Tuesday, September 17, 2013

I sat with room 112 as we prepared to work with blocks. The students thought the blocks were "boring" the last time they used them, so I wanted to see if an inviting presentation would work. I arranged the blocks in a big pile on the image of a sun that is part of the rug. Ms. Natal and I sat on the rug with the students.

T is myself. S is student. More than one student will be labeled "S1" or "S2,"etc.

T- Look at this pile! What should we do with these blocks? Let's look at them first.

The students tell me about the blocks- the shapes they recognize, the colors. They decide they want to build something with the blocks, but I ask if it would be easier if we grouped them first. They thought that was a fun idea, so they identified each shape by name, asking questions about the more confusing shapes (a pyramid and cylinder were unusual to them) and quickly made piles of like-objects.

S- I'm getting the baby squares! 

The students started calling the smallest shapes "the babies".  They began to build and I said, "I can't wait to hear about the baby blocks and what stories we'll make!"

S- I'm making something to fly in the sky! 
He worked on his plane, but then decided he would make a "monster race car!" 
S- This is a race car and this is an awesome house. This part is the window of the car. 
T- Tell me about the people who own this house and car.
D- I drive the car. My mom, my sister, my dad and me live in this house. And my friend, Joseph, lives in the house, too! 

A group of students made a house together.
S1- I love to make a house. No! This is a castle! 
T- Who lives in the castle?
S2- People. 
S1- Us!
S2- Everybody here!
S1- Ms. Natal, you, me, the other kids! 
S2- Your family can live with us, too!
S1- We all have big rooms to live in!
T- That sounds like a nice community for us! 
S2- We have fun! There are ghosts in the castle!
T- I would love to see a picture of the ghosts scaring us.  Or maybe we could write a story about them!
S3 comes over, interested in what we're saying and pretends to be a ghost at the castle door.
S2-Open the door! Open the castle door!
S3- ooooooooohhhhhhh! <makes ghost noises when the "door" is opened>

The students no longer find the blocks to be "boring."

S2 drew a picture of the ghost for me.

The Castle

The "Monster Race Car"