Making and doing...

These third graders are building a marble maze. They're doing some
great observing and problem solving and tinkering while also learning
to work together and negotiate social dynamics.

How do we share the materials? Which way will the marble go? Are
there areas the marble won't go to? Are there places where it gets
stuck? How do we make the marble keep moving until it gets to the end
of the track? How do we fix the dead spots?

In time, the students will see patterns in their observations. "oh,
the marble always gets stuck when it goes down a straight away that's
too long." Theyll gain skill and confidence and be inspired by one
another's ideas (solutions, observations and questions) and they'll
begin to pose new and greater challenges for themselves.

We'll have to check in again in a month or so.

Guess My Rule

Can you figure out what the rule is here?

ie. Why do the YES cards go together and why do the NO cards not belong?

Last Thursday, I was visiting a 1st/2nd grade class. The students were playing Guess My Rule in small groups. One student would choose a secret "rule" and the other students would take turns trying to figure out out which picture cards do and don't fit that rule. The rule maker starts the group off by showing one card that does fit the rule (YES) and one card that does not fit the rule (NO). Then it's up to the players to reason about which other cards may or may not fit the rule. I was impressed that not only were students making choices and having to provide a rationale from their choices, but they were discovering that they could learn as much about what the rule might be from their wrong guesses as from their right ones. They also had to grapple with the question of "when can I say for certain that I know what the rule is, and when am I still guessing?"

Block Buildings 09.2008

Have you ever built with blocks? Block building helps children develop spatial sense, proportional reasoning and a sense of balance and structure. It also offers a rich platform for dramatic play, where children remake the world and imagine themselves in all kinds of situations. This makes for powerful language development and problem opportunities.

Block building is a prominent activity in Neighborhood School's lower grade classes. Here are some block structures I saw in 1st/2nd grade classrooms recently.

You can find more Neighborhood School block-building photos on our website.