Let The Good Times Roll

Children love to play with balls in many different ways.  They throw them, catch them, kick them, and roll them with seemingly endless delight.  We are learning how natural forces, such as gravity and friction, affect the movement of balls.  Our focus question was “ What do you think it takes to make balls roll?” We discussed how using force from our muscles made our bodies roll and we needed to use force or gravity for a ball to roll.  At our soccer field, we used force to kick our balls into the net.

We also talked about gravity and used a ramp to roll different balls.  I asked the boys and girls “Do you think some balls roll faster than others?”  We recorded and discussed our predictions. Then we used different types of balls to test out our theories.  The boys and girls were amazed with the results. Putting a ramp in the classroom gives the children a chance to interact not only with me, but the other children as well.  This type of play influences the way children approach learning and influences other aspects of their cognitive development. 

Teaching Outdoors

One of the things I love about St. James is our beautiful campus and being able to teach outside. Using a parachute and some balls we continued to discover the meaning of force. The boys and girls had a blast.

This week we studied the letter “N” and “7”.