Investigating Balance: "How Can We Keep It Up?"

Exploration 1:

The Block Area is always a busy area in the classroom.  With the addition of new building materials, the children were interested in building tall.  However, they were having a challenging time keeping the blocks and other materials balanced.

We began by talking about what balance meant....

• "Tall."
• "It's Up."
• "A Structure."

We needed to develop a sense of what it meant to have blocks balance - so we explored it with Castle Blocks.

Zane used orange curved pieces to support his structure.  He said, "These need to be here so it doesn't fall over."

 Danny was having a challenging time balancing the stairs, but then discovered a way to build them tall by stacking them upside down. 

"Look what I did.  It's tall and it looks like a tree."

 Trent used the side of the basket to help him balance his blocks.  

"It's working.  It's tall."

The children discussed that you have to move slow to balance blocks and that you didn't necessarily need to use the same size or shape materials to have them balance.  They worked together and modeled for each other what strategies they used. 

Exploration 2:

Balancing on the beam was our next exploration.  The children were trying to balance their bodies and trying to develop a sense of awareness about how it feels to balance and focus on movement. 

 The children used different ways to figure out how to balance their bodies without falling down.  Some used both feet, one foot, or crawled to get all the way across.

It was interesting to see the little movements the children made as some of them inched across the beam.   It connects to some of the comments the children made that you have to do it very slowly. 

 The children used their arms to help balance their bodies.  

This was a natural reaction for the children.  

When we switched from two beams to one, the children went slower and used more of a scooting motion.

Some of their ideas:  

Ameer: "Do you know why we are falling off? Because it's a little wiggly."

Teacher: "How are you making your body balance?"

• Holly: "You have to go very slow."

• Ameer: "My shoes protect because they are sticky on the bottom."

• Theo: "I'm standing very still."

The children developed a understanding of how to use their body as a balance.  They were successful of getting across without falling off or losing their balance.  

 

Our next exploration will continue their ideas of body movement, balance, and staying upwards. 

Color Mixing Exploring Blue and Yellow

          One of our ongoing projects this semester is focusing on color mixing and the different colors we can make starting with the primary colors. The students started exploring with yellow and blue paint. They noticed when they mixed blue and yellow paint together, they made the color green. The students were excited to see how the colors changed as they mixed them together. They started to see the different shades of green as they mixed more blue and less yellow, or more yellow less blue.  They concluded “After mixing blue and yellow to make green, add more blue to make teal.”

 

Hadi explores mixing yellow and blue together. “Blue and yellow make green.” Teacher: “I noticed you added more yellow than blue onto your paper, what happens when you add more yellow to green? Hadi: “It made it a lighter green.”

 

Jenna: Explored with the blue and yellow paint. She put a lot of blue on her paper and a little yellow on the side making a light green color. 

 

Max first mixed yellow and blue to make green. Then he continued adding more yellow to make a lighter green. After having made the color green, he added more blue in different spots to making the color teal. 

      The students will continue to explore color mixing with all the primary colors to make secondary colors. Identifying different shades/tones will be introduced as the students continue to explore color mixing with white and black.

~Mariam Albachachy

Volume Investigation

At the beginning of the semester the children spent a good deal of time engaged with the sand table. During their exploration of the sand table I began to notice the children take an interest in filling objects. They would slowly fill the objects one scoop of sand at a time. 

“I filled it up!” – Adelyn

“23, 24….I think it’s not full.” –Leila

 

The children seem to be questioning how full they can fill objects. This has led me to focus my project work on exploring volume. Last week we moved from filling objects with sand to filling objects with water.

“1, 2, 3 scoops.” – Cash

 

“I’m going to make it full!” –Zane

 

I am very curious to see where this exploration of volume will take us this semester!

-Miss Rudd