Taking Care of our Classroom

Today while we were using liquid watercolors one of the cups spilled all over the floor and chair. Rachel said "Oops! Now I can't sit in the chair"  I asked her what would happen is she did and she laughed and explained that paint would get all over her bottom. She decided she didn't want paint on her paints so she was just going to stand and continue to work. I asked her how the paint was going to get off of the chair and suddenly a light bulb went off, "OH! We need to get paper towels NOW so the chair doesn't get blue like my pants would!" She then rushed to go get paper towels to clean up the spill. I was pleased that Rachel was able to come up with the idea to clean the spill on her own, she felt very empowered to take care of the chair and for doing the right thing.  Helping students arrive at the conclusion on their own gives them ownership and pride for everyday tasks.  It helps them show that being part of a community is being responsible for it. Rachel was so enthusiastic that Lily and Molly saw her cleaning and decided it would be a good idea to help her. Thanks Tel Aviv friends for keeping our classroom clean!