How do we use these blocks?

The Adamah class has wooden blocks of different sizes neatly lined up and organized on the shelf.  It might seem obvious to us how to use them, but the children are challenged to come up with new and creative ideas.  So far, our blocks have become tracks for cars, garages, castles, and even an ark for the Torah. 

When all the blocks are out on the rug, it can feel intimidating to get them back on the shelves in the right spots.  But by matching the block shapes with the pictures inside the cabinet, we're starting to figure out where they go.

Justin is looking at a curved block, and matching it up to the picture.

After Ben matched his block to the right spot, he slides it to the back of the shelf.

Joining In

Building with large wooden blocks was a popular activity on Thursday. Often the children begin to build individually, and their structures attract the interest of others. Some may begin to build on their own, close-by, or may join in the play by adding on to the original structure. Sam joined Colton, and the two worked on enlarging the opening of the garage so that it would accommodate larger vehicles.

Where Do I Put My Feet?

 

The Tel Aviv class has been talking about how to make thing stable. On Thursday we were playing with some big blocks and together they built a stable bridge to run across. The bridge was made with five long blocks resting on two big blocks. I didn’t want them to run so I added a challenge to make them slow down and think about where they put their feet; I separated two of the long things blocks from the other three. This created a choice. Should I cross on the think section that is three blocks wide or the long thin section that is only one block wide? What happens if I put one foot on one and one on the other? Kids started to test the different ways they could cross the bridge. 

Elias found out that if he crossed it on the wide part he only needed to take two big steps but he used smaller steps when the bridge was narrower. Josie realized that she moved faster when was walking with more stability but she liked that challenge of balancing more than moving across the bridge quickly. It was neat to watch them take safe risks and navigate a new challenge in different ways to find out what worked best for them. 

Is it a road or a tower?

On Thursday in the Keshet class, Nancy decided to try something new and put out our wooden blocks for a change.  The children made roads, tunnels and even garages.  Joseph went a step further and took out the cardboard blocks and stacked them up.  You can see his focus as he sees how many blocks he can stack before they fall.  He also tried to run a car up on this uphill "road".

Balancing and Blocks

The Tel Aviv practiced balancing today with the tree cookie blocks. We talked about in order to building something that is stable we use large pieces on bottom and work are way to smaller blocks on the top. It is nice to have stable things to build but it can also be fun to try to create things that are naturally unstable and then try to makes the blocks balance on their own! Molly made a castle for her block that her mom made at curriculum night and Micah Rosin made a seesaw! Blocks can teach us so much about physics and science just through our own exploration.

not ready yet!!

Clean up, clean up, everybody clean up!!  This song brings excitement for some children and panic for others.  Some children love the idea of tidying and cleaning and really look at this transition as an extension of their play.  Some children really don't know where to begin and/or aren't interested.  They need support in finding a defined task and "getting it done".  Other children are happy to clean up, but not the activity they have worked so hard to create during their play time.

Ilan fell into this last category today.  He had spent a lot of time building a block sculpture that was just to his liking.  When our clean up song came on, he stood up and took a watch dog stance as if to say, "This is my masterpiece and it will NOT be destroyed".  Unfortunately, some projects can be ongoing and left within the classroom.  Others cannot be kept which can be upsetting for a child who has worked so hard on it.

I asked Ilan if he would like to take a picture of his blocks so that we could post it on the blog.  He was excited to do this and stood proudly next to it.  Knowing that his work would be permanently displayed on the blog helped.  After the picture, he easily began to disassemble his work and helped some friends put the big blocks back onto the shelves.

Is it neat!!!

Delivering Messages to God

Today The Tel Aviv class each had the opportunity to write or draw a note to God and then deliver it to the western wall. The class dressed up by wearing scarves, skirts and kipot that they bought at the shuk and then wore their new accessories to the Western Wall to personally mail their letters. One by one, each child read their note out loud to the class and then found a crack in the wall to place their note. It was an adorable sight to see and the class listened to each other understanding the seriousness of being at such a holy place. After each letter was mailed we joined in a circle and sang the Shema.  The sight and sounds were beautiful and together it felt as holy as being at the Western Wall. 

Working Together

The wooden blocks and colored animals were a big hit today on the rug. Josh, Sophie, Rose, and Audrey worked together to build houses for the animals. They had a continual dialogue with each other about which blocks to use, where they should go, and where to place the animals. Everyone's ideas were heard and tried, and no one was left out. Nice job Rainbows!

The Wooden Animals Have A Home

 

On Tuesday, we painted wooden animals and waited for them to dry. Today we got to play with them. At first the kids were very worried that they were going to get their hands dirty. I explained to them that while we were not at school yesterday, the paint had time to dry. I showed them how no paint came off on my hands when I touched the animals. The kids used colored wooden blocks to make houses for the animals. Some of the kids worked cooperatively with one another to make houses together. There was lots of sharing without prompting and very polite asking, such as "May I have  a turn when you're done?" Way to go Rainbows!

Live art!

While Matt and Teddy Fox were discussing what kind of a statue they wanted to be, Nathaniel extended his hand and announced that he was the Statue of Liberty. The three of them enjoyed making human statues throughout the morning and then sharing their performances with the rest of the class during our second morning meeting.

3, 2, 1 Blastoff!!

Yesterday Dancing Nancy had us all put on our helmets, turn our bodies into spaceships and head off for space! This made quite an impression as today many of our friends spent a long period of time building a spaceship out of magnablocks. We have recently added some larger, hollow, wooden blocks to our classroom. After some trial and error, the group figured out how to use the wooden blocks as a base for the less sturdy magna blocks. What collaboration and creativity!

Bringing the big blocks back to our classroom have been a big hit. We can credit Sherry Grossman, a Gateways Educational Consutant, who has been working with our team this week, for this. Sherry has been helping us to look at our classroom and materials in new and interesting ways, and the Unicorns have been very responsive!

The New Block "Challenge"

During our indoor rainy morning, the Tel Aviv class had the opportunity to explore playing with different types of blocks in the block area. Dylan, Eli and Max immediately brought out our big basket of magnet tiles and started to build. I joined them on the rug and showed them the wooden blocks that look like trees. Dylan thought that they were boring cause they don't stick together like magnet tiles do. I told him that these blocks may not stick, but they can be a neat challenge because you have to try to make them balance. I then challenged them to see how high of a tower they could build. Lily, Eliza and Dylan took me up on the challenge and built beautiful structures. There were sometimes when Eliza's structure would be taller then she would add another block and it would fall and Dylan's would be taller. they quickly learned that at any point these towers could fall at anytime. Eliza used two hands to help stabilize the tower as she added new blocks. Dylan used big blocks and hen used smaller one's as his tower got taller. It is neat to see them learning about balance and relationships between objects in space. Maybe we can try the "challenge" again soon!

Block Building Together

There was a lot of block building today in the Sunshine class. Noah and Zackary made a really cool building that had a diving board for all the people to jump off of. "Watch out" here comes grandpa diving into the pool!!