- blocks and other materials children use in the Block Center for building
- build
- materials
- structure
MA Standards:
English Language Arts/Speaking and Listening/SL.PK.MA.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners during daily routines and play.
MA Draft Standards:
Physical Sciences/Matter and Its Interactions: Structure and Properties of Matter/PS1.A Describe, compare, sort and classify objects based on observable physical characteristics, uses, and whether it is manufactured as part of their classroom play and investigations of the natural and human-made world.
Head Start Outcomes:
Logic and Reasoning/Reasoning and Problem Solving Classifies, compares, and contrasts objects, events, and experiences.
Science Knowledge/Scientific Skills and Method Observes and discusses common properties, differences, and comparisons among objects.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
Science and Technology/Physical Sciences 18 Manipulate a wide variety of familiar and unfamiliar objects to observe, describe, and compare their properties using appropriate language.
Science and Technology/Inquiry Skills 4 Record observations and share ideas through simple forms of representation such as drawings.
Explore Together (indoors): Using Building Materials
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
STEM Key Concepts: Different materials are useful for making different structures and different parts of structures
ELA Focus Skills: Listening and Speaking, Vocabulary
Allow children to freely explore the building materials. Invite children to make different structures they have learned about, such as houses and towers.
Observe children at work, noticing what captures their attention. Ask them to talk about what they are making or doing and/or what they are noticing and wondering. Encourage children to use any new vocabulary they are learning this week, such as build and materials. Introduce to children descriptive terms that describe the characteristics of the materials, such as light, heavy, square, etc., and encourage children to use those terms. Guide children to notice how certain materials are more useful for specific parts of the structures they are building. For example, say,
- Why did you decide to use the square blocks for the floor? Do you think square blocks make a better floor? Why or why not?
- What happens when you put heavy blocks at the bottom? Light blocks at the bottom?
- What other materials would you like to try to use to make a wall (roof, floor, etc.)?
As children work, take photographs or video them to help document their discoveries and guide discussion during the week.
Reflect and Share
After they have had time to explore building with the materials, ask children to draw a picture of one of their structures. Help them make connections between different parts of their structures and how they put them together. Ask children what materials they used and how those materials worked for different parts of their structures.