PROJECT TITLE: Imagination Garden

Term 3, 2024

School Name: Willetton Primary School

Teacher’s Name: Laura Yeoh

Year Group: 1

Number of students: 22

Creative’s Name:  Kristy Nita Brown

Creative Practices: Junior Fiction Author and Creative Educator

Main Curriculum Focus: English – Creating Texts

Cross-curricular Links: Sustainability

‍

Project Overview:

In the Imagination Garden project, students participated in a hands-on exploration of creativity by designing and building their own miniature worlds, which were then combined into a larger garden. The students worked collaboratively, blending their imaginations with the natural environment by crafting with recycled materials, integrating plant life, and fostering care for the school grounds. During this process, they shared ideas, invented and played, connecting with the natural world in meaningful ways.

Throughout the project, students applied the 5 Habits of Learning as they designed and constructed both their mini-worlds and the larger garden. Once their mini-worlds were complete, students expanded their learning by engaging in imaginative play, writing short stories about the creatures that inhabited their gardens, and turning these creative tales into book format.

To celebrate and share their work, students proudly showcased their mini-worlds, the larger Imagination Garden, and their storybooks at the school’s parent-teacher night, offering an opportunity for their peers, parents, and teachers to experience their creations firsthand.

‍

How did we make the curriculum come alive?

To bring the curriculum to life, we blended engaging warm up activities with the 5 Habits of Learning, which students applied during the creation of their mini-worlds and the Imagination Garden. Examples include outdoor activities like a sensory exploration of the five senses, games that encourage collaboration and creativity such as making eye contact and swapping places silently, and passing a hula hoop around a circle without breaking handholds. A highlight was a large warmup where students worked together to design and play a new game on the basketball court using chalk. On days with bad weather, we moved indoors for warmups like "Clever Cards," where students completed physical or sensory tasks, and fun games such as "This or That" and "Would You Rather," which fostered energy, curiosity, and social interaction. More physically challenging tasks included hand-eye coordination activities and categorising by height or hair length without talking. These warmups not only energised the students but also enhanced collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity, all of which fed into the more structured main activities that followed, making the curriculum dynamic and immersive.

‍

How did we make the 5 Habits of Learning come alive?

To bring the 5 Habits of Learning to life, we began by introducing students to the meaning and vocabulary of each Habit during the previous term's vegetable garden project. Each week, we focused on one Habit, using a Y Chart to deepen their understanding. The Y Chart encouraged students to engage with images and think critically about the Habit, discussing what they might see, hear, and feel when using it, which was recorded on the Y Chart. Students also filled glass jars with coloured sand to represent the Habit they focused on each week. By the time we transitioned to the Imagination Garden project, students were already familiar with the 5 Habits and confident in using the associated language. Weekly reflections included revisiting the poster, images, and vocabulary from previous weeks to identify which Habit was used most and why. Additionally, students wrapped sticks in coloured wool to symbolise their use of the Habits, further embedding these key concepts into their learning. By the end of the project, students were proud of their brightly coloured sticks and excited to take them home.

‍

How did we activate student voice and learner agency?

We designed activities that encouraged students to take ownership of their learning and express their ideas creatively. A key strategy was integrating the 5 Habits of Learning into the Imagination Garden. This provided students with the vocabulary and reflective tools needed to understand and discuss their own learning processes. Through the Y Charts, students actively contributed their thoughts on what they might see, hear, and feel when using a specific Habit, helping them articulate their own experiences and preferences during the main activities. They also had agency in how they represented their learning at the end of each session by wrapping sticks in coloured wool to symbolise the Habit they felt was most relevant. In the final two weeks of Creative Schools, individual students began to diverge from the group, confidently identifying and selecting different Habits, making their sticks distinct from others.

Activities that prioritised student-led decision-making allowed students to shape their learning experience, giving them a sense of ownership and increasing their confidence as active learners. During the warmup on the basketball court, students had the opportunity to contribute their own ideas to create and shape a new game, taking the lead in driving the direction of the activity. In the Imagination Garden project, students were encouraged to imagine, plan, design, and experiment with different ideas and materials, working collaboratively to develop their mini-worlds.

What was the impact?

Students: were excited and engaged in sessions, developed confidence and vocabulary to discuss learning, independently identified the 5 Habits of Learning, with imagination becoming their strongest habit, and gained a deeper understanding of the curriculum.

Teacher: incorporated more movement into warmups, encouraged imaginative and collaborative thinking, and found hands-on outdoor activities to be highly effective.

Creative: felt uplifted and confident in facilitating activities that were outside the box, which pushed students' understanding and skills, while spending more time outdoors.

School: saw increased student engagement and creativity inside and outside the classroom.

Parents: noticed an improvement in their children's imagination, and some participated in creating the garden.

Students from the Year 1 class were asked to describe Creative Schools. They said Creative schools is:

“Nice, because you get to do fun things.” “Fantastic, because Kristy comes.” “It’s fun because we made books.” “Fabulous.”

Students from the Year 1 class were asked, what is it like working with a Creative Practitioner. They said; “Fun.” “Good.” “Awesome.”

Students from the Year 1 class were asked what skills they were learning. They said,

“The 5 Habits.” “How to plant things and make books.” “To take care of stuff.” “To be an author.”

Which of the 5 Habits are you strongest/weakest at?

“Imaginative – strongest. Collaborate – weakest.” “Persistent – strongest. Inquisitive – weakest.” “Discipline – weakest.”

Katie, the EA in the Year 1 class was asked to provide some quotes about Creative Schools. Katie said,
“Creative schools, through hands-on learning, offer an adaptive, engaging and supportive environment that allows students to grow academically but also socially and emotionally. This is so important for students, especially those with special needs. I have really enjoyed being part of creative schools and seeing the benefits it has with the students I work with. The kids always get so excited to see Kristy and find out what they are doing. Creative schools have provided alternative learning environments, catering for the diverse needs of students including multisensory learning. I’ve seen students take responsibility for caring for the garden. Students maintain the imagination garden by doing things such as pulling out the weeds - they love it!”