Where we are in place and time: Toys and Games

Then and Now

Where we are in place and time.

We began our formative assessment last week by reading books about pioneer life. To help the children experience life without electricity, we read by candlelight. This sparked a great conversation of what it would be like to be a child during this time. I told the children that because there was no electricity, there were no computers, iPads or television. Grace asked "what games did they play?" This question has guided us to explore what types of games and toys did children play with in the past.

We began with marbles. The children have only used marbles with the marble run or played with them at the water table. Today, we learned different games to play using them. The children practiced shooting marbles with their fingers or with a shooter marble. The first game we played had us gather around a circle with a number of marbles placed in the centre. Taking turns, the children tried to knock the marbles out of the centre. The first child to knock 7 marbles out of the circle was to be declared winner. As it took a long time to achieve this, we never had a winner.

The second game played had the children trying to shoot marbles into a box. The children found this game more enjoyable and played it many times.

The children realized that some toys from the past we have today but we play with them differently. Many of the other children in the centre were curious as to what we were doing today. The Fire Group was eager to share these "new" games with the other children.

Comments

Similarities and Differences Between Friends

We are nearing the end of this unit of inquiry. Next week is already our summative week. Our focus this week was likes/dislikes: do we have to like the same things as our friends? I asked this question to the children. All of the children said yes except Rocco. Rocco said "friends don't have to do the same things." "Do we have to like the same things as our friends?" Using the book, Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley (the story of two great friends), we listed the traits of each character.. The children found out that Pearl and Charlie were complete opposites yet were the best of friends. I asked the question again. Esme and Simone changed their response. Simone replied that "that friends don't have to do the same things but sometimes we do." We wrapped up by making "Wanted: Friends" posters. Some of the qualities listed on the posters were: Rocco: caring Simone: someone who is nice Alfie: play with me Bela: someone wi...

Storm Drains: How we impact water.

The car wash The clean creek Today we explored where water goes when it enters a storm drain and the impact we have on what flows into these drains. The children experimented with different types of utensils at the water table. The children were able to see how water passes freely through the different openings and how other items can also pass through. We used these utensils to recreate how storm drains work. We created a creek and watched what happened to the creek when different types of pollutants pass through the storm drain. We also simulated washing cars. The children noted that the soap goes down the drain with the water. "Oh no, are fish will be sick!" commented Sofia. Simone thought we could give the fish medicine to get better. This started a conversation on how difficult it would be to give medicine to all of the fish in all of the creeks!! The children noticed how dirty the water was and that living things would not survive in our p...

Helping Hands

Through different stories, we have been discussing the qualities of a friend. The one quality that the children unanimously agreed upon is that friends help one another. In the story, The Little Red Hen, the Hen did all of the work by herself. The children thought that the Dog, Cat and Goose were not good friends because every time the Hen asked for help, they refused. Before we reached the end of the story, I asked the children if Hen should share her bread. There were mixed responses however, the majority of the children thought Hen should share. Louis' first response was to not share but he quickly changed his mind and said "sharing is caring!" This coming week, the children have asked to make bread and share it with the entire class. "I hug my friend when he is sad." "I blow up a balloon for my friend, Amalia, when she pops her." "I help my friends when they fall." "I help carry stuff for my friends." ...

Weekly Activities

Search This Blog