SOLSC #23 And that's a wrap!

I am participating in the
March 2018 Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC).
All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day for thirty-one days.

A big thank you to Two Writing Teachers for providing this unique opportunity

for teacher-writers to share and reflect.

Thought I'd share a moment from today. I really enjoyed how the children's block play grew organically, with very little input or prompting from me. I was able to sit back, observe, and take notes - the proverbial 'fly on the wall' - my favorite pastime in the preschool classroom. Let me share...

W wanted to make a house with a flat red roof. She worked with O, and continued to add pieces of different shapes and sizes. O decided it was no longer a house, but an apartment building. "A lot of people like this home," O said.

Then the focus was on the area around the house. Shouldn't there be a highway near the apartment building? "It's going to need sidewalks," C announced. More construction ensued. L suggested that the highway should have a bridge, with a road going under the highway. He became very excited at the way it was looking, declaring "We are building the whole world!" 

With this whole world in place, B wandered over and asked "Can I play family with these dollies?" Then the focus became all about the dolls [Duplo figurines]...how many could fit in the apartment building? How many would walk down the sidewalk? Maybe one or two would be on the bridge? M became very excited when she found two Duplo figurines that were identical - "Twins!! Look!!" O did not appreciate M's loud voice and reprimanded everyone with the words, "Everyone is supposed to be in bed right now!"

With preschoolers, it starts with blocks but it ends with family. Always.

This is my last slice of this March challenge...spring break has arrived and I'm off to Costa Rica in the morning, celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary! There are many more things I would have liked to write about, but I will save them for another time. I hope that everyone continues slicing and enjoys this last week of the writing challenge. I'll be back for the Tuesday Slice of Life in April. Enjoy!

sol17-7 What if we relived the story with blocks?

I am participating in the
Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC).
All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day of March 2017. 

A big thank you to Two Writing Teachers for providing this unique opportunity

for teacher-writers to share and reflect.

I read the sweet book The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton and the block center became transformed...preschoolers made the story come alive.

Right after we read the book, one student was building with blocks and she built a small house. 

I said, "Oh, is that The Little House? The one in the story we just read?" She said "Yes! And now we need a city!" Several children started pitching in, building around the little house.

The first blocks were pretty intentional, with the goal being high buildings around the house and a bridge on top of the house.

More children became interested and the creating went in many different directions - making a zoo, a metro train, "my" house, a railroad track, a playground, more tall buildings...

Children added more and more details, more and more ideas, more and more blocks. 

Everyone worked together. No one took apart another's work, they simply scavenged for additional blocks and created something new for the city. The Little House became forgotten. The new goals were as varied as the children building - what if we built a city around us? Let's fit inside our city! What if we built a super tall house? The tallest house in the world? What if this city was only for animals, no people? Let's make animal families. What if we used all the little blocks, too? What if?

I have always loved this classic story. My students do, too.