Preparing for Our Trip
Wednesday will be the Rivers Class' first walking trip of this year. Because we are called the "Rivers," we will visit our neighbor, the Hudson River, together. We have begun to prepare for this trip by thinking and talking together in the classroom.
On Friday, teachers asked the children, "What is a river?" Answers included:
- A snake!
- It flows from the ocean to a soft little pond.
- Like the Hudson River!
- The Atlantic River!
- You can float on a river or take an airplane there.
- It's called a waterfall.
- It's not a lake. A river has more water than lake.
In small groups this week, the children listed things that they know about rivers already. As they talked, they looked at photographs in a book about the great rivers of the world.
They were able to see many different rivers and began to perceive some themes. People and the things created by people (homes and cities) are often near rivers. Rivers are used for transportation and the children thought of boats as being important to rivers. They also noticed trains, train tracks, and bridges that are often found near rivers. The children spotted wildlife of all kind, from butterflies to hippos, dandelions to trees.
All of these things were added to the list as we modeled the skill of recording ideas.
After observing these pictures, many children took time to draw a river and the things that could be near a river. Taking a moment to express knowledge through drawing solidifies new learning and also allows a teacher to check for understanding.
At the end of Monday morning, the children offered ideas about the things the children think we might see when we go to the Hudson River. The teachers recorded these in a list to take to the river.
On Wednesday the class will visit the Hudson River and check their theories. Will we see a hippo here? What about boats? Or geese?
The trip will help the children to sort out their thinking about this particular river. It will also teach them a beginning research skill of brainstorming or hypothesizing and then checking a source to verify or challenge ideas. In preschool, we do this work in concrete and hands-on ways by taking a walk to look at a real river. As they learn to read and grow in independence, the children will learn to apply this skill to research in texts and other written and digital resources.
Our walk to the river will be research. I wonder if your family might like to research about rivers too. Perhaps it would be good to take a ferry ride. Or to walk along the river at Liberty State Park or at Palisades Interstate Park. Flat Rock Brook Nature Center in Englewood also has a lovely small brook that children can get close to. Or just walk along the Hudson River here in Hoboken again. There is a lot to notice and think about.
Click here for pictures of the trip...
