Classroom Update

This semester we have noticed that the children are much more comfortable with the classroom routine, with each other, and with classroom practices.  At the beginning of the school year, there was a large interest in the kitchen, dress up, and movement.  This term the focus has shifted quite a bit. 

The children have shown a huge interest in building, shapes, construction, and creating connections.  We noticed right away that the block area was a huge area of interest after getting back from winter break.  They were creating structures, and building tall.  This posed a problem sometimes when their structures were falling down – so we talked a lot about stability and helping things to stay up when building.  Ms. Kat has brought the incline slide into the classroom as a building surface for the children.  She is currently exploring with them which types of blocks are easier to build with when their building surface is tilted.  The children utilize a variety of problem solving strategies to get their structures to stabilize on the angled slide and we have noticed that they have a preference as they build with the types of blocks they will use – because they know those blocks are more stable on an angled surface.  We want to continue exploring the surface of the incline – if that changes in texture will their structures change?  Will the angle of the incline impact their building?

Ms. Sharesse noticed that as the children built, they started to talk about different shapes in their structures.  She began introducing them to different types of structures to see if they could pick out the shapes that created the structures.  They spoke extensively about the ideas of “tall”, “short”, “wide”, and “long.” The children then focused a lot more in depth about shapes and where they could be found in their everyday life.  The children began creating with shapes – using them not only in the context of building but in collaging as well.  What types of shapes are used for creation?  How will this continue to factor into making structures?

We would like to work with the children to figure out if there is a type of permanent structure (house, castle, roads, trains) that we could create in our classroom specifically intertwining all of the above mentioned concepts.  How will the children use what we have been talking about together to create a common goal?

Ms. Carrie and Ms. Hailey are also beginning to implement lessons in the classroom working on robots and clay respectively.  Ms. Carrie would like to see what the children know about robots, what they know about more “unconventional” robots (i.e. not transformers) and what the purpose of different robots might be.  Ms. Hailey has noticed that the children have been engaging with clay and making imprints.  She recently had a provocation of snake photos out with the clay to see how the children would react.  She noticed that the molding of the clay was something they practiced, but the children were more interested in the patterns and designs on the snakes – how might they start to represent that with clay?

As always, we will continue to keep you updated through ClassDojo, blog updates, and conversations!  Please let us know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!