The subject of ladders came up in my classroom a few weeks (or longer) ago and my class has been asking for me to bring a ladder in that they could climb ever since. So today, I brought in a ladder and we explored the ladder along with drawing our own lines and ladders for math…
I actually brought in two ladders but I want to tell you that we didn’t leave the ladders out for play. The children and I worked together to read all the safety signs on the ladders first…
Then we compared the ladders. One was small and only had two steps and the other was tall with three steps (not including the top)…
Once we finished comparing and setting up the ladders, then each child took a turn climbing up each ladder. It is interesting to observe how scary it can be to climb up a ladder for young children. They are still learning to manage their balance so it was necessary for Mr. Hayden and I to stay with each child as they climbed the ladders…
The children were nervous on the taller ladder and getting down was something they really had to think about. We showed the children how to place both hands firmly on top of the big ladder before starting to climb down…
We also stood next to the ladders and compared our own height to the height of the ladders. We were all taller than than the small ladder but not quite as tall as the tall ladder…
Everyone enjoyed exploring our real ladders so now we were ready to draw our own ladders and try a little ladder math…
The children started by drawing two or three ladders of different sizes on their paper…
Then the children were invited to use their cubes to count and compare the sizes of the ladders. Some of the children compared and counted how many steps their ladders had…
Others compared and counted how wide their ladders were…
And others used the colored cubes to make patterns on their ladders. There were many ways to explore ladder math…
But climbing up the real ladder was probably the biggest highlight of this experience…
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What a wonderful simple idea. I love how you extended the idea to different aspects of their learning.
Remember that your wonderful song about “Painter Paul” from your CD would be perfect to play when introducing this concept Deborah! Thank you for another fabulous idea!
Haha! Yes it would!!
I love your blog and have been reading it for almost 2 years. You are so wonderful. Would you please do a post detailing some of the differences in your three year old class vs your four year old class. I have worked with four year olds in the past but I am starting a three year old class out of my house this fall. I am not sure what I can expect from them – especially in large group time. What are your goals with them and what are your major differences between them and your four year olds. Thanks!
I use a ladder during our Firefighters Unit. Each child dresses up as a firefighter and climbs the ladder to rescues a stuffed animal cat out of our school ficus tree. This math/ladder tie in will be a great addition to our unit!