District News

                                    

Morning

While playing at the water table, the children are heard saying:

“I got one, I got a fish!” 

“Me too!” 

“We got all the fish!” 

“Now 1, 2, 3 go!” 

I watch as the children dump all the fish out of their nets while giggling. Then the fishing begins again!

To extend their play, we added buckets, shovels, and watering cans. The children quietly scoop the water using a shovel, dump it in their watering cans then use the water in the watering cans to fill their buckets.

“Wow it is getting bigger!”

“Mine is not, I need to keep working.”

              

Afternoon

“Let’s pretend the water is frozen!”

“Okay!”

To follow up with the frozen water idea I suggested that we freeze water in different containers. The children were excited and wanted to be involved. Together we grabbed different containers and food coloring. The children took turns choosing different colors and mixing in different containers. Once the mixing was done, they carried their containers to the freezer. The children waited patiently for the water to freeze. Once in a while they would ask to see if the water was frozen or not.

  

Next day

The children were very excited to see the ice. As soon as I placed the ice in the water table they got to work. I watched as the hammered the ice using the wooden hammers I had provided.

“It’s not breaking, look!” Emily

“Let’s put water on it.” Angela

The children began pouring water on the ice. Then they alternated between pouring water and hammering the ice.

“Look it’s chirping!” Angela

“I’m gonna use my fingers.” Emily

“It’s not working.” Emily

After a while of trying to break the ice the children decided to go play somewhere else.

 

Learning Opportunities

“Educators are continually observing, listening, and experimenting with an openness to the unexpected” (p. 18). By observing and listening to the children, the children’s learning was extended a few times. What started off as a simple water activity, took an adventurous turn! The children fished, poured & dumped, mixed & froze water, then spent lots of time trying to break the ice.

• Children afforded plenty of time to be inquisitive and investigate.
• Children communicated different ideas with each other and took time and turns testing out the ideas.
• Different materials were available for children to engage in meaningful play.