‘Discovering the glue plant’
One sunny afternoon I was playing with a small group of children in our nursery garden.
Rahima: Do you remember when Richard found a long hard branch by the cherry tree? I wonder if we can find any more today.
I look up at the branches. Richard notices and smiles and joins the group in looking.
Rahima: I can see the exact branch that had snapped off.
I point at the tip and look closely - Richard and the children move closer.
Richard: Let me hold it and check.
He looks carefully with the other children.
Hamza: Oh yes! Look it’s white inside, white blood!
Richard: That’s not blood, it’s glue… white glue. But the glue has finished now. It won't have any more glue, it turned dry.
Rahima: Oh yes, I can see the glue now Richard - what happened to all the glue to make it dry?
Richard: It dried up.
Rahima: Look at the tip - it’s dark and crispy. I think something’s happened to this branch.
Hamza: When the sun goes down it makes them dry.
Rahima: Oh, so when there's a lot of sun and it’s hot, it makes it sticky and gluey?
Hamza: No when it’s really hot it dries.
Rahima: Ooooh, it’s the opposite then …
Richard: Yeah, the opposite! I can see it… look it’s old.
Rahima: It’s old….? What can we see that makes it old?
We look together, rotating the branch.
Richard: It’s gone hard
Rahima: Oh yes, I can see it’s gone hard and crispy, and dark in colour. This one is old.
Richard: If you look down, this one will have glue inside. (Richard points to a branch that looks new - like it’s very recently fallen off the tree).
Rahima: So, you think this will have glue inside?
Richard: Yes.
Rahima: Shall we test this theory and see if it does?
We begin to snap the ‘new’ branch and discover a sticky white liquid coming out.
Richard: See! More glue!
Rahima: Oh yes - we’ve discovered more glue! I think this is the tree sap running from the root. Lots of trees have this white sap which is very sticky like glue. I wonder if this means all trees and plants have this same sticky sap. Are all plants, glue plants?
When Richard started nursery, his mum was worried about his learning and development, particularly his communication. She noticed that he wasn’t talking as much as children his age and preferred to use sounds and body gestures to express himself. He avoided others and engaged in independent, imaginative play - his favourite being dinosaurs.
I thought it was important to develop a warm and nurturing relationship with Richard, so I spent a lot of time noticing his interests and joining in with his play (being careful not to take over).
The ShREC approach guided me: sharing my attention with his style of play, commenting on his actions and things he could see and hear around him, helping to begin short bursts of back and forth conversations.
I made it clear to Richard that I recognised his love of being outdoors - he felt proud of his knowledge of the garden and nature. Over time Richard became familiar with me and seemed to develop a sense of trust.
Having a deeper understanding of Richard’s interests, I was able to be intentional in my teaching approach, supporting his communication through Sustained Shared Thinking (SST). The REPEY report (Researching Early Pedagogy in the Early Years) describes Sustained Shared Thinking (SST) as
‘An episode in which two or more individuals “work together” in an intellectual way to solve a problem, clarify a concept, evaluate activities, extend narrative etc. Both parties must contribute to the thinking, and it must be developed and extended’.
As you can see in our conversation, Richard and I worked together, contributing our ideas and coming to conclusions. Our conversation also offered repeated opportunities for Richard to interact with his peers and work together, discovering new and exciting concepts.
SST supports children to be more curious – making hypotheses, checking them out and drawing conclusions. It also enables adults to learn more about a child’s ways of thinking, understanding and knowledge.
Reflections on SST in your practice:
- Do you ensure that SST happens regularly in your setting? How do you include all children?
- Does your team work together to further your skills in SST? Using video recordings of each other’s interactions can work well.