TEACHERS

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PLANKS

Images of our PLANKS workshops

PLANKS Incursion – Format

Arriving at your school office an hour prior to the session, the Green Hat Workshop facilitator will sign in and then unload our collection 25 x 16kg boxes of PLANKS into the venue space. Please ensure there is clear access without steps. After setting up a display and arranging the PLANKS kits in the space participants arrive and sit in front of the display where they recieve a short presentation about building technique and some ideas to open up the possibility of the PLANKS’ use; Often this is followed by a short series of ‘closed’ warm up activities and then the floor is opened to the participants’ own ideas – “You can build whatever you want, with whoever you want, using as many PLANKS as you want…”

The most valuable aspect of each workshop is this period of time, running for about an hour and a half to two hours, where participants are engaged in free, open ended play. During this time our facilitators work hard to open up the potential learning in the activity through informal demonstration, question and prompted reflection.

Following are the focus of some of the workshops we have facilitated.

• Whole school whole day series. A day of sessions where each year level (up to 100 participants at once) participate in a session. Prep/Foundation having only an hour, with minimal presentation and more play, sometimes shared with their grade 6 ‘buddy’. Often this can be a celebration of a new term or school year or its conclusion, or even to mark an event or day of science or mathematics.
• Single session. One class or year level as a stand-alone activity or the conclusion to a HASS topic or construction.
• STEAM or Mathematics Family Evening. Aften after a day of PLANKS workshops, families attend an evening hour-long session and students show their parents what engineering ideas they’ve learned during the day.

Venue / Location guidance

The most appropriate building surface is a flat, even, indoor one, with trolley access and large enough to contain 80cm² or more for each participant.

Participants work on the floor, so a swept floor is preferable.

This activity is not run within multiple spaces but takes place in a single location per booking. Multiple locations are viewed as multiple bookings and will be billed accordingly.
Access is required up to an hour prior to the workshop; shorter setup times are negotiable but may impact on the workshop. 

If we are taking over a gym hall or multipurpose room it goes without saying that other staff and timetables etc need to be reminded of our sessions.

We hope to use a raised surface, be it a stage or two trestle tables, to create several demonstration constructions that we use in our introductory presentation.

Whole school timetable guidance

Our facilitators prefer longer periods of time with more participants.
Optimum time frames are 1.5 to 2 hours for a workshop with up to 100 participants.

We understand however that timetables are often quite inflexible and we regulary compromise in this regard. We hope that teachers consider booking workshops for two days over the decision to compress a workshop into an hour, as the authentic, self-driected learning of the workshop is reduced.

If a session needs to be split into two sessions however our preference is for a short session to be first and then a long session following.

Our expectation is that we work with a new group for each session and not one group for the whole day.

Depending on the dynamic of each group, we suggest the timing for Foundation and Grade 1 students is optimally 1 hour with grades 3-6 1.5-2hrs.

Sample timetables:
Example 1 & 2 are our preferred

Early Years

Children who are in their early years of education are mostly engaged in play-based learning as a central feature of their program and therefore in most cases we suggest the purchase of PLANKS rather than booking a workshop.

Our PLANKS workshops in kindergartens are often prompted by a group of super-builders who will stack and design with anything that is not nailed down. In this instance our workshops are an event in celebration of this creativity and often begin with a whole group and finish only with these dedicated engineers.
We suggest in these cases that staff are available to supervise other parallel activities and that the whole group are not compelled to participate for the full time length of the workshop.

We love Kindergarten Parents’ Evenings and some of our most memorable experiences have been facilitating authentic play between parent and child.

Different abilities and specialist schools

The open ended nature of Green Hat Planks Workshops are one of a rare type of incursion which produces a challenging and creative atmosphere for every ability*.

PLANKS are intrinsically engaging for every participant at their optimum competence, without measurement, formal rules or external expectations. They can be positioned, stacked and balanced in as many ways as there are builders and the component nature of Planks means that repetitive stacking or patterning leads to outcomes that are just as exciting as more sophisticated engineering.

While our facilitators are not formally trained in special needs education, our partnership with many specialist groups and schools has led to some of our most memorable work. We regularly recieve feedback from specialist aides and Primary School Classroom Teachers that exceptional social development occurs during PLANKS play, with ALL of their students.

As our Facilitators work with an understanding of Piaget’s Constructivist theories of cognitive development and Green Hat Workshop’s core value of working with the people in front of us, rather than to a “turn-key” preprepared plan, means we are highly adaptable to the communities we work within.

*Participants need to have basic finger and arm dexterity, be able to physically hold, grasp and stack.

Loose PARTS

Loose PARTS Incursion – Format

Arriving at your school office an hour prior to the session, the Green Hat Workshop facilitator will sign in and then require assistance getting our truck as close to the location of the session as possible. Loose PARTS play is delivered in a truck, usually to an outside location. The facilitaor unloads and sets up our currated collection of loose PARTS into the space in ways that may inspire particular types of play.

This workshop is fundamentally open ended play with a range of materials of varying weights, shapes and sizes and works best in schools with an authentically liberal, rights based culture. We accept that management of school spaces prevents true open ended play however we hope you can help us do the best we can in this regard.

The workshop can run for as little as an hour and up to a full day depending on how the staff would like to emphasises ongoing play and are happy with the full expression of the play cycle which includes cadences of engagement. Morning recess and lunch can be spent in the space, enabling the creation of towns and fully functional econcomies.

Following are the focus of some of the workshops we have facilitated.

• Whole school whole day series. A day of sessions where each year level (up to 100 participants at once) participate in a session.
• Single session. One class or year level as a stand-alone activity.
• Drop-in activity supporting a fete or event. A creative afternoon or evening of play, facilitated by our staff and involving the extended school community.

Venue / Location guidance

This workshop usually takes place on a sturdy outdoor surface.

The nature of a loose parts workshop, provides opportunities for participants to use all aspects of the space that is available. We accept that a school’s appetite for adventure varies greatly and we appreciate your letting us know prior to the workshop if particular branches, heights or trees in general, garden or playground areas are off limits. 

Loose Parts is not run within multiple spaces but takes place in a single location per booking. Multiple locations are viewed as multiple bookings and will be billed accordingly.
Access is required up to an hour prior to the workshop.

BOX PLAY

Images of our Box Play workshops

Box Play Incursion – Format

Arriving at your school office an hour prior to the session, the Green Hat Workshop facilitator will sign in and then require assistance getting our truck as close to the location of the session as possible. Box play is delivered in a truck. The facilitator unloads and sets up the boxes and Reverse Art resources into the space. 

This workshop is fundamentally open ended making play using large cardboard boxes as the foundation and focus of play, this program works best in schools with an authentically liberal, rights based culture. The workshop can run for as little as an hour or up to a full day, depending on how the staff would like to emphasises ongoing play and how happy they are with the full expression of the play cycle which includes cadences of engagement. Morning play and lunch can be spent in the space, enabling the creation of towns and fully functional econcomies. Participants are welcome to retain their boxes and all the resources that are attached to it. 

If you are intersted in using MakeDo™ resources please let us know. We are more than happy to provide this resource however there are extra fees applicable.

Following are the focus of some of the workshops we have facilitated.

• Several year levels at once with several sessions over a whole day. A day of sessions where year levels (up to 100 participants at once) participate in a session.
• Single session. One class or year level as a stand-alone activity.
• Drop-in activity supporting a fete or event. A creative afternoon or evening of play, facilitated by our staff and involving the extended school community.

Venue / Location guidance

This workshop takes place in either an indoor or outdoor setting.

Box Play includes our full bank of reverse art resources and is hard to relocate. It is not run within multiple spaces but takes place in a single location per booking. Multiple locations are viewed as multiple bookings and will be billed accordingly.
Access is required up to an hour prior to the workshop.

MAKING TABLE

Making Table Incursion – Format

Arriving at your school office an hour prior to the session, the Green Hat Workshop facilitator will sign in and then require assistance getting our truck as close to the location of the session as possible. The Making Table is delivered in a truck. The facilitator unloads and sets up the space with Reverse Art resources and the tools for use, glue guns, hole punches, wire cutters, scissors etc.

This workshop is fundamentally open ended making play with an emphasis on construction techniques rather than outcomes. This program works best in schools with an authentically liberal, rights based culture. The workshop can run for an hour or up to two.

Following are the focus of some of the workshops we have facilitated.

• Single session. One class or year level as a stand-alone activity.
• Drop-in activity supporting a fete or event. A creative afternoon or evening of play, facilitated by our staff and involving the extended school community.

Venue / Location guidance

This workshop takes place in either an indoor or outdoor setting.

The Making Table includes our full bank of Reverse Art resources and is hard to relocate. It is not run within multiple spaces but takes place in a single location per booking. Multiple locations are viewed as multiple bookings and will be billed accordingly.
Access is required up to an hour prior to the workshop.