An interest in finding out about where the Inuit lived, where Flat Stanley was heading, and of course finding the buried treasures that our classroom pirates were burying, spurred a map drawing frenzy in our classroom. Child-drawn maps were everywhere! But there was something missing – landmarks or directionality. This did not bother the children at all. Black lines filled the papers and climaxed in a big X to mark the destination. No one asked where to begin or how to get to the X. A lesson aimed at building an awareness of landmarks or directions fell flat. Apparently if we always begin at the door and bury the treasure in the same spot that’s all we need to know.

But using mapping as a thinking tool and to develop spatial sense is important. Douglas Clements suggests that children as young as 3 can begin to create simple maps of their environment to link concrete spatial experience with spatial thinking.

So we began…
We started with two very keen map makers and illustrated the benefit of having a clearly marked starting point as well as some landmarks along the way to help guide us. The children agreed our new maps were much easier to follow. The commentary of the map makers also highlighted for us the positional language that could come out of this – beside, next to, in front of, behind, over, under…

Here’s a sample of the maps that we were originally trying to follow…

Below is a treasure map before any landmarks were added and a revised one with landmarks added that was so much easier to follow. (Even easier when you have the map maker encouraging you – “Yes! That’s it you’re beside the blocks now! Good for you.”)

We are continuing to enjoy a strong interest in map-making but now the maps are much easier to read. On St. Patrick’s Day, four of our little Leprechauns hid a treasure in the school for the rest of us to find. They did a fantastic job of creating an easy to read map, drawing and labeling landmarks we would pass and recording the number of steps we would need to take to arrive at our destination. The treasure was successfully located and now we are only waiting for Spring so we can fully enjoy the sidewalk chalk and bubbles we found.

Please welcome our newest classmate, Flat Stanley! As the children in our classroom continued to learn about the Nunavut culture and community, we were thrilled when a co worker of ours, the lovely Martha, reached out to her niece Michelle. She asked if we could send her a little friend to learn more about communities in Northern Canada. After reading one of our favourite stories “Flat Stanley” together, a group of children decided to create our very own flat boy.

Here is a link on youtube you can share with your students.

First stop…Thunder Bay! We gathered as a large group and discussed how we would need to send Stanley by mail. With the children, we created an area in our classroom for a post office. Over the next few days, we read books and did some shared writing to gain more understanding about how to send a letter and what it might say and look like. We talked about our own addresses and how an address directs mail to the right person, and together we addressed our envelope to Thunder Bay.

Conversation emerged about another way Flat Stanley could get to Thunder Bay.. by boat! But not just by any boat…a Pirate Ship!
Stay tuned for more on this interest lead play experience….

We needed a plan if we wanted to send our little Flat boy in a Pirate Ship. We needed a boat! Together the children gathered on the carpet to talk about what our Pirate Ship would look like. Here is what our two pirate experts and their friends created;

Now it was time to get messy and create!

As a blast of winter hits southern Ontario, the children discover a snowy wonderland of fun and possibilities before them!

Children never seem to get tired of building, climbing, digging and playing in the snow. Everyday we observe as they find new ways to create and explore.

After freezing rain poured throughout the night, the children found the playground full of crunchy snow. They soon realized that this was not the type of snow we were able to build a snowman with, but instead it took only minutes as they all teamed up together breaking and lifting the snow in sheets and placing one piece on top of the other.

With 29 pairs of little hands working collaboratively, it took no time at all to build a magnificent igloo right in our playground.

Spray bottles full of coloured water made for lots of fun and a very modern looking igloo.

Through our exploration into space and planets we discovered that some scientists think that one day people may be able to live on Mars. Little Miss Z had a great idea – Let’s build a Lego Land on Mars!

So what would we need to bring? What would we need to build and create to adapt to life on Mars?
The children were quick to create a list together that would open up a play experience that was out of this world!

Our list was as follows;
– houses with foundations!
– a supermarket
– a clothing store
– a Doctor’s office
– a hospital
– McDonald’s
– a mall
– a toy store
– a library
– a farm
– a garden
– a zoo
– a vet’s office
– a rocket store
– a fire station
– a water cooler

We also noted that we would have to have “earth air” to breathe in order to adapt to life on Mars.  We would need oxygen tanks and special air in our buildings. We would all need to wear Space suits- hence the “Rocket Store”.

The children spent day after day building and creating the various buildings and structures from our list… it would become our very own “Mars City”. The quiet humm of busy little people invested and focused on their play was incredible. So much learning, so much literacy and math language could be heard throughout the room. This was a perfect example of how children learn through play, and how play is a child’s work!

When we had all finished painting our rocket ship it looked fabulous! The ship became a big draw during playtime.

As the children began to role play in the rocket ship, we asked them what their wonderings were about space. We recorded our questions and musings on mural paper and began to look for answers.

We read books about the planets, the stars, the sun and the moon and researched specific questions online. A group of students decided they wanted to create a model of our solar system. They painted styrofoam balls and we hung them from our ceiling.

We have been very excited about our learning and many parents have commented on the interest their child has in all things about space.

Here are some quotes of some of our questions, our original thinking, and our new learning…

Our Space Wonderings

Some questions we still are wondering…
“Why does the moon get fat?”
“Why does the moon follow you everywhere?”
“Why does the moon shine?”

Over the past 4 years teaching in Full Day Kindergarten, we have had many opportunities to engage and expand the children’s imagination by simply adding a box. We have been so fortunate to have had such wonderful community support and we appreciate all those who have contributed to our program today and in the past. This time we can thank, yet again, Leon’s for providing a large fridge box to help further our journey into space as we create our very own rocket ship (Special thanks to Michael and Dimitri for lending a hand).

Before co-creating our rocket ship, we shared a wonderful story “Not a Box” written by Antoinette Portis. This story has been such a hit over the years and a great foundation for this type of activity with the children.

This week the children gathered as a group to design our blue print (as little Mr. B would call it) for our rocket ship. The children decided that it would have a rectangle door, 2 circle windows, 2 triangle windows, and 4 large triangles on the top to help it fly. They wanted it to be red, blue, and orange in color. The children were provided with the colors they requested and they used their blue print to get started on their creation.

This upcoming week the children will complete the rocket ship together, and be encouraged to sign their names inside as their promise to treat our rocket ship with respect and care for all to enjoy. Stay tuned for all the fun!!

For more information about learning through play, have a look at our website;

http://www.journeytogetherfdk.com