Monday, November 1, 2010

Toddlers Exploring Cause and Effect

The toddler classroom introduced a few new works on their shelves this week. While fun and beautiful, these works allow these young learners to master eye-hand coordination and explore cause and effect. The ability to have repetition in an activity that engages multiple senses is essential to building a mental framework for understanding the world around them.

Children are asking questions and  make conclusions while they work, such as:
" If I use the hammer to hit the ball, the ball will fall."
"Will it fall every time I hit the ball?"
" What if I use my hand instead of the hammer?"
"What happens if I use a different ball?"
These are the important questions of young learners, and young scientists.
Adults in the classroom observe the child's work closely without interfering. The adults waits for "teachable moments" to guide the child an the path of discovery, perhaps by asking a question, noticing a detail, or modeling another way to complete a task.







 Working with friends, independent yet social.
 Baking pumpkin bread for snack. Yum.....


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