The third teacher in action

The classroom environment, or the third teacher, can provide opportunities for us to find out what a child knows or can do.

One of our learning outcomes is for children to use ordinal numbers.

Today, C. was looking at the hour glass which is made up of one minute,two minute and five minutes. He talked about how the last one, 5 minutes, had the most sand because it took the longest. He told me which one would be first. We talked about which one would be second.

On his way out of the classroom he noticed that his bag hook is "second" in the row.

He is able to use ordinal numbers. The third teacher has provided the opportunity for me to find out what C. knows about ordinal numbers.

Comments

Tape Man

Some of the children put blue tape over their mouth. Usually I would have said something like, "Take the tape off your mouth. It's not for putting on your mouth." Instead I thought of Tape Man (with some pride, being from New Zealand). I thought of creativity. I thought of art. So we sat together for whole group time, some with tape on their mouth. I said, "I've got something to show you." When they first say him one of them said, "It's scary." I reassured them that it's not too scary and that he's being funny. So they started to laugh. Pretty soon there was no more tape on mouths (not that I minded if there was, it's just hard to laugh). Thank you Tape Man for reminding us that creativity begins with exploration in play.

Changing Spaces

The blocks were in tubs on the shelf in the center of the room. It was time for a change, so the blocks were put onto the shelf by the OHP, providing a more enclosed space for the children to build with the blocks. One of the children spent time building a structure. After he has finished, he was able to leave it there for a while, and later in the day he was able to put the blocks back on the shelf where he had found them. Changing spaces creates new opportunities.

Pouring Skills

We'd finished adding vinegar to baking soda and watched it froth up over the sides of a tiny glass jar. After we'd finished, the children played with the mixture. One of the boys found a funnel to help him pour. They were given one rule: pour over a tray. The rule was only broken a couple of times.

NZ Teacher

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