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Four children talk with their teacher as they work to paint their faces and to move like animals. Observe how the teacher confronts the paradox in Kay’s decision to paint an entire butterfly on her face and consider how an adult might help the child reflect about this contradiction more clearly. Notice how the teacher encourages the children to reflect on their thinking by asking them to plan ahead: “I notice that you’ve just started with the orange. Is there any other place that the orange is gonna go on your face?” Study Diego’s use of gestures and words to represent his knowledge about the tiger’s teeth and identify the five attributes he decides to include. Carefully examine the many ways the children invent to symbolize the essence of an animal. Consider how this experience could be used at a later time to encourage the children reflect on their choices of symbols and gestures.

Keywords: Fives, Teaching, Children-Teacher, Symbolization, Gestures

Length of stand-alone master video clip: 7 minutes 42 seconds