Monthly Archives: October 2013

It’s like a sandwich

Posted on by under Uncategorized

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Elise was at the collage table with Maggie and Eli – they were making space pictures. Maggie wanted to make a rocket – she could see that she needed a triangle but wasn’t sure how to draw one. She asked for help from a teacher, and we gave her a paper triangle to copy – but then Elise said that she knows how to do a triangle. She showed her.

She drew a square and then a line across the middle, diagonally. Then she said “It’s like a sandwich”.  So Maggie had a go and now she knows how to make triangles too – just like making a sandwich!

What a wonderful moment of sharing and learning! We have been working on making their learning more obvious to the children and on encouraging them to use each other as their first port of call – to ask for help from a friend or to ask an “expert” how to do something. To have someone offer their help is even better – it means that Elise can take the initiative and is confident about sharing her knowledge with others, and that Maggie is quite comfortable with asking for help, and learning from others.

This links so well with the many conversations we have had about the shapes of our sandwiches at lunch time – but nobody before has transferred that everyday maths knowledge to a new context. Thanks Elise – you have taught us all something new!

Using tools

Posted on by under Early Learning, Emergent Curriculum, Enquiry & Discovery, movement & physical learning

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Last term the children spent a lot of time role playing a trike workshop and we wondered if real tools might be part of the interest – so we have offered them some pliers and wire and metal bits and pieces.

Some of the children – not necessarily the ones we expected! – have spent time at the tinkering table using the tools – they have been careful about using the safety goggles and have explored the different items, as well as other materials that they have added such as pipe cleaners (which also have wire in them we realised).

The coordination involved in holding and snipping the wire was quite challenging – great for building physical skills and perseverance. Learning about the two different sorts of pliers was interesting – and remembering which ones were for a specific task added another level of learning. None of the children was really familiar with this sort of tool, perhaps they see more hammers and screw drivers?

We will ask them about bits and pieces to bring in – and try to collect some machines that can be taken apart to reveal their workings.

Using the tools gave the workers such a sense of independence and achievement – a very engaging activity, and one of the many useful aspects of this learning is the realisation that machines don’t work by magic!

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