NZ Teacher

A group of children were playing with some yarn. We'd been making telephones using paper cups and yarn.  One of the children had the yarn twisted around his finger - we all seem to need to have that experience when we first play with yarn.  The yarn was around the OHP.  As I was helping unwind the yarn around the finger there was a CRASH.  One of the children said that he saw smoke coming out of the OHP. The glass shards were fairly large so I picked them up, told the children to stand back and helped them move their play to another part of the classroom. The OHP had stopped working. We will try to repair it. (The OHP works. We're waiting for a new piece of glass and we'll be back to light experiments).

Some of the children have been making guns and pretending to fire them. They use the magnetic rods or the magnetic blocks.  It causes them to run around the room, so I have to remind them, "We walk inside."  I say, "No guns at school." It's stopped them somewhat. Although, the other day, I saw one of the children put his fingers into a gun formation. This will happen. It's natural. I just have to stop them from running around or hurting another child.

The paper trays were moved from the top of the shelf to the table so that some of the children could make a trap using the yarn. One of the children experimented with the paper trays. He pushed them back to discover that they can be formed into steps or they can be stacked on top of one another. Spatial exploration.

There were some photos of what could be made with the shapes. I took the photos away.  There is more creativity when we start without a template to copy and make something new. There's always the environment and the people around us for inspiration. There is no need for a template to copy. Open exploration is much more creative.

Most of the children made a puppet with the materials.  "How do I do this?" L. asked. I showed her how to take the sticky tape from the dispenser. She decided that she'd use scissors to cut the tape instead. Decision making, problem solving, use of tools, fine motor skills.

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.

These magnetic rods are perfect for children to practice their chopping skills.  The children used the wooden knife (from a wooden sushi set donated to the school) and the big line (from the Handwriting Without Tears program).  Children love to chop and explore magnets.  This was a perfect combination.