to the idea of flexible scheduling and emergent inquiries. 
• I continue to experiment with finding the ideal balance between free play, child-led time (personal projects or class-developed emergent inquiries), and teacher-directed time. (It is of course critical for children's development and feelings of security and safety that some parts of the day remain routined and dependable).