Multiple Paths

One of the free choice activities my students have the opportunity to do several days a week is creating a marble run.

This tends to be one of the favorites and is always full (meaning four children). On a recent day one of the girls called me over to show me what they had built. I headed over and quickly noticed that if they started the marble at the beginning of the path there were plenty of side paths it would never hit. I immediately thought that they had not put a lot of thought into their plan. I almost said something to them about this, but managed to keep my mouth shut while they showed me.

The girl put the marble at the beginning and I watched it head down the main path through the tower to the ground. At the end she said to me, "Now look where else it can go." Another student dropped the marble at another starting point and ran it through that path. Then yet another student started it in yet another place.

They were so proud of how they had created multiple paths for the marble. I was grateful for the reminder that we all take different paths and I need to honor them.