In case you didn't know, this class is obsessed with blocks. Which I love. They are such a great resource to use to meet every aspect of learning. Since our skyscraper adventure last week was such a success, we thought we'd continue on the path of blocks. 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. You get this idea...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 over the year but we've never taken the time to sit down and explore them. We started with using 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 concepts of measuring the lengths.
We also incorporated some lego play into our week (you know we had to!). We made a bunch of note cards with a different number on each one. When the kids came to the lego carpet, they took a random number (anywhere from 5-20) and counted out that many legos. Once they had the correct amount of blocks to match their card, they worked to create anything they wanted to using that number of legos. 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 5 blocks, you have to get much more creative in how to construct your creation! They used some serious creativity as they worked through this activity!
We also spent some time this week talking about mazes. We discussed what they were, how they worked, and why a lot of thought had to be put into making one. We kept some mazes out at the writing center and block center for the kids to work through and provided them with a range of difficulty levels and shapes. We also divided up into teams to make mazes in our block center. Some of these mazes were awesome! Most of the groups used printed mazes to give them an idea of how to start their maze. We discussed that we first needed a start and finish point. We also needed to make a clearly cut path but also provide walls (or "tricky traps" in their words). After each group felt like they completed their maze, we used either cars or marbles to work through the mazes. Most of the mazes took the groups several tries to get them just right. Once the cars went through the maze they usually found that they had too many walls without a direct path to the finish line. It was a great time of trial and error and thinking through their construction.
We also spent some time using smaller blocks. We used our 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!
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Exploring our wooden blocks...
Using numbers to build with Legos...
Our awesome mazes...
Using blocks to measure...
