NZ Teacher

It's not real 'fixing' but at least it's real tools.  The plastic tools were just not as appealing as these real, metal tools.  There was a Phillips screwdriver, a flat head as well as a wrench (spanner).  The tools provided opportunities for the children to develop their fine motor skills. Success was felt when a screw was taken out. "I did it!"

To help keep "THE BLOCK HOUSE" safe we moved the shelf away from the wall to the other side of the carpet providing a new, and safer, space for the house to be built. The letters: THE BLOCK HOUSE were written on A4 paper and attached to the bulletin board. Some of the children were interested in the letters and matching them with the names of the children in the class. The letter "A" had to be added because there are 5 children who begin with the letter A in our classroom this year.

One of the children talked about the OHP light being hot.  The word HOT was written on a card. He thought the word was NO because that's the word we write the most - for NO breaking. He was soon saying HOT when he looked at the word. He carried the card around with him and propped it up against the magnifying viewer.  A high interest word for a child interested in science and all things hot.

When planting sunflower seeds, one of the children wanted to do it on his own.  He got a white plastic bottle from the recyclables shelf, added some dirt, a couple of sunflower seeds, water and took it outside to put it in the sun.  Such independence. Such initiative.  It was fascinating to see that different children were interested in different aspects of the process. 

They wanted to use the wooden strips to stick to the house. We had some sticky dots which the children were able to use to attach the wooden strips to make the dolls house into a jail. It became a collaborative project and something we, the teachers, had not envisioned. The joy of letting the children lead is seeing what they decide to do at any given moment.

One of the boys had been heating the cymbals up on the OHP. He noticed that the metal on the cymbals was different colors. He wondered if it was because of the heat. He decided to put the blue tape over the cymbals to see what would happen. Scientific thinking in action. Other children are around to see what happens as he experiments with the heat from the OHP.

 The OHP became a "generator". There was talk about the heat that came from the light. Safety goggles had to be used as well as gloves for protection from the heat. It was "dangerous". The cymbals were put onto the top of the OHP and they began to heat up. There was a great deal of excitement around the generator. Collaboration, problem solving, language and intrigue.

It was the first time the dolls house had been brought into the classroom this year. It was introduced during centers time when the children are in four groups, 3 are with a teacher and 1 is able to play with the blocks. The dolls house was in the literacy center in an attempt to hear children use positional language (one of our math concepts). After the group had finished, one of the girls stayed and played for an extended period of time. Content to be on her own with the house all to herself.

This 1-10 resource was on the shelf for exploration. The moment came when one of the children picked it up and was counting and pointing to the numbers while those around him continued on with their play. The 1-10 stairs is a powerful resource for seeing that each number is one more than the previous one. This child saw something fascinating in the 1-10 stairs at that particular moment, complete with goggles for safety.

One of the favorite activities right now is fixing things. When the scarecrows head fell off the children decided that he needed an "operation". They lay him on the table and decided that they needed glue to put his head back on. We used some string to tie around his neck, then we tied his scarf on tight. Fixing things is an interest I'm sure I'll see again and again.

The children had decided to bring the scarecrows in from the corridor. They sat the scarecrows on the shelf then one of them announced that they were going to have a family photo. After we had taken the family photo the "angry scarecrow" was returned to his chair outside the classroom and one of the children wanted to take a photo of him. Every scarecrow family needs a family photo.

We think it's barley.  We had a variety of seeds in the room which the children enjoyed crushing with the pestle and mortar.  One of the children planted seeds that "looks like grass".  Over the weekend the grass had fallen over. One of the boys decided that it needed to by propped up so he took it over to the shelf and propped it up. A sense of wonder, problem solving, communication.

One of the girls had the "Ants Go Marching" chart in her hand. "Where would you like to put it?" I asked. "Here," she said putting it up on the felt board. We had to find 2 more of the velcro dots. We chose red (her favorite color). There were only 2 of the velcro dots, so we used a Little Red Hen with velcro on the back to attach the chart to the board. Later that morning the children were surprised that there were no longer 6 circles on the board, there were 2 more. 

It looked interesting from the beginning.  Legs and arms and a head were added. Cylinders for the eyes was a fabulous touch. Mat Man like you've never seen him before. There's always an opportunity to access these blocks for when the inspiration takes hold. 

When there are plants growing in the room there's a chance that they'll be knocked over and make a mess. It happened.  It gave one of the children a worthwhile motor development opportunity. The brush and shovel was given to him. "Shovel? It's not a shovel," said one of the children.

There were only 7  music instruments (a hand drum, a wooden xylophone, a triangle, castanets, cymbals and a shaker) so one of the children picked up two of the metal pots that were in the Home Center to use.  Innovation, sense of community, problem solving. The  children then followed the leader who had the triangle while a familiar  song "The Ants Go Marching" was played.

We used blocks that are designed to be used on a light table. They were made of brittle plastic that, when they fell down, made a loud noise on the Formica table.  So we used a table cloth to soften the fall. After the small group of children had played with the blocks they sorted them into different types. This led them to create more 3-D creations, putting blocks together in color groups or types.

The bulletin boards in my classroom no longer have the same work done by individual children. Instead it had different work done by individual children. It shows the value of the individual. It shows that each child has different strengths and interests.  It shows a child's thinking through their recordings of what they have said about different topics. It included photos with captions and drawings with captions. There are pictures without captions. And there are recordings of children's thoughts without pictures. 

The leader of the group had the triangle and the others followed.  The song "The Ants Go Marching" is familiar to the class. It was played so that there was a beat to march to. One of the children blocked the line and negotiations had to happen. Communication, leadership, music, and a sense of community all in this child initiated music experience.

Building the tallest tower is always appealing. This time we had borrowed the magnetic blocks from the classroom next door.  The tower was so tall that stools and chairs were needed to stand on to add blocks to the top of the tower. There was talk about the different highs of the chairs.  Mathematical language, communication, cooperation, physical development.