Documentation for the week of August 22-26, 2016
We had an amazing first week together! There was so much learning and growing already. Here are a few moments the Morahs captured with explanations of why they are important to your child's growth and development!
Identifying Ourselves:
The children used a great deal of concentration as they worked on their self portraits this week. You can see them in the frames above their play story panels along the back wall of the classroom. Please ask your child to describe their self portrait to you! They had such amazing insights about their faces and their drawings!
We also discussed how we want to identify ourselves as a class. On Tuesday, we came up with a list of ideas:
Bayla: Criss Cross Makers
Ariel F.: Crystals
Bayla: Crystal Makers
Imie: Purple Room
Leah: Sparkles
Ariel S.: Purple
Ariel F.: I have sparkles on my shoes
Ariel S.: I don't.
Lucy: The Alephs
Ariel S.: The Aleph Baisers
On Thursday, we came back to the topic during snack time and began voting on names as they were suggested. After a few suggestions without enough votes, we chose to be called the Rainbow Class. I wrote We are the Rainbow Class on the dry erase board near the snack tables. Lucy decided to erase it, and her friends grew frustrated. Someone suggested that I draw the dots so that Lucy can write it again for everyone. We noticed that it takes a lot longer to write words than it does to speak words. Lucy traced the letters of our new class name. Then Imie, Bayla, and Oree wanted to have a turn at writing it. Lucy grew frustrated because she wanted to have another turn. I showed her the other dry erase board in the classroom and told her that she could draw on that one. She chose to make her own dot patterns and trace the dots! Bayla and Oree also chose to trace the dots to spell out We are the Rainbow Class, and Imie decided to write it herself.
Building Together:
This year, our loose parts/construction area is in the middle of our classroom. This is because it holds so much importance for the children's learning opportunities. On Tuesday, Ariel F., Eliya, and Ariel S. decided to build towers together. They specifically chose to build straight up with their blocks, exploring balance. This required them to plan their next moves carefully so that they would not knock the tower down. You can see Ariel S. holding the tower steady while Eliya adds a block to the top. This is one way that the children are learning about physics: adding support aids stability and makes it less likely that their structure will fall down.
Their game soon moved into a measuring and comparison activity. Ariel F. noticed that the tower was taller than Ariel S. She and Eliya then stood near the tower to see if it was taller than they were too. This type of work is early math exploration. Once their tower was definitely taller than them, it fell down! You can see that Eliya noticed one block fall onto the shelf near the fish tank. He then led his friends in a new activity: building around the fish tank. Morah Mirele asked if they thought the fish could breathe with their tower surrounding her. Eliya pointed out that the air holes in the tank were not covered by any blocks. They agreed that it was safe to continue their work.
Later in the week, our friends continued their work with balance towers. There were so many friends working together, that they created rules as they played. Ariel S. chose to knock the tower down when it was only as high as their chests. Eliya said, "Ariel, if you knock the tower down again you will not be able to play with me anymore." He thought for another moment and amended his statement. He said, "Ariel if you knock the tower over again, you will need to help me rebuild it." Ariel S. agreed to help rebuild the tower with her friends over and over no matter when the tower fell down.
Another aspect of open ended play is risk assessment. There is a great deal of research out there sharing how important it is for young children to have their own space to explore and experiment with risk. This, as a teacher, is very challenging for me! There were many moments during the children's play when I wanted to intervene and say, "This is too dangerous! Find another way to play!" but as I (sat on my hands and) watched the children build towers taller than their heads, I saw that they knew how to protect their bodies when the towers fell down. Over and over, the children saw that the tower was beginning to fall, took a step back, and used their arms to shield their heads. There were two moments throughout the week when I did choose to intervene, because the play was becoming too dangerous, and I could see that the children were so engrossed in their play that they were not as aware of their bodies. I reminded them of their commitment to safety in our classroom, and they went back to their play.
At one point the tower was built so high that the children could not reach high enough to add another block. Imie realized that she could bring one of our larger blocks over to the tower to stand on and add a block. This was a great idea, but her friends had already decided that it was Ariel F's turn to add the next block. Imie told her friends, "Okay, here this is for Ariel. She can stand on top of it." Working together on one project can be highly challenging for a group of preschoolers. In order to be successful, they needed to create rules together, remember the rules, and choose to either follow them or amend them as they continued their play. Next week we will bring in pictures of tower structures that look similar and different from the type of towers they have been working on this week. We will see where their play turns with visual inspiration!
