Animal Explorations

Ms. Jennifer's Classroom Investigations

Animal Explorations

October 17, 2012

     As I observed the preschool children in Ms. Szymaszek’s class during the first few weeks of the semester, I noticed that almost every morning the children were taking out the magnatiles and plastic animals and playing with them in the block area.  It was hard to determine the focus of their play sessions with all of the distractions and other activities going on in the block area, so I thoughtfully designed a lesson to reveal the topics that were sparking curiosity in the children...


      I wanted the children to have a defined space to explore with minimal distractions so I chose the rug on the covered patio. I provided the children with only the magnatiles and animals in this space and documented their words and actions during play.

      

    After analyzing my documentation, I discovered that there were three distinct avenues of play involving the materials provided. I went on to use these avenues as my three threads to base my inquiry project upon. The first thread involved children using the magnatiles for building purposes. These children constructed ice cream machines, rocket ships, houses, and other interesting structures with the magnatiles and chose to leave the animals out of their play. As these children explained the details of their creations to their peers and to me, I was able to see how elaborate their structures were. The second thread involved children simply exploring the animals. These children chose to leave the magnatiles out of their play and solely focus on the animals. There was a wide range of animal play observed and the themes included: animal noises, animal families, animal races, injured animals, and an obsession with fierce animals. The third thread involved children using the magnatiles to build for the animals.  These children built a zoo, a castle, houses, and even jails for the animals and integrated animal play into their building of purposeful structures.

    

     In an effort to follow the interests of the children while encouraging them to explore meaningful materials, I have planned and implemented several lessons involving the threads above.

• The children have been challenged to build upward/ tall using blocks, magnatiles, and cups.
• The children have built an animal shelter for their plastic animals using magnatiles and wood blocks.
• The children have participated in the Animal Actions song on three separate occasions during whole group where they move their bodies like animals and make animal noises. Recently, the children have partaken in a silent animal action as a means of focusing solely on the motion of animals.
• We have read the book A Trip to the Zoo by Karen Wallace, which gave children who had never visited the zoo and opportunity to learn about a zoo.
• We have done animal sneak peeks where the children were shown a small part of an animal and were encouraged to guess the hiding animal.

     The exploration of animals and building materials does not stop here! I have been thoughtfully planning lessons for the upcoming week that will be both engaging and meaningful for the children.  Later in the week, the children will be exploring a large zoo map and we will also be reading What Can You Do With a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page. My goal is to develop lessons that spark curiosity in the children while helping the children to build skills that span the curriculum. In addition to incorporating literacy into each lesson, I have been attempting to weave social skills and peer collaboration into all aspects of the school day.

     If you have any book suggestions that relate to building or animals, I welcome you to share them with me!  Thank you for being supportive in your child’s learning experience.