A Snapshot of Inside Play

We were given cameras (yay!) for our classroom, so I took advantage of it and took pictures all afternoon! Within 10 minutes of pictures, here are some of the things we working on...

Beyblade made with snap cubes.

 This beyblade is no ordinary snap cube beyblade! Traditionally, they have been made in our class with 9 blocks snapped together in a 3 x 3 grid with a block on top as a handle and a block below as a point. This monster was created after much trial and error by a friend with persistance! The new design he created is stronger, faster, and consistantly wins battles in snap cube or block stadiums. After teaching others how to make this beyblade, it has been decided it takes many more blocks (27 vs 11) and it's hard to get a colour scheme-- but a winner is a winner, no matter how you see it!

Princess and Toy Story puzzles are a favourite right now!.

 One girl can complete all our puzzles independently and is very proud of that fact! Others are learning to use logical thinking skills to match pictures on the pieces or to guess what part of the puzzle each piece belongs to.

Some were looking for sight words in our weekly literacy poem.

 Some students were playing with wiki stix (they look like pipe cleaners, but are made of wax and stick to paper!). They were hunting for the words "I" and "And" in the Dreidel song we are learning.

The boys were cooking.

 At the restaurant, the boys were busy ordering, cooking, serving and prepping! In this picture, one boy is cutting up the "food" at the table to serve to his patrons.

It spins!?!

 As our snap cube beyblades are boring for some, we are on the hunt for what spins. This juicer at the restaurant makes a fantastic top!

Exploring colours and story concepts.

 After reading some winter stories, a friend is exploring the colours and materials at the art easel to create a snow-woman that resembles herself. Other friends sat by to give input about what was missing (buttons, longer fingers, etc).

A battle is a-brewin'!

 This friend was exploring with geometric pattern blocks and using them to create complex battle grounds for his triangles. The battle ship is strategically creates and the triangle warriors are forming ranks to take the battle ship from the bad guys.

Oh wait... that's my play!

 Guilty as charged-- I was in a heated battle with some friends over who could build the tallest tower with foam blocks. We had to experiment with many bases and patterns to see who could get their tower to be the tallest each time.

Exploring funnels and pouring!

 These friends knew exactly what they were doing as they quickly-- and easily-- made "potions" by stacking funnels in such a way that water poured through the top funnel would filter into the cup below.

Alphabet hunt in the sand.

Several friends enjoyed going on an alphabet hunt with our fresh sand! It was so much fun to dig and search for letters or sounds. One friend called the letters or sounds (i.e. S! or "sssss!") and the other two had to see who could find the letter.


A snapshot of play! All the busy learning certainly made for a fantastic Thursday! Please come back again tomorrow for a post about 20 things to do during the holidays!