Tzemach Class 2016: We Are Builders!

Hello family and friends!

What a great week we've had learning and playing! If you remember from my post last week, we thought we'd be headed in the direction of hibernation and bears. However, I may have miscalculated the excitement of that study because it flopped on us pretty quickly. Which is totally fine! The fun of following the interests of the kids is that things are always changing and we make adjustments as we go. In case you didn't know, this class is obsessed with blocks. Which I love. I'm not really sure how we ended talking about blocks so much this week, but we're going to roll with it. We'll see how it goes! Blocks are such a great resource to use to meet every aspect of learning. It's something that the kids really enjoy and you can take it in so many different directions. The math and science concepts that come from block play are overflowing and it allows us to use language as we stretch our imaginations and build stories. This type of play is quickly turned into reading and writing about our block world. In other words...blocks are awesome!

To start this week we focused on our wooden blocks. We wanted to give the kids an idea of how the blocks are shaped and how the fit together. We've played with the wooden blocks a lot throughout the year but we've never taken the time to sit down and explore them. We started by working with all of the square and rectangle blocks (which come in several different lengths and sizes). We started with the largest block and had the kids individually make predictions as to how many of the other blocks it would take to match the length of our longest block. We ended up using 5 different blocks to stack and match lengths. For example, we discovered that it took 2 small rectangles to equal the length of the longest block. It also took 4 square blocks to do the same. As we predicted and stacked, we also traced our blocks (to have a visual of their size) and wrote the number next to the traced shapes. Michelle and I spent one on one time with each child as we did this so we could talk through the process and concept of measuring the lengths.

The kids really got excited about measuring. We've been using a lot of rulers and measuring tapes throughout the week. We've spent time measuring each of the different size blocks as well as different items around the room. We've measured tables, chairs, easels, toys, sinks, books, just about everything! They also thought it would be a good idea to measure items using blocks instead of rulers. As a result, much of our measuring talk has been in the form of blocks. We even spent a day measuring ourselves in blocks! This has been a wonderful opportunity for us to incorporate math concepts as we play. This type of play also extended as the kids started using snap cubes as a form of measurement. The kids went around the room with the bucket of cubes and a clipboard to find things to measure. They measured the length, mass, and perimeter of objects. They laid cubes on top of the objects and counted how many cubes would be needed to cover the whole mass of the objects. They also measured around the edges to find the perimeter. Once they measured and counted, they recorded their finding on their clipboard. We worked on writing numbers as well as sounding out words to write them. We learned that measuring doesn't have to only be done with rulers and measuring tapes. I'm hoping this week made us discover new ways to use our classroom materials for exploration!

We also played a little game that incorporated some lego play into our week (you know we had to!). We made some note cards with a different number on each one. Each child took a random number (anywhere from 8-13) and counted out that many legos or blocks of their choosing. Once they had the correct amount of blocks to match their card, they worked to create a structure using only that number of blocks. At first most of the kids thought it would be easier to make something if they drew a small number. However, we quickly found out that drawing a larger number made the task much easier. If you only have 8 blocks, you have to get much more creative in how to construct your structure! They used some serious creativity as they worked through this activity! We made the cards available to them throughout the week so this game became a fun part of our week!

We're excited to see where block play takes us next!

Love,
Ms. Rachael

Approaches To Learning:

Show creativity and imagination using materials in representational play.
Demonstrate increasing ability to identify and take appropriate risks in order to learn and demonstrate new skills.
Demonstrate eagerness and interest as a learner4 by questions and adding ideas.
Demonstrate delight or satisfaction when completing a task, solving a problem, or making a discovery.
Demonstrate an increasing ability to organize actions and materials in the learning environment.

Social & Emotional:

Demonstrate confidence by participating in most classroom activities.
Stand up for rights much of the time.
Use classroom materials responsibility, most of the time.
Follow classroom rules and procedures with reminders.
Display emerging social skills of trying to take turns and talk with others during play.

Language & Literacy:

Carry out simple directions and directives.
Complete a thought or idea when communicating with other.
Classify objects and information by observable attributes into predetermined categories.
Ask "how" and "why" questions about things in books and their environment.
Begin to use classroom resources such as books, charts, photographs, and graphs to gain information about topics of interest.
Contribute to small group or whole class stories, rhymes or poems.
Makes some upper case letters without regard to proportion or placement.

Mathematics:

Organize and represent data with real objects.
Use nonstandard units of measure to compare everyday objects.
Compare the lengths of two objects.
Represent simple two-dimensional geometric shapes.
Compare sets of no more than ten objects using the terms "more than" or "same as".
Show one-to-one correspondence through ten when counting real objects.
Integrate mathematical ideas into personal representations.

Comparing, measuring and counting blocks...