House of Dreams Oral Expression
What similarities and differences were experienced by the children compared with yours? The children also see people on the roof, they think one of the children is a girl, but that the other is a boy. They think the children will fall from the roof, I did not think that. They also think it might rain because of the black clouds, something I had not thought of. One child thinks, like me, that it is night time. One child thinks the children are relaxing, similar to what I thought as they gazed up. They also notice the moon, sky, stars, the women putting the blanket on the bed. One child notices a baby, some think it is a toy, I had not seen that at all. One child also notices the cross and another points out how you always have to be with God/Jesus when there is a cross, similar to my thinking that they are religious. They also notice the dresser like I did, one child calls it a gabeta. They think that is where they put the blanket for baby Jesus. Their wonderings are different from mine, they wonder why the children are on the roof, I thought they were there to look at the sky. Another child wonders how the painting was made. Eventually another child asks why are the girls on the roof, similar to my thinking that both children are girls. One little girl points out how the thing on either side of the cross is probably a rosary, like her mother has in their home, I simply thought it was a decoration and did not make such a plausible connection. What thinking routines did they use and what habits of mind did they promote? They used see, think, wonder thinking routines, and made connections to their own experiences. They used habits of minds such as persistence, listening to others, thinking flexibly, thinking about our thinking, questioning and posing problems, applying past knowledge, as well as creating, imagining, and innovating.Where do we go with this lesson? This lesson could easily be flowed into one regarding nature and it’s functions. The children begin debating whether the sun is about to come out or not. One child points out how the sky would be orange, others say otherwise. This would be the perfect opportunity to introduce how the Earth rotates around the Sun and similar concepts. What curriculum decisions would you take if this was your classroom? If this were my classroom I would expand on this lesson by having the children write out their own stories to the painting and then have them share it with their classmates and family. They could then find similarities and differences in the stories they wrote and those of their classmates. Creating more discussions that could be expanded on and into other lessons.