The main attraction for the children this week was The Big Blocks. These beautiful life-sized wooden blocks and planks provide endless opportunity for large-scale construction and imaginative play. The blocks are heavy and more challenging for some to move around than others. This promotes cooperation and teamwork as the children instinctually work together to complete their common goal -which in this case, is to build a house. Taller children assisted others by helping them bring the big blocks down from the stack. Children who enjoy the proprioceptive input from "heavy-work" carried blocks for others while asking, "Is this where you want me to put it?"

     Once all the pieces were in place and the structure was complete, the children delighted in their accomplishment, but wasted no time filling their house with all the comforts of home. Each child hurried over to the Nursery shelves and began grabbing baskets and boxes of materials, books and puzzles, pillows, puppets and stuffies. Then quickly carried them over to their newly constructed house announcing along their way, "I've got the TV!" (aka a propped boardgame.) "I've got the toys!" (aka a basket of beads.) "I've got the food!" (often play food, but not always.)

Finally the natural reward of getting to use their space was attained and their imaginative play took off!

     The Outdoor Big Blocks are also gaining traction with the Nursery group, and along with the indoor set in our classroom, there's another collection in the Nursery/Kindergarten hallway. For a couple of Afternooners, their deep desire for connection with the Kindergarten group was all the motivation they needed to have our first Safety Agreements Meeting.

The PM Nurseries sat down last Tuesday and discussed ways to keep everyone safe and comfortable while using the hallway space. All the children had several ideas and tips to offer and I wrote them down quickly. Feel free to read them the next time you're in the classroom. They're posted on the yellow wall.

The meeting ended with a comment from a child stating, "Kids might forget an agreement while they're learning."

I responded curiously, "So what should we do when that happens?"

One child shouted out, "Tell the teacher!"

Me: "Well, is there anything you can do before that?" 

Another child: "Tell them to stop."

Me: "Ah, that's always a good plan. Is there anything else?"

The child who brought the idea of kids forgetting agreements said clearly and calmly, "Just give your friend a gentle reminder." And off they went.

The Nurseries had a wonderful time with Kindergarten in the hallway that afternoon, and when it was time, helped them clean up, too!