Intentional Loose Parts Stories



 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Butterfly Castle

Image
 The Butterfly Castle or Les Chateau des Papillons The Twins were delighted to have the light table glowing when they returned to the EAL classroom after the holidays. They noticed a new setup and a few new jars of loose parts. They worked together in English, French and Russian creating, Les Chateau des Papillons.  "We can do the castle in English and in French! Only the beautiful things can live there. Not ninjas because they may break the wings. Ladybugs and princesses are okay." A and F Inspired by the concept of a butterfly castle I asked my other EAL groups what a butterfly castle might look like, without showing them the light table. I asked them what a butterfly may need to live in the castle and who they could share the castle with.  These are their illustrations and ideas.
Read more

The House With 13 Stories

Image
In a discussion about where we live and who we live with, my students decided to use the language of numbers, something they already knew a bit about, to have a silly conversation. We drew our homes and families, created homes with loose parts, described them, what we had in them and talked about the differences between homes and apartments. A Family  A House An Apartment How many families live there? How many people live in your home?   Do you have neighbors? How do you get to your home? What floor do you live on, what number? "100, I do"  declared, Kseniia "No, no 1million, soooo tall!" yelled Gennady "Five MILLION!! We see the plane and clouds. "lLaughed Alex We laughed together and I showed my surprise and I asked: "How long does the elevator take? How many stairs are there? If you walk up and down how will you feel? What can you see out your window?" We acted out walking up the stairs panting, b...
Read more

From Tales of Princesses to Tales of Blood

Image
And then there was Blood. As we entered our new unit of inquiry thinking about Who We Are, the enthusiasm for storytelling had surfaced and could not be contained. Those who were originally hesitant to tell stories or share anything understood now that this was a safe environment to take risks, try new ideas and play, whilst telling stories and developing new language skills. During our first brainstorm about the unit, the concept of blood, injury, emergencies and hospital rose to the top of their interests and thus entered their play naturally. I took their lead and began listening to their stories.  It started with real injuries and the boys arguing who was stronger and who have more courage. Everyone expressing loudly "I never cry!" and "I am the strongest!" and "Even if I broke my head I never cry." There were also stories of compassion. Stories about students taking care of their friends at outdoor learning or helping a younger sibling a...
Read more