Through teacher facilitation one poignant concept shared during The Oval is co-created orally between teacher/students. As the sentence is constructed, children help stretch out sounds while the teacher scribes the words on a spiral tablet (24 X 18). A simple illustration accompanies the text to support its meaning. This document of learning is the Morning Discovery (10 minutes).
The Morning Discovery begins with a sentence and gradually increases with complexity as the year progresses. Typically, one word is highlighted in a contrasting color, bringing focus to new vocabulary the teacher wants to develop. Illustrations that accompany the Morning Discovery are drawn by the teacher and then gradually released to the children, with support if needed, to complete.
The content chosen to be written on the tablet is a reflection of what the teacher feels would most benefit the class as a whole (e.g. capturing new learning, connecting a previous concept in a different context), or an individual child (e.g. new learning from one of your least experienced children).
Capturing children’s new discoveries and rich language in print is at the forefront of instruction, making talk permanent so learning can be revisited time and time again (see New Structures that Draw out Wonder Discover Feel).
