NZ Teacher

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.