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August 19, 2022
Discover the power of Floor Books in enhancing and evaluating children's learning experiences – a dynamic, interactive approach to education.
Main, P (2022, August 19). Floor Books: A teacher's guide. Retrieved from https://www.structural-learning.com/post/floor-books
Floor books are the scrapbooks that organise and collate children's thinking, focusing on what children find valuable, meaningful and interesting. Floor books are used for any age group to showcase children's conceptual understanding, their questions and comments to inform their learning journey.
The book is named a ‘floor book’ because it is kept on the floor so that the children can easily access it.
A class floor book follows a child-centred strategy and records the evidence of the learning and planning process of play that comes from it.
While writing in a floor book children perform shared thinking in a more formal way, which enables them to develop reasoning skills and recall other children's ideas and record them in the form of photographs, drawing and writing.
Some children revisit the class floor books and take advantage of a different group's learning, or their own experience from previous learning.
It is important to update the floor book after children's consultation because:
Some of the most important features of a floor book are that it includes:
Hence, a class floor book represents students' thinking, adults' observations, questions and conversations, and children's photos and drawings. The floor book serves as a significant part of the planning process that collates children centred ideas that are carried forward by the class teacher. They serve as a great way to share thoughts, ideas, actions, desires, observations, plans, solutions, failures, reflections and challenges. The floor books serve as a crucial component of the planning process; a book accessible to children at all times.
A classroom assistant needs to carefully listen to, note down and guide dialogue (when appropriate). The educator needs to mediate as pupils share their ideas and perspectives, and tell them the educational experiences to inspire every pupil’s desires and interests, depending upon their learnings.
The Floorbooks approach maintains a balance between child autonomy and intentional teaching. The planning cycle must take into consideration both these aspects of a teacher’s role in education to ensure that children must stay engaged in learning and develop the layers for lifelong learning. Explanation of floor books enables educators to demonstrate a deep consultation with children during the documentation and planning process.
A floor book documents exactly what is said by the children that inform their learning. Recording the children’s voices highlights the importance of dialogue with children in mathematical thinking. The focus is not the mathematical knowledge acquisition but rather the mathematical thinking supported by the floor book approach.
For example, in conversation with children about which animals, the child mentioned that ‘only small things are light in weight.' This provoked a discussion with children leading to a search to find a small thing to assess this idea. During this discussion, children were able to find different things and they considered what is the meaning of the words small and light-weight with each other.
The teacher may ask possibility questions or repeat children’s responses to extend and develop a deeper understanding of the concept
– ‘Micheal says his brother is very small and it is very heavy for him. How do people know if something is light or heavy?’ These queries of classroom assistant prompt exploration and raise more concerns to be solved, leading to authentic experiences that both children’s understanding and involvement.
These type of conversations with children during a floor book journey helps to gain a deeper understanding of age and weight, and continued their analyses while playing, providing their own exams to verify or disprove the theory. The floor book • notes hold the children’s differentiated questions, comments about children, their misconceptions, and the direction of their learning.
When children are fascinated, they mostly circle and come back to a topic of interest. One may note down the discussion with children in blank books and allows teachers to design activities for children on basis of children’s involvement and engagement. Whenever a topic of particular interest is revisited, children improve their understanding, begin to master reasoning skills and build on their previous knowledge.
For example, if any specific group of children have a particular interest in food, it can provide children with a wide range of learning opportunities. Regular cooking and baking sessions allow development for children towards a deeper understanding of measures and cooking and baking ingredients within different scenarios. This sets the direction of their future learning and play, and the children start to contextualize their mathematical skills using a large variety of resources.
Floor books provide a curriculum that give children the opportunity to deepen their understanding and expand their mathematical thinking by tapping into what encourages them as learners.
Floor books are the scrapbooks that organise and collate children's thinking, focusing on what children find valuable, meaningful and interesting. Floor books are used for any age group to showcase children's conceptual understanding, their questions and comments to inform their learning journey.
The book is named a ‘floor book’ because it is kept on the floor so that the children can easily access it.
A class floor book follows a child-centred strategy and records the evidence of the learning and planning process of play that comes from it.
While writing in a floor book children perform shared thinking in a more formal way, which enables them to develop reasoning skills and recall other children's ideas and record them in the form of photographs, drawing and writing.
Some children revisit the class floor books and take advantage of a different group's learning, or their own experience from previous learning.
It is important to update the floor book after children's consultation because:
Some of the most important features of a floor book are that it includes:
Hence, a class floor book represents students' thinking, adults' observations, questions and conversations, and children's photos and drawings. The floor book serves as a significant part of the planning process that collates children centred ideas that are carried forward by the class teacher. They serve as a great way to share thoughts, ideas, actions, desires, observations, plans, solutions, failures, reflections and challenges. The floor books serve as a crucial component of the planning process; a book accessible to children at all times.
A classroom assistant needs to carefully listen to, note down and guide dialogue (when appropriate). The educator needs to mediate as pupils share their ideas and perspectives, and tell them the educational experiences to inspire every pupil’s desires and interests, depending upon their learnings.
The Floorbooks approach maintains a balance between child autonomy and intentional teaching. The planning cycle must take into consideration both these aspects of a teacher’s role in education to ensure that children must stay engaged in learning and develop the layers for lifelong learning. Explanation of floor books enables educators to demonstrate a deep consultation with children during the documentation and planning process.
A floor book documents exactly what is said by the children that inform their learning. Recording the children’s voices highlights the importance of dialogue with children in mathematical thinking. The focus is not the mathematical knowledge acquisition but rather the mathematical thinking supported by the floor book approach.
For example, in conversation with children about which animals, the child mentioned that ‘only small things are light in weight.' This provoked a discussion with children leading to a search to find a small thing to assess this idea. During this discussion, children were able to find different things and they considered what is the meaning of the words small and light-weight with each other.
The teacher may ask possibility questions or repeat children’s responses to extend and develop a deeper understanding of the concept
– ‘Micheal says his brother is very small and it is very heavy for him. How do people know if something is light or heavy?’ These queries of classroom assistant prompt exploration and raise more concerns to be solved, leading to authentic experiences that both children’s understanding and involvement.
These type of conversations with children during a floor book journey helps to gain a deeper understanding of age and weight, and continued their analyses while playing, providing their own exams to verify or disprove the theory. The floor book • notes hold the children’s differentiated questions, comments about children, their misconceptions, and the direction of their learning.
When children are fascinated, they mostly circle and come back to a topic of interest. One may note down the discussion with children in blank books and allows teachers to design activities for children on basis of children’s involvement and engagement. Whenever a topic of particular interest is revisited, children improve their understanding, begin to master reasoning skills and build on their previous knowledge.
For example, if any specific group of children have a particular interest in food, it can provide children with a wide range of learning opportunities. Regular cooking and baking sessions allow development for children towards a deeper understanding of measures and cooking and baking ingredients within different scenarios. This sets the direction of their future learning and play, and the children start to contextualize their mathematical skills using a large variety of resources.
Floor books provide a curriculum that give children the opportunity to deepen their understanding and expand their mathematical thinking by tapping into what encourages them as learners.
