KB February Update

After listening carefully to the conversations in the classroom and to the interests that were emerging we noticed that one area of interest was coming through very clearly:  how things move!  From people on ice and snow to penguins in Antarctica to kids to vehicles.  We have read poems and posters together, investigated books about movement, discussed the various ways we can move and sorted and compared movements.  After exploring at our various inquiries, children have had an opportunity to do some journaling (which must include a picture of their learning and our name and may include a word or sentence).  We also have been sharing pictures of our investigations on the projector and having children share their knowledge with the other inquiry group.  It is so remarkable to see how enthusiastic they are!

Many children chose to investigate ramps and movement.  They used many science expectations (making hypotheses, problem solving, angles, materials, etc.), used lots of math talk (measurement, ordinal numbers (mine was first!  I came second!), positional location (mine went under the chair!), sorting (these vehicles have 2 wheels and these have 4!) etc.) and lots of rich oral language as they shared what they were discovering.  We also combinded our interest in 3D shapes with ramps and observed and discussed how spheres, cylinders, cubes and cones moved building our vocabulary around these shapes.  It's truly amazing how many areas of math we can get to and assess using just the interests of the children.

Children who were not taking part in finishing up our penguin inquiry also had the choice to explore the concept of maps.  We built our literacy skills as we looked at various street signs and read what they meant, we created our own signs and roads and we told the story that went along with our map.  We also did some research in some books about cars to promoted a lot of rich discussion.  I've posted below the documentation panel of this inquiry along with some words from the kinders to give you an idea of how engaged and interested they were.

"Wow!  That's a weird car.  Maybe it drives by itself.  Can you write that down so we know what kind of car it is?"  - B.S.

"I have a great idea!  We can get the basket out with all the blocks we need and race them on the track." E.T.

(Looking at the map) "So over here is going to be no biking and over here yes biking." - L.O.

"I did a sign so that people know where to stop." - L.M.

"Can we write a story about our road?" - K.H.

(Looking at the map) "There's allowed bikes going there and cars!" -L.L.
"What about dirt bikes?" - K.H.
"No!!" - L.L.

"It's a round about!" - H.C.
"What's a round about?" - S.S.
"It goes around and around." - H.C.

"This is a car with 12345 windows.  This is a bus and this is a picture of my friend K.  AWnd this is the road for the cars." - B.R.

"This is the telephone wire and the road and the round about and then you go on that road again." - E.T.

"I'm drawing my Dad's truck.  He has an excavator with a D on his door." - S.S.
"What does an excavator do exactly?" - Miss Heffernan
"Digs stuff like dirt!" - E.M.

(Looking at a narrow bridge) "It can't fit!" - A.K.

"The car rolls down because the ramp goes down." - K.W.

"P is for parking spot!" - E.T.

We are currently running two inquiries:  investigating snow and ice (the interest keeps popping up!) and continuing our inquiry on movement.  We will keep you posted!