Making a fairytale with 3-4 year old students

1. Making a fairytale with 3-4 year old students •Name: Ariadni Harou• Which of the four face-to-face institute or Elluminate session topics did you select to report on and why? I selected literacy, because this (session) may reveal children's perception. Students may compose previous roles from famous fairytales and make up a new story. Also, literacy may stirs children's interest/imagination and this causes their constant concentration/dedication towards the creation of a fairytale.• With whom did you pilot this new practice and at what grade level did you undertake your pilot?Team teaching method applied to nursery school (3-4 year old) children. Cooperation with activities such as Art, Music, Foreign languages-English- and Drama. With the art department we made the cover and illustration of the assignment. The Music department assisted us to compose music for the background of our fairytale. With Foreign language department we enriched the vocabulary in English. With Drama department we attempted to dramatize our story. 1

2. Connections with Colleagues • Describe in a few brief phrases what connections you made with colleagues in experimenting with this new practice. Each team set objectives: • Define the common mission/purpose • Specify the clarity in each team member role • Actively synthesize their field of knowledge and skills (co-operation) This leaded to: • Team effectiveness • Collective outcome 3) Improvement of team/members satisfaction 2

3. Successes • Name two or three 'successes' you experienced with this pilot. What changes did you notice? 1) Positive feedback from students: • Children actively participated, they were all enthusiastic about our “common task”. • Children were reflective, assumed roles in our story/assignment and encouraged the communication in this task. • Children took initiatives and proposed/indicated several ideas related to our assignment . This enhanced their critical thinking. 2) Good relationship and efficient cooperation among teachers of each activity: • Interdependence towards common aim. • Mutual assistance and support (sharing). • Commitment and responsibility of each team member (in order to fulfill its obligations on time). 3) Effective outcome/children’s award: • Mission accomplished → children's’ feeling of bringing a task to a satisfactory conclusion. • Reward → positive thinking and encouragement. External recognition (parents & other students). • Socialization through interaction. 3

4. Challenges • Name two or three challenges you experienced with the pilot. What got in the way of your success? • At the beginning, I faced difficulty in clarifying (defining) our common purpose/task mission. • It is not easy to find common ground for the planning of team meetings. • Colleagues in other activities assumed leadership (not shared). • To synthesize actively all different activities on a balanced manner. 4

5. Next Steps • Name two or three next steps with this material. What will you try next? How will you build on your experiences with the institute? • Will seek for more active children's involvement: • Minimum intervention of teacher. Will ask for further children's ideas and initiatives (enhancing their critical minds and interaction through discussion). • Will ask for children's opinions, reflections and feed back on the (unofficial/draft) outcome of our assignment and I will implement their suggestions at the final result (official assignment). 2) Technology: • Application of technology through PC graphs, cameras, sound recording etc. so as children to become aware of the positive aspects of technology. 5