Kei Tua o te Pae
Kei Tua o te Pae/Assessment for Learning: Early Childhood Exemplars is a best-practice guide that will help teachers continue to improve the quality of their teaching.
The exemplars are a series of books that will help teachers to understand and strengthen children's learning. It also shows how children, parents and whānau can contribute to this assessment and ongoing learning.
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There are a number of exemplars from other books in the Kei Tua o te Pae series that could also be useful in considering assessment within the Well-being/Mana Atua strand. These exemplars are as follows:
Book 2: “Those are the exact words I said, Mum!”; Aminiasi sets himself a goal; “Write about my moves!”
Book 3: Pihikete’s learning; Micah and his grandfather
Book 4: all of the exemplars in this book
Book 5: A gift of fluffy slippers; Sharing portfolios with the wider community; Rangiātea;…
Hannah is beginning to recognise the physical feelings or cues her body is giving her about needing to use the toilet.
Hannah used some very creative strategies for communicating her needs to me! Hannah responded calmly to the task of finding a toilet in time.
Kristina
What’s happening here?
This story, from a home-based setting, marks a milestone in Hannah’s development.
What does this assessment tell us about the learning (using a Well-being/Mana Atua lens)?
This assessment demonstrates se…
Child: Zachary
Date: February
Teacher: Mary
A learning story
Taking an interest
“I’m making a card for my great-grandad,” Zachary told me.
“He’s really sad!” I asked him why.
“Because Great-grandma died. We go and see him and cheer him up.”
“My great-grandma died before I was born.”
“My daddy said when I’m a daddy, I might die, so I don’t want to be a daddy because I don’t want to die.
I don’t want to grow up ...”
(Monique was sitting listening to this wonderful chatting. She told him…
Alexander loves paintingChild’s name: Alexander
Date: December
Teacher: Rosie
The Child’s VoiceLearning StoryAlexander and I were having a conversation about things that really scare us.
“Dad has an axe at home. It is the best axe in the world. It chops trees – and wood ... and MONSTERS!”
Big Forest by Alexander
“There was a big forest and it had seven trees! It’s got a big tree – it’s got a mouth, eyes, ears and hair – HEAPS of leaves. The tree got big because it ate heaps of sharks!”
Tr…
Mason Durie (2001). “A Framework for Considering Māori Educational Advancement”. Opening address to the Hui Taumata Mātauranga, Turangi/Taupo, 24 February, page 5.
2 Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam (1998). Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards through Classroom Assessment. London: School of Education, King’s College, p. 13. (See also Book 10).
"A great deal of concern has been expressed about the need to respond further to the behaviour and emotional problems of young children growing up in…
Introduction - He kupu whakataki
"Teaching children as young as kindergarten age to question relentlessly and learn from their failures is the key to producing world-class scientists … We must stimulate the asking of questions by young people so they grow up in an environment that encourages scientific questioning … The education system must also help young people develop resilience in the face of repeated failure … It is so important to keep trying and trying." 1
This book collects t…
The exemplars in this book illustrate possible ways in which assessing, documenting, and revisiting children’s learning will contribute to educational outcomes in the curriculum strand Exploration/Mana Aotūroa.
Assessments value spontaneous play initiated by children and comment on the learning taking place in such play, for example, making decisions, posing and solving problems, thinking creatively, and using the imagination.
"The concept of “what might be” – being able to move in percept…
Te Whāriki elaborates on the Exploration/Mana Aotūroa strand as follows:
"Ko te whakatipuranga tēnei o te mana rangahau, me ngā mātauranga katoa e pā ana ki te aotūroa me te taiao … Ka ako te mokopuna i tōna ōritetanga me tōna rerekētanga ki te taiao. Ka titiro whānui, ka titiro whāiti ki ngā taonga o te ao … Kia mātau ia ki tōna aotūroa mai i te rongo ā-taringa, rongo ā-whatu, rongo ā-waha, rongo ā-ihu, rongo ā-ringa, ronga ā-kiri, ā, mai hoki i ōna whatumanawa.6
The child learns throug…
The following exemplars in other books can also be viewed from an Exploration/Mana Aotūroa perspective.
Book 1: Electricity in the wall; Who knows?
Book 2: Aminiasi sets himself a goal; George gets to where he wants to be; “Write about my moves!”; Monarch butterfly adventure; The mosaic project; Letters from the teacher, letters from the parent; Assessments in two languages; A shadow came creeping
Book 3: Making jam; Pihikete’s learning; Micah and his grandfather
Book 4: Dom rebuilds; Louie…
What’s happening here?
Three children are each building their own block structure, complete with cars and wooden people. The children need to work out a satisfactory way of distributing the available girl figures between them.
What does this assessment tell us about the learning (using an Exploration/Mana Aotūroa lens)?
This is an example of three children negotiating and compromising as they work alongside each other. It is a common occurrence in play in an early childhood centre that there ar…
Stretch, kick, roll, push, pull, balance and a press-up for old times’ sake. Well, if I had some of Layne’s energy and determination, an aerobic workout a day would be a breeze. However, I think I will stick to the leisurely strolls down the beach and leave him to the strenuous crawling task he is mastering so well!
What learning happened here?
Our aspiration is to support children to develop a sense of themselves as “confident and capable learners” and this portrays Layne’s efforts so well. H…
A journey: Discovering the past
0-HUIARANGI
Known also as Pigeon Mountain or Pigeon Tree Mountain.
An extinct volcano, which has been partially destroyed by quarrying.
Exploring our mountain. O-Huiarangi
Getting the feel of the mountain. Sliding on the steep slopes inside the rubbish bags.
Shooting down at speed on the slippery grass.
Climbing the old trees
The weight of the rocks!
Making connections
Asking questions
Researching
Investigating
Looking for answers that lead to new under…
A Group Learning StoryDate: 1 February
Teachers: Marilyn & Ruth
NoticingWhen the children returned from their holidays, we noticed that there was a lot of talk about various holiday topics within the centre. However, it seemed that camping was a topic that was most often discussed among various children. So, we called a meeting to investigate this further. The children took turns sharing their holiday experience, and this is our first kōrero!!!
Holiday newsJimmy: Mum and Dad built a big t…
Child: Quin
Teacher: Carlotta
Quin was really interested in using the ruler and pens. She got a little frustrated with using the felt tip along the edge of the ruler and chose to paint on the paper I had just ruled into quarters. She followed the ruled lines with a crayon before painting each individual quarter. This resulted in a symmetrical look which she appeared to be really happy with. “I’ve got four rectangles – they’re quarters, aren’t they, Carlotta?”
What’s happening here?
This activ…
Mathematics is woven throughout the strands in Te Whāriki. It is found specifically in the Communication/Mana Reo and the Exploration/Mana Aotūroa strands. The latter strand includes mathematical processes such as “setting and solving problems, looking for patterns, classifying things for a purpose, guessing, using trial and error, thinking logically and making comparisons”.13 This strand also includes spatial understandings.14 The Communication/Mana Reo strand includes “familiarity with numbers…
Which assessments from our setting make valued mathematics visible to teachers, children, families, and whānau?
What opportunities for experiencing mathematics practices from the wider community are included in the children’s assessments?
In what ways do our mathematics assessments and their contexts indicate that we are on the pathway towards bicultural practice?
How do teachers include in their assessments the mathematics practices the children are experiencing outside the centre?
What opportu…
1 Ministry of Education (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum for English-medium Teaching and Learning in Years 1–13. Wellington: Learning Media, p. 26.
2 Ministry of Education (2001). Curriculum Update, no. 45. Wellington: Learning Media, p. 1.
3 Alan J. Bishop (1988). Mathematical Enculturation: A Cultural Perspective on Mathematics Education. Dordrecht: Kluwer. See also Bert van Oers (2001). “Educational Forms of Initiation in Mathematical Culture”. Educational Studies in Mathematics, vol. 46,…
Assessment that notices, recognises, and responds to mathematics learning in the wider sense will ensure that the mathematics in measuring, locating in space and time, designing (form, shape, and pattern), playing, and explaining are also on the curriculum agenda. Frequently the mathematics in an exemplar was not part of the teacher’s analysis of the learning and has been added to the annotation for this exemplar book. The “mathematics” may not always be the focus in an analysis of the learning;…
IntroductionThe exemplars in this book should be considered in conjunction with the discussion in Book 16. Opportunities for children to be creative and imaginative through the arts are woven throughout Te Whāriki. The 2007 New Zealand school curriculum identifies four disciplines of the arts. These are: dance, drama, music – sound arts, and visual arts. The curriculum reminds us that:
"The arts are powerful forms of expression that recognise, value, and contribute to the unique bicultural…
Documentation and assessment practices will themselves contribute to opportunities for children to be creative and imaginative. Carlina Rinaldi from Reggio Emilia has explored the topic of documentation and assessment. She writes about the role of documentation:
"In Reggio Emilia, where we have explored this methodology for many years, we place the emphasis on documentation as an integral part of the procedures aimed at fostering learning and for modifying the learning–teaching relationshi…
