On Thursday, the children and I began building a snow fort. Click here to see Snow Construction Play – Part 1.
On Friday, we returned to school to find a sagging, melting fort. And no new snowfall. Our hopes of continuing construction were dashed.
Fourth Grade to the Rescue
The fourth grade students learned of our problem and quickly had a solution!
The playground was covered with loads of snow. The fourth graders shovelled the snow into their massive wheelbarrow and brought it to us! And they kept coming, load after load, until we had a huge pile of construction material.
The fourth graders were delighted when we invited them to help us build. Big kids are still kids and they LOVE to play!
Experiencing Collaboration
I didn’t anticipate the rich learning opportunity that would come from fourth grade’s helpful action. The preschool children had to find their voices and express their building ideas to the older students. The fourth grade students had to accept the younger kids’ ideas even though they had ideas for more stable or aesthetically pleasing designs. The original construction belonged to the Reception students (aged 4 and 5 years old) so the fourth graders could not take over the project. The fourth grade students modelled respectful discussions and cooperation for the younger students.
Of course we teachers were standing among the students to facilitate and give positive feedback on all the behaviours and respectful language we saw that we wanted to continue happening. Everyone was having a great time working and learning together.
All too soon the fourth graders had to leave us. Their outdoor learning time was over. We continued building on our own.
I was happy to call our construction finished when it had three walls. However, the children began demanding that a roof be built. One boy said, “Ms. Breedlove, imagine that it rains! We need a roof!”
I have a good imagination so I found two long willow poles and a tarp we could use.
The children began pretending it would rain soon. A child exclaimed, “We’re running out of time! Hurry!”
Like any good construction team facing a quickly approaching deadline, they tripled their efforts and finished the fort before lunchtime!
This is one of those projects that we had great fun building, but we didn’t get to play in it. Mother Nature can be cruel sometimes. The temperatures rose throughout the day and by the time I left school at 17:00, the left side of the fort had collapsed. The children will return on Monday to find whatever is left of their fort.
Sometimes the enjoyment is in the process, not the product. And the process was definitely FUN!
Special thanks to everyone who made this learning experience possible:
Mother Nature, Father Winter, the Reception students, the Fourth Grade students, Miss Williams, Miss Rodriguez, Mr. Waterworth, Mrs. Fox and Mrs. Grassnick.
