A SHARK'S TALE - Early Childhood Ireland

A SHARK’S TALE
During outdoor play, we noticed Jake and Matthew role playing as sharks. During the conversation
Jake said, “I’ll be a Hammerhead Shark”.

The conversation continued back in the classroom and we recognised the opportunity to provide
extended learning experiences to the whole group linking to Jake’s interest in sharks.

                                                             We sat with the children and chatted
                                                             about sharks and asked them for
                                                             ideas and suggestions of activities
                                                             they would like to do. They expressed
                                                             lots of different ideas and we
                                                             responded by planning with all the
                                                             children’s suggestions.

We set about creating our own ocean.
Jake said, “We need blue water
teacher”. We used our water pit and I
asked the children how do we get blue
water?” “We can add blue paint or
food colouring it makes the playdough
blue” said Michaela. Jake added blue
food colouring “it’s the ocean, now we
need small fish and sharks”.

“Sharks eat small fish” said Ethan. The children collected all the fish and sharks from the animal
boxes in the classroom and added them to the water. We discussed sharks and what they like to
eat and the children played in the water for the rest of the session.

At circle time we discussed our day and Jake asked, “can we make a big ocean” tomorrow. “Yes,
that would be a lovely idea” replied Carmel the room leader.

The next day we brought in blue sheets in preparation for the day ahead, and sure enough Jake
arrived asking about our ocean. When we produced the sheets all the children gathered around
and Lacey and Michaela decided to put the sheets on the ground and they pulled them and
stretched them out until they were flat.

                                                 Emily then placed some fish and sharks on the
                                                “ocean”. Carmel asked. “Is that everything we
                                                need for our ocean?” “We need sea shells” said
                                                Lacey. The children ran to the sensory area and
                                                gathered lots of shells and added them to our
                                                ocean.

Carmel “Who would like to be a shark?”
lots of excited shouts and jumping up and
down as everyone wanted to be a shark.
“How will we become a shark I wonder?”
Tanya the room assistant asked. Jake
said, “we need fins and big teeth”. Carmel
and Tanya taped triangles of card on to
Lacey’s back and she ‘swam’ in the ocean.

All the children wanted to experience
being sharks so with the help of some
scissors and tape we became sharks.

Suddenly Jake exclaimed “Call me pirate Jake”. Michaela said, “I see pirates on my telly, they
jump off the boat”.

                                    To extend the learning and acknowledge Michaela’s
                                    participation Tanya went outside and brought a plank of wood
                                    inside and set it up over the ocean.

                                    “I walked the bridge and the sharks didn’t get me” said Ethan.
                                    The children all took turns walking the plank. Enhancing skills
                                    such as balance, co-ordination and full body control happened
                                    naturally and in a fun way.

The children decided to sit on
the plank, dipping their toes in
the water while having lunch and
this was so much fun. Then
Carmel decided to be a shark
and tried to nibble the lunches,
however she didn’t get any.
“Get mine teacher, get mine”
shouted Michaela. All the other
children joined in excitedly
shouting “get mine, get mine”.

At circle time we learned some new songs ‘Waves in the Sea’ and ‘Baby Shark’. We did actions
along with words which ensured that all the children could participate including one who is non-
verbal. Using actions gives us all the opportunity to express ourselves creatively and imaginatively
by using non-verbal communication to assure full and meaningful participation.

Throughout the week the children became immersed in the
shark theme and they brought it in to other areas. Michaela
using playdough “I’m making a warm home for the sharks”.

                                                        Jake’s emerging interest permeated the
                                                        whole week and we googled images of
                                                        Sharks including, Great White,
                                                        Hammerhead and Tiger sharks and created
                                                        a basic bar chart to map our favourite
                                                        shark from all the different types. This
                                                        encouraged us to use mathematical
                                                        language such as bar chart, more, less and
                                                        use counting skills such as addition.

At the end of the week we made a poster and all the children created their own image of their
                     shark and we discussed all we had learned over the week.

Emily “Sharks live in the ocean”   “My shark is called ‘Mammy’

Jake “Sharks can be Hammerheads”         “My shark’s name is ‘Fency’

Lacey “They have big teeth”

Carmel “Sharks have a good sense of smell”

Kaya “They are big and scary” “Harley Quinn’ is my shark

Ethan “Sharks eat small fish” “My shark is ‘Darragh’ after my brother

Tanya “They have sharp teeth”

Michaela “They are grey and have fins”

This activity gave Jake and the other children the opportunity to create an environment to support
their own learning. Jake’s emerging interest was acknowledged and he was enabled to make
decisions independently and together with his peers. They used gross motor skills such as balance,
jumping and climbing. They used their imagination and knowledge to collect and sort items to
create their ‘sea’. This process encourages children to test ideas and take risks by using props. The
children are sharing and co-operating by joining in. This activity encouraged the children to listen
to each other and promoted an atmosphere of respect for each other’s contribution to the project.
They learned skills such as planning and predicting during play. They took turns walking the plank,
making suggestions and talking about what sharks look like. It provided opportunities for good use
of language and learning of new literacy, numeracy and math’s concepts.

Carmel and Tanya facilitated the children in making choices, thinking independently, taking on
challenges, exploring ideas, asking questions, enabling them to be participants and partners in their
own learning. By the end of the week the children and Educators could reflect on their experiences
and take part in a detailed discussion of the week’s events and document them through art.

The shark theme continues to extend children’s learning by exploring under the sea and prompted
further discussion around dolphins and other sea creatures. This learning story has involved all
the children in the group and will continue to do so with our plans. We are keen to share children’s
ongoing learning with parents and so this story has been placed in their individual Learning Journals
where parents have read it and written comments on it, expressing how much their child enjoyed
the activity and the learning they gained from it. We hope you enjoyed reading this learning story
as much as we enjoyed actively participating in it.