Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Learning as We Go

This week, Gordon Lee and I are learning all about work vehicles of all kinds.  We just got our books yesterday, and we have read about 5 so far.  This morning, we were out running some errands when everyone's favorite orange road markers showed up.  Great, I think to myself, just what I need...construction! 

Meanwhile, a tiny voice in the backseat calls out (with all of the enthusiasm his little body can contain), "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Look! Those are the trucks in my books! Look! Look! Look! It's a dump truck! Look! It's a digger! Oh my goodness! It's all the trucks!"

Suddenly, my perspective changed--impromptu learning opportunity! So I pulled over in a nearby parking lot where there was an excavator conveniently parked and not being operated.  Gordon Lee wanted his picture with it.

(In this picture, he is trying to explain that this is a "really big excavator").

Meanwhile, across the street, we get to witness these vehicles in action.
We see on vehicle digging up dirt and putting it in the bed of (what I have recently learned is) an articulated truck.  This truck then took the soil over to where a front loader was also working.  Clearly, we took a picture.  The two construction workers probably thought we were weird for taking pictures of construction, and they in turn took a picture of us.  It was all good in the end.  Gordon Lee called out, "Hey! That's teamwork!" 

We then started seeking out construction just so he could see the trucks in action.  You never know when a "road block" will become an opportunity to learn.

2 comments:

  1. One never knows when a teachable moment will happen. I learned a new term too- "articulated", will have to look that meaning up. Have fun "digging' into construction vehicles:)

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  2. articulaed: (of a vehicle) built in sections that are hinged or otherwise connected so as to allow flexibility of movement:

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