I got to be the teacher this week at the preschool while Sherrie was out of town for spring break. I had such a great time. I fell in love with all the the new kids I met in just two days. I've told many people how wonderful our neighborhood preschool is and they have been curious to see it. I thought I'd post some pictures so anyone interested could see the school and the kinds of things we do at the school. I teach here once a week, but I usually just have the younger group. I subbed this week for the older group. Whenever I teach, the highlight for me is always the spontaneous science that happens. I love doing science with kids.
Today a boy brought a bouncy ball to talk about at circle time. (Children often bring "science" to talk about at school.) When I asked him why the ball was science he said, "Because it does this." And he bounced the ball. I said, "Oh, you think this is science because it bounces." I reminded the students that when we think like scientists we ask questions and try to find the answers. I said, "I wonder if there is a question we could ask about this ball." The kids didn't ask a question but they started spouting out hypotheses. "It bounces because it's made of rubber!" And, "It bounces because it's hard!" To which another student responded "But rocks are hard." And he clarified, "It bounces because it has air."
I explained that they had a good hypothesis: "Some balls bounce because they are rubber, and some balls bounce because they are filled with air. I think the question you want to test is: What makes a ball bounce? Should we add that to our question board? We'll keep thinking of what makes a ball bounce and see if we can find ways to test our hypothesis."
Serendipitously, when we later got out some balls for play at outdoor time some balls were full of air and some balls were flat. I commented that this reminded me of their ideas about bouncy balls. The children began to test the balls to find which balls were the bounciest and which balls were not. After some time for testing, the kids helped me sequence the balls from bounciest to least bouncy. Then they stood in a line and all dropped the balls at the same time. I took a picture of this for our class science journal. At closing circle I announced that their hypothesis was correct! Balls full of air bounce and balls without air don't bounce. But why? How does air make a ball bounce? Hmmm....we will keep thinking. And we sang our science song: Observe, Question, Hypothesize, Investigate, then Share!
The photos I took today reflect our two current study topics: 1) spring planting in the school garden, and 2) outer space (since the asteroid hit Russia and a comet is approaching next week). You will see those current interests infused in the learning activities we provided for the children these past two days. I am so glad to be a part of this great school. I have learned so much from my mentor and friend Sherrie. Enjoy the photos!
3-piece alphabet puzzles and flower graphing.
Bubble-making in the sensory table.
Building rocket ships.
1 comment:
Wowsers! So many great things going on! You are so gifted in your ability to draw great questions out of children. I get excited just thinking about the terrific things happening there. What a great kickstart to education these kids are getting! Thank you so much for sharing this day with us.
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