Airplanes and Airports

For the past couple weeks, we have noticed that many of the children in the class have been building airplanes out of lego. It has been very interesting to see how the airplanes they create have developed and have become more complex, and to see how the children work together to build their airplanes and incorporate them into their imaginative play.

To expand our focus on airplanes we had a knowledge-building conversation, which is when the children have the opportunity to share what they know about a subject, build on each other's knowledge to teach and learn from each other, and determine what else they would like to learn about a subject. Directing their own learning in this way makes the experience meaningful for them, which leads to deeper learning and knowledge. We talked about airplanes and airports, and many children shared their experiences traveling and observing airplanes and how they work. In a second conversation, together the children determined they would like to make our drama centre into an airport. We asked them to share their ideas and opinions about what we would need to do this, and many of them started drawing and writing about both airplanes and airports.

Over the past week, not only have their lego airplane designs become more intricate, but so have the airplanes they have been creating on paper.

Some of the children started creating airports out of our small and large wooden blocks in anticipation of the larger airport we would create together, and others worked on writing and drawing signs for the airport. Ms Hammond and I have started to put together our airport dramatic centre based on the children's ideas. We will add travel guidebooks and maps to the centre, and will work with the children to create their own maps, as well as tickets and passports. This will give us all sorts of rich opportunities to practice our reading and writing in ways that will be meaningful and purposeful for the children. We will also decorate our centre with 3D models of airplanes that the children will create out of popsicle sticks, wire, and plasticine. This will be a great chance for the children to build on their fine motor skills, their creative expression, and their math skills.

Stay tuned for more pictures and notes about how our airplane/airport inquiry focus is developing, and if you have anything you would like to contribute to our "airport" - maps, photos, travel books or brochures, or anything else, we would greatly appreciate it! Do you see airplane play at home? As always, we would love to hear your thoughts and ideas!

Thanks everyone, and we look forward to meeting with the SK parents during interviews this week!

Ms. Snyder and Ms. Hammond