The Block Center

Today I spent some time in the block center. This is one of my favorite places to work with the children. I joined 3-4 students who were already working there and was delighted that I was "invited" to stay. Sometimes, early in the year, the children need a little help getting started on building structures. I think that there are so many things there to build with that they get overwhelmed; they pull out all of the blocks, and then there is no room to build. I had noticed this happening for a few days, and decided that it was time. The only thing I did was get them started on the foundation. We talked about starting with a big, solid foundation, and building up. Once the foundation was in place, I sat back and watched. Here is what they built...

The architects/construction crew were very proud of their work. The building was so fast and furious, that I was not able to take a lot of pictures, this is definitely a hard hat only zone our classroom!

Once the building was complete, we had a chance to talk about what they had built. I asked them what it was, one little boy said, "Its a skyscraper." First of all, I was a little surprised, because the closest skyscraper to us at least an 1 1/2 hours away. Then they went on to tell me about the workers. One little girl showed me how she had built chairs for them, in their offices. The other little boy showed me the parking garage in the basement, complete with ramp system.

I told them I thought they should make some signs so that everyone would know what they had built. I got them some paper and writing utensils, and we set out to label the building. I helped them make this sign, which says "Skyscraper". For a 4 year old, I think this is great work. He heard 2 sounds in the word, and was able to write them.

Next, we decided the people needed to know where to park. So we made this sign that says "garage". Most people would not get so excited over just a few letters, but this is big stuff. Budding literacy right there in the block center!

Here they are using the ramp to park the cars. I also like that you can see how closely they children were working in proximity to one another. The structure was rather large, and took up most of the space. Yet, with their focused work, there was not one argument or disagreement. They respected each other's work and were very careful not to knock any part over.

This is more of what I love about preschool. I don't know how or why the baby was there, or the book, however I do know that there was some amazing learning, collaborating, cooperating, planning, thinking, and mathematical reasoning happening in this center today.

Check back soon, tomorrow the Rainbow 4s are tasting apples, and graphing their favorites. Can't wait to find out which they liked best!