A planter in the middle of our classroom!

A few weeks ago, the Kohavim children came into the classroom to discover a large box in the middle of the classroom. As their smiles revealed their surprise to find this in the middle of our morning meeting rug, the children suddenly began to question what this box was for and where it came from. The children had many ideas. Lily and Zack thought it was for pretend play. First, they imagined it was a train, then a car, then a bus, and even an airplane. While pretending they discovered that the box was moving and might break if we climb inside and out of it. They agreed it was not for pretend play. Some children suggested the box might be used as storage for our toys. After more observation, Hannah suggested it might be a planter. Below is the children's conversation that followed: 

Hannah: I think you put dirt in it, and plant stuff in it.

Max Goldberg: No, there’s no bottom on it. 

Lily: It used to have a bottom. 

Jesse: Why does it need a bottom?

Ryan: To put dirt in it.

Lily: If you take it off the dirt will all go on the rug

Max Greenstein: And that would make a humongous mess.

Dylan: What happens if we want to plant in it and we have no bottom and then the dirt gets all over the rug.

Ryan: But if we put dirt in it, but there is no bottom, it might get dirty.

With our new hypothesis that this box was a planter, we decided to investigate if there were any other planters at our school. We headed outside to check the playground where we remember a planter full of soil. Max and Molly checked the bottom and discovered the planter outside did have a bottom! 

They returned to the classroom and explained that if our box is a planter it will need a bottom so we can put soil inside. The teachers ask the children why we would put soil inside and below are their responses: 

Jesse and Maria: Why should we put soil?

Max Goldberg: To plant flowers

Ryan: To plant tomatoes

Max Goldberg: Or we could plant all kinds of vegetables. In little buckets.

Zack: I’ve planted cucumbers

Sabrina: I bought the plants that hang and they were tomatoes.

Dylan: But it doesn't to have a bottom

Max Goldberg: We could make a bottom

Lily: We could use paper

Eliza: But then it might rip, it (soil) would be too heavy.

Noah: We could put rocks. 

As the children agreed that the box was a planter they were now faced with the challenge of how to construct a bottom so the soil would not fall out. See the blog, "Measuring, Recording, and Sharing, Oh my!" to find out how the planter story continued!