Homes Fall 2012 Facilitated by Laura Hageman

Awareness To build the children’s awareness of the topic “homes”, pictures of the children’s houses were provided in the science area. These pictures were used to build the children’s awareness of different types of homes, as well as share different characteristics about their homes. As part of a focus group, the children shared the pictures of their houses with one another and then had a chance to build their house using the unit blocks.

To build the awareness of the shape of houses a focus group was created for the children to explore drawing a picture of their home, using their photo as a guide while drawing. During this focus group the children were encouraged to point out the different shapes they see in their house and represent the house on paper.

A focus group was created to build the children’s awareness of the common shapes found in homes. For this activity the children used the photos of their homes as a reference as they used the cut out squares and triangles to recreate their home.

Exploration As the children explored the topic of homes, many chose to build different types of houses using the unit blocks during free play. While the children were building, they would discuss where the door needed to be and if they would have windows or a roof in their house. Through this building process the children explored using different materials to use for a roof, as well as how to build sturdy walls.

The children explored our classroom pet Boxy’s home and compared her home to their own homes. The children were provided with paper and markers to draw pictures of Boxy’s home. While observing Boxy’s home the children made comparisons to their homes and Boxy’s. Through their discussion the children decided Boxy need some decorations, so they drew pictures and taped them to the outside of Boxy’s home.

While the children continued to explore building different types of houses, the children began to discuss animal homes. To extend this interest, a focus group was created to explore building a birds nest. During this focus group the children looked at different nests and discussed the types of materials they needed to collect. Once the materials were collected, the children began building.

Based on the children’s interests, found materials were provided for the children to explore making different types of fairy houses. While the children were building their fairy houses, they participated in discussions about what type of materials a fairy would need in their house such as something soft for a bed (milk weed).

To build on the children’s interest of using the unit blocks to build houses, small wooden scraps were provided for the children to use to build. With the wood scraps the children explored making windows, roofs, and sturdy walls.

Inquiry To deepen the children’s understanding of homes we started to focus on the inside and outside of a house. As the children discussed the type of furniture found inside and outside of the home, many developed explanations to where items are found. The children were provided a sorting activity to compare their own reasoning to others, of what items belong inside/outside of a home. AR: “Rocks belong outside” OC: “Yeah, but at my house I have a rock garden inside”

As part of our focus on the inside and outside of a house, we began to discuss the different rooms found within a home. The children were led in a discussion about the different rooms found at their house. After the discussion, the children were provided with a variety of found materials and shoebox, to recreate a room from their house. While the children were building their rooms, many of the children discussed and compared the types of furniture in their room.

As the children continued to investigate building homes, we started to investigate the different materials that make a sturdy house. As part of this investigation, a large group discussion was led about the story of the “3 Little Pigs”. During this discussion the children talked about which materials make the sturdiest house.

Utilization After discussing and creating individual rooms of a house, the children were then put in a small group to create a house using the shoebox rooms. In this small group the children discussed what room each shoebox represented, as well as where a logical place to put each room. After the house was created the children were encouraged to use their peg people to dramatically play with the house they had created.

To expand the children’s thinking of homes, large group discussions were held about neighborhoods. These discussions talked about the streets and sidewalks used to connect neighborhoods, as well as the different places found in neighborhoods. As part of our discussion of neighborhoods, the children created a classroom neighborhood using the wooden house they had built.

To extend the children’s interest in animal homes, we began to discuss the term “habitat”. During large group we discussed different animal habitats, as well as the different features found in a habitat (food & shelter). As we studied habitats, we sang a habitat song, and the children created animal habitats using clay and plastic animals.

To calumniate our homes unit, we went on a class field trip to look for different animal homes found by the Mississippi River. While on our field trip the children pointed out habitats they saw such as nests, or animals they saw. Also on our field trip we continued our discussion of animal habitats by discussing the materials found by the river that animals could use for their homes.