“When we play, we are engaged in the purest expression of our humanity, the truest expression of our individuality.” – Stuart Brown
Mila and Ozzie transport to the place of their imagination as they follow their building plan for the morning, which was a face and snowplow train and a jet plane with a propeller.
Ozzie: All the snow is blowing away because of the propeller.
Mila: A snow mountain.
Ozzie: Mila, look how big that mountain is I built. We can make an animal house because animals will get on the train.
Mila: And this is going to be the wing. Oh, I didn’t make a roof.
Teacher Flora: You can ask Ozzie to support you.
Mila: Ozzie, can you help me build a roof?
Ozzie: Of course! I know how to build a roof. And roofs are so important because what if it rains?
Mila: Yeah!
Ozzie: Welcome to the Community Steam Line.
Dashiell Notices the “high speed” train Ozzie has been working on and wonders: Which is the front and which is the back?
Ozzie: Here. I’m going to uncouple them. Uncouple means that they are connected and then they become apart. Next stop the train is stopping at Central Community.
Our research questions in the Building Space are: “What adventures will emerge when we embark on building stories?” and “How can we bridge our ideas?”. With these questions in mind, I framed my listening and was able to observe how these children unfolded a large amount of knowledge around trains and airplanes as well as applying some of the school’s intentions toward community. When building, these children are thinking communally and it all is encompassed in the power of PLAY. -Teacher Flora October 7, 2016.