What a welcome sight the sun was today after 2 days of rain!  While we do try to get the Tugboats outside, even for a short walk, when the weather is less nice, the cold is making that more and more difficult.  We were all eager to get to the playground this morning, imagining that surely the swings have missed us in our absence.  We all bundled up and headed to the playground to discover something incredible on the slides:  ice!  While the air temperature was tolerable in our coats and hats, the parts of the playground that remain shaded from sunlight still had bits of ice on them from last night’s cold!  Peter carefully removed a few sheets of ice from the climbing structures and the children cautiously examined it.  They noticed that it looked shiny and felt wet, just like a puddle, but Peter certainly wouldn’t be able to pick up a puddle!  They also observed how it cracked when Peter applied pressure.  Once it was broken into smaller-than-feet-sized pieces, we let them jump up and down on the ice, effectively turning it into slush.

Today’s trip to the playground was an excellent example of the unplanned learning that is so vital to an emergent curriculum.  We were able to take advantage of circumstances that we couldn’t have planned for, like ice remaining on the playground at 10:30, and couple that with the natural curiosity and interest of our students to create an exciting teachable moment!