Day of Play

On Wednesday, we celebrated Global School Play Day at SMS! 

We spent the whole school day playing, imagining, building, drawing, crafting, exploring, and playing games! We loved having lots of time to make lots of different choices in our play and having the opportunity to play with lots of different friends in our classroom and in kindergarten. Our only rules were no electronics, using words to solve any problems that might arise, and have FUN! 

Super Players!

In the morning, we got to go outside to explore the trails around SMS and Stratham Hill Park 

We found all kinds of animal footprints, including these moose prints! 

We learned a lot today about independent problem-solving, working together, sharing our belongings, being flexible, taking turns, building our fine and gross motor skills, and thinking outside the box (literally!)

We had an absolute blast playing with our friends and sharing our toys, craft supplies, games, and imaginations. We can't wait to celebrate Global School Play Day next year and celebrating the joy and learning that comes from play all year round :) 

Mini Golf Masters

One of the things that kept coming up in our exploration of force and motion was mini golf, so on Monday, we worked together in small groups to create our very own mini golf course in the Giraffe Class! Before we got started with designing and building, we looked at pictures and videos of mini golf courses to talk about what we noticed paired with what we already knew about mini golf from our own personal experience. We knew the force to move the ball would come from the club, and we thought about different things that could affect it. We then noticed all the different kinds of obstacles in a mini golf course: hills, ramps, tunnels, objects on the "green" and the shape and surface from each hole, which would all affect the way the ball moved when we hit it. 

Afterwards, we all got to work engineering our own courses! 

We were able to use any of the materials around our classroom to build--KEVA planks, blocks, cuisenaire rods, toys, dixie cups, and anything in between! Some of us used golf balls for our course, and others used marbles so they could make a more smaller course with more obstacles. Some groups also chose to build their surface as well, while others chose to use the rug as their surface.

Mr. G even joined us for a few rounds!

We noticed that like the ball race, the marble traveled faster than the bigger golf ball. We also noticed the balls rolling on courses with a wood surface traveled faster than the balls traveling on the rug, and we thought that was because the wood was smoother than the rug

During free choice, our engineers have continued choosing to build everything from cities and houses to ramps, car garages, and even other mini golf courses!

Some of the best things these engineers have shown throughout their building have been their flexibility, their collaboration skills, and their persistence to keep on trying--even when one idea didn't work, they worked together using what they've learned to come up with another one! Great work, Giraffes :)