Riddled with Thinking

Posted on: 16 Sep 2014 by Weston Green School

The weekend is over and Monday morning assembly has just begun and the children are, I hope, musing, pondering, searching, exploring, solving...I have just set them the riddle of the week. After an easier one ("What starts with ‘t’, ends with ‘t’ and has ‘t’ in it?"), the tougher one comes:

“What is tall when young and short when old?”

The answer of course is...well, I’ll let you work it out.

Why do I do it? Why begin a new week with a puzzle? Partly, it’s a way to engage but, more, it’s because I want the children thinking, searching, stretching and battling. I want to challenge, inspire, and cajole and let the children have that sense of achievement and satisfaction when the riddle is solved.

Fun, it is, but it’s more – it sets them on the path to a new week’s learning...until the demon headmaster reappears to set them another dastardly riddle to stump them...or not.

Mr. Harrison