A great approach to learning

Recently I had the opportunity to visit Beginnings a Reggio inspired preschool in Manhatten. From the visit I was able to learn new ways to incorporate hands on child inspired learning into my own classroom. I was able to observe how the children learn, and how the teachers are more of a guide rather than a facilitator. The type of learning and inquiry the children exhibited really has helped to influence and guide me in my own classroom. One aspect that I was interested in was the colors in jars that the students were able to use on their own freely. I was amazed at the way the students were working with this and was able to implement this into my own teaching.

This week I asked students what colors they could make when colors such as red and blue were mixed. They told me purple. I then had the students use jars to mix the colors. They were amazed at the findings and therefore continued to use this technique with other colors. As a result of this they became engaged in a color mixing activity which led to mixing in the water table. The students explored the colors and were able to find out what happens when they add more water, or use less water and more color. I was so excited to see how engaged they were. This also led to an exploration using tiles with the light table.

Students were able to see that you can find out what colors can be created not only through the use of colors and water but also with tiles on a light table.