NEWSLETTER
We read our second book together titled "The Kids Built It" to connect our class's box building experiences to children in a book. The children immediately implemented some of the shared reading skills we practiced with our first book when they were handed their book. We saw picture walks, predictions about what the story was about and attempts at reading the words based on the pictures on each page. It was pretty great to see those skills being naturally practiced and the flow of our group reading was even stronger. The children were excited to read and proud when they "read" the correct words based on the pictures.
Preschool Boxitects!!
There are so many great pictures in our "Preschool Boxitects" collection in Vidigami. Click the picture and check them out!
Boxitect Ideas.MOVWhat could you build as a Boxitect??
Day #1: Material Exploration and Ideas
Our first day of Boxitect building began with the reading of the book "Boxitects" and discussing what the children did in the book. The key points from the book that we highlighted were:
The children had ideas for what to build with the boxes and put their plans into action.
Their ideas grew and changed as they built.
The ideas and creations were even more amazing when the children worked together.
After agreeing that we could be boxitects just like the children in the book, we emptied our closet of all of the boxes we collected (thank you families!) and began to sort and explore. The children worked with us to sort the materials by size and type and thoroughly explored each piece they picked up to see what they could do with it. They brought out scissors and tape to expand pieces and attach others to each other, and verbally shared their ideas as they worked. The children worked individually at times, and other times combined their efforts to make something even bigger. (There were so many great moments captured that we couldn't choose which ones to use for this page! Click the link above to view the entire Preschool Boxitexts collection.) The classroom was full of activity and excitement as they uncovered a new box or moved one in a way that expanded their ideas. After interviewing them about what they could build next now that they explored and built with the different materials, we got ready for Day #2. (The video of the boxitect interviews is also above).
Day #2: Creating a Blueprint
What is a blueprint?
"A blueprint is a guide for making something — it's a design or pattern that can be followed. The literal meaning of a blueprint is a paper — which is blue — with plans for a building printed on it."
After Day #1's exploration day (a very important part of this entire experience), it was time to get some plans for building down on paper. We used the concept of a "blueprint" to explain the concept of the flat and visual plan for building a creation.
We modeled the two ways to create their blueprint so that the children could see the process and hear our thoughts out loud as we created. The children could use either the tape or the blocks to create their blueprint, and could even put the blocks on top of the tape once they were finished with that process. Providing these two options gave two different visual and sensory experiences. Each child chose their own process and materials...check out their final products below!
Our Blueprint Wall! The final step in our planning and building process is to follow their blueprint to build their creation using boxes. Stay tuned for this step next week...
