- blocks
- markers
- paper
- pictures of ramps
- hill
- ramp
- slide
- steep
MA Standards:
Speaking and Listening: SL.PK.MA.5: Create representations of experiences or stories (e.g., drawings, constructions with blocks or other materials, clay models) and explain them to others.
MA Draft STE Standards:
Physical Sciences/Motion and Stability; Forces and Interaction /PS2.B: Using evidence, discuss ideas about what is making something move the way it does and how some movements can be controlled. [Cause and Effect, Stability and Change]
Head Start Outcomes:
Approaches to Learning/Initiative and Curiosity: Demonstrates flexibility, imagination, and inventiveness in approaching tasks and activities.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Language 4: Engage in play experiences that involve naming and sorting common words into various classifications using general and specific language.
Science and Technology/Physical Sciences 21: Explore and describe various actions that can change an object’s motion such as pulling, pushing, twisting, rolling, and throwing.
All Around the Neighborhood
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
Skill Focus: Creative Expression, Imaginative Play, Small Motor Skills, Vocabulary
Educator Prep: Before the activity, compile a stack of pictures that show different ramps in the environment, in buildings, etc. Place the stack of pictures in a place where children can have easy access to it.
Have children build a neighborhood with blocks. Talk about what kinds of ramps they have seen in their neighborhood.
Encourage children to look through the stack of pictures if they have trouble thinking of different ramps in their neighborhood.
Have children work in small groups to build their neighborhood. Once children have finished, have them share their structure. Encourage them to talk about the steep hills, small ramps, playground slide, etc. in their block neighborhood.
Encourage children to document their neighborhood by drawing a picture of their structure before dismantling it.