OUR COCONUT PROJECT
Teacher Judy asked, “How can we open our coconut?”
The kids brainstormed and
thought of some possibilities:
- “Use a hammer”
- “Throw it”
- “Drop it”
- “Get a knife”
The children took turns with the hammer and found that opening a coconut is hard work! As the coconut began to crack they used their fingers and then looked around the room for something with which to pry off the shell.
This is problem solving! Your children will need this skill throughout their lives.
OUR RAIN FOREST PROJECT
Teacher Judy asked the 5’s class, “How can we get $50 to save an acre of rain forest?”
Here are some of the kids’
ideas:
- Sell cake, ice cream, caramels
- Help people out for money
- Sell chocolate, coffee
- Help elders
- Sell food, apples, bananas, strawberries,
pears
- Sell books
- Draw and sell pictures or paint pictures or
make snowflakes and sell
- Make and put out signs
- Sell toys
The class decided to have a bake sale to raise money for the rain forest.
BRAINSTORMING
Teachers Judy & Nancy
often have conversations with the classes about various topics. One of the discussions centered around
the world “old”. The teachers
asked the kids what is “old” and got these responses:
- Oak tree
- Old car
- A rock
- VW Bug
- Rotten noodles (hey, they’re old, right?!)
- 53 Car
- Old house
- Dinosaurs
- A Farrari
- Old body parts
- Old worlds
The students were also
asked if they knew how old Planet Earth is. Here are some responses:
- 500 years
- 100 years
- 100 million years
- 1 followed by 100 zeros
- 165 million years
- A zillion and 100 years
- 2,000 years
A discussion of how old the Earth really is ensued.
By having the students
brainstorm together, the teachers and parents at Learning Lab are helping the
children learn how to solve problems together. In addition, Learning Lab strives to follow the interests
and passions of the children and to provide children with new and stimulating
experiences that will help them learn how to learn.