We have recently introduced certain responsibilities in the classroom. The children gather at morning meeting and look at the schedule to determine what their job is for the week. On Friday there was a problem. The person who keeps track of the visual time schedule was absent. We asked for volunteers. Many children wanted to do this job. Who could be the substitute for this job. What would be the fair way to handle this situation?
We presented this dilemma to your children. We heard we could vote on a person, different people could turn over different order. We considered their suggestions, wrote down the name of each eager volunteer, and then placed the names on top of the visuals. OH, NO there were more volunteers than visuals to turn over. Another problem.. What could we do? Some children suggested that some children could do it today and some tomorrow, or we could do it together. We decided to honor their suggestion and put names in pairs so they could work together to complete their job.
As we placed the the names on top of the visual time schedule, we noticed yet another problem. In our schedule there are two good bye times, one before lunch bunch and one after. Yet another problem solving opportunity. We then needed to look at the lunch bunch schedule to determine who was staying so they would be there to complete their job.
It was a very long morning meeting filled with much learning opportunities for problem solving. This was not a planned activity but one that was responsive to an unexpected situation that came up. This is life long learning skills in the making.
What an amazing story! You turned a moment that could have been brushed aside into a rich learning experience.
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