Observing children’s interests and listening to their ideas and questions are essential aspects of the teaching-learning process in a Reggio-inspired classroom. Often, an “ordinary moment” holds the possibility for days or weeks of exploration that supports children’s learning in all of the content areas (mathematics, science, social studies, reading, and writing) and encourages them to be producers rather than consumers of knowledge and understanding. Reading a book about a sunflower was one such “ordinary moment” in our JK classroom...
The children were fascinated by the life cycle of a sunflower seed as depicted in Eric Carle’s classic book, “The Tiny Seed”. Since they themselves are small, they identified with the tiny sunflower seed that, unlike many of its larger friends who fall prey to the elements, grows into a giant flower and produces many more tiny seeds that take flight in the fall breeze.
Their faces reflected their connection to the story; eyes open wide with suspense as the seed almost fell into the ocean or just missed being stepped upon by a child, and smiles of relief as the plant grew taller and stronger.
Their faces reflected their connection to the story; eyes open wide with suspense as the seed almost fell into the ocean or just missed being stepped upon by a child, and smiles of relief as the plant grew taller and stronger.
Noticing the children’s interest in the story, Ms. Bell brought a giant sunflower head to school and showed the children at Morning Meeting how they could use tweezers to remove the seeds.
The children worked together intently for two days to remove all of the seeds! It was a true collaborative effort that required both patience and persistence, while helping develop the same finger muscles needed for writing.
One of the most exciting moments occurred when the children found a tiny caterpillar hiding inside one of the seed pockets. The children carefully placed it in a cup with a seed for food, and continued working quietly so that they would not frighten it. They decided that we should take the caterpillar outside at lunch because it could not live inside the school. This “teachable moment” encouraged the children to see the world through the eyes of a creature so tiny that they would seem like giants; and, in a small way, to consider their role as caretakers of earth.
At last, the sunflower head was empty and three cups were filled with seeds. The children wondered how many seeds there were, and made guesses that ranged from 20 - 1,000,000. Some of the children were interested in counting the seeds to find the answer. With the teachers’ help, they counted the seeds into groups of ten until they totaled 400! When they were almost finished, one of the children said with both pride and relief, “This is a lot of work!” Mathematics can be challenging, but can also provide the answer to an important question.
Two weeks later, we made a fascinating discovery. The huge sunflower head was was no longer huge! Ms. Bell brought another sunflower from the farmer’s market so that the children could compare both the size and texture of the two sunflowers. When the children touched the old sunflower, they said that it felt “rough”, “pointy”, “hard”, and “sharp”. By contrast, they thought that the new sunflower felt “smooth”, flat”, and “a little soft”.
When we asked the children why they thought that the sunflower had gotten smaller, they had two interesting theories. They thought that: 1) it did not have water anymore and when things do not have water and stop growing, they get smaller, and 2) the seeds made the sunflower stay big, and without the seeds it got smaller. The children shared the two sunflowers and their theories at the All School Morning Meeting. The adults were as intrigued as the children with our discovery!
The next step, however, was removing the seeds from the second sunflower head. The children worked diligently to remove several hundred more sunflower seeds, and this time invited our SK friends to help.
The story continues...