Hello! I am Cathy Green and I teach at a private school in the city of Birmingham. We have around 300 students in our PreK-8th Grade School. I have 13 children in my kindergarten class. The school has a diverse student population, who attend from over 20 zip code areas around Birmingham, and my class (though small) are diverse as well. I introduced ramps, which are pieces of wooden cove molding (they’re like wooden Hot Wheels track), and marbles to my class today. I began by asking what they would call the cove molding and they said, “piece of wood.” So I lay the piece of wood on the floor and put one marble in the center of it. I asked the children how they could make the marble move from the center of the piece of wood to one of the ends. Each child took a turn sharing how she would make the marble move and demonstrating. I then gave each child a short piece of cove molding and one molding. We brainstormed how we could stay safe while working with the pieces of wood and marbles. Each child worked with his own piece of wood and marble for about two minutes. Most of the children remained in the same spot they began during this short time. Two of the children leaned their piece of wood on a shelf, creating a ramp. I then said, “Now, find a partner to work with.” I was afraid this might create chaos or conflict, but they each quickly found a partner and began working together with her, combining materials, conflict free. Here are some of the things I observed them doing:
*lining the pieces up end to end flat on the floor and pushing the marble
*lining the pieces up end to end flat on the floor and blowing the marble
*leaning the piece against a shelf and letting the marble roll down
*holding the piece of wood in the air and rolling the marble back and forth on it
*putting the ends of their pieces together in the middle and holding each of the other ends up in the air, creating a V shape and letting the marble roll down one of their pieces
I only did this activity with the children for 25 minutes today. They were extremely engaged. There was a lot of excited noise and interaction going on throughout the activity. There was not one conflict among the children. In fact, they all worked together surprisingly well. I am excited for our next session tomorrow!
INTRO TO RAMPS AND PATHWAYS 