Sand and Stones

Part and parcel of my classroom set-up is a sand table where various activities take place. This time, the table was filled with sand and stones. And as i watch the children engage themselves with these two materials, I am amazed at how they describe the properties of the sand and the stones and on how they manipulate the materials in many varied ways. 

As I always capture the moment, there are so many things I observe when I work with the children around the sand table.  Aside from patience, which is a dying virtue, each child speaks about the significance of their one stone to another via a pattern of colours, of sizes, and of weight.  

The overall aesthetic speaks about the collaborative effort of all the children to contribute in their own little way, a structure as fascinating that of a spiraling stones in varied patterns. 

When the children are proficient in the use of the smaller pebbles to balance one on top of a bigger piece, a sense of accomplishment shows on their faces.

However, it takes one child in my class, a girl with special needs, who made me cry.  She is having difficulty balancing her last piece on top when all of a sudden, she picks some sand, spread them on the stone before placing that one last piece of pebble on top.  It is success!

On this day, I learn that life is not that difficult to face because there is always going to be a solution for a problem.  We need to find that answer whether by doing it on our own or by watching other people do it. Then, we say to ourselves that when there is a will, things are possible.