An Accidental Town

So, what happens when you move the tables out of the classroom for a birthday party?

AMAZING things!

This tape road has been in place for a few weeks.  We built it together. 

 

 We planned it around our tables and chairs. 

We learned how to make the tape turn where we needed a corner.

We learned what happens when the traffic catches up with the road builders!

There were traffic jams with honking horns and emergencies to respond to!

Left in place, this road became a part of our daily classroom life.

Whether you drove cars around it, walked the thin blue line, or noticed that the lines made letters, you noticed it.  

The road took on a whole new life they day we moved the tables for a birthday party.

Suddenly it became the borders of our town.  

The first thing the boys and girls thought our town needed was a church.

It is the building with the triangle roof.

Here in the background, you see our water tower and the foreground the penguin's swimming pool.

We eventually built a hospital, school, billboards, and a parking garage.

Here is our billboard, right beside the highway!

Children who never seem to find interest in the block center, were drawn to our community project.  It was fascinating to see the boys and girls demonstrate their understanding of town. By the end of our time together, we had working gates built, people in their proper workplace, and about 14 kids using their minds, bodies, and hands to engage in a cooperative learning project.  THIS is what it is all about.  

Now, I am left reconsidering that little idea that is always lurking in the back of my mind.  What would it be like if we got rid of the big tables?  Where would we write? Where would we eat?  I know that it is being done in Early Childhood classrooms and it might just be time to do a little more research and make this a reality.