Further information

Background
Kidsfirst Kindergartens Bush Street is a kindergarten located in Rangiora, North Canterbury. It is part of Kidsfirst Kindergartens (Canterbury Westland Free Kindergarten Association). The kindergarten was purpose built in the 1980s next door to a public reserve.

The kindergarten runs sessions daily. The roll is split into two groups each with 30 children; one group in the morning, the other in the afternoon. Each session is staffed by a minimum of two teachers and parents are welcome to stay.

It is important to build a sense of community at kindergarten. We aim to give children and their families the skills to be confident in themselves, and to develop a sense of belonging while at kindergarten. The way we encourage these skills and attitudes is often through the sharing of stories, both personal and ones based around central characters teachers have created. It was because of this innovation that Kidsfirst Kindergartens Bush Street applied to become a Centre of Innovation (COI) 2006-2008.

How story is used in the kindergarten
Story is a tool used at Kidsfirst Kindergartens Bush Street to link together people and ideas, and share information. It is a vehicle by which to link some abstract ideas. It helps to form the kindergarten culture to which each can contribute through sharing a story of their own or listening to another’s story.

Story is not just a vehicle for children to relate their experiences to those of others and to tell their story. It enables teachers to share of themselves, and parents to get involved. Many uses of story are part of the teaching practice at this kindergarten, including news, children’s story books, conversational story, learning stories, evidential story, personal story and character story. In this article, we focus on character story.

COI research
In 2006, the teachers, with the support of a research associate, started to research the innovative use of story and the development of character story through the following questions:

• How do children learn through story and what impact does it have on families?
• How does story evolve?
• Where does story come from and what directs it?

As part of our Centre of Innovation research we are writing about aspects of the stories: why we chose them, what role children and their families played in the creation and telling of stories, ideas that emerged and parents’ reactions to the stories. As the research has progressed more questions have emerged. Some of these questions led to the identification of the values that underpin the teachers’ practice, and the strong links between story and Te Whāriki.

Character story
The teachers use a central character in developing an evolving story with the older children who attend the morning session (see examples later in this article). A new character, in the form of a fictitious or historical person, and his or her story, is created each term. This character becomes part of our interactions at the early morning mat times where the children gather together to share experiences and ideas. Children are invited to take turns to play the role of a character.

People’s involvement in character story
People in the community, children’s parents and student teachers are all invited to participate in character story times. The character joins daily segments of the stories together and creates a common thread. The character is someone to whom the children relate, so much so that they suggest actions and feelings for the character as the character’s life evolves. An example from a student teacher’s reflection on her time at the kindergarten:

"Firstly they introduced me to 'story'. This was a new concept to me but I quickly got used to the idea and have some understanding of story. This concept to me is the inclusion of stories, ideas and events from each child/ family that are incorporated into everyday life at Bush Street and can/do relate to more than one child in some cases. These stories help the children and their families to connect with kindergarten and the community, creating a strong sense of belonging. Some of the character stories are passed on from older to younger siblings." Hannah Sutton

John and Jane, Term 1 2006
In term one of 2006 the history of the Deans family, who were early settlers in Canterbury, was re-told through story. While based on real lives, the stories that term included many fictional elements as the development of story responded to children’s interests. During the story we went for a trip to the Port Hills to see, feel and experience the hills that John and Jane Deans had climbed on their arrival in Canterbury. During this excursion, many parents joined us and were exposed to the story that had become tangible and real to their children. They realised the richness and depth of understanding the children had developed as they got to know the story of John and Jane.

Life in early Canterbury where John created a farm, and John and Jane lived without electricity was investigated. We explored baking bread, ship life, weddings, birth and death. The character story had also explored what life was like in Scotland where John and Jane came from.

At the end of term, when the story was finishing, we visited the Deans family house, Riccarton House at Riccarton Bush, which is a small remnant of the land as it was many years ago. In preparation for the trip we had woven descriptions of the house and bush into the telling of the story at kindergarten that we knew we would find at Riccarton House. Many parents who came on the first trip came along to find out more. We invited the children to dress up in period costume. Many parents dressed up as well. We were able to eat pears from the fruit trees that Jane had planted, go into John and Jane’s house and see pictures and photographs of the people we had ‘met’ through the story.

Typically, the teachers at Bush Street ask children to draw pictures of what they enjoyed or remembered about a trip. Next to these pictures, we write the words that the child says. The comments on these pictures reflect the connections the children had made from story to the ‘real’ thing, such as observations about the house, eating pears from the pear tree, collecting acorns, and the fire escape in the house. Thus, the children had had at least three encounters with some features of Riccarton House—in story before the visit, during the visit, and in revisiting through art.

The parents were also invited to complete an evaluation form about the trip and the overall story of John and Jane. Thirty children and their families get an opportunity to feed back to us in this manner and 11 replied. We also find many adults feed back information verbally. The spoken comments about this experience and story were positive. From the parent evaluation forms there were comments about the impact this story had on the family and family life such as:

• "(My child is) always talking about Jane and John and asking questions about their life."
• "Loved making the candle and lighting it many times at home which led to discussing about electricity. Also about the candle not ‘working’ if too much wax got on the wick."
• "The death of John brought up many questions about death and why wasn’t John looked after by Jane…."
• "The highlight was probably the trip to Riccarton House. He was so excited about going. Also getting dressed up. This has been a learning experience for our whole family as I have to admit I didn’t know the John and Jane story myself so it has been interesting and a lot of fun to learn this together."
• "We heard each day about John and Jane. K (child) enjoyed talking with Dad about this. I think it is a great idea incorporating learning into story."
• "K (child) has even been talking with his younger brother S (child) about how you need candles when you don’t have lights in the olden days. The whole family has something in common to talk about when K (child) mentions Kindy."
• "'John and Jane are dead.' That statement comes up every time we talk about John and Jane."
• "The candle was a real hit and he was really proud of his candle. We learnt some good lessons about fire. Also an escape route out of the house in case of fire."
• "A magic moment for me was how much the children got involved and how they wanted to learn more."
• "H (child) feeling very important that he had something to share, as J (child) does from school."

The final comment came from a family who live on a farm:

• "Riccarton house isn’t really a farm in that all the animals were dead! I don’t wanna be John the farmer anymore… He’s dead too…. And so is Jane."

These comments reflect the impact of this story on six families. The story impacted on more than just the children attending kindergarten at the time, as it promoted family discussion around a variety of topics – death, physics, history. We also heard verbal accounts of children visiting relatives near Lyttleton and being amazed at the information the child was sharing with the rest of the family in the car about John and Jane arriving in a boat from Scotland and having to walk over the hills. Another family were surprised when they went past the cemetery in the centre of Christchurch and their child asked “Is that where John and Jane are buried?” They were, and the family stopped the car and got out to have a look. We have heard about children replaying the stories and creating their own as they play with friends or siblings at home.

How does story impact on families? The above account is just a glimpse. We gain other glimpses when parents return to kindergarten with younger siblings, passing comments about older children still remembering things from a story. There are plenty of indications that it is deep learning. However, the full impact of this story cannot possibly be fully measured.

Taniwha Tales, Term 3 2006
While character story functions by building on children’s interests, the learning by teachers is also a key component. Taniwha Tales were set up to support teacher’s professional development in researching local myths and legends suitable for kindergarten children. It was also the first time character story had been based around two characters that were not humans.

The characters Ana and Maunga came from a local legend about two Taniwha and the taniwha ‘eggs’ —stones that can be found on the Canterbury Plains. The characters of Ana and Maunga Taniwha were used to tell their own story and to introduce other myths and legends. Teachers and students searched the library and college notes to source tales that were of significance to the local area and related to children’s interests that included volcanoes, gemstones and bats at that time. Adult interests included weaving harakeke (flax). Through the development of the story interest was generated amongst parents, enough to form a weaving group that still meets regularly.

Ana and Maunga developed personalities and became individual characters that represented different areas. Ana looked after the water and lived under a trapdoor, while Maunga lived in the mountains and forests. Through these character stories, children and their families found out more about the local rivers, mountains and geographical features. They also learnt about the mythical characters of long ago such as Tane Mahuta and Maui. Some stories that term focused on birds and animals in ways that enabled the children to learn about and connect to New Zealand flora and fauna.

As part of this story the children were taken to a local beach. Many parents came too and heard about the endangered plants that live in the area. We climbed sand-hills and flew flags; we dug for treasure and built a huge Taniwha sandcastle. Later, several families returned to the beach as they had had such a good time and they wanted to share it with the rest of the family.

Our research explores whether learning extends beyond the children who are attending kindergarten at any one time. We have found that learning lasts beyond the term duration of any one story. For example, some time after the Taniwha stories, as a family drove past some road works, a child was heard to say, "There’s a pile of Taniwha eggs."

This story was an opportunity for teachers to grow and learn with and alongside children and their families as we explored indigenous stories of long ago.

Professor Plum, Term 4, 2006
Stories shared by the children near the end of Term 3 included a child’s love of rocks and volcanoes, two boys’ interest in BMX bikes, and children finding that the peas planted in the garden were sprouting. How could we connect and build on these interests? Meet Professor Plum. The character of Professor Plum was originally created by the teachers as they sat on beds in a backpackers’ hostel after presenting at a conference in Picton. They thought about the forthcoming term, topics they wanted to include and how they might support the interests of the children and their families. Kay came up with the idea of a mad scientist or professor. The name Professor Plum jumped to mind from an old game, and the Professor Plum character was born.

Professor Plum likes to find out about things, places and people. He likes to find out how things work. Starting with a child sharing his knowledge about rocks and volcanoes, the story soon extended to include penguins, making scarecrows, growing food, healthy eating, and of course baking a fruit cake for Christmas. The talk about healthy food and making our own sandwiches was supported by the local district council’s health promoter.

Professor Plum also had a social conscience and invited the children to do jobs at home to earn money to send to people in countries that did not have as much as he did. The children and families embraced this idea and raised enough money to buy some seeds, a toilet and a goat (through Tear Fund).

Professor Plum also took us camping as we packed up his ‘Combi van’ (a box on wheels) with boogie board, sunblock, sausages, hokey pokey icecream, rugby ball and other items associated with a Kiwi holiday. It was very exciting when a real Combi van arrived that had a real hokey pokey icecream for all the children.

Sackson, Term 1, 2007
Sackson was a character created around children’s holiday experiences. Their stories were painted onto old barley sacks, e.g. seeing a Kea (bird) high in a tree in the forest. Over the weeks, children continued to bring attachments from home to add to the painted sacks.

Sackson’s story developed an environmental theme. We explored vegetable gardens, worms, and building a worm farm. We talked about the New Zealand birds that lived in the tree by his house. Sackson was also able to highlight landmarks such as rivers, lakes and mountains that are of significance to the local area.

The character of Sackson enabled children to learn about healthy food, how to sort rubbish and recycling materials, and look after the worms in the garden as well as the ones in the new worm farm that was built as part of the story. Children and their families contributed in different ways, such as making zucchini fritters from the vegetables grown at home, through to contributing a bath for the worm farm as a family renovated their house. We had stories of giant sunflowers that had been grown at home from the seed of the one that had grown at kindergarten the season before. Seed from those flowers were brought back to kindergarten so we could grow another one.

The toy New Zealand birds were taken on trips and met up with the real thing as families visited the birds in their natural habitat. We heard tales about a family where the boys went on a ‘blokes night out’ to a tramping hut in the forest. The highlight of the trip was hearing Ruru (owl) call. It made the toy one at kindergarten more real.

The links between home and kindergarten are strengthened through sharing experiences such as these, and we continue to learn together as the children share their family stories.

Sackson supported children to become more confident as they shared their stories from home. The children were able to enjoy and identify with other families’ experiences. Sackson provided the link between topics created by the children or teachers, and varied widely as his story evolved.