It was a typical circle time for the Pups and Calves until we decided to continue the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle from the previous day. Today was 'Recycle' discussion. From the previous discussion, we had arrived at not using the same dustbin for all the waste and to use different dustbins for different wastes.
F: What are the different dustbins you think we should have ?
K: cardboard
An: Plastic
H: Paper
F: What all goes into the 'Paper Waste' dustbin?
H: Tissues
Av: Paper
F: What is cardboard then?
K: Plastic
F: Why do you think it is plastic?
There was silence.
F: Is paper hard or soft?
Collectively: Soft.
F: How about plastic?
Collectively: Hard.
To further deepen the thought processes, they were asked two prompts:
1. What makes something plastic and what makes something cardboard?
2. How does one know something is plastic? Do we touch and find out? How do we find it?
Since we didn't arrive at anything convincing or conclusive, we decided to take it a step further through a small experimentation: How about we take plastic and cardboard and poured water on both?
Our wonder questions were:
What will we get? Will they both stay the same? Since our bottles are hard, will cardboard also stay hard? Will our bottles become soft like paper if we put water on them?
To find out, children who didn't have plastic water bottles were given plastic cups to experiment with. They all got into their chu-chu trains and marched to the taps. One by one they all poured water on their bottles and cups and got back to class.
K: Mine is fresh now.
S: Mine too!
H: Mine is soft
Av: Mine is also soft now (in a very playful manner)
They all went back to class and sat on their mats to feel the texture further and collectively discussed and agreed that the bottles and cups were still hard. So plastic doesn't get soft after putting water on them.
Then they were each given a cardboard piece. They followed the same routine of putting water on each, came back and sat on their mats.
There were lots of giggles and surprised expressions on their faces when they realized they could bend and tear the big pieces of the hard cardboard.
H: This is soft ma'am.
Ab: Ma'am see I can tear
S: look ma'am there's one line here on the cardboard
F: So if the cardboard is soft and we can tear it and bend it, is it plastic or paper?
K: Paper!
K: Mine is fresh now.
S: Mine too!
H: Mine is soft
Av: Mine is also soft now (in a very playful manner)
They all went back to class and sat on their mats to feel the texture further and collectively discussed and agreed that the bottles and cups were still hard. So plastic doesn't get soft after putting water on them.
Then they were each given a cardboard piece. They followed the same routine of putting water on each, came back and sat on their mats.
There were lots of giggles and surprised expressions on their faces when they realized they could bend and tear the big pieces of the hard cardboard.
H: This is soft ma'am.
Ab: Ma'am see I can tear
S: look ma'am there's one line here on the cardboard
F: So if the cardboard is soft and we can tear it and bend it, is it plastic or paper?
K: Paper!
So the conclusions made were,
1. When we put water on plastic, they still remain hard and we can't bend or tear it.
2. When we put water on paper, it bends and tears.
1. When we put water on plastic, they still remain hard and we can't bend or tear it.
2. When we put water on paper, it bends and tears.
Post this, we all agreed that we will have 3 dustbins:
A) Paper waste (tissues, paper and cardboard)
B) Plastic waste
C) Food Waste
It's easy to give away the information to children rather than letting them experiment and figure it out for themselves. When they are given the freedom to experiment and figure it out for themselves, they learn so much more than when they are just given the answers. They will learn things more deeper than usual because the learning happens right in front of them. And that journey is exhilarating and fun! Isn't that what learning is all about?!
#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#everychildcanwonder
#everychildcanexperiment
#21stcenturylearning
#socialemotionallearning
Contributed by Sruthy Krishna, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool.
A) Paper waste (tissues, paper and cardboard)
B) Plastic waste
C) Food Waste
It's easy to give away the information to children rather than letting them experiment and figure it out for themselves. When they are given the freedom to experiment and figure it out for themselves, they learn so much more than when they are just given the answers. They will learn things more deeper than usual because the learning happens right in front of them. And that journey is exhilarating and fun! Isn't that what learning is all about?!
#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#everychildcanwonder
#everychildcanexperiment
#21stcenturylearning
#socialemotionallearning
Contributed by Sruthy Krishna, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool.
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