NZ Teacher

It was the first time the dolls house had been brought into the classroom this year. It was introduced during centers time when the children are in four groups, 3 are with a teacher and 1 is able to play with the blocks. The dolls house was in the literacy center in an attempt to hear children use positional language (one of our math concepts). After the group had finished, one of the girls stayed and played for an extended period of time. Content to be on her own with the house all to herself.

This 1-10 resource was on the shelf for exploration. The moment came when one of the children picked it up and was counting and pointing to the numbers while those around him continued on with their play. The 1-10 stairs is a powerful resource for seeing that each number is one more than the previous one. This child saw something fascinating in the 1-10 stairs at that particular moment, complete with goggles for safety.

One of the favorite activities right now is fixing things. When the scarecrows head fell off the children decided that he needed an "operation". They lay him on the table and decided that they needed glue to put his head back on. We used some string to tie around his neck, then we tied his scarf on tight. Fixing things is an interest I'm sure I'll see again and again.

The children had decided to bring the scarecrows in from the corridor. They sat the scarecrows on the shelf then one of them announced that they were going to have a family photo. After we had taken the family photo the "angry scarecrow" was returned to his chair outside the classroom and one of the children wanted to take a photo of him. Every scarecrow family needs a family photo.

We think it's barley.  We had a variety of seeds in the room which the children enjoyed crushing with the pestle and mortar.  One of the children planted seeds that "looks like grass".  Over the weekend the grass had fallen over. One of the boys decided that it needed to by propped up so he took it over to the shelf and propped it up. A sense of wonder, problem solving, communication.

One of the girls had the "Ants Go Marching" chart in her hand. "Where would you like to put it?" I asked. "Here," she said putting it up on the felt board. We had to find 2 more of the velcro dots. We chose red (her favorite color). There were only 2 of the velcro dots, so we used a Little Red Hen with velcro on the back to attach the chart to the board. Later that morning the children were surprised that there were no longer 6 circles on the board, there were 2 more. 

It looked interesting from the beginning.  Legs and arms and a head were added. Cylinders for the eyes was a fabulous touch. Mat Man like you've never seen him before. There's always an opportunity to access these blocks for when the inspiration takes hold.