By asking a provocative question, Teacher Jennifer invited the “There’s a Fly on my Hat” song group into symbolic communication and story structure.
Teacher Jennifer: How would someone know how the song starts?
Archer: You could just show them.
Jennifer brings out paper and pens. The children communicate about which symbols to include. The story involves a hat, a bat, a cat and a fly to name a few potential symbols.
The group meets with Stuart who also asks about where to begin singing. The children share their ‘sound map’.
Rio: That’s the community drawing we did to show everyone our song.
Stuart: How will they know which part to sing first? Let’s use our pointing fingers and sing the song together.
password is: venice1987
Gus adds lines that he narrates as a kind of key to the sound map. At the end of this session, the children are still challenged with how to communicate what comes first, next, and last. While they are delighted with the rhyming and rhythm, they are also engaged in communication and encouraged to take on the perspective of someone who is not in the group and who doesn’t know the song, “There’s a Fly on my Hat.” -Jennifer and Kristin