WEBVTT - This file was automatically generated by VIMEO. Please email info@talestoolkit.com to report problems. Hello, evening everybody, and thank you for coming out. It's 'cause we know it's so close to Christmas and you'd probably rather be doing your Christmas shopping than spending the evening with us, but, um, I promise you it's gonna be a good one. We love Annie and I think it'll be great. So, um, just to do a little bit of an introduction, um, Annie's gonna be talking about, um, steam, which stands for science, technology, engineering, art and Math. I get that right? That's right. Yeah. Um, and there's gonna be lots of links to stories today. Um, and we met Annie quite a while ago, actually now at the Nursery World Show last year. And we've been chatting a little bit on Twitter beforehand. And Annie's got lots of really great experiences working with children, especially in early education. Um, and the great thing about Annie is, although she's a trainer now for early education, um, she's written lots of fantastic, amazing books. She still finds lots of time to go into schools and get really hands on with the children, which is fab. So, um, and she'll be talking a little bit more about that. Um, and Annie specializes in arts and creativity with a particular focus on PSED. And, um, it was actually quite tricky for us because we were kind of flowing around a few ideas about things that you could talk about because there's so many links with sales talking so many things that Annie does that kind of fit in with the practice in schools that people already do around the storytelling. So I'm gonna hand over to Annie now and she's gonna chat with you about Steam. So here we are, Annie. We're very happy you're with us tonight. Great. Mm-Hmm. Well, look, it's lovely to be here. And, uh, hello everybody. I have to confess this, it's my very first webinar, so I'm hoping it's gonna roll along nice and smoothly. I've had lots of tips from Kate though, so that's great. It was actually quite difficult to, uh, to choose what to, what to talk about this evening because there were, there were lots of possibilities I, I wanted to do. But, um, steam kept coming round in my head and I, I was fairly recently asked to do a presentation about Steam to the Haringey early years for their early years conference. And, um, and I think it's like all of those things we want to learn and know about, one of the best ways to learn is to actually be then presenting about it actually, because, uh, I've ended up doing lots of research and lots of reading. Um, mm-Hmm. And I think what really caught me is as, as a kid, I wasn't, I never thought that I was particularly good at science and technology or engineering, the arts or math. So to, um, to actually find something I felt really interested and quite passionate about, in fact. So, um, we're going to do a, a mixture of different things this evening. Um, and actually I'm gonna just quickly flick back because I love that photograph. And, um, I think it just sums up what, uh, what all of these things to do with steam are in early years, which is about really, um, celebrating children's sense of adventure and their curiosity. And I thought this was just a great image to celebrate that. Um, so what I want to do is just talk about actually what is steam, uh, and why it's important and, uh, practical ways that we can support it. And my aim is also to, to really just see how we can weave some stories through this. And, uh, lots of different ways thinking about the children's play, the children's learning, their fascinations for things as well as in a practical way, thinking about good books that can support some of these aspects. Um, and this image that I've put just up on here, this was a little boy in a, in a setting. He'd been fairly, fairly new to the setting. And in fact, the children had been taking in turns to, uh, to hold the Guinea pigs. They had, uh, two little Guinea pigs. They were just lovely. And, um, as you can imagine, lots of, lots of the children wanted to get their hands on the cana pigs. So, uh, so one of the practitioners bought out the sand timer and that was it. And there was just this real sense that this little boy had never seen a, a sand timer this big, certainly. And he was absolutely gripped by the sand timer. And in fact, it was so gripped, he completely forgot all about the Guinea pigs. We often, uh, uh, see, uh, uh, steam sometimes written as stem, which just stands for science, technology, engineering and Maths. But I think a really important element that's beginning to come in more into this subject is the arts. Um, so this is what it stands for, science, technology, engineering, arts and Maths. And, uh, the whole point about steam is that it's not separate subjects. It's actually, uh, a whole philosophy and an approach to integrated learning that involves, um, either all of these, uh, all of these areas of learning, or at least some of them. Um, and, uh, there's lots of links to some of the core principles of early years. And, um, I'm gonna go over those in a little bit too. But I just want to give you, uh, just a very simple, uh, example here, practical example. And we can see this, this sort of learning happening from birth right on up through the primary years, and of course into secondary and into adulthood as well. But this was a little boy in, um, a toddler space in a setting I work in, in Luton, uh, pasture's way. And they have a slope in the back garden. And, uh, he was doing so much experimenting, withing down the slope as fast as he could, um, and working out how fast he could go without crashing too badly at the end. Um, and then coming back up again. So it was really grounded in a, in a very rich physical piece of play. Um, and he then began to, uh, experiment a bit more and, and deliberately crash the bike and, and come off and then engage with the practitioners around that. And he didn't hurt himself at all. Um, he then began to experiment by putting, by spinning the wheels on the bike. And then, um, he left the bike for a bit, came back, uh, then began to experiment with the balls and sliding them down with drain pipes. And he then went back to the bike later on with some of the balls, and then put the balls on top of the wheels and was experimenting with spinning the wheels round as fast as he could to get the balls to spin off. So that was a lovely bit of physical play that was both imaginative, it was creative, and it was also really inventive. Um, and so steam and these aspects of, of, um, science and engineering technology and art and maths, um, are really important, uh, subjects for us to be thinking about in the early years. Now, in a minute, I want to show you just a, a short piece of film about, um, really, uh, sort of a public, uh, uh, experience. Um, it's actually out in America, and I don't want to say too much just now 'cause what I'd like you to do is just enjoy the little bit of film, but also think about, um, um, what, what sort of aspects of steam those subjects you can see in this bit of film. Welcome, lovely. Now I've just seen that question actually from Charlotte about, um, the little boy about whether or not he ran the, the balls down the slope. He didn't actually run them down the slope, he was more interested in the speed of the bike, but, um, what he did do with the balls was drop them over the edge, actually into the, into the bottom bit where he ended up playing later on. Um, but just coming back to that bit of film, I, I imagine probably you're thinking about those themes of, um, of steam and, and as you probably rightly thinking that in fact it covers all of them. It's a piece of public art in, uh, Chicago. Um, and I picked that because I absolutely loved it. It was a piece of art that I was fortunate to see. Uh, I was there about 10 years ago with my kids and family. Um, and like Kate said, it, it was really, um, it was quite inspiring to see that and to see the number of different people that were there, but also the variety of ages playing in, um, in the fountains and also in the piece of water. And I was doing a bit of research about, um, the, the piece of sculpture, the artwork. And there were over, I think, 22,000 bricks, uh, that were used and had to be specially made. Um, and it combines both all of those aspects of science and technology, the arts, the maths involved in there as well. So a huge, huge amount going on. Um, and it's a really eco piece of, um, experiential art, sort of interactive art as well. About 97% of the water that's used, and I think it's over, I think it's something like 500 gallons or something that's used, um, over an hour, but 97% of it gets recycled. Um, so that's a huge feat of, of engineering. And, um, for me, it got me really thinking about, well, where, where does this all start, actually? Where does it all begin? So just on to the next slide, just thinking about our youngest children, um, and what science is for our youngest children. Yeah, early years. Exactly. Um, it's all about ex it's observing and experimenting, being able to predict, making discoveries, asking questions, wondering how things work. Um, and I'm always reminded here of the work of, of El Goldschmied and, uh, her work with treasure baskets and heuristic play and that, you know, those are really, um, some of those early foundation stages for, for science and, and mathematics as well. Yeah, yeah. Lovely blue babies there. So this little one's having a, a wonderful time. He's just really engaged in exploring this material of, of cornflower and, um, and paint too. Um, and of course technology is also a way of doing, um, thinking about how young children are using tools being inventive again, uh, recognizing and spotting problems, you know, finding out how to make things work. And this image here is just a really simple bit of technology. This was a group of boys really energized, they're really involved here who wanted to create, um, a way to get sand back into the sand pit, but also discovered along the way that they could also use this big cardboard box as a way of getting themselves into the sand pit as well. And then engineering very linked to technology of course, as well. And of course, technology, we'd be including things like, um, computers and computer programs, those sort of things. And cameras, um, and often technology and engineering are, are, are going together. Um, so again, thinking of ways to solve problems, thinking about how we use materials for different ways. Um, and, uh, you know, this was a lovely bit of risk taking, uh, going on here. This was a school that are based out in Suffolk and live near a big bridge, the Orwell Bridge over the river, or, and, um, the, uh, the children were fascinated with the size of this bridge. So practitioners came back with the children and then they set up a space where the children could explore bridge building in the setting. And so you can see the, the fabric underneath those bridges that the children have made to represent the river. And a whole lot of lovely experimentation and engineering going on there, both from boys and girls. Um, so working collaboratively, working together as working individually and also working on different scale. And so thinking about how the maths comes into, um, the, the, these subjects as well. So it's, we do that a lot in, in early years. You know, one of the ways we often think about steam is, is we'll do a lot of that outdoors. So things can often be bigger and bolder, you know, often messier and louder outside. Um, I was thinking, uh, one of the people that I always like, uh, like have a bit of a giggle about is James Dyson. And, uh, I found some quotes about him because one of his things really is he gets really, uh, uh, inspired to create things because he comes across things in the world that just don't work very well. Um, so he, he talks about, in order to fix it, you need a passionate anger about something that doesn't work very well. And, uh, I think that makes me also think about how sometimes we can get in there a bit too quickly with children, um, and try and solve problems a bit too quickly for them. And, um, it's so important that children can have the right amount of time to, to struggle with something and get a bit frustrated. 'cause that's often just where the learning comes along. So it's that fine balance of supporting a child to stay engaged, but also not rescuing the situation for them. Um, and he talks about failure, um, being so much more interesting because you learn from it. And, uh, I think that's right. And, um, I know that I've come across children in settings, even very young children who are, who are anxious about making mistakes. And, um, there's a, um, you know, a discomfort round there about things going wrong. And so we need to celebrate mistakes. And I think particularly in the arts, that's a, a really good way to do it, which can often lead to new discoveries, positive failure. Yeah, that's a really good way of thinking about it. So, um, thinking of now about the arts, which I suppose for me is one of the most, I guess for me it's one of my most passionate things. I was really fortunate to be at Harry Roberts today, um, and, uh, to see, um, Alexandra Law, who's head of, head of the center there, and just have some, have some time soaking up all the wonderful art and creativity going on there, and also stuff linked to steam. And, um, I think that art is both a way of, of doing things, but also, um, you know, a way of us thinking too. It, it teaches us to think in a particular way, um, how we are coming up with ideas. Uh, it's about envisioning visioning, things that, uh, that might be, um, about innovating, about testing, things, about trying things out. The the picture that's here is from, uh, an art project that I was involved in in, uh, sharing a nursery over in noon London Borough of Newham with, uh, Julian Grier, where we spent a year supporting, um, the setting and also, um, uh, the group in the early years forum, uh, group of settings on arts and creativity, and also the Child Mind Network, which was a fantastic project to be involved with. And this was towards the end of the project. We'd done lots of work around, um, uh, uh, exploring paint and different art techniques. And in fact, the base of the piece of art that they're working on, just there is an old tabletop that we found by the rubbish bins, and it's balanced on a small but very, very strong potter's wheel. And, uh, we covered the tabletop with paper and then we, uh, dri dripped paint on quite runny paint into the center, and then would spin the table round sort of at different speed so that the children could really experience things to do with force. And, uh, so the paint would then begin to spin out really fast. And we are further down the line here of experimenting by putting fingers in to see what happens to, to the paint. And, um, uh, this was a, a really, uh, a really exciting, uh, experience for the children and for me. So just finished writing up that project, and that will be coming online soon as a free resource. So I just put a link there for you if you want to access that. That will be out early in January. Uh, we did lots of really great, great things on that project. So the answer is really, really important. And then to maths, maths, maths, thinking about, um, maths, um, as a way of measuring really in thinking about how we would also be finding about, out about sequences and patterns, um, and about exploring shapes and volume, capacity and size, and of course, problem solving. And, uh, when Kate and I were talking earlier this evening, we were making some really good links between the work that happens around Tale's toolkit and the problem solving that goes on, um, certainly in some of those sessions where children are finding out and testing things and um, and trying to find solutions. Um, so this was what the children were doing. Uh, this was a forest school day, actually, this group of children were doing some things for Halloween and had gone off to gather different, uh, petals and natural resources to make potions. So there was lots of, lots of explorations about shape and size and how things combine together, as well as finding out about the natural, the natural world as well. Um, I think, you know, with all of these things, one of, um, one of the most important aspects for me as well, is how, how children are engaging with the, with these areas of learning. And, uh, you know, we, we, these are, this is such an important time for children to be developing their dispositions and their attitudes for learning those positive dispositions. And I think these, um, these aspects of learning, I see children being deeply involved and really motivated to learn. Um, and, uh, I think, I think this is one of the ways that we can really support children to exercise these characteristics of effective learning. Um, and we need to hold those very close to our hearts, very important for children's learning, both now, but also in the future as well. Um, and I think really, I just wanted to say a little bit about why STEAM is so important, and it's, it's really been, uh, sort of in the news a a lot more lately. And I think, um, we're in a time where there have been so many fast technological changes and innovations. I just think since my childhood, you know, there were no mobile phone, so, you know, I had to wait until after six to speak on the telephone. And, uh, and just so many things that, that have happened so quickly since, since I've grown up. Um, and that what we're beginning to recognize is that there is becoming a growing skills gap in these subjects of science and technology and engineering and the creative areas and maths. Um, and, um, what we need is for all of us to be developing and supporting children to develop these essential skills, both for a world that's really changing rapidly, but also to be able to have work and, um, sort out some of the problems of the world as well. Um, there's a really good report that Haring Gay published last year, the Haring Gay Stem Commission report that looks at these, uh, subjects across, um, the whole, the educational sphere, both from early years, um, up as well, which is, which is, uh, just a helpful, a helpful resource. So, um, I wanted to look now really at how this links to some of our core values and early years principles. I think, you know, really importantly, it links to play and children self-initiated play as well as adult guided play, recognizing that, you know, we would probably, uh, all see children as natural scientists asking questions and finding out about things, um, and about learning, being integrated across subjects. You know, that's something that's a real strength of the early years, and, uh, that's what our steam subjects are also about. Um, there's also a social context, you know, what's, what's our environment like, what are, what are the areas like around where we live? What are the parks like, you know, like me going to, uh, to Chicago and happening across the, um, that big fountain in the Millennium Park, you know, seeing that there and how that had completely changed, that area of Chicago actually had a huge effect developing that park and, and the artwork in there to the socializing going on in that area. Um, and I think, you know, of course, children are going to be representing their experiences in lots of different ways, lots of different languages. Um, yeah, and actually thinking about children in London, you know, whether they get the chance to go outside of London or ever go to the, you know, the ever go to the seaside, you know, different experiences as well and going into galleries. So, um, you know, we need to be bringing these things to our children too. Yeah. And cost is often an issue. Um, but I want to show you some practical things as well about ways that we can support Steam. So I wanted to make some more links also just now to stories and particularly to Tales Toolkit and some of the wonderful work that Kate is doing. But, you know, I think, you know, really importantly, we'll be developing children's vocabulary and, um, and, and thinking about scientific language and how important it is to use the correct scientific language. And for us not to be scared about some of those things. And it might not be stuff that we are necessarily comfortable with. So to, to find out and maybe have a, you know, some core vocabulary to, to think about over a week's time or over a term to think about having a science technique over a week or a science experience can be a really good way to bring that in. Um, thinking about the language here, this is an example of the, the, a very well known story, the very hungry Caterpillar, and thinking about transformations and how animals transform. And it's a really lovely, um, uh, a way of introducing sort of natural sciences to children. Um, we also can think about computational thinking, where we break down things into smaller jobs or smaller bits, which is actually just like we would do with a story and what Kate's done with Tale's Toolkit, sort of separating out those really important elements and structures of story. Um, and I've also put in another resource just there called Planting Seeds of Science, which is a document that was published in the States, but it's a really, uh, really helpful practical, um, document that will share some really good ideas for developing science in the early years as well. Um, this is a, a, uh, just a one example of how we might think about comp computational skills. This was, uh, actually a response to behavior. And, um, this was, uh, wanting to support children to really develop their self-care, their independent skills, putting on aprons to paint, and then hanging up the aprons, putting their painting on the drying rack, and then, you know, finishing off. So it's a really nice way to break down a series of steps. Um, and also you might do that in terms of plants and seeds, that sort of lifecycle. You might think about it in terms of what do we wear for winter? So there's different ways that we can break a whole series of things into, into manageable, into manageable steps for young children. Um, and I think we need to also thinking just about that vocabulary and, and about some of these scientific experiences in engineering and building that we need to also be thinking around both boys and girls, because boys are generally known to do better in some of those things to do with space and shape and measurement. But I think it's also about how we support families and also within our settings to make sure that all children are getting, um, good experiences of those, um, and encouraged to participate as well. Um, I've just been looking up, um, and finding out about some great books, uh, that, that just, I think have been really inspiring. So I just wanted to share a few ideas here, um, about, um, good Books, Rosie Revere Engineer and Ada Twist Scientist. I'm an Iggy Peck architect, a series of books, uh, that about supporting some of these themes and, uh, in rhyme. So lovely books to, to read. Violet, the Pilot is a new one on me, have just discovered that recently and again, in rhyme, and a real adventure story about Violet who builds her own airplane and then, um, ends up rescuing somebody in it. Um, lovely books like Beautiful, oops. It's a really, really good interactive book, which uses the structure of the book to, to tell the story, and, uh, uh, follows that theme around, uh, making mistakes that mistakes can be good. And then a couple of books that are real favorites, uh, for me about you choose, and, uh, again, thinking about vocabulary and, uh, supporting language and about choice. And a newer book that I just discovered that, uh, colleague of mine, Catherine Soly told me about, called If, which is a beautiful, beautiful art book, um, that has lovely imaginative possibilities. So in there, I dunno if you can see the cover up closely, but it's if leaves were Fish and if, and it has other lovely things, like if mice were hair, um, if mountains were dogs, if music could be held, um, if zebras had stars as well as stripes. So it, um, it puts across some lovely, lovely things. Great, yeah, U Choose is is a really popular book. I'm just seeing Katie's comment there. And, uh, I remember that being a really important book for my children actually in reception, uh, developing that language and, and it providing lots of lovely raw material and language for making up, uh, the your own stories too. Um, and just sort of to recognize how important it is to have books that are inspiring. If we think about Words and books, you, it's 42% more words, um, you know, are going to be there for children if they're growing up in a home that's rich in books. And, uh, how important it is to have books around both information books, um, as well as story books and our homemade books. Um, and, um, you know, opportunities for children just to read for pleasure. Um, you know, sometimes there, there never seems enough time, but just be able to book, pick up a story and read to a group of children is really important. And if we can help that along, and it, it's been found that 26 more words, uh, for, for those children who never, you know, never read at all for the pleasure. So it's important that children also see, see us doing that as adults too. Um, I'm also a great believer in using texts and books as a way of setting the scene or tempting children into perhaps a new bit of play, a new bit of discovery. So, just a couple of very simple examples here. This was in a birth to three space on the letter. This was an owl babies den that had been set up with books and just some natural materials taken in, um, and some props for the children to role play that if they, if they were interested, they'd been fascinated by the story and reading it a lot. And then a real favorite of mine, Billy's bucket, uh, which is also a really funny story to read, um, and about the imaginary world that Billy sees in the bucket. And, uh, he's all these wonderful things, um, but just very simply set up outdoors there for some role play. Um, and this was an example, uh, again, just making that link with, um, sort of science and technology engineering discovery, thinking about doors and buildings and architecture, and of course, bringing the art in. But this was a project, uh, from a setting in Brent who were looking at, um, ways to stimulate stories and story making, as well as linking it to some of those themes and introduce the children to lots of different types of doors, uh, doors and what lay behind different doors. And then invited the children to, uh, to choose what sort of door they would like. And then they created stories about who was behind the door, what was behind the door, excuse me. And then also illustrated it. So there were just single a four sheets with the door on one side, and the story on the back, and then a drawing, uh, a drawing in the middle. And, uh, they'd created a really beautiful display. And, um, I just loved all the different, all the different doors that they had up there were about, I don't know, about 30 to 40 different doors that they had up on display in these, in these pictures for the children. I just really liked the idea that, that they'd come up with for that. Um, and now just really just some very simple open-ended resources, some open-ended ideas here, thinking about playing the home corner, having natural materials that can be there just for cooking or counting for exploring, making mixtures in different ways. Um, discovery bottles. There's so many possibilities for discovery bottles. And then just, I love collections of things, so just here on the right was an image just using different size egg boxes, loads and loads and loads of different corks and, um, and then some, some pins and tongs for children to collect them up with. But I think sometimes it, you know, the simplest things and the cheapest things can be really effective. Um, and it's a bit like, you know, heuristic play there. Um, but thinking about it possibly there in terms of slightly older children to explore in a different way. We talked about, um, uh, early technology and thinking about how we support children to solve problems. There's just a couple of very simple, uh, examples here. These children on the left were encouraged to help, uh, with some problem solving where they wanted to move a really big heavy sink. So discussed how they might do that safely. Uh, so just some simple technology there, moving the sink over, and they managed to do that really successfully. But what was great was the children were really involved in that and had to come up with their ideas. Um, and then again, having things like tires, which are wonderful because they allow children to use their strength safely and can be used again, uh, in so many different ways. And these two were really interested in how, how they could move the tires. And of course, in this setting, they're also encouraged to help tidy up. So some of the children were doing that towards the end of the session this day. So learning about force and learning about balance and learning about speed, as well as supporting, you know, their primaries of learning as well. Um, and I think sometimes of course, we have to be imaginative and, uh, have ingenuity. And this is a case study from my sister-in-Law who works up in Glasgow. She's a specialist language teacher, and she does a lot of work supporting, uh, children with EAL. And she was in a school setting one morning, and there wasn't much outdoors, but one of the things she managed to get her hands on was a bottle of washing up liquid and some grooves and some dust pan and brushes. And she set the children a challenge of moving a puddle from one end of the playground to the next. And, um, this, this, this experience went on all morning, and, uh, this was fantastic. And, uh, what was so good was the excitement. And she had combined the, the, those children who had good English, uh, and who could model the language really clearly and really well, so that those children who were developing English as their second language were able to pick up really key vocabulary. And then they were able to recast it later on. They made a book and they made a display so that parents coming in later that day could also add in their own home language too. So that was a really successful, successful experience for the children. And this was really, really good. Yeah, painting, painting snow would be wonderful. Okay. Um, thinking about our block play area where there'd be a lot of engineering, um, and art and design going on and thinking about maths as well. Um, this, uh, was a piece of play that went on all morning, and then one of the practitioners realized that one of the children was missing. And, and then they, they realized where he was and he was hiding inside that construction there. And, uh, I love that. And, um, you know, I just was thinking about the courage that we need to, to experiment and explore in this way, but just looking at that construction there in that image, the, the wonderful engineering that has gone on there, uh, in terms of balance and designing that so that he could actually fit inside. Uh, and this was a setting where they'd worked hard to develop their block play space. They didn't have a lot of room, but, um, also really encourage the children and, and set children challenges as well, which the boys really, really enjoy. So design and making challenges. Uh, so they've got that challenge in there for the engineering. Um, thinking about cooking, cooking's one of those things where children are, are finding out about all sorts of stuff to do with science. This particular example, the children are really fascinated with the wis, those handheld wis, and that's what they were really, really interested in. So again, thinking about vocabulary and language and using words like rotation, really, really, really important. Yeah, absolutely. Lots of maths in cooking, thinking about quantities and, and shape and measure. Um, so it's really, really important to, to have those things ongoing. And even if we can't actually perhaps cook, but to have the opportunity to make mixtures and combine materials in different ways, and it doesn't take much to make it a really sensory rich experience. Just buying a bunch of mint or, or something like that to add to creating mixtures can be a really wonderful way to, to, um, to bring something into that. So actually, this is my last slide, and I wanted to finish on a, maybe a bit of a Christmasy theme. So I thought the tangerines would work really well for that. And the watermelon, uh, this is a, a case study from, um, for, oh, who was this? This was Rachel Keeling. That was right. And this actually started from an inquiry, just a child-led inquiry about, about watermelons. And some of the children were really familiar with watermelons and, and some of them weren't at all. And, um, uh, but the question was, can we find a watermelon big enough for us all to have some, this was a question that was posed by, um, by one of the children. And, um, so they took a trip out, um, they planned that in and went out with small groups of children along the high road. And, um, they had to go to three different shops before they found a watermelon that they thought might actually, uh, be big enough for all of the children. Now, uh, the practitioner who was with them, Maria wanted to make sure that the children had time to really see the scales in action. There was a set of digital scales. So she asked the shopkeeper to move the things away from the front of the scale so the children could see the watermelon being weighed and what was actually happening. Um, they got to lift different watermelon to see which one they thought they thought would be the best. Um, they eventually chose this enormous watermelon there, you can see in the middle. Um, and Maria paid for it. And then she said, oh my goodness, how are we going to get this back to the setting? And so she waited to see what would happen, and, um, and the children came up with all sorts of different ideas and eventually they suggested, let's go and get the trolley. So back, they went to the setting, they left the watermelon in the shop, they went back, they got the trolley, um, they bought the trolley back, and this is what it takes, you know, the rest of the setting were really supportive of this. It was lunchtime. Um, but they went with it. They went back with the trolley, they managed to fit the watermelon into the trolley and then transport it back. Um, now they didn't open the watermelon straight away because they wanted to, to do a little bit more investigating and sustain this experience a bit longer. So one of the things they did was they weighed the watermelon on a pair of, um, uh, floor scales to see how much it weighed. And then the children also weighed themselves. And one little girl weighed exactly the same as the watermelon, and she was delighted. She, she went over and gave the watermelon a big hug. And um, and then they did all sorts of things. They painted the watermelon, they drew it, um, they found other things, hence the tangerines to see how many tangerines it would take to weigh the same as the watermelon. Um, and um, and then it wasn't until about a week and a half, maybe two weeks later, that they finally decided that they would open up the watermelon and, um, and then all taste it. And I just thought that was a really lovely, lovely, uh, um, it's just a lovely bit of teaching actually following the children's lead, um, taking, Uh, Being really engaged with the children's curiosity and inquiry. And, uh, it had started because, uh, practitioners were also looking at data and looking at, um, shape, space, space and measurement and thinking how they could support and develop that a little bit more. So on that note, on the tangerine note, and I hope you've all got lots of tangerines, that's the end of images. And I was thinking it'd be lovely to have some questions or any comments now. Mm-Hmm. Yeah, no, that's great Annie. And it's great as well to see that schools are really running and letting the children have lots of freedom to talk about things and make choices and, and come up with their own ideas and then go with that. 'cause there's a lot of people that wouldn't let them leave the melon in the shop and go away and come back again. I know. So, yeah. Yeah. So, no, it's good. I thought that was, I thought that was really, really good. And really, um, there's a sort of trust, there's a trust between both the teacher and the children and trusting children, um, and, and trusting their thinking and, and making time for thinking. Mm-Hmm. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's like you were saying earlier about those schools that let the children make mistakes. So if something doesn't work, then you come up with another idea and you try something else. So it sounds like they're that kind of school. Yeah. So, so yeah. Has anybody got any questions for Annie? Um, Alex, the same really powerful learning experience at Rachel Keeling. Yeah, Rachel Keenan's a great setting. Yeah. So they do lots of really good stuff there. And so it was Harry Roberts. Yeah, it's, yeah. So I need To go back for another visit. It was just, it was just too, too short this morning. That's it. That's, I've seen some really lovely pictures coming up on Twitter, so, yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah. Does anybody, anybody like to ask Annie any questions about Steam or anything else at all? It was quite interesting, Annie, just while we're waiting, um, we're all friends. Yeah. Yeah. We were popping. Um, it was quite interesting 'cause you were talking about story structure and I know that, um, when I've been looking at the research and trying to find out information while I was developing Tell's Toolkit there was really strong links between children learning story structure and things like maths and science. And I think a lot of that is that kind of thinking and being able to picture things in a story way in your head. So Yes. Yeah. No, it's quite interesting. Yeah, I think, I think that is really interesting. I was thinking about it in terms of the arts and being able to mm-hmm. Um, envision things and uh, you know, that's what great inventors do. Mm. They take flights of fan, you know, sort of, they leap take a leap of faith into the future and imagine, um, amazing possibilities. And I think that's what stories help us to do actually. Um, and I think the opportunity to play with stories mm-Hmm. Um, uh, we, you know, if we have the structure, how important that is and then the opportunity to play within that structure I think is really, really important. I think also the things I know, um, uh, certainly in terms of story structure is about it can really make us feel safe and help children feel safe within that. Yes. To then be creative and ask questions and take risks. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Because we find that with Tell's toolkit that once the children know that structure and they're familiar with that, then they can start with very basic things, but then start to expand and add lots more stuff into it then. Yeah. Yeah. You're right. It gives them that kind of safe structure. So, um, it was really interesting. So when you were showing the doors, that was something that I really liked because it was that whole thought of seeing something and then being able to see what might be behind it and thinking around that. Um, is there anything you can think of that staff might be able to use for tell's toolkit stories that they could put into bags or they could use to extend what they're doing in terms of items that they could include? Or, I mean, is there anything off the top of Your head? Well, I was just thinking, I've just seen Alex's comment about, um, being interesting to think about using Tale's toolkit Yes. To develop steam related vocabulary. And I was mm-hmm. Just thinking about some of the images I've seen online already on your website, like Mm-Hmm. Including vegetables and things like that. And, um, I was thinking about, um, different, just taking something very simple, say sort of things to do with, you know, things that children love, like fruit and apples and thinking about having apples and then maybe, um, um, different ways of using apples, having whisks or little tools. So you might include a raw material like an apple. You might include a tool that would link to technology. Mm-Hmm. You might include a little book. You might, um, you might include a character and then, you know, invite the children. We, we might go and chop up apples and use tools and then make Apple Source and it might link to a book and yes. So things like that. Something that would be really simple, but you could think about covering all the elements of steam. Um, so I think it's really good to start simple and small. Mm-Hmm. And something that, you know, is probably going to really grab the children's attention. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. No, I think that's a good idea. And it'd be quite nice. I'll set this a little bit of a mission for the people that are here today to see if they can try and include all the elements of steam in their storytelling. So Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So more case studies, um, Alex has said and um, mm-Hmm. What's the pictures of holes? Charlotte? Pictures of holes. Sounds interesting. Um, holes Is that holes instead of door. Oh. Um, that doesn't sound good. Rabbit holes. Holes in c Pictures of holes. It makes me think of that. We were Thinking about that. That's A good idea. The tail training. You could have steam links. I was also just thinking, 'cause part of the, um, the talk I did, um, for Haring aid that the title that they gave, which was a brilliant title whi which was about, um, uh, inquiry thought and possibility, but linked to Alice through the Looking Glass. And it was a real gift of a story. 'cause of course Alice, through the looking glass is she climbs up onto the mantle piece Yeah. And appears through the mirror and, and imagine what imagines what the world is like on the other side of the mirror. And basically goes through the mirror where she finds a world that's back to front. Mm-Hmm. And, uh, it's just such an amazing story. I mean, I think, um, some of those sort of concepts are fascinating. So mirrors would be really interesting, thinking about mirrors, putting mirrors into Tale's toolkit. Yes. Um, and, and yeah, Mirror would be really interesting. Yeah. Yeah. And um, just thinking about the doors, I, I might have some little images or little models of doors to go in some of the pockets as well and, and as a way of introducing what could be behind, behind the door. Yeah. Yeah. It's quite interesting as well. We had someone else who did, um, some music and had sort of settings that set with music, so it was quite interesting to see when you talked about music as well and linking that in. So, so yeah, I think that kind of fits with the arts too, and some of the images and yeah. So I think that would be great. So, um, Alex was saying about the case study examples. Is there anywhere that people can see some more of your case study examples? What's the best place for 'em to look? Um, well, there'll be some, there'll be some stuff definitely in, um, the booklet that's coming out via sharing them, which will be on the Newham, it'll be the, it's part of the network actually that I think Alex you are part of. So that will be online free. I can send a link Mm-Hmm. Certainly to, to you and let you know about that. And I can post it on Twitter. So there'll be some there. Um, there's a couple of good booklets. Oh, thi this is quite a good booklet. I don't know if you can see that, if I hold that up. That's called Steep Stem Sprouts. Yeah. That's a booklet that you can find online and that has some nice ideas on it as well. So you can Google that again, that quite a lot of stuff has come out from America. But that's, um, um, a project that was ongoing with the Boston Children's Museum. So that's got some really good links in it and it's more STEM as opposed to the arts being involved. But, um, I think this is, I think this is the thing, there's not a lot online at the moment and I haven't mentioned to find that lot in the, in that much in the uk. I think there's, um, there's a, there's, there's some lovely room here to, to think about getting some, some resources and, and some more case studies out. I don't have anything at the moment 'cause I don't, I'm, I don't have a website with stuff on, it's mainly case studies that I'm fortunate to pick up when I go and when I've got the chance to visit settings. So I gather things as I go. I, I think just having the conversation is really important. I think it's a bit like going back into the setting now as practitioners and putting on your steam pair of spectacles so you begin to maybe think about things in a different way. I think when you mention music, I think we often might not realize that children are being musical when they are. They might be exploring, tapping down the slide or, but I think it's the same with Steam. Um, and I think what I love about it is, is that it is about it integrating across subjects. Mm-Hmm. It's not just one thing on its own. Um, yeah. Yeah. And I think as well, I think that we're very lucky in that we do lots of work with early years because I think often early years do some really fantastic work around this kind of cross-curricular fitting lots of different things into children's projects and we see a lot of brilliant practice out there. So like you said, it's just about sharing that. Yes, I think, I think it is. And I think, um, um, Haring Gaye have done quite a bit and I'm sure other local authorities are doing things, but I know they're putting something together where they're wanting to have much more of a network, uh, from early years through to primary, through to secondary. And I think that's really important because I think that, I think it's really helpful to have A more of a depth of understanding about how important this early foundation is. I mean, it's not called the early years foundation stage for nothing, but you know, these experiences, um, through child initiated play, through really good quality adult, adult guided play, um, really, um, really appropriate in interaction, skillful interactions are key, um, to supporting children's learning so that when they are moving through, then primary and secondary they, they've got a really rich storehouse. It's like the stories, you know, having that vocabulary, having had stories read to them, having had those wonderful experiences of imaginative play and role play are just so, so important. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's really true. Yeah. Um, and Charlotte said as well, early years holds a child's interest because they listen as well. It's not just about talking to them. Yes. Which you can see in a lot of the projects that you've shown us today that the children are really being listened to and not just what they're saying but what they're doing. Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. That's really important. So I think that's Absolutely right. Yeah. Absolutely. So yeah, is there anything else that anybody would like to ask? Yeah, yeah it is. It's really about observing them. Yeah. So, yeah. Is there anything else anybody would like to ask Annie while she's here? No, it was really good Don. Yeah, that's Some really, really good stuff. I think we've got some ideas now. I need to go away and create some tells talk at STEAM training. Well that would be great. It'd be nice to do a bit more collaborating so we can That'd be lovely to talk more about it. Yeah. Great. Alright, well look, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure to, to do the webinar. It's really enjoyed it and I really appreciate Joy, people joining, especially as you said this late in the term. And I imagine everyone's really tired and absolutely ready for a bit of a break. So I hope you get a few injuries as well. Yeah. And thank you for coming along Annie. It was really good. Yeah, it's been a really good, very welcome. Pleasure. And we'll chat soon. Yeah, Yeah. Alright, thanks A Thank you everybody. Bye-Bye Now. Bye bye-Bye.