Teachable Moments

This is a very quick post, I have to do it now while I'm thinking about it because next time I write something I might have forgotten about it.
Our commission was delivered successfully, and the "team" are keen to make paper for the students of Chimerical School on Little Island.
What I never anticipated was the word chimerical being of such interest! They argued over what it actually said to start with (it didn't help that I'd printed it off so tiny) with my highest level reader insisting that the word was "commercial," but Jaxon, my most inquisitive student, checked the word online and was super excited about it. He went on to research the word chimera and was able to deliver almost a speech to the class after finding out more information. And there I was, thinking he might stumble across the metal band, Chimera! I must admit, that's what inspired the name of the fictitious school, but oh well.
The second unexpected learning that happened was the map coordinates I'd given, so that the paper could be sent. I'd picked a random spot just off the East Coast of the North Isand, in the ocean, not too far away but enough that it wasn't going to be considered part of NZ. This caused huge discussion, problem solving, the atlases were all taken from the shelf and every student was engaged in trying to figure out exactly where this island was located. Harper's reasoning, that it was in the Pacific Ocean, (like it was a special clue) enabled him to have a vague idea of where it might be. On the map, there is actually nothing there, and this caused quite some confusion until they remembered we were operating in the What If world!
In the end, we spent about an hour using a worksheet (I know, not my usual teaching practise, but it was all I could think of at that particular moment, thank goodness for Google!) that explained and allowed children to use latitude and longitude coordinates on a world map. It also explained North, South, East & West, degrees, and how it all worked. I was really pleased that they had the opportunity to learn about this, even though we have digital technology that just tells us everything these days, it's still worthwhile knowing how these things work, and map skills fit so nicely with Geometry!

Magnifying glass out! I could read it fine, but they got the magnifying glass off the science shelf without any prompting from me!

We shall now argue over what that word actually says!

See, you can read it ok! The bottle is only about 5cm tall.

Those tricky coordinates!

It was interesting listening to what the children had to say about how they thought it worked.

Prior to the worksheet and information being provided, the children would not give up trying to figure it out. They are a persistent bunch of kids!

All this learning that I never intended as part of our Mantle. That's what I love about it, you can go off in other directions, take time to learn other things, and go back to where you need to after. The plan is so flexible, you're not stuck to a particular exact plan or path, and you go where it takes you, the journey is the fun part!