The children have created a game together, which they are playing in many different settings. The game usually involves the phrase, “ready, set, go!,” some sort of simultaneous movement such as running, then gathering back together, waiting, looking back and forth at each other, and naturally taking turns being the one to shout joyously, “ready,… Read more »
The kids are interested in our homemade geoboard, and Lincoln has the idea that it could be a city. They all take turns adding different rubber bands, making shapes and strings of “lights”. The city becomes a space ship, and Cal realizes the rubberbands can be ‘sound makers’
In this experience we worked with chalk and water on black paper. Some chose to pour the water over the paper, others spread it over the chalk using paintbrushes to smear and blur the lines.
Some pictures from an ongoing exploration of geography. Save Save
“Rawwwwrrrrr!” “Stop! I don’t want to play that game” “That was really clear. You don’t want to play this game. Does the growling feel scary?” “Yes!” “Stop!” “I don’t want to play that game!” “Guys, guys. I’m a friendly monster! See? I jump too!” “Yeah, you can jump too!” Invitation to play: “This castle really… Read more »
We observed children exploring various strategies for creative expression–using one finger, multiple fingers, one hand, two hands, experimenting with small movements and large movements, straight lines, and wiggly lines, circles and spirals. Some words that came to mind as we watched the children interact with this offering: soothing, collaborative, shared canvas, impermanence, large scale, sensory…
Amelia and Eddie want to run meeting, but so does Kai. How do we decide who gets to run meeting? We discuss the issue for a few minutes. Various proposals are brought up. The person who helped us negotiate the proposal was Jia, a 5 year old. She was able to see that since Amelia… Read more »
“Our calendar is almost full of numbers! What number will it be today, can anyone help me count?” “I can’t count that high, because sometimes I mess up the numbers.” “Yeah, there are a lot of numbers. Maybe we can learn them by practicing. Let’s count them together.” (After counting) “I did it! I didn’t… Read more »
“How do you get them to stay together?” “You have to use tape. See, like this. ” At our daily meeting, we ask each child if they have an idea for a plan to do that day. This is the foundation of our Emergent Curriculum. Today, a student said she wanted to make binoculars and… Read more »
A conflicted erupted around Legos. After their initial reactions, Jamie and Sean realized they were interested building similar things, and Sean suggested “What if we work together?”. This strategy worked really well, and after a time Jamie told Sean, “You’re my best friend.” A short while later, another student, Ken, began playing with some blocks… Read more »