Triceratops has 3 horns

During whole class time, O. said that Triceratops has 3 horns. He said it in relation to the 3 circles we had been counting and talking about over the past few days.

The picture led to more discussion.

That there are 2 big horns and 1 small horn.
That the Triceratops in the picture is bigger than the Triceratops we have in the classroom.
That all of the Triceratops have 3 horns.
Some are bigger so they are not exactly the same.

Number talks based on children's interest in dinosaurs.

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.

Whole Group Time

There is a fabulous carpet in my classroom for the children to sit on during whole group time. It's the alphabet arranged in a grid. There are enough spaces for each child to have their own letter of the alphabet to sit on. I can assign spaces, which is what I did last year. I did that until one of the children asked if she could sit on a chair, and not the carpet, during whole class time. Why not? This led the children to write labels for their chairs. After sitting on their chairs for a few weeks most of the children decided to return to sitting on the carpet again. I'd like to start this year by not assigning children seating spots on the carpet. Hopefully we can use it as a time to problem solve any disagreements about where they want to sit. If not, I'll assign spaces. At least to start with. And then I'll see what happens after that.

NZ Teacher

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