Teacher: OK, ready. Put your hands in the air so I don’t mush anyone’s fingers. These are more ideas of things you could use in your design.

Student: Yes. This is a bowl, and this is a— these are big ones.

Irene Garneau: In early childhood, teachers are constantly differentiating for children depending on where they are.

Student: That one is much smaller.

Teacher: One is much bigger and one is much smaller.

Irene Garneau: Open-ended materials allow young children to access learning in a way that’s meaningful to them in that moment in time.

Teacher: I’m giving you some small rocks. See what kinds of marks those make.

Student: I want to ask my buds.

Irene Garneau: If you think about the zones of proximal development, we don’t want to frustrate children with a material that’s too hard for them, but we don’t want to bore children with something that’s too easy for them. Open-ended materials lend themselves to children using them in a way that they can learn at their own rate and we’re meeting them where they’re at.

Teacher: Your job today is going to be to move, to transfer. Can you say that word?

Students: Transfer.

Teacher: Transfer.

Teacher: To move the sand from the container to the bottle. And in front of you we have all these different materials.

Irene Garneau: Open-ended materials don’t have one right way of being used. Children can explore them and use their imagination and take them where they want.

Teacher: Look at that. She put something inside her funnel. Does that change how the sand goes through?

Student: Yes. It goes through here.

Teacher: It goes through there?

Student: I want to try that.

Teacher: You want to try that?

Irene Garneau: And teachers are there as facilitators by their side to help them explore those ideas and ask the right question at the right time to advance their understanding and learning.

Teacher: Could you put your fingers across that and see what it feels like?

Student: That’s a good idea.

Teacher: It has a little bit of texture.

Irene Garneau: Materials that we choose are often coming from a natural environment. Oftentimes it’s not things that we’re purchasing but found items, things that will give teachers and children an opportunity to have conversations.

Teacher: It’s important things?

Teacher: What’s inside there?

Irene Garneau: And many times, those materials that are put out are there to support vocabulary.

Student: It sounds like—

Teacher: It sounds like tunnel. Tunnel and funnel. What do you notice about those words? Tunnel, funnel?

Teacher: They—?

Student: Rhyme.

Teacher: They rhyme—that’s right, Mark.

Irene Garneau: When you have interesting things in your classroom—

Student: So honeycombs.

Teacher: Oh, those are honeycombs too?

Irene Garneau: You have interesting things to talk about. You might notice one child starting to do one thing and another one will look over and say, “Oh, that’s a great idea.” And often you’ll see them having conversations, and genuine relationships are starting to be formed.

Charter Oak International Academy