Do you see an airplane?

I love large cardboard boxes. Preschoolers delight in them, too. This past fall, someone donated one to our class and it became our bear cave - with a simple half-circle opening cut into one side. The box fit four preschoolers comfortably, and this became our respected limit. The box became another way to do that important social emotional work of taking turns. Plus, it was the best place to read a book or share a story with friends.

After awhile, it was time for a change. It was January, and that old cave was looking plenty ragged after our holiday break. What else might it be? There was a lot more conversation and play about  "cars, trucks, and things that go." I bet I could turn that box into an airplane! So I did. I cut another half-circle opening on the other side  - thinking it would be helpful for children to enter the plane from both sides. With a little help from another box or two, I created a 'nose' (not sure that's the technical word) and some large flat wings and even some tail wings, though these were particularly flimsy and inclined to break. Ah, the fun the children had! We maintained our cap of four children only, for the main body of the plane, but there was now room for a fifth, a pilot, in the front. 

(I still laugh out loud when I remember J sticking her head out of the body of the airplane, holding a map in her hands, and yelling at E in the pilot's seat - "Hey, pilot, this is where we are going!")

We played in that airplane for six fun weeks, and we worked that box hard. There were many repairs made, lots of tape re-employed. When I got into the classroom yesterday morning, I looked at the dilapidated remains and thought, oh my, this plane has got to go. 

I carted it out onto the playground for one last romp before the dumpster. I set it up for the children to see as they came down the steps - I just knew that they'd squeal with glee! This would be the farewell tour.

We'll find another box, create another design goal, later.

Bittersweet for me - 

my beloved maintenance man,

who helps me and everyone on staff with every possible need that we have, always going the extra mile, a true gem for our school,

he watched me carry that box out of the school and down the steps to the playground,

and I guess he thought I was heading TOWARDS the dumpster...that I was trying to save him a few steps.

When the children raced onto the playground, there were no happy laughs of surprise - they just raced about and played. Only I knew 

the plane was gone.

It had already been thrown away.

Here's the reality of teaching -

there are so many adults "in the soup" of it! We are all working hard, alongside one another, with our own duties and concerns, often overlapping and intertwining.

We do the best we can.

We assume good intentions.

There'll be another box.

sol17-16 What about a box?

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.

What would preschool be like without a box?

Yes, we have a gift of a box...a huge box...someone replaced their water heater and we got the most important part, the box. I didn't have an immediate need or plan, but I had no doubt that the preschoolers would put it to good use. So, we painted it all sorts of colors (mostly blue)...and then I dared to cut holes in the sides and on top, to make it look a little bit like a vehicle...still observing the children and wondering which way to take it. I wasn't entirely sure they wanted a vehicle...but, I wanted some way to allow them inside, to let their imaginations go wild.

Well, we are going, going, going somewhere! Here are a few pictures from the box's recent travels.

In its original position, the preschoolers saw it as a bus and a train and a police car and a firetruck. They tried to see how many children could squeeze in, which ended not so happily because it led to lots of squishing, shoving, and pushing. They quickly resolved this by putting in chairs and declaring that you must sit on a chair to be in the box (they can fit, at most, three). I like this second way best, oh yes! I like that they figured out their own solution to the mosh pit and I like that they were now taking turns, alternating who got to be in the vehicle and who has other duties outside the vehicle. There are so many things to do! Someone is always baking pretend cookies (dominoes) in the kitchen and then you have to pack these and take them somewhere - a favorite destination is the fire station.

It didn't take the children too long to discover that the box was also a whole lot of fun when in a vertical position. Now, it can be a rocket ship! Not as many children can play when the box is in this position, but every now and again, why not blast off?

Another group of adventurers discovered that one part of the cardboard can lift up. This looked much more like a dashboard. A couple children can fit under this part (and they are there in the picture, though you might never know this if I hadn't told you). When the cardboard piece is up, there is a lot more action in dramatic play - often the vehicle is a police car and we have "bad guys to get." Sometimes it is a race car. Sometimes it is Batman's car. One time it was "a boat with wild waves, going out to space" and bringing meals of dominoes to the astronauts. Regardless, it is moving fast!

Then a more genteel crowd happened upon the cardboard box and the play became much quieter. Every spare cloth was used to decorate the exterior and interior - and now the box was a house, with mothers, daddies, sisters, brothers, and babies. A few cloths were spread out on the floor nearby, as beds for the babies. The preschoolers brought tea cups and plates and the dominoes. (I'm not sure what it is about dominoes, but I have a huge container of these and they are a welcome addition to the children's play. They are no longer dominoes, of course, but cookies, food, tickets, money, treasures....)

Once, the play transformed into simply dominoes. Let's get them all in the box! This was wild, reckless abandon, with children running around collecting all the dominoes that had strayed throughout centers (some in the toy oven, others in the toy sink, still more in purses, plastic containers, bags, don't forget those on the table, those over there for the picnic, those with the toy animals...) and dropping them into the box. Children got on all sides of the box and just shook the box and all the dominoes, laughing with delight at the clatter. I have to admit, I pretty much stopped the play because it was too loud and too wild even for me. I suggested that it was near time for clean up - and they were fascinated when I showed them how we could use the box as a funnel, tipping the box and sliding all the dominoes into one larger container. "Cool!" 

So much fun, this box.

Tuesday SOL: What if we built a firetruck?

This is a Tuesday
Slice of Life.
All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day. 

Check out the Two Writing Teachers website for many more reflections on teaching.

Each of the early childhood classrooms is doing an author's study on Donald Crews. He has written and illustrated many great books about vehicles - Trucks, School Bus, Freight Train...just to name a few. The teachers decided that it would also be fun if each classroom tried to create a vehicle of some sort - knowing how much preschoolers love cars, trucks, and things that go.

What vehicle should we build? Well, in the Big Cats, this question had an obvious answer. Pretty much every day, for several weeks now, the children line up the chairs on the carpet to create a firetruck. Our long cardboard ramps have been turned into firefighter hoses. Typically, the big concern is a possible fire in the dramatic play restaurant. Firefighters are right there at the ready!

At the writing center, the children love to draw firetrucks.

Yes, let's build a firetruck. 

A week ago, we began to build. 

I turned our old cardboard castle (originally, a dishwasher box) on its side and attached two tri-fold boards for length. The children agreed - this looked like a firetruck! It was just the right size for children to get into and have some fun. The children added all sorts of extra components - pretty much any cardboard scrap that we had in our recyclables bin was turned into something novel for the truck. This is what delight and focus looks like!

Of course, a beautiful day called for painting the firetruck outside. Bright red, of course.

Every day, the children add more details. We brainstormed what was needed and did our best to create these together: 

steering wheel (cardboard pizza tray), 

hoses (scrolled easel paper), 

"grill" on the front end (xerox boxes and a metal shelf - taped to the front of the box)

seats (more boxes), 

a siren light on top (more boxes), 

headlights (fun flower-shaped cardboard pieces), 

wheels (black plastic takeout containers), 

a computer (egg cartons), and 

lots and lots of tape. 

The children put a lot of taped stripes on the firetruck, simply because making the stripes was so much fun. Cutting tape is the purest of pleasures for the preschool crowd. 

Looking good!

Oh, and we should probably draw a firefighter for the firetruck.

SOLSC #7 What about two large boxes?

During the month of March, I am participating in
the Slice of Life Story Challenge.
All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day for thirty-one days. My slices will be primarily about teaching preschoolers.

Check out the Two Writing Teachers website for many more reflections on teaching.

A family donated two appliance boxes and we turned them into  a castle and a house. The children delighted in painting these, using rollers and brushes. Now, they  adorn our dramatic play corner and the preschoolers play here all morning long. I am fascinated by all the stuff the children drag into the boxes to add to their play - found objects, acorns, magnifying glasses, goggles, blocks, Magna Tiles, doll babies, markers. There's also something that simply must be removed when they play here: their socks and shoes. Why do they drag so many things in? Why do they remove their socks and shoes? Why do they have so much fun inside these two boxes? All I know is, it is so.

Here's some fun conversation I overheard, as children played together:

Here comes a dragon!
There's a bad dragon.
Some are taking shoes off. 
I am taking shoes off.
A cave!
The dragon is coming!
Come, I am in here!
It is dark.
Meow.
The dragon is here.
No, I'm not the dragon!
Hey, I'm in here, too.
Ooh hoo!
Put a cloth here.
You must be quiet from the dragon.
I need to get a blanket and tie it.
Put a cloth here.
A bear is coming!

SOLSC 2015 #6: What do we do now?

Each day during March, I am participating in the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC). All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day for thirty-one days. My slices will be primarily about teaching preschoolers. Check out the Two Writing Teachers  website for lots more reflections on teaching. Thanks especially to Stacey, Tara, Anna, Beth, Dana, and Betsy for hosting this writing challenge. 

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Over the past few days, we've been (or I have been) in Phillips project withdrawal (see yesterday's post)...and, for me, there is always a feeling of malaise that accompanies the end of this big effort. I decided we needed to do a couple of fun things to help us through the transition...some relaxing, open-ended activities that children could choose to do if they were interested. 

First, we got out the shaving cream! Yes, all that decoupage work left an art table covered with glue. The art table doubles as a lunch table, so it has really been bothering me that it is has been covered with this goop. Shaving cream does the trick. I can't believe it, but it was the first time I used shaving cream this school year...I don't know why I delayed the pure preschool pleasure of this. I put some in the sensory table, too. Come one, come all!

You can learn a lot about children when you observe them with shaving cream. Some took one glance and disappeared, not at all interested in touching something of that slippery texture. Others dared to touch, only to quit immediately  and beg, "it's on my hands!," disturbed by the feel. They went right to the classroom sink and were done. But, as always, there were a few stalwarts...children who could not get enough of it. 

The children drew letters and shapes in the cream, made snowmen piles of the cream, rubbed it all over with their hands, and even scrubbed with sponges. 

All the glue disappeared in the midst of all the fun!

Another fun activity, we are making our own school bus, to commemorate what might be the most memorable part of the Phillips field trip for the children - the yellow school bus we rode on. My husband gets special credit for this effort - we had a new stove installed at our house and he asked the installer if he could keep the box, "because his wife was a preschool teacher." Lucky me! Lucky kids! (The installer said - "Oh, this box has too many staples - I have an even bigger box from another delivery that is staple free; let me get it for you!") Tony and I had quite the time getting that cardboard box into our car and over to school, but now its fate is sealed.

The box is so big, we have placed it in our early childhood common space. We are creating the bus with our other preschool class, the Giraffes. Each day, teachers take a small group out into the hall to paint it during centers time. Some of the children work calmly, as if transfixed; others take bold, fast strokes and you have to caution them about soiling the hallway carpet. I have delighted at the look of children who dare to paint the interior - lots of yellow-orange paint in their hair, from the ceiling. Did Michelangelo look like this?

Soon, the bus painting will be done, wheels and other details will be added. I predict this sturdy bus will provide plenty of good play for a long while.

And, the children and I will be ready to take on new adventures!

SOLSC #20 Let's make a light tunnel!

I am posting every day during March as part of the annual "Slice of Life" Challenge for Two Writing Teachers.  Check out their website for lots more reflections on teaching.

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Melissa had the inspiration for this fun new exploration in our class. She had visited the East Wing of the Smithsonian National Art Gallery, only to be mesmerized by the gorgeous light tunnel on the basement level.

Could we create one for the Big Cats? In our classroom? To help them extend their exploration of shadows and light? Wouldn't they love this?

The next thing we knew, Melissa, Claire, and I were hard at work, trying to construct part of the tunnel using tri-fold boards (we found a few extra in our supply room - necessity is the mother of invention!).  This was yesterday, during nap time. There were many non-sleepers who watched our every move, engaged in our construction work, trying to imagine what we were creating. Our beloved building supervisor, Paul, saw us at work and remembered he had another large, strong box...perfect for a second section of our tunnel.

We were filled with our own inquiry -
how to make the box tunnel strong enough for a class of preschoolers to use?
how does one stabilize a box that will be open on both ends?
what could we use to reinforce the corners, to keep them at 90 degree angles? (Blocks, to the rescue!)

(We teachers were thinking like engineers!)

Check out the non-napper who is watching our every move!

Today, during centers, the children painted the boxes black - stretching long and tall to paint inside and out of these large boxes. Wow, did they love this! We turned on the music and danced as we painted. It seemed as if everyone was holding a paint brush soaked with black paint...there were definitely moments when I felt a slight panicky feeling that we had maybe taken on too big and messy a task!

But, ahhh, the delight on everyone's faces! Why not spend a morning this way?

So much more still to come - including the answer to our wondering, will these boxes be strong enough for children to go inside, many times over?

(The best news for me - the preschoolers were just as excited to help wipe the floor of its black speckles, at the end of our painting fun!)

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(A daily share by preschoolers in their own words)

A Story Collage by Micaela

     Once upon a time, a lot of people lived in the city at Sherman Circle. Me, my Daddy, my brother, and my Mom. And it was night-time. But then, I suddenly woke up. I heard a scared and spooky sound. I went into my Mom’s room and I had to tell her what the spooky sound was. I looked out the window. For five whole nights. And what I saw was spooky witches and they were messing all around. My favorite Sherman circle. I couldn’t do anything but I was even stronger than them. I went out there as fast as I could and I threw them in the trash. And then, they came out of the trash as fast as they could, but they couldn’t do anything – they were childs! Then a mother penguin came along and they said, “Are you my witch mother?” and she said, “No, I’m a penguin mother and I live in South America.” And a mother rabbit came and he said, “Are you my Mommy?” and she said, “No. I live in North America.” But then walking along, he saw his Mom and he ran over and then they got meaner and meaner but I foughted them off and a cowboy came to save the day. The End.