Sensorial Cylinder Blocks Essay Example

Sensorial Cylinder Blocks Essay Example Sensorial Cylinder Blocks Essay Sensorial Cylinder Blocks Essay Sensorial Cylinder Blocks Material: Four blocks containing ten cylinders with knobs; each fitting into its respective hole. Block 1: Ten cylinders varying in diameter only Block 2: Ten cylinders varying in height and diameter from tall and wide to short and narrow Block 3: Ten cylinders varying in height and diameter from tall and narrow to short and wide Block 4: Ten cylinders varying in height only Aims: To refine the child’s visual perception of dimension To refine the child’s co-ordination of movement To provide controlled experiences of seriating To encourage basic mathematical vocabulary Indirect preparation for reading and writing Control of error: One to one correspondence. Vocabulary: To be given in a three period lesson: Thick and thin, with comparatives and superlatives. Big and small, with comparatives and superlatives. Wide and narrow, with comparatives and superlatives. Tall and short, with comparatives and superlatives. Stage: This is an early sensorial activity. Children are interested in individual cylinder blocks around the age of two/two and a half. Introduction: This is an Individual presentation. Invite the child to come by telling him that you have something to show him. Ask him to accompany you to the shelf. Introduce the activity at the shelf, name it and ask the child to take it to the table. Show him how to carry one of the cylinder blocks by gripping the block on both sides with both hands and carry it at waist level parallel to the ground and then let him carry it to the table or mat. Presentation: ? Seat yourself next to the child, positioning the cylinder block between you and the child. Ensure that s/ he can see all the steps that you do precisely. Tell him/her that you’re going to show him how to take the cylinder out of the cylinder block. ? Beginning from the left side, grasp the cylinder knob with your index, middle and thumb of your dominant hand. ? Firmly holding the knob lift it up and out of the socket and place it in front of the cylinder block ? Repeat the same procedure until all the cylinders are taken out of its respective socket and place them i n a random in front of the cylinder block. ? The child can be invited to continue any time after demonstrating a few lifting and placing of cylinders in front of the cylinder blocks. Once cylinders are out of the block, tell him/her â€Å"That all the cylinders are out of the block†, and now I am going to show you how to put them back in the socket. ? Grasp the knob of the appropriate cylinder with your index, middle and thumb of your dominant hand ? Lift the cylinder up and align it to the respective socket beginning from the left, then slowly slide the cylinder into the hole until you hit the bottom of it. Then release your grasp of knob. ? Repeat the same procedure with rest of the cylinders until all the cylinders are back into the socket. The child can be invited to continue any time after demonstrating a few cylinders as to how to put them back into their respective socket. ? Once the cylinders are back into the block, tell him/her â€Å"That all the cylinders are back in their respective sockets of the block† ? Once through, invite the child to perform the exercise. ? Observe him/her as s/he does the activity. ? Once s/he has completed the activity ask him/her if he would like to do it again, if s/ he does not wish to repeat the activity let him/her know that s/ he can work on this exercise any time s/he want to and also as long as s/he wants to do it. Remind him/her to put the material back on the shelf at its respective position. Note to self: ? As part of classical presentation the cylinders are placed in a random way when it is taken out of the socket. But when presenting the exercise to a younger child just to make things easier for him the cylinder can be placed directly in front of the respective sockets of the cylinder block. ? When presenting the exercise make sure to focus on the different dimension of the cylinders. Exaggerate every movement as to both taking out and putting the cylinder back into the socket by moving each finger in a slow and steady motion in holding the knob and then lifting it up and putting them back in and out of t he socket. ? While putting the cylinder back into the socket, align the cylinder to the center of the socket and then slide in a smooth and steady motion. ? Once the child is competent in using one block he can be asked to continue with the rest of them by himself, but this decision as to asking the child to do the rest is totally based on the teachers judgment. Explorations: The child can be asked to perform the activity individually with two blocks, three blocks, four blocks or two, three or four children can be asked to perform the activity limiting them to one block at a time. Children can be blindfolded and can be asked to take the cylinders out and put them back into the respective socket just by feeling them around. Another extension can be tried by placing cylinder at a distance away from the cylinder block and the child can walk back and forth and bring the appropriate cylinder and slide it back into the respective socket of the cylinder block.