From Tales of Princesses to Tales of Blood

And then there was Blood. As we entered our new unit of inquiry thinking about Who We Are, the enthusiasm for storytelling had surfaced and could not be contained. Those who were originally hesitant to tell stories or share anything understood now that this was a safe environment to take risks, try new ideas and play, whilst telling stories and developing new language skills. During our first brainstorm about the unit, the concept of blood, injury, emergencies and hospital rose to the top of their interests and thus entered their play naturally. I took their lead and began listening to their stories. 

It started with real injuries and the boys arguing who was stronger and who have more courage. Everyone expressing loudly "I never cry!" and "I am the strongest!" and "Even if I broke my head I never cry." There were also stories of compassion. Stories about students taking care of their friends at outdoor learning or helping a younger sibling at home. There were stories of broken bones and stories about visits to the doctor and nurse. They reinacted these stories in their play.

Students quietly (unbeknowst to me) started adding their own blood to their bodies with crayons.  This led to them telling me stories about what had happened to them. During these stories I was able to note vocabulary that they had learned telling princess story and fairytales had carried over to this theme. They used words like, First, Then, Next and Last. They were more organized with their thinking. They showed their uderstanding of body parts and also of good and bad choices that were made in their stories.

Spilled paint in the studio reminded them of blood. We invented stories and made predictions about how this "blood" could have gotten there and we also created our own "blood, "  and painted with the "blood" we created.