Construction Theme

We just finished up a month-long construction theme in my classroom. Here are some things we did to learn more about one of my favorite subjects- building stuff! I would say these are some of the "highlights" but really they're just the "things I managed to photograph."

We talked about the parts of buildings and structures and the children drew and labeled houses. They've been working on drawing houses basically all year, so most of them turned out pretty well. We do a LOT of labeling and it's a great way to add some print to any type of drawing or art project. This project was done in a small group with my assistant. This child is in a group who is working on writing and reading syllables. (Notice the hobbit-like windows of this house.)

One week was devoted to learning about tools, so we made a graph of our favorite tools. It's important to me that my students get plenty of vocabulary in English as well as Spanish, so I make sure to include as many thematic activities as possible during math (which is taught in English). For this graph the children drew a picture of their favorite tool and copied the word. When the children make the graph themselves they are much more likely to utilize the graph during centers and at other times of the day. I hung this graph in our construction center and they counted and compared the tools to their little hearts' contents.

Here are some closeups of some of the individual tools. We've worked hard on learning to draw this year and I'm very proud of what they're able to do now that we're 2/3 through the year.

Also during our week on tools was this ever-so-fancy project I've decided to call "draw, color, label, and cut." I got the idea from a colleague and discovered there's really nothing you can't draw, color, label, and cut. This activity is great for a bulletin board or other display and gets the kids excited about labeling and cutting (because they're just not excited enough about scissors already, right?).

By the way, I highly recommend giving your students interesting tools that they can actually use, like levels and tape measures. Every year my students L-O-V-E using levels with the blocks and end up checking random objects around the room to see if they are level or not.


Here are a few more random activities from the construction month.

Nuts and bolts

Locks and keys (hey, it's construction-y!)

Toy screws and hinges, which just happen to fit perfectly on the backs of our shelves

So there you have it, a bunch of jumbled ideas for learning about construction. Next up will be transportation, and I will be more mindful about taking photographs this time!

Erasable Dollar Spot Love

After going 6 weeks of summer vacation with only one trip to Target, and that for necessities, I decided it was high time I check out the Dollar Spot. It's good to get there soon after they put out all the teacher goodies because those suckers go fast, plus that section can get a little disheveled after a few days. So really, I was being extremely proactive by pacing the aisles of Target today. Sure.

Has anyone ever told you to use page protectors as a reusable surface for writing? As in, stick a paper you want to reuse in the page protector then let children write on it using dry erase markers? It turns a single copy into an activity that can be reused over and over without extra ink or paper. It's a great idea for any grade level. It saves paper and makes lessons that can be repeated over and over. It also doesn't work so well, in my experience. I've read that it's best to get "the crystal clear or diamond kind," whatever those may be. I have about 400 page protectors that must not be crystal clear or diamond-y because I tried this and the children were rubbing those things like Annie scrubbing the floor of the orphanage trying to remove the marker. Since I have such a huge quantity of them I wasn't about to purchase new, more diamond-y page protectors, so I kept an eye out for something else I'd seen people use: write and wipe pockets. These are made of vinyl so they erase very easily, but not too easily- children can rub against the writing and it won't completely go away. They're also much sturdier than page protectors, so you don't have to put the papers on cardstock or laminate them.

The best thing about the write and wipe pockets is that if you look carefully, you can find them in the Target Dollar Spot! They aren't that expensive at teacher or office supply stores, but they're unbeatable at $1. Some of my favorite activities with these are inserting graphs, ten frames, write-the-room recording sheets, and roll'n'write games (I do letters, numbers, or shapes with this game). All these activities are great to introduce in a small group setting and then place in centers for independent use.

I love using these pockets because they are very enticing to reluctant writers. Especially at the beginning of the year, many of my pre-k children haven't developed the motor skills or coordination to draw pictures or write letters. This can really kill their confidence, and who wants to do something they don't feel confident about? Dry erase markers are FUN FUN FUN, so even my most cautious children are willing to give writing a try. Being able to erase easily and try again is also a draw for some of them. Any dry erase markers you can find on sale or clearance are obviously the best, but I also really like these from, you guessed it, Target Dollar Spot!

Okay, so maybe only one of these is from Target- the smaller ones on top. So long as they stay capped they last as long as the larger ones and they're an awesome size for little hands just learning to form letters. The markers on the bottom are actually from Staples and were on clearance for 25 cents, I am not even joking. I bought 16 packages! Crayola has some dry erase crayons that WORK and aren't too difficult to erase, so I use those also.

With so many great ideas for incorporating dry erase activities into your classroom, there's no excuse not to give your students this fun writing experience. And if you can get the page protectors to work, more power to you!