The children have been working hard on their recycled material houses for a few weeks now. This ongoing project started with the children's interest in using recycled materials, and their natural interest in each others' homes. We asked families to send us photos of their homes, while helping their children answer a set of questions about where they live. This exploration helps the children plan out an idea from beginning to end, starting with an observation, drawing what they see, labelling their work with words, then creating the real thing out of boxes!
It is amazing to see what the children know about their neighborhoods, cities and homes. Some children are aware of their street name and address, others know that they live in a specific city or state. They all are experts of their experiences and notice so much! This project has also helped with fine motor skills as they must draw with detail, cut, tape and glue their homes together. It also helps them understand measurement, size and scale. As we continue this project the children will add more buildings and places to our city like the grocery store, movie theater, library, and restaurants!
Jaeda remembers that her house is "so tall." She chooses to orient the box vertically to make it tall just like her house. She adds a pointy ceiling, and draws the windows and doors with a marker.
After drawing a plan, Amet uses a shoebox for his house, and a smaller box for the garage. He cuts a hole for the doorway and trims the edges of the smaller box. He makes sure to leave one edge open to make a swinging garage door. "The garage has a remote that opens it by itself."
Apollo looks at a photo of his house, observes the shapes then draws what he sees.
He notices the chimney, garage, windows, and "the big green plant has red flowers."
Sherleen Kate draws a plan of her house including the door, windows, roof and a car.
Christian remembers what street he lives on. He also knows that they use the garage and stairs to go up. To create the stairs, Christian folds a long strip of cardboard like an accordian to make steps. He also creates a car out of a smaller box to put in the garage, and paints windows on the sides.
Emily uses two small boxes stacked on each other for her two-floor house.
She covers words and pictures on the box with paint. "My house is blue! It's not a cracker box."
Kara cuts styrofoam pieces to make beds for her and her family, and a small egg carton for a sink and toilet.
Donovan chooses to make four windows on the front of his house. A few days later, he decided he wanted the windows to open, so he asked the teacher for help! Together they cut holes for the windows like he planned.
Emmeline uses lots of yellow paint to cover the roof of her house. She adds grass to the front lawn by taping on an extra piece of paper and drawing it with green.
