Luke and Rory construct a complex building in the block area, then bring it to the Let’s Make table to draw architect’s plans of their castle.
Luke: “My building is built out of logs, 28 high. This one right here in the middle is for a window (adding a square in the centre of his drawing) – it needs 50 windows to be a castle!”
Rory: “I have a blue room and Luke will have a black room…this is my Mum and Dad’s room.” (copying his castle model to recreate the building on paper.)
A little info about our exciting early years curriculum …
Your home, the library, our school…these are all buildings with which your child is familiar. Buildings and Homes was our learning theme for the month of March. We explored and discovered the different kinds and parts of buildings, materials used to make buildings and the people who construct them. Through participating in the experiences provided by this theme, the children learn about-
- Different types of buildings-
- Purposes of buildings -homes, offices, shops, hospitals, schools, flats, apartments.
- How to plan and design a building
- Using different types of materials to build – brick, wood, cement, steel and glass.
- Making real life 3D models
- Designing and making a miniature model of the busy Lisburn Road.
Aisling climbs into the crane on the Construction Site. “Look! I can lift up this whole bag of bricks…we need to get all the bricks, I’ll drive and you turn it Grace…pull the levers! Amy there’s one on the ground – get it! Alright, we now have to fill up the floorboards.” She begins pouring cement on the floor, while Grace writes notes on a piece of paper. Amy helps by collecting bricks to use for the wall while Aisling and Grace set wood out like tiles on the floor. Grace: “We’re building floor tiles!” Aisling, “Yeah it’s going to be great with big floors and walls…”
Catherine tells the others, “the only problem is we have to be careful with the wood…we need gloves in case there’s splinters!”
Our imagination corner was transformed into a busy construction building site; followed by the popular McDonalds or Starbucks.
A sample of the learning experiences include:
- Building with various materials – such as junk boxes, rough/smooth materials
- Working in the building site with real wood and builder’s helmets and tools.
- Weighing and balancing bricks
- Watching builders at work on a real construction site
- Pretending to be architects and designing using special drawing paper
- Measuring and planning as surveyors
At Home:
You can reinforce building concepts on your way to and from school by pointing out any buildings of interest such as schools, apartments, houses, fire station, police station, hospital, library, shops and restaurants, and construction sites. Children are naturally curious about why and how things happen so enjoy being part of their learning.
