Making Connections

After exploring the shapes, it is important to allow the children to experiment. Sarah and I would then bring in materials to have the children explore and, "get messy." The children in another inspiring blog, explored the shapes in a fun, creative and interesting way. The children were given a flat surface and many shapes. The children were exploring these materials and started placing shapes on the surface to see what came next. She began by encouraging the children to make predictions and explain their thinking before letting their shapes go down the flat surface. They are encouraged to explore all of the sides and determine if the shapes roll, slide or stack.

The children may demonstrate their learning by saying, doing and representing. The children may say, "I think the circle will roll down the ramp." This is a representation of oral communication that describes their thinking and possible resigning (FDELK, 2011). This is an interactive experiment and involves engagement, observation, experimentation and social interaction (FDELK, 2011). This activity invites children to play with the shapes and surface and inquire meaning through their learning. They will then represent their learning. They may do this step by forming questions as to why some of the shapes slide and why others roll (FDELK, 2011).

It is the responsibility for the Team's Intentional Interaction to combine the understanding and interaction to help the children's development (FDELK, 2011). They may do this by responding, challenging and extending the learning for the children (FDELK, 2011). From the first experiment with yarn, the teacher then responds to their interests and implement a program that is thoughtfully planned. One way the team may do this is to say, "I notice that you...(FDELK,2011)." For further steps, challenging the the development of all children in the class. This will determine how the team uses the information and scaffolds the learning (FDELK, 2011). The team in this example was able to make learning interesting by using ramps to describe shapes. They will then ask critical questions such as, "How did you figure that out?" The last step is extending. This is where the children can draw from their understanding, dramatize being shapes and more (FDELK, 2011).

Here is the activity!
http://www.kindergartenkindergarten.com/shapes/

This area of mathematics can also relate to Data Management. The children are sorting, classifying and comparing the objects to describe the attributes (FDELK, 2011, DM5.1).

They may also respond and pose questions about the data collection and work together to make a graph (FDELK, 2011, DM5.3).