As children experiment with building ramps for balls, they are gaining one of their first introductions to the laws of physics. Through trying out ramps with different heights and lengths, the students are learning about the forces of motion and gravity at a practical level. For example, I saw a child make a very steep ramp that the ball would roll down and then bounce high into the air as it hit the ground. When I asked him why he thought that was happening, he said, “Oh, it bounces because it is going straight down.” He then proceeded to add an additional section of ramp that branched off of the steeper ramp part of the way down. This new ramp, because of its lesser angle, allowed the ball to roll once it reached the end of the ramp. With hands‐on learning projects, children are forced to experiment with different solutions when problems arise. With this activity, there are a variety of ways that students adapt to the speci9ic needs of the problem they are working with. When the balls bounce out of ramps, children use their problem solving skills to come up with solutions like building walls to ricochet the balls. They create baskets to catch the balls so that they don’t roll out of the room. Some even create jumps to launch the ball higher into the air. Through this play‐based problem solving, not only are the children having fun, but they are also learning fundamental concepts of physics. To enhance the ball and ramp learning experience, we had the children create ball and ramp designs, including writing and/or dictating what they have included in their drawing. Children wrote words like Start, Ball, and End to incorporate literacy into the activity. They also used representational thinking to connect what they had created to what they drew. Not only is this a great way for children to re9lect on what they built, it is also a way to reinforce their thinking and to learn through a different modality (i.e. different types of learners). Reflection: Not only do balls and ramps touch on fundamental concepts of math, science and literacy, there is important social learning that happens, as well. We have found that through ball and ramp play it has, at times, built a sense of camaraderie through the great excitement that the children have when they have worked together to build a ramp that they are proud of. As children work together, compromise, take turns, problem solve, and pick up each others balls to give them back to who was using them, they learn to engage, trust each other, and appreciate the ideas of other people. ~Rachel Over the course of the past month, Judy and I have been busy working with the students to create a “Snow Cone Shop.” Based upon the children’s love of snow and their interest in buying and selling things from one another, we decided to introduce some of the basic concepts of stores, businesses, and economics. Using real snow and natural juices to flavor it, we emulated a store and the roles that people play as employee and customer. The children were so excited about this meeting that they couldn’t wait to start doing it for choice time. Immediately, the children jumped in to character as “scooper” and “customer”, using the socially- appropriate behaviors that we had discussed and modeled during meeting. These skills including paying the employee, making eye contact with your customers, using manners, and asking customers questions about how many scoops and what flavors of juice they would like. The snow cone shop has been a natural way to incorporate math into a real life situation. For every snow cone children bought, they were allowed to have three squeezes of juice. (We used eyedroppers, which is a natural way to have children use the pinching grasp that is used in writing.) With three flavors to choose from, many children decided to combine flavors. In making the request, “I would like two squeezes of orange and one of blueberry”, the children are demonstrating their ability to do addition in their head (two orange plus one blueberry equals three squeezes). Not only have they been adding, the students have also been counting how much money we have been making. On the first day, when teachers had everything set up from the start, we made $33. On Day 2, we made $37. The third day brought $7, but also required the students to plan and set up the “Shop” by themselves, requiring critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills. And on the fourth day, we made $10, which was an improvement on the previous day under student “management”. On Day Four, we also introduced the concept of “expenses”, which meant that we earned $13, but had $3 in expenses- $2 on cups and $1 on spoons. Not only does the “Snow Cone Shop” incorporate important literacy and math skills, it also reinforces socially appropriate behaviors such as waiting in line, making eye contact, using teamwork, and communicating with classmates. This choice has also taught children important aspects of being an employee, like cleaning up spills and collecting dirty dishes to wash. With regards to problem solving, we were frequently having problems with the counter falling down, spilling our juice and, once, even breaking one of our glass jars. When I asked if anyone had any ideas about how to prevent this from happening in the future, a child responded with, “It needs stabilizers”, before proceeding to build a wall around the existing counter so that the “stabilizer” would be knocked over before the counter fell if it was bumped! Reflection: This fun meeting and choice time activity has been a favorite for days. It has been an engaging and meaningful way to incorporate some of the core content areas of literacy, math, and social studies into our every day activities. Every child seems to be finding ownership in the shop and it has been a choice that every child has found excitement in. When a child returned from missing a few days of school and never having seen the “Snow Cone Shop”, his friend said to him, “You should try it… it is really fun!” ~Rachel |
AuthorMy name is Rachel Foley and I live in Warren with my husband, Luke, our 3 year old daughter, Nora, our 1 year old son, Tobin, and a black lab named Dozer. We have been in the Valley for the past 7 years and absolutely love the great community and tremendous beauty of this area. Prior to taking the position at Fayston, I was a teacher and assistant director at Spring Hill School in Waitsfield. I have also worked with children of all ages in numerous other capacities including summer camps, environmental education centers, and 1.5 years in the deserts of Utah, where I worked with at-risk teens in a wilderness therapy company. I am originally from Pittsburgh, but feel like I have really found my place here in the Mad River Valley. Archives
October 2015
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