Building, building and building!

Friendly reminder that we have family chats tonight! If you are signed up for tonight, see you soon! We look forward to next week's chats as well!

There was so much building today! We began the morning by making choices in our classroom. Since it was so nice outside, we quickly adventured to the playscape to play with our fun, new outdoor blocks! The students made great creations, such as a submarine and a big house.

"This is my submarine!"

"This is my house!"

Back in the classroom, the students were asked, "Can you build a structure as tall as a friend?" Some students paired up with a friend and decided who was going to be the "friend" and who will be the "builder."

"L is the friend and I am the builder."

"I am the builder and I'm going to build it super high!"

Other students came to join and began to build a structure that was as tall as themselves.

"I did it! This is as tall as me!"
Teacher: "Is it smaller than you or taller than you?"
"Taller! I'm really tall!"

"This is just my size, Ms. Abby."

As time passed, the students were asked "How will you measure your structure?" Some kids counted the amount of materials they used to build their structure while others used a yardstick to measure.

Don't give up!

As we continued this building activity, I noticed two students building a tower at the light table. They were working together on making a small, narrow tower. Another student quickly joined their building, providing a yardstick.

M: "Lets see how tall it is!"
A: "We are making it tall, Ms. Abby."
B: "Ya, look how tall we are making it! We are building it to the ceiling."
M: "we are going to use all of the legos."

The students measured the tower and were not satisfied with the height.

A: "We have to match the stick."
M: "Ya, the stick is bigger than this."
Teacher: "How can you build higher if you can't reach the top?"
A: "A chair!"

A ran to get a chair and stepped up to add pieces. M and B were standing on either side of her, handing her the remaining pieces."

A: "Here, B, it's your turn."

B stepped up and continued to add pieces.

A: "Okay now it's M's turn!"

M stepped up and added pieces as well. 

B: "She's letting us share!"

They re-evaluated their building and measured again. They found that it still wasn't tall enough. A:"almost to the top. Not yet."

 M and B ran to get chairs for themselves to join A. They added the final pieces and measured one last time. 

 After seeing that they accomplished their goal, they yelled "Alright! We did it!" M shared, "It's the same size!"

What did we learn today? As a teacher, I was reminded of how not everything will go as I had expected. These students took the same building concept and used different materials. My students guide my learning, just as much as I guide theirs. These students learned not to give up! If you keep on persevering, you will succeed! Way to go, Birch friends!