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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.
It's time to add a little something new to the block center...time to break out the balls and ramps! Oh, what fun we've had this week!
The ramps are wood boards, pieces of moulding from house construction...they are about two feet long. We have a few cardboard ramps from moving boxes. The balls are lightweight plastic golf balls (no one gets hurt if one gets thrown!)...I have a couple dozen of these, so there are no sharing issues.
Day One, I cycled the children through in small groups, giving them 20 minutes each. This open-ended, loose part play is so seductive for preschoolers - everyone participated, everyone wanted to continue playing when their small group was over, and everyone loves that these new toys will be a part of the block center henceforth.
I love the creativity and inquiry that happens organically, as the children explore these materials:
- using blocks and containers to lift the boards at one end, creating ramps that were high and others that were low, and noticing that the balls seemed to go faster at higher angles,
- creating bins at the base of the ramp to collect the balls,
- trying to figure out ways to connect the boards, so that the balls raced down a longer path,
- creating side walls on the ramps themselves, to keep the balls on the ramp
- using long blocks to tap the ball at the outset of the ramp, making it race down the path,
- building a wall all along the periphery of the carpet, to keep the balls in the block area
- and so much more!
Let me just share some of the children's excited exchanges with one another - such great language happening spontaneously in the play:
"I'm searching more stuff to build it."
"We want these to go down there."
"This is long, long, the longest!"
"Look at all this building stuff."
"I'm blocking the ways because the balls might run off."
"We roll this into this catcher thing and it catches this."
"The balls keep falling off!"
"One ball came off but the ramp was really huge and I didn't want it to fall off."
"I made a slice and stairs it could go on."
"Can I play with you?"
It's time to add a little something new to the block center...time to break out the balls and ramps! Oh, what fun we've had this week!
The ramps are wood boards, pieces of moulding from house construction...they are about two feet long. We have a few cardboard ramps from moving boxes. The balls are lightweight plastic golf balls (no one gets hurt if one gets thrown!)...I have a couple dozen of these, so there are no sharing issues.
Day One, I cycled the children through in small groups, giving them 20 minutes each. This open-ended, loose part play is so seductive for preschoolers - everyone participated, everyone wanted to continue playing when their small group was over, and everyone loves that these new toys will be a part of the block center henceforth.
I love the creativity and inquiry that happens organically, as the children explore these materials:
- using blocks and containers to lift the boards at one end, creating ramps that were high and others that were low, and noticing that the balls seemed to go faster at higher angles,
- creating bins at the base of the ramp to collect the balls,
- trying to figure out ways to connect the boards, so that the balls raced down a longer path,
- creating side walls on the ramps themselves, to keep the balls on the ramp
- using long blocks to tap the ball at the outset of the ramp, making it race down the path,
- building a wall all along the periphery of the carpet, to keep the balls in the block area
- and so much more!
Let me just share some of the children's excited exchanges with one another - such great language happening spontaneously in the play:
"I'm searching more stuff to build it."
"We want these to go down there."
"This is long, long, the longest!"
"Look at all this building stuff."
"I'm blocking the ways because the balls might run off."
"We roll this into this catcher thing and it catches this."
"The balls keep falling off!"
"One ball came off but the ramp was really huge and I didn't want it to fall off."
"I made a slice and stairs it could go on."
"Can I play with you?"
Lucky kiddos! As a science teacher, I appreciate you letting them learn principles of physics through play experiences :)
ReplyDeleteGood writing as well, using your last line as your title- revealing what is most important to you, their teacher.
Nicely done slice.