Mind Map on Life Cycles

Below is a mind map I have created around the big idea of life cycles. In this mind map, I’ve included three curriculum-learning areas such as science and technology, mathematics, and the arts. Within the learning areas, I had developed an idea of what children might learn or explore during an investigation of life cycles when it comes to pumpkins. Along with the learning areas, I have provided a few learning outcomes the children might achieve during the exploration and investigating the children participate in. This mind map shows educators the big idea of life cycles and how it can be taken into a variety of curriculum learning areas while making it an exciting and fun experience for the children.

Communicating about Life Cycles

             Communication is an important aspect in a child’s development. It is with communication that children are able to express how they feel and what they are thinking about. When talking about life cycles, the children can share their thoughts on what they think, what they know and what they have learned through exploring and investigating. There are a few ways in which children can display and express their thoughts. One way would be through using art as a way of communicating. The children may draw or paint pictures to represent what they have learned throughout the process of the investigation. Within the art curriculum learning area, the children may have the opportunity to communicate their understanding of something by representing their ideas and feelings through visual art, for example drawing or painting the life cycle of a pumpkin (Ministry of Ontario, 2010, p. 156). The children may show that they understand the life cycle the pumpkin undergoes throughout its growing process. They may also draw out and label the parts of the pumpkin for example, the skin, the seeds and the stem.

 (picture from http://mrsmyerskindergarten.blogspot.ca/2013/11/pumpkins-investigaion.html)

            The children may also explore the characteristics of the pumpkin, such as the colour, texture and shape. When looking at a pumpkin, the children may have the chance to feel and notice the texture that the pumpkin has. Within the art curriculum learning area, the children may further explore the different elements of design in visual arts for example, the line, colour, shape and texture of the pumpkin (Ministry of Ontario, 2010, p. 153). The children may draw out a pumpkin and use close to the same colours when colouring in the pumpkin. They may also use either a pumpkin or an object to create a texture to their picture they drew of the pumpkin.

(picture from http://mrsmyerskindergarten.blogspot.ca/2013/11/pumpkins-investigaion.html)

They can use the picture of the pumpkins they drew in order to display what they have learned compared to what they had already known. The children can use the experiences they have had either at home or in school and make connections between what they know already and what they want to know more about. The children may reflect on what they have learned and focus on what they want to know more about. This is where as an educator, it is essential to take in this information as it could potentially lead to another investigation or project, either about pumpkins or about the life cycle of other living things in nature.

(picture from http://mrsmyerskindergarten.blogspot.ca/2013/11/pumpkins-project.html)

Investigating Life Cycles

Children have curious minds and need to further explore all the questions that come to their minds. It is important to provide the children with a chance to investigate the questions that pop into their minds. When it comes to the big idea of a life cycle, the children might pose questions such as what stages a pumpkin goes through or how a pumpkin becomes a pumpkin?

(picture from http://mrsmyerskindergarten.blogspot.ca/2013/11/pumpkins-project.html)

The children can plant their own pumpkins starting with a seed. With this, the children can physically see how a pumpkin goes from the tiny seed into a big vegetable. The children may have the opportunity to communicate and record results and finds after constructing things either individually or in groups within the science and technology curriculum learning area (Ministry of Ontario, 2010, p. 119). The children can see what is occurring during the life cycle process as their seed grows into a flower and then to a pumpkin. They can document each step and communicate their findings with each other or on their own.

(picture from http://mrsmyerskindergarten.blogspot.ca/2013/11/pumpkins-investigaion.html)

Children might also pose questions such as how tall is a pumpkin or does the size of a pumpkin determine the amount of seeds that come inside. This is where mathematics would come in to place. In the mathematics curriculum learning area, the children may sort, classify, and compare objects and describe the attributes used when grouping the size of the seeds (Ministry of Ontario, 2010, p. 110). The children can have the experience of taking out the seeds from the pumpkin and sorting them by size while also counting how many were inside.

(picture from http://mrsmyerskindergarten.blogspot.ca/2013/11/pumpkins-investigaion.html)

With mathematics the children can also measure the width and height of different sized pumpkins. They can compare the results found and communicate their thoughts on what they discovered. Within the mathematics curriculum learning area, they children may compare and order two or more objects according to an appropriate measure such as height and weight of the pumpkins (Ministry of Ontario, 2010, p. 102). The children may come up with predictions and questions on why some pumpkins grew larger than others and why some pumpkins were tiny. It is with these questions that can lead the investigation further into the life cycle process. They can plant their own pumpkin seeds and use different techniques such as fertilizer or more sunlight.

(picture from http://mrsmyerskindergarten.blogspot.ca/2013/11/pumpkins-project.html)

Exploring the Life Cycle

            Starting the exploration for an investigation around the big idea of a life cycle, it is important to keep in mind that the interests of the child need to be followed.  It is essential to a constructivist classroom, that the curriculum is focused and guided by the children and their interests rather than the teacher. With the life cycle, the children can explore the characteristics a pumpkin has and the stages they go through as they grow from a seed to a flower to an orange pumpkin. In the Science and technology curriculum learning area, the children will have the chance to investigate the seeds that are found in the pumpkins. They will have the opportunity to make predictions and observations before and after this investigation (Ministry of Ontario, 2010, p. 119). In the blog written by Darla Myers mentioned in a previous post, her children had come up with questions based on how many seeds a pumpkin will have and if the size of the pumpkin means it will have more seeds inside. 

(picture from http://mrsmyerskindergarten.blogspot.ca/2013/11/pumpkins-investigaion.html)

The children might develop more questions while further exploring the pumpkins. The life cycle of the pumpkin might come into context in the sense that the children might want to know how the pumpkin became a pumpkin. In the Science and technology curriculum learning area, the children might have the opportunity to ask questions about and describe some natural occurrences using their own observations and representations about the stages a pumpkin goes through (Ministry of Ontario, 2010, p. 115). The children may ask questions based on how a pumpkin becomes a pumpkin or how do we grow a pumpkin. As an educator, it is important to use those questions the children ask as a base line when it comes to planning investigations for the children to explore.

 (picture from http://mrsmyerskindergarten.blogspot.ca/2013/11/pumpkins-investigaion.html)