As Jasper Room educators who are inspired by the constructivist approach to learning, we have always been co-learners, always following the natural curiosities of the children. Through observation, we have noticed the children’s interest in role-playing and building, which will be our current focus. Our children are always encouraged to interact with their natural environment and discover their impact through engagement. This week we were gifted with the best material suited for building, packed snow!
The children had many different ideas about how they would utilize the snow. Talin and Reid realized that if they dug deep enough, they could create tunnels and bridges without them collapsing. Cohen, Haddie, and Vance discovered how to pack the snow together between their hands to create a snow ball, and once they mastered that, they learned to roll the ball in the snow until it began to grow larger! This developed into the creation of snow people, one of them named Peter, and the children engaged in meaningful discussion about the characteristics of a snowman. For instance, the question was posed, “How do you know that this is a snow man? What would a snow dog or snow woman look like?”. To these queries, they described what materials they could use to create these alternative snow figures, from using a long stick as a tail to using feathers as a hat! Harriet and Molly also built “sidewalks” that were “safe to walk on because it [was] so slippery”. Finn, Talin, and Lucas, with the help of some friends from Sandstone, built a “Snow Castle” with nothing but shovels! It was amazing to observe how each child could find so many uses for a single material!
Overall, it was a very productive week in Jasper Room, and we are all anticipating the warmer weather when we don’t have to put our snow pants on to play!