Building on a Slant

Week of 5/19/14

            This week I had the floor mirror elevated on a few ramp blocks so that it was slanted. There were small wooden blocks and the mirror blocks to build with on the slanted mirror. I was curious as to how they would react when the blocks would begin to slide down the mirror. What strategies would they use to keep their structures from falling or moving?

            Nathan had placed a block at the top of the mirror and then watched it begin to slide downwards. The block stopped. Nathan then used his hand to push the block further down the mirror. He repeated this process again with the other block. It appeared that Nathan was exploring why the block was moving on its own and seemed curious as to why it stopped. Connor stacked four blocks vertically on top of one another near the top of the mirror where it was the highest elevation. He added the fourth block when they fell. Connor attempted this again, but now he had the blocks stacked horizontally on top of one another. He added the fourth block and they did not fall. Braden used a bridge block that was bigger than the other blocks and placed it on the mirror in the middle. He then stacked two smaller blocks on top. The tower did not fall. I’m curious if Braden knew that the bigger block would create more stability for his tower or if he just liked that block because it was a bridge.

            The sliding of the blocks as the children built their structures seemed to create a challenge to keep their towers from falling. They have started use building strategies to attempt to keep their towers from falling. I wonder what they will do if they built their structures on a lazy Susan? How will they keep it from falling down? What building strategies will they use? Will the children use the same ones or think of new ways to balance them?

            

Spinning Light

Spinning Light

Week of 5/19/14

Catie Stone & Charlene Hughes

            The children have been exploring the Lazy Susan and how objects move when they spin it. I wanted the children to explore how they could balance or keep the different materials from falling off of the Lazy Susan when it was spun. This week we used light spheres on the Lazy Susan where the children were excited about watching the lights spin on the Lazy Susan. I wanted to see how the children would keep the lights from falling off while the Lazy Susan was spinning.

            Ali had first placed one light sphere on the Lazy Susan and then spun it. The light fell off. Ali had laughed and retrieved the light and placed two more lights on the Lazy Susan. He had one light in the middle and the other two closer to the edge. Ali spun the Lazy Susan and two lights fall off, the one in the middle had stayed. “Ali, why didn’t that light fall off?” I had asked. Ali then placed the two lights that had fallen next to the light that was still in the middle of the Lazy Susan. Jad had been spinning the Lazy Susan repeatedly with the several lights on it. Each time he had spun it, all of the lights would fall off. Abby had placed a few lights in a plastic container and was shaking it. Jad had watched Abby and then found a container and placed the lights that were on the Lazy Susan inside the container. Jad then placed the container in the center of the Lazy Susan with the lights inside. Jad spun it and the lights did not move. I think Jad had been getting frustrated when the lights repeatedly fell off the Lazy Susan. He seemed to have been inspired by what he saw Abby do and it worked!

            We have been exploring the Lazy Susan and how to balance objects while they are spinning on it. What if it was the objects themselves spinning? How would they keep the objects from falling? What will they do to balance a spinning object on a stationary surface?

Balance While Spinning

Week of 5/12/14

Catie Stone & Charlene Hughes

            This week we used wooden beads that were different sizes and different shapes. Some were rounded, some were cylinders and others were square shaped. I was curious to see how the children would explore them on the lazy susan and how they will choose to use them.

            At first, the children would place a round bead in the center and then spin the lazy susan. The bead would fall off. They were very excited about this and began to add two then three beads at a time. When they would spin the lazy susan, some beads would fall off, others would not. Jad looked at me and said, “No fall!” I think he was confused as to why others would fall and some would not. Casey discovered that when he stacked the beads in the middle of the lazy susan that when it spun, it was still standing. Abby was most interested in the spinning motion of the lazy susan. Reed would spin it fast and Abby would stare at close and say, “Round and Round.”

            There are two strong interests in this investigation. One is how the beads react when the lazy susan is spun and the other is how the lazy susan moves and at what speed. I would like to use the light spheres next week and see how the children use them since they are all the same shape and size. How will they balance them when the lazy susan is spinning? Will the children discover new ways that they move?

            

Balance While Building

Week of 5/12/14

Catie Stone & Charlene Hughes

            We were building on a board that was elevated last week. This week I had them use an even thinner building platform, a yard stick. This created more of a challenge for the children to build on because the platform was so thin. It was elevated between two wooden blocks, but was adjustable and removable.

            At first, the children would build on the yard stick and see how tall they build until the tower fell down. Connor would keep building higher and higher and testing the point in which his tower would fall. He was able to stack 8 blocks high on the yard stick. Braden seemed to be interested in stacking blocks that were the same. It appeared that he had this theory that different shaped blocks would stack different or balance different. He first used cylinder blocks and stacked three until they fell. Then used rectangle blocks and lastly, square blocks. Casey discovered that he could remove the yardstick from the blocks and placed one side of the yardstick on top of the wooden block with the other end still connected. This created a ramp. He then picked up a block and placed it on the yardstick. The block began to slide down.

            I am curious as to how the children would balance their building while on a slanted surface. Will their structures still be building upwards or will they explore new ways to build to prevent it from falling?

Balance of our Bodies

            Last week we were balancing on the balance beam in the classroom so we could see what kinds of strategies the children were using to keep their bodies on the beam.  It was very difficult for the children to do this so we wanted to see what would happen if the beam was next to the wall.  This way, the children would still be able to use their strategies to balance but would have that comfort and support of the wall there to use if they needed to do so.

            We noticed that the children were still using several types of strategies to cross the beam.  Some of the children who were very comfortable balancing would minimally use the wall for support and would walk forward, one foot in front of the other.  Other children who were less comfortable would walk sideways across the beam and use the wall as constant support.  A couple of the children would use one foot on the beam and the other foot on the floor so that it was like walking along a constant step across the beam.  One of the children started to go across on his stomach because he wanted to cross in a different way.  We thought this was interesting and wanted to try to think of a way to expand on this for a future investigation.

Balance of Weight

             The children have been experimenting motion and how various materials react to the wind tunnel that we have in the classroom.  We have previously been working with feathers in the wind tunnel and the children have been able to see how they react when placed in the tunnel.  Some of the feathers fly a little higher depending on how big they are – but we don’t think the children have noticed that yet.

            We brought in Styrofoam for the children to experiment with in the wind tunnel.  We had large chunks out at the same time as the feathers so the children could compare and contrast how the materials were moving.  The children noticed immediately that the large chunks of Styrofoam did not move as high as the feathers – in fact – they did not even get high enough to leave the wind tunnel at all.

            They were confused by this and did not know what the reason was for the difference in height as they moved.  Some of the children literally tried to throw the Styrofoam into the air to get it higher than the fan was getting them.  We are going to continue this with the children but want to switch things up a little bit more.  We want to see what might happen if the children are provided with the feathers they are used to, the large Styrofoam pieces they experimented with this week, and also provide small pieces of Styrofoam.  By doing this, the children will see the difference in height with the same material.

Balance While Spinning

Our big idea last term was movement and motion. We started the term by exploring the lazy Susan and how objects moved on it. This term, our big idea is balance. I would like to explore how the children balance various objects while they are spinning.

To introduce the children to the lazy Susan again, I brought out the cars that the children were familiar with. Connor placed a plastic car, a wooden car, and a small plastic car each on the Lazy Susan one at a time. He would place it on it, spin it, and then the car would fall off. I think that Connor was testing how each car would move on the Lazy Susan. At first, Jane would place a car on the Lazy Susan and then spin it fast so the car would fall off. She repeated this process many times. Then Jane decided to use two cars on the Lazy Susan. She would spin it and they both fell off. Jad placed both of his hands on the Lazy Susan and began to walk around the table, turning the Lazy Susan as he walked.

          I would like to change the object that the children use on the Lazy Susan to the wooden beads. The children seemed to only be able to get one result with the cars. With the wooden beads I anticipate the children will explore multiple ways to keep them from falling off.

Balance While Building

           Last term the children were exploring motion and movement. While reviewing our documentation from the last term, we decided that our big idea this term would be balance. I have noticed that the children are very interested in ledges throughout our classroom and balancing various toys on those ledges. I was curious as to the different strategies the children would use while building on a thinner platform, similar to a ledge. How would they keep their materials from falling? Is the height of their structure dependent on the type of building platform? How will they choose to build?

   

        I introduced this idea of building on a thinner platform by tapping a thin board to two large blocks to create a low building platform. Connor and Jad sat on either side of the platform and took turns adding a block to the structure that they were building. They would add blocks until it fell over. They would then build it again. Will chose to place a one block on the platform at a time and lined them up so that they were about two inches apart. I’m curious as to why he chose to build this way? Was it because the platform was long? Would he build differently if it was a square platform instead of a rectangular one? When Nathan saw the platform, he chose to use the cars and people on it instead of the blocks. He moved them both on the board like it was a road or sidewalk. Again, I’m curious if it was because of the size and shape of the board.

            I would like to use a yard stick next and have that taped to the blocks as a building platform. I’m curious if having the platform thinner will determine how the children will choose to build. I also wonder if it will make balancing the blocks on the platform more challenging.

Balance of Weight

             The children last semester were introduced to a wind tunnel – a fan with lamination shaped like a tunnel over it so they could test out materials to see how they move.  We wanted to get more specific with the children on the types of materials they could use in it so we brought out the wind tunnel to use again this semester.

            We started off by just putting feathers in it.  We wanted to give children the opportunity to see how one specific material moved in the wind tunnel.  We also wanted the children to be able to use the feathers as a point of reference so we wanted to make sure we got a good idea of how they moved in the tunnel before we moved on.

            Some of the children had never seen the wind tunnel before so it was a new experience for them.  Some of the children were excited to see the feathers get almost to the ceiling while other children were excited to see how many feathers they could get to float up at one time.

            One little girl in particular was very interested in how the feather felt in the wind as she held it up above the tunnel.  She stood with the feather blowing in her hands for several minutes at a time and would smile and giggle as she felt the wind and feather on her hand.

            To expand on this, we want to offer the children more opportunities with different objects.   We wanted to see how styrofoam interacts with the fan and have the feathers available to the children also to use as a reference point.

Balance of Our Bodies

            The children were working last semester on balancing their bodies on various objects and in different situations.  We wanted to continue with the idea of balance with the children and see if they were still interested and still used various strategies to achieve their goals.

            We decided to put long pieces of tape onto the ground.  This wouldn’t really be a concrete object to balance on off the ground, but the children would still need to use strategies to keep their feet on the tape.

            We also played a video for the children of a person walking on a tight rope above the ground.  We wanted the children to see what kinds of strategies the person used to balance his body and we talked about them together at whole group time before we placed the tape onto the ground.  We talked about how the person was moving his arms and his feet.

            During the lesson, the children tried to mimic what they saw with the person walking on the tight rope.   Some of the children chose to walk on the tape, one foot in front of the other, while others chose to walk sideways on the tape.  One child tried to stretch her legs to fit the two different lines of tape on the ground so one foot was walking along a separate line of tape.

            We plan to bring the balance beam into the classroom next time but we want to have it against the wall.  This will give the children another opportunity to balance without as much assistance so they can be more independent as they walk along the beam.