The aim of our investigation was to design and build a sandcastle to hide a crab in ('Where's Wally' style) for a class photo book. We had done lots of talking about measurement (capacity, tall/short, wide/narrow) and 3D shape, as well as using lots of positional language. We'd made posters detailing all we knew about sandcastles (it turns out that beach kids know A LOT!), we poured over 'Where's Wally' and 'I Spy' books to make lots of diagrams showing how we could hide our crab in the sandcastle and, finally, we worked with a partner to design an awesome sandcastle and list the tools we would need to make it.
Today was the day we got to celebrate our work and build our sandcastles... with lots of smiles and laughter... and perhaps even an ice-block as well! :)
Our beach for the day. I have a WONDERFUL teacher aide who set all of this up for me. Along with the sandpit tools that the kids would need to build with, she (and the other aides that work with me) also collected all of the castle decorations and created atmosphere with huge sea creatures displayed, two row boats, fishing nets and a CD player with 'Oh I do like to live beside the seaside' on repeat. The kids love her, and so do I.
Busily working on our castle designs.
This was my favourite design. It's a bit tricky to see in this photo, but these boys added a sun deck that they built just like a real deck! You can just see their blue crab in the tunnel (the deck is north-west of there).
The lovely mummy of these twins has given me permission to publish photos of them, and she actually took all of these photos for me too! :)
Cooling off under the hose... not technically maths, but lots of fun! Luckily I didn't plan to do this activity tomorrow, the forecast is for 32 degrees.
Sometimes I think my biggest responsibility as a Prep teacher is to instill in my kidlets a real love of learning and love of school... today was a day that I hope helps with both of these goals. :)
Last of all, I wanted to share some gorgeous typography, just because it's Tuesday!
Anne Shirley. Smartest woman ever.
Pinned from here.
Have a wonderful week everyone!
Lauren
I love the idea of a day at the beach...in the sand pit. Totally doable at my school too. Hmm...now you have got me thinking and isnt that what blog reading is all about, improving what we do and the way we do it. Thanks so much.
ReplyDeleteJulie :)
Mrs Stowe's Kinder Cottage
These photos are amazing and the task sounds like so much fun and full of learning. Great post
ReplyDeletePaula from Paula’s Place and iSURF Maths