Coactive Education Consultancy

Let’s talk Social Emotional Learning with Robert Jensen!

This awesome little snippet is just one minute from the full-day workshop we’ve hosted on the topic — imagine how much great knowledge our learners take away from the full session!

Keen to register? There are two upcoming sessions for this event, fully funded for Northland and Waikato.

Check the comments for the link!

Where is Del off to today?? If your school has a story to tell - you know we’ll travel as far as we need to to make it happen!

Del’s off to Binalong - a rural town in NSW ready to tell their story, where should she head to next? Tag a school with an incredible story

Hands up if you’re guilty of quizzing children.

🙋‍♀️

It’s a habit that’s easy to fall into - but why?? In this clip from our Early Literacy Essentials workshop - Our expert facilitator, Rebecca Hellowell, talks about the best ways to talk to tamariki that actually grow their oral language skills.

Instead of saying “What colour is this block” we can model real conversations “You’ve got a yellow block!” “What do you think will happen if you put it ontop of the tower?” “That’s a gigantic tower!”

Follow along for more snippets from our workshops, and take a look at our website to see if any fully-funded sessions are available in your area.

Teachers, have you ever sorted the consent forms, funded the bus, arranged parent chaperones, and planned a full day at the museum; only for those carefully planned learning opportunities to be derailed by unfocused, distracted learners?

So how do we make sure our learners still access the rich stories these places hold, without the heavy resourcing and logistics?

Take a teacher-only trip.

Whether it’s your whole team or just you, make a day of exploring your local museums, gathering stories, and collecting locally relevant information you can take back to your students.

Then, integrate those stories throughout your lessons in ways that are focused, explicit, curriculum-aligned, and meaningful and most importantly no bus required ;)

What would you do? 🤔

A child keeps knocking down other children’s towers…

🚫 What not to do:
Jump straight to “Stop that!” or remove the child.
When we rush to control the behaviour, we can miss what the child is communicating through their actions.

Because play is communication.

✅ What to do instead:
Slow down. Get curious. Be intentional.

Ask yourself:
👉 What is this child trying to say through their play?
Are they exploring cause and effect?
Seeking connection?
Testing boundaries?
Inviting interaction?

Then step in to support communication, not shut it down:
👉 “I see you knocked it over. You’re so powerful and strong! What else can we do to show that?”
👉 “You want to play with them. How can we join in?”
👉 “They worked hard on that. What could we do instead?”

Intentional teaching means recognising that behaviour in play is a form of language.
Our role is to translate, guide, and extend it, helping children move from actions to words, from impulse to connection.

✨ When we respond intentionally, we’re not just managing behaviour…
we’re building communication, social understanding, and meaningful play.

So… what would you do?

Read more about intentional teaching and destrcutive play in the blog by ECE Expert Gabby Dyet linked in the comments below

What does ANZAC Day mean to you?
Today, we remember the courage and sacrifice of over 500,000 Australian and New Zealand soldiers who served in WWI, and the 78,000 who never returned home.
In our early learning spaces, we can honour this day in ways that are meaningful and age appropriate. For our youngest learners, it is not about the details of war. It is about understanding values like respect, gratitude, belonging, and doing what is right.
Through simple conversations, shared stories, and connection with our communities, we help children begin to understand what it means to honour those who came before us.
Lest we forget.