Playful Inquiry: thinking about patterns

The Opal school in Portland describes playful inquiry as....

This aligns with my belief about children as capable, competent and curious. I always trust that they will learn given kindness, patience and time.
In our kindergarten classroom I have planned this framework around morning table work using a wide variety of loose parts and following up with a sharing circle about their thinking.  On this day they were guided with the question "what is a pattern, how can you show your thinking?"

I have organized the table work to include a modified version of a gallery walk by asking the children to leave their design for the next participant to read and then move to a new space to create again. If a child comes to a space where a pattern has been left behind, then they can read the pattern and then rebuild using their own ideas.

Beautiful Pinwheel Pattern by Eli

I find it so interesting that their conversations revolve around how to build with the loose parts; colour, shape, size and even naming one design  the "up down" patterns. As they work, I take photos, observe, eavesdrop and make quick notes about what I see. WE debrief with a sharing circle conversation and then the next day using that abundant data, I plan my next lesson and adjust the table work to nudge their learning.