A discovery while playing with the train set sparked an interesting question. While in the block center two boys sat building with lego. An Educator sits closely, not to interrupt or disturb but just to listen. The boys were building what they described to be an “army tank”. Little Mr. J turns to his friend Little Mr. B and says “lets make a train track and then we can pick up the people in the army truck”. They began to put the train track pieces together, and when they had used the 9 pieces they choose, they put the trains together and began to pull the green train with the blue one. Moving quickly, the trains fell off the track and onto the floor. Little Mr. B picks up one train and attempts to put the trains back together, he notices quickly that they would not stick, so he turned the train around, quickly stuck them together and returned the two to the track, and resumed play. The Educator then enters the play and poses a question;
Educator: “I noticed you turned the train around, can you tell me why you did that?”
Little Mr. B: “oh, cuz they don’t stick”
Educator: “why do you think that might be?”
Little Mr. J: “well because one is blue and one is green, so they don’t stick together”
Educator: “hummm..thats an interesting thought, lets try two blue trains” (the boys now have two blue trains, and attempt to put them together)
Little Mr. J: “oh they are just sticky”
Little Mr. B: “umm, actually I learned this in Round Tree, you have to push them in really hard (he demonstrates with the two trains), you have to press with all of your might”
Educator: “well tell me, why do you think it is so easy to do on one side, but so tricky to do on the other side?”
Little Mr. B: “well….thats just something with north and south”
Educator: “you boys have some interesting ideas, how do you think we can find out?”
Little Mr. J: “We can look on the computer”
Together the children and the educator search for answers on the computer, and then take a walk to our school library to search for more information. As our play and inquiry time comes to an end, and the children tidy up their toys the class comes together for our sharing time. The educator asks the boys to show the class what they discovered, and as the boys hold up the trains to show them how they stick on one side, and not on the other, the educator asks the class what their thoughts are.
Little Mr. C: “Thats cuz the blue ones are sticky”
Educator: “Does anyone else have any other ideas?”
Little Miss. A: “Actually its because the blue ones like to stick!”
The small group inquiry will continue over the next few days, lets see what they find out!
Journey Together FDK 