A question was posed to Richland’s SK students…
“Why aren’t all people the same colour?”
- S. – “Because we have different taste buds so we have different things in our body.”
- M. – “We would all be the same then; same colour hair, same skin, same everyone. If we are all the same then we would not know who everyone is.”
- A. – “If we had the same face, same clothes then the teacher would not know who we are.”
- A. – “If A. and I were the same colour, then Mrs. Sherman would still mix us up.”
The Answer….We then proceeded to read the “Did you Know,” section and began to measure out 2 square meters.What started as a fun little bit of information turned into a spontaneous and authentic lesson about measurement and shape.
“It doesn’t look like a square,” said B. “It looks like a rectangle.”
We then found 2 squares in the rectangle and were able to see what 2 square meters looks like.
We invite you to come into our classroom and see for yourself!
Children are naturally curious and our SK class is no different. Every day they are asking unique and interesting questions. When we found a book called, Questions Children Ask we were immediately inspired to find out what they think.
As we listened to their ideas, we kept hearing the theme of individuality come out. “If we are all the same,” said M., “then we would not know who everyone is.”
Mathematics also came through when A. talked about height. This connection laid the ground work for the “Did You Know” section about measurement.
In addition to their insightful comments, they surprised us with how they showed their sophisticated understanding of measurement.“Children’s learning begins long before they enter school…They have had to deal with operations of division, addition, subtraction, and the determination of size. (Vygotsky)