Some days fly by in a flurry of fun. We had one of those days today, where the rain kept us inside and made us get creative about setting up a few centers to provoke the children's interest and curiosity.
Our ECE noticed the Year One children showing a great interest in rocks they found in the school yard. On Friday they filled a bucket and enjoyed washing all the rocks. One of their ideas involved painting the rocks and selling them (for forty-one cents). My team partner set up a table with their rocks, paint, and some "rock" labels.
I took the opportunity to work on the "ock" word family with the Year Two students!
During our long inquiry block in the morning, I set up a fun chemistry experience after having observed the children creating "potions" in our creative center by cutting up bits of paper and fabric.
I made the Borax solution ahead of time, and found this experiment really quick and satisfying because of the ease of the steps and the level of involvement I could give the children.
You can find a run-down of the process here (on my personal blog).
Finally, I pulled out a bag of elastics I had from last year when the children went through a rainbow-loom phase. I'd learned how to create simple bracelets using only our fingers (no looms needed) and it sparked all kinds of wonderful engagement: measurement, patterning, counting, oral communication, procedural writing, and so on.
Basically, you create a figure-8 with an elastic on two fingers of one hand. The second (and all subsequent elastics) go on just in a circle (no twist). Pull the first (bottom) elastic up and over the second one, allowing it to slip in between the fingers. Then repeat by putting on another elastic and pulling the bottom one up and over. Secure with a c-clip to create a bracelet, or make it longer to create a necklace.
It was great to see the Year Twos (who found this too hard last year) teaching the Year Ones how to do this!
What tricks do you have to get you through those rainy, indoor-recess days?
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