Written by Veronica Martin (ECE Coordinator)
We believe that children can learn and develop many different skills through play. By encouraging their interest, we can motivate them to learn in a fun and exciting way. Last week, K2B children created rain and colored clouds in their classroom.
The children had been looking at clouds and rain. This interest developed as the teachers noticed that when outside the children would look at the different forms of clouds. As the weather is changing and storms and rain is moving in, the class learning also moved to rain clouds.
The teachers decided to show the children how rain comes down through the clouds through a science activity. Each child was given a beaker of water with shaving cream on top. They used a dropper to add colored water to the top of the cream and watched as it floated through the clouds and formed rain.
As in every activity, teachers extended this observation by asking the children what they thought would happen. Their answers were thoughtful and demonstrate a level of understanding that we do not always think is there in such young children. One child said that the water would go through to the bottom, another child suggested that the color would mix together.
When children are engaged in thoughtful questioning, they are able to extend their knowledge and thinking ability. Through this experience, children had the opportunity to create a theory and observe, build upon previous learning and communicate together.
YCIS believes that all children have the ability to develop multi-intelligences and the teachers provide an environment that allows children to be curious about the world. By letting children experiment ideas, learning becomes a more meaningful learning experience and this allows the children to test and challenge their working theory.