- obstacle
MA Standards:
English Language Arts/Speaking and Listening/SL.PK.MA.1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners during daily routines and play.
English Language Arts/Language/L.PK.MA.1: Demonstrate use of oral language in informal everyday activities.
English Language Arts/Language/L.PK.MA.6: Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, listening to books read aloud, activities, and play.
Head Start Outcomes:
Language Development/Receptive Language: Attends to language during conversations, songs, stories, or other learning experiences.
Language Development/Expressive Language: Uses language to express ideas and needs.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Language 2: Participate actively in discussions, listen to the ideas of others, and ask and answer relevant questions.
Talk Together: Obstacles
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
STEM Key Concept: When a rolling ball hits an obstacle, it will stop or slow down and its direction may change
ELA Focus Skills: Speaking and Listening, Vocabulary
Talk with children about the trackways they have built. Guide children to talk about any obstacles the balls or marbles hit as they were traveling down the tracks. Ask questions such as,
- What happened when you sent the marbles down your track?
- Why did Sherisse's marble move all the way down the track but Miguel's marble stopped in the track?
- What happened to the marble when it hit an obstacle? What happened to the obstacle that the marble hit?
Help children to recall their experiences by displaying photos or videos you took of their explorations. Use and encourage the use of the word obstacle as you discuss their explorations. Explain that an obstacle is something that is in the way, or path of a different object.
Educator Tip: To help children grasp the meaning of the word obstacle, you may want to set up a simple obstacle course in your room. Create a path on the floor (piece of masking tap) from one side of the room to the other. Place obstacles along the path. Have children go from one side of the room to the other calling out the things (obstacles) that are in their way as they try to stay on the tape.