Using our Imagination
11/10/2018
As I was cleaning out my garage last weekend, I came across a large box that had to be broken down, torn apart and tossed into the recycle bin. As I was about to do this, I decided that this box had too much life left in it to just be tossed in the bin. So I packed it in my car and brought it into the classroom.
On the first day, the Beginner's explored the box; learning how it moved, what it was made of, how strong it was, what was inside and how big it was. On the second day, we took a vote to see what we should make the box into. Many children wanted the box to be a truck, and we had several different ideas of trucks, like an ice cream truck, fire truck, garbage truck and fruit truck. I read the story Joey and Jet to the class, which is about a little boy and his dog pretending to play in outerspace in their backyard. After the story ended, we talked about how our truck didn't have to be just one kind of truck, but could be any kind of truck, if we used our imagination. Unfortunately, art class was cancelled on Friday morning, but that meant we had extra time to work on our truck. The Beginners chose which paint colors to use. Naturally, a rainbow bus was the best option. As it dried, we were busy making wheels and signs that would help them decide which type of truck it would be when they played with it. When it finally had dried, the Beginners began to play with it. But first, we had to make some rules. How many people could fit inside at once, and how should we touch and treat the box? Soon enough, the truck had turned into an ice cream truck, selling all different flavors of ice cream. So what did the Beginner's learn from this box? They built on more skills in the process of making and playing with a box-turned-truck than they would have if I had a study focus activity planned that day. When children engage in pretend play, they are actively experimenting with the social and emotional roles of life. Through cooperative play, they learn how to take turns, share responsibility, and creatively problem-solve. Pretend play provides children with a variety of problems to solve. Whether it's two children wanting to play the same role or searching for the just right material or prop to fill their need. Language skills are strengthened as the children learn to communicate with words and gestures and practice words and phrases that they have heard from other children and adults. Watching children play gives adults perspective on how children see, interact with and process the world around them. What comes from Trees?
11/2/2018
This week the Beginners learned about how we use trees each day. We talked about paper and about how wood comes from trees. We use wood to build many different things. We went for a scavenger hunt around the classroom to look for items that were made from wood. We found that tables, shelves, toys, the whiteboard, the doors, and many other things were made from wood. We also talked about how many buildings and structures are made from wood and read many different variants of The Three Little Pigs. We used Lincoln Logs to build log houses, like the one in the Alaskan version of the story. To wrap up our study on trees, we went to Home Depot to do participate in a woodworking workshop where the Beginners used real tools and hardware and built a wooden toy helicopter. They had so much fun! Our Field Trip wasn't the only exciting thing we did this week...
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Annalee JohnsonEK Teacher Archives
January 2021
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