Visiting the Ducks

Our centre is set in a rural setting. We are able to take the toddlers on walks around the primary school and over to the duck ponds. Because the pond is a little way away for some of our toddlers we often place three toddlers in a trolley and take them. We took the toddlers the other day. We made our way slowly past the carpark. We stopped and I got down to the toddlers level and pointed out all the cars and the different colours that they are. As we walk I am pointing and talking about what we can see, the trees, flowers and other children. I stop here for a little while and we can see the year ones class outside doing their exercises. I share with the toddlers what we can see. P starts to move around in the trolley. I asked if they would like to get out and get three smiles. P is copying the older children. P stops and I can see she is listening as the class teacher is telling the class what they have to do next. She is bending over and moving her arms. I take a photo of the class and their teacher. I also take one of P exercising. When P has finished I ask if she is ready to go and see the ducks, she nods yes. We continue our walk on the pond. The grounds men are out mowing the lawns. It is very noisy and the toddlers put their hands over their ears. I take another photo of the lawns being mowed by the grounds men. Through taking a simple walk through the school the toddlers have "first hand experience, they are able to encounter adult models in their world of work".(Mindes, 2006,p.147)When we reach our destination the toddlers are lifted out of the trolley and are able to walk around as we look for the duck and her ducklings. The pond has a fence around it, we are able to see through the fence. There are two teachers and we are very aware how quick the toddlers can be so keeping them together and safe is very important. I spot the duck in the pond she has her ducklings with her and they are just swimming out into the middle of the pond. We can hear her quacking, the toddlers are smiling and pointing to the ducks. P is repeating the word quack over and over again. M is standing a little bit back from the others, she is pointing and saying duck. We have taken the camera and have taken photos of the toddlers in the trolley and of all that we have seen,
The toddlers are aware of and are relaxed within their environment outside of the preschool. As teachers I believe that it is important that we build strong relationships with our children and families. This strengthens the trust between the toddlers and us as teachers. "Learning is most effectively supported if descriptive talk is part of a responsive caring relationship between toddler and adult." (McNaughton and Williams, 2004, p.48. Through open ended questioning I am creating an interest and provoking thought." Field trips can expand children’s concept of the world around them."(Taylor, Morris and Young, 1997,p.41).
Ducks are very familiar to the toddlers, they sing songs about them, know rhymes and see many pictures of ducks in their books. Scholl, 2005 states that "nothing sparks children's desire to learn more than investigating things they already know and care about."(p.1).
Through the use of technology we are able to revisit this walk through looking at the photos. As soon as we got back to the centre the photos were printed off and then laminated. They are laminated so the toddlers can hold the photos and they will last longer. The photo sheets are also placed around the centre so that the toddlers have access to them all the time. Even weeks later the toddlers will pick up the photos and you can hear from their use of words that they are revisiting the walk. The toddlers enjoy seeing themselves in the photos and are able to tell the other toddlers and teachers 'ducks and quack, quack as they are pointing to the photo. P likes the photo of the class exercising and as I watched she put the photo on the floor and bent over to touch her toes, just like the school children. Next time the older toddlers can take the photos, I need to step back and see what they can see when we take a walk.