Taking the time to paint, play music, learn new games, enact dragon battles, and write letters to a dear missed friend...
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Children see the possibility of pulling different loose parts together to build... being brave with their visions and creations like the architects Zaha Hadid and Maya Lin.
Provocations of new fasteners and poles prompts children to build and test, fail and retry... Signs are posted to ask that creations not be swept away: "Please don't sweep". The Centre evolves from day to day. First a series of pipes and plumbing, then a home, a secret fort, then a fire station. Scarves and sticks represent fire and hoses. Children join and leave the play freely. The Building Centre expands into the room, as children label their own houses under the tables, creating a neighbourhood.
The Iggy Peck Centre is revisited from day to day. Found parts, natural materials, and new stories every time... What is it? A home, a ladder, a city...
Time to revisit our apple feeders, some are hanging while others have been eaten by forest friends, leaving only the yarn. We are mountain climbers! Assessing risks and feeling a sense of accomplishment! Signs of creatures... winter homes and tracks.
Experimenting with building materials to make ramps and castles, painting a picture for a broken heart, revisiting the babies and families, teaching poems to another class... endless learning and play.
So many questions to ponder: How do I make an airplane? What will make mine go far? I will make it beautiful... but why won't it fly anymore?
Children reread their pictures and stories about Hemlock Ravine, always asking, "when are we going back?" We return to a changed ravine. The book, Over and Under the Snow prompts children to find signs of their forest friends: footprints and tracks, a squirrel's dinner, a hole for a woodpecker... they dig down to find the subnivean tunnels and warm green moss. Shouts of laughter from climbing on the favourite firetruck tree, getting stuck at the bottom of the rock hill, and an unexpected sliding hill in our very own meeting spot! Some children make and hang food for their forest friends. A peaceful and beautiful morning.
Evan makes knots and webs of yarn. He inspires Maddie and Avery to join in to make a zipline. The zipline is in a precarious spot... we read Iggy Peck Architect, the House Corner is repurposed, and construction materials are offered. Your children name it "The Building Centre!" Children get to work! Some children build houses, others take us up our invitation to make a plan first like an architect, using special paper and pastels. Other children set string ball and laser traps for zombies. Interest is rekindled by some unusual fasteners... how do we get them to work? New materials, new research books, and an invitation to make a small-scaled architectural model. We are studying architecture! Your children make ziplines, train bridges, and a home for Ninja Turtles.
A bin of snow, treasures from Hemlock Ravine, fairies, wizards, and dragons... imaginations soared. Can you see the stories?
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