Entering our school chickens in the local agricultural show involved our children and their families in an important cultural event in their community and provided an excellent learning experience.
LEARNING CONTEXT
The annual Eggleston Agricultural Show is a major event in the Teesdale farming calendar. Every year it draws the rural community together, providing the opportunity for farmers to showcase livestock and produce, horse riders to compete and locals to enter their home produce for judging.
Many of the children at our Foundation Stage Unit attend this event with their families, so we decided to enter our chickens in the Poultry Class, and give the children greater involvement in the show. Before entering, we knew our chickens had to be 'show ready', but neither staff nor children knew what to do, so we invited local chicken expert Edwin Parkin to give us advice.
We are the proud owners of four chickens, named by the children as Twinkle, Garfield, Obama and Bingo. They are the product of a topic on lifecycles last year.
Our initial intention was to observe the 21-day hatching process, keep the chicks for a few days and return them to the farm. However, we didn't realise just how attached the staff and children and would become to our little brood.
The chickens are now an integral part of our unit. Digging experiences outside now have an added purpose - finding worms to feed to the hens! Our compost bin receives the chicken droppings for added fertiliser to feed our vegetable patch, and just sitting watching the hens creates a calming environment for all.
OBSERVATIONS
Armed with an old toothbrush, damp cloth and a hairdryer, Mr Parkin gave a practical demonstration on how to clean a chicken for judging. He ended by producing a tin of Vaseline and massaging it into the chicken's comb and legs. The children were captivated by the demonstration, and fully absorbed in the learning.
Mr Parkin also outlined the judging process, explaining the positioning of first, second and third. This has to be one of the more novel ways that we have introduced the concept of ordinal numbers.
He showed us photos of his own winning chickens and their rosettes, explaining that they were only presented to the best chicken in the show.
After the visit we invited the children to reflect on the demonstration and share their thoughts.
Katy: 'A man came here to tell us how to wash chickens because we didn't know how to wash the chickens because when they go to the Eggleston Show, they have to be nice and pretty.'
Holly: 'I washed their legs and they felt quite rumpley!'
George: 'The rosettes is for the shiniest chickens. Red is for first, the second is blue and third is yellow.'
Nicky: 'A man came to wash the chickens and to hold the chickens. He told me they were all ladies and that they were healthy. He brought some pictures of the hens for us to look at and he brought some medals. How do these go on the chickens?'
EVALUATIONS
Making children's learning more visible by really listening and documenting their ideas and thoughts is a fascinating process. As a staff team we discuss this evidence as part of the observation, assessment and planning cycle.
It often reveals interesting and unexpected insights into a child's interpretation of events. For example, Nicky's query about how the rosettes or 'medals' would attach to a chicken reveals to us his understanding, based on his current knowledge and experience. Naturally, he assumed that just as he wears his winning ribbons at sports day, logically, the winning chicken would wear their rosettes too! What a lot that tells us about Nicky's thought processes and thinking skills.
It was clear from our observations and discussions that the children had really engaged with our visitor and retained lots of new information relevant to the visit. Inviting visitors into a setting is a great way to stimulate interest in a new learning context or topic, especially when it links to real experiences in the lives of the children.
Visitors provide variety and give children the opportunity to practise their speaking. It is refreshing for children to see that adults do not know all the answers and sometimes, we have to ask someone else for advice. Certainly none of the staff knew how to show chickens, so it truly was a shared learning experience.
And the chickens? They came first, second and third in the show and we are now the proud owners of a winning cup. But no rosettes ... maybe next year?
Tessa Fenoughty is foundation stage teacher at Middleton-in-Teesdale Primary School, Co Durham
VISITORS TO YOUR SETTING
Visitors to your setting can provide meaningful contexts for learning and broaden children's experience. They come with expertise that the staff team may lack. The advantage of inviting a visitor into your setting, rather than going out with the children, is that there is less burdensome organisation and there's no expense in travel costs. One-off visitors do not need an enhanced police check to visit your setting, but they do need to be escorted by a member of staff at all times to ensure that safeguarding policies are met.
See also 'Planning a visit'
LEARNING OUTCOMES
- Speaking and listening
- Responding to significant experiences
- Ordinal numbers
- Cultural events, life cycles