Learning Overview

My final 15-day professional experience placement at Artemis Early Learning Centre was a transformative culmination of my degree. Under the outstanding mentor Shristi Sharma, I was welcomed into a warm, culturally rich preschool room where children’s rights, play-based learning, and family partnerships are lived values. From day one, Shristi gave me genuine responsibility: co-planning, leading group times, posting learning stories on OWNA, and eventually leading the entire indoor/outdoor sessions. The most powerful learning emerged when children repeatedly discovered mini-beasts outdoors, leading to a week-long emergent inquiry that became the heart of my practice evidence.

Teaching Program

The children’s spontaneous discovery of slaters, worms, and snails under logs became an authentic STEM/sustainability/Reconciliation inquiry titled “Who Lives Outside With Us?”. I immediately adapted the weekly program (handwritten planning attached) to include:

  • Outdoor observation stations with magnifying glasses and clipboards
  • Cardboard bug hotels (engineering)
  • Daily worm monitoring and bean planting
  • Scavenger hunts

I intentionally integrated book reading as a foundational tool to spark and sustain children's curiosity, particularly in emergent inquiries like our mini-beasts and garden exploration. For instance, after the children discovered slaters and worms outdoors, I intentionally select storybook such as The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle and The Scariest Thing in the Garden by Stephanie Wildman to bridge their real-world wonder with literacy. These books were read during group times, followed by co-created extensions (such as planting bean seeds inspired by Jack and the Beanstalk), which deepened engagement and demonstrated how literature acts as a scaffold for interest-led learning. Research shows that intentional, interactive reading fosters children's intrinsic motivation and interest by providing vicarious experiences that mirror their explorations, enhancing vocabulary, comprehension, and conceptual understanding (Mol & Bus, 2011).