Monday, January 13, 2014

120- The students each have a bag of solid objects. They drew a circle on their papers and are sorting the objects into groups based on what the objects have in common. We are trying to lead them to discuss what properties all solids have.

Genesis, holding a screw and a tube that are the same width and height- these two are the same because they are both straight.

Genesis holds up the screw and a piece of metal wire- these are both hard, so they are the same

Esmerelda's Butterfly

Windeliz- these three are all the same because they are straight.
She adds a wooden cylinder block to the mix and says this is also similar because they are all hard.

Genesis matches the two tubes and says, "these are both soft."  She adds that the cloth in the bag is soft, too.

Windeliz picks up a plastic triangle and decides it's also smooth, like the cylinder.
Windeliz- these four are the same because they are straight and hard.
She adds a pencil to the grouping and declares that it would also fit in this group.

Esmeralda comes over to request my presence at her table, so I follow her over.
Esmeralda shows me the tube and the screw.
Esmeralda- these are round, and so is this. They are the same size because you can do this.
She fits the screw inside of the pipe to show me.

Edwin is making a castle out of his solid pieces.
I ask him to compare some of the items. He finds it easier to explain what makes the pieces different. He discusses size and wants to show me that his friends have the same pieces in their bags.

Mrs. Wagner passes out clothespins and Esmerelda quickly shows me that the screw and the clothespin are similar. She shows me that you attach things with the clothespin and tells me that you use the screw to hold pieces of the car together.

Edwin then uses his clothespin to hold the wire. He starts building a contraption, using the wire, clothespins and bottle caps. He tells me the bottle caps are wheels.

This inspires Esmerelda to create a butterfly using two of the same pieces. She explains symmetry to me, without knowing the word, "symmetry." I explain the word symmetry to her and she is pleased that I understood what she was trying to show me.

It's interesting to me that when exploring these materials, each child uses them in an imaginative or artistic way. They are making contraptions and role playing as superheroes. There's no straight investigation of the objects, yet the comparisons are being made. The understanding is present, but they go about it in a playful, engaging manner.

Natalia sets up a sculpture.
Natalia- this is a machine that can build anything. If you pull this piece out, it will be an emergency, that's why people come in here to watch it. If you play video games or use the computer, you can pull these two buttons. One is for you to sleep over and this one is for coming over.
Teacher- so it can send you places?
Natalia- Yes. When you pull just this one white button, you can come over to play. This one is for an emergency, so if you're hurt, call 911, if you're alone. If there's a fire, you can press this one. It has water in it.


Gabriella can't wait at this point to tell me about her sculpture- I made a doctor. He took something while shopping, but he didn't buy it. He had to call 911 so they can do emergency things. He put a hat on that he didn't buy either.
Teacher- why did he steal?
Gabriella- I don't know. He just wanted to. He bought some stuff. He bought this triangle.

Natalia's Machine

112- We used our school's student iPads to watch documentaries on the students' ocean creatures.  We even found documentaries in Spanish, which made it much easier for the students to understand the facts. Each student sat with their own iPad and learned about their creature for their own research. 

108- I brought a small group in and showed them the map we'd started for their community.  They finished coloring the streets, labeled the streets, and created stop signs, a dead end sign and street signs.

The map

The map with some of the buildings

Dead End sign

I didn't meet with my afternoon classes  because our mentors, Ashley and Louise Cadwell, are in town to train and guide us in our Reggio Emilia approach!