Blocks, puzzles, and wire

"Can we save this?" - Jack

As our morning meeting ended, Jack made a plan to move to the construction area first.  He and Janie immediately got to work on a rather elaborate structure.  The majority of their work was done side by side without words, until they needed to agree on placement.  

Janie added a bowl of dog food that Jack agreed was best hidden inside of one of the hollow blocks, and this sparked Giacomo's interest.  Giacomo joined for awhile, and by the end of our work time, they had created a complex, multi-level structure that Jack wanted to save. 

We all agreed to save the structure so that it would be in the classroom on Friday morning.  Unfortunately, after hours, we remembered that something would be happening in our classroom the next morning, and we would actually have to deconstruct the structure before Jack, Janie, and Giacomo could return to the classroom. 

Revisiting our work the next day (12.13.19)

The idea for helping Jack remember his structure was to create a book with photographs of his work.  We included photos from every angle, close-up photos of the details, and the photograph that Cedar requested to take of Jack's structure.  The idea was to explain the situation to Jack and invite him to use this tool to "recreate" his structure.  We also wanted to ask him to invite others to assist him.  

This book is hanging in the construction area if you would like to take a look. 

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"But I don't remember everything that I used." - Jack

Friday morning, during morning meeting, we explained everything to the whole group.  
"Jack, I want to invite you to revisit and recreate your structure if you'd like to." - Elyse
​"But, I don't remember everything that I used." - Jack
"Well, we made this book for you that includes many photos of your work that you did with Janie and Giacomo." - Elyse
"But, I cannot see the little things." - Jack 
"We included photos of it from every side, and some close up photos of your details." - Elyse
"Oh, okay." - Jack 
"I'd like to have you invite some friends to help you." - Elyse
"Okay, I want to ask Cedar." - Jack
"And me too!" - Reed
"And me!" - Jane 
"I want to help Jack." - Giacomo

We took a look at the plan before we started, but Jack also chose to work differently than he had the day before.  

There will be more information about this process next week because we had a lot of work within this work.  For now, here are some photos from the beginning of the process.  

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Blocks in the outdoor classroom 12.12 and 12.13

This was the first day that we used the large blocks while we were in the outdoor classroom.  They require strength, stability, and some determination.  The children also collected rocks and stones to add to their pathway, and this required even more strength and a bit of team work.  

"We're making a choo-choo!" - Cedar (Day 2 - 12.13)

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"We did it [our first floor puzzle]!" - Group 

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We missed you, Melanie!

"We can take a photo for her [Melanie}." - Cedar
"Like this!" - Reed