North South East West

If you have looked up when you walk into the room, you may have noticed words hanging from the ceiling.  We have been using these words a lot lately to identify places in the classroom.  I will often ask the children to name the direction they are facing, tell me something on the east side of the room, or to pass the ball in different directions.  










We started this process with the turtle in the maze.  We ran into problems when everyone's interpretation of "this way!" was different.  Direction words like "right, left, forward, straight, north, down, east, etc.." are something everyone can understand.  We decided to play the turtle-in-the-maze game... with people!

I first took a willing child and had them close their eyes.  We hid a stuffed teddy bear in the classroom.  When the child opened their eyes, we had them start in the opposite side of the room.  I gave them directions (forward, turn east, move straight, stop!) until it was found.  We got so good we invited Ms. Keri in the classroom one afternoon and tried it on her, but this time I didn't say a word.  The children did all of the work- using the direction words on the ceiling.  

We have had so much fun with this and are excited to keep it a part of our classroom learning.  
If you are looking for a project to do at home, make the direction words and put them up in your house.  This is a great way to take this learning home and extend it further.  Talk about it while driving.  Take a look at a map (this will be our next step).  You might be surprised at how much the children know!

How do we research?

Each morning I write a message on the board.  It could be a question, statement, or small activity.  Last Friday it was a question:  What do butterflies think?  We pondered this for a few moments before answering the question the best way we knew how.  There is no right or wrong answer to this question, but it helps put ourselves in someone else's mind frame.  While discussing this question, we came up with some of our own.  What do they eat?  Do they hibernate?  Can they talk to each other? Knowing the answers to these questions would help us answer the morning message.  That is when I heard the beautiful statement that would lead into the next week.

"I know... We could research it!"

The children referenced the research wall immediately, bringing back memories of Nema and all the questioning we did with her.  This got me excited for Monday.  

I started off Monday with, "tell me all you know about Nema."  This gave us a chance to relive our experiences and share it with the new children who were not a part of it.  In September we knew some things about her, but by January, we had a whole collection of information we could give to anyone who asked.  We spent time remembering our questions we didn't know the answers to early on.  We talked about questions.  What is a question?  How do you know it is a question?  What makes you think of one?  If I gave you a subject, could you ask a question to learn more about it?  

I showed the children a picture of the subject they were to ask questions about. Most of them knew it was a guinea pig.  I have talked about them before.  Within 10 minutes we had a list of questions longer than we got in a week with Nema.  We were surprised at how many questions we asked this time compared to September.  We must be getting better at it!

We then broke off into small groups and took time to write down our questions.

Do they have tails?  Why do they have stripes?

Where do they hibernate?

Do they run in circles?

What do they eat?

What do they do?

Do they shed their skin?

Where are their feet?

This is a guinea pig sitting in a lap?

Do guinea pigs drink milk?

Can guinea pigs go in people's laps?

Why do guinea pigs' tails look like rabbit tails?

This is a guinea pig.  Why do guinea pigs have floppy ears?

I am fortunate enough to have some guinea pigs at home, so we have subjects to research!  I plan on using them to help answer our questions.  Videos are a great tool to observe when the subjects are not with us.  And although I (and some children) may know about guinea pigs, even I could not answer some of the questions asked.  It is a chance for all of us to learn!

Directions

This week we have been focusing a lot on our directions.  This has started simply as stating the difference between right and left.  Which is our right hand?  Our left?  If I said to turn your head to the left, what would your eyes see?  

This came in to play later on when I introduced a maze I made over Christmas break.  The children were very excited to see it.  Immediately the children wanted to put some sort of creature inside.  I compromised and decided upon a small puppet.  We put the turtle in the maze with a treat at the end and I asked for directions.  





"This way"
"Turn!"
"Over here!"
"Back up!"
"Stop!!!"







It was a "disaster" because the children were frustrated with the turtle's lack of understanding.  He didn't know which way to turn.  He didn't know which way to go.  The words the children were using weren't working.  What if we say which way to turn?  The turtle needed to use his right and left directions.  We had to label the turtle's hands.  Deciding on which hand was right and which hand was left took some time as each person's perspective was different.  The children across from the turtle were saying different things from the children next to the turtle.  Perspective is an interesting thing.

Once decided on the correct right and left "flipper" we tried again.




"Turn left"
"Go forward"
"Back up"
"Stop!"







The turtle understood the directions a lot more clearly.  We even tested it again with the teacher's eyes closed.  The directions had to be better because I wasn't even watching!

We then separated into small groups and tried again.  This time I wasn't even participating.  Each child took a turn holding the turtle while the others gave verbal directions.  It was an important part of being the "turtle" to listen to the words the children were saying.  If they said to turn left, the turtle had to turn left- even if it was the wrong way.  

This is the start of further discussions of directions, maps, and locations.  It can be hard to imagine something larger like maps, neighborhoods, states and countries, but it is something we will hopefully be forming a stronger understanding of in the next few weeks.