Structures
A Grade 2 class at NIS had posted the following pictures on Twitter.
We were curious.
- Reggie “It kind of looks like a house or hotels.”
- Franz “Can we go and see them?”
- Cornelis “The house has a crocodile and snail!”
- Reggie “And there are lights.”
- Franz “I see the Dinosaur.”
- Ruby “I see food up there.”
We set off to see what we could learn about the city.
The students were eager to touch the city. Franz was very concerned that the city will break. He continued to inform the students that they need to stop touching it as “..if we touch it, when the babies see we are touching the house, then the small baby will do it and they can break the house!”
- Abby “There are tiny doors.”
- Mia “No, they are the windows, look they are rectangles.”
- Abby “Is this a dinosaur house?”
- Franz “This IS a dinosaur house.”
- Abby “Why is there a tissue box here?”
- Franz “The house is like this, moving, so you can’t touch it anymore now. If everyone touches it then it will break.”
- Reggie “Look! there is a tiny door!”
- Lawrence “Look at the door. The police station.” [in Chinese] He touched the building.
- Cornelis “Stop! Be careful!”
- Franz “Ms. Shemo, I see the lines.”
- Mia “I see the house.”
Amber stood next to the highest building and said “Look!, I’m taller than the houses!” [in Chinese]
- Reggie “They look like jail bars.”
Franz kept reminding the other students not to touch the city as it will break. He understood how delicate the structures were.
- Abby “These are curtains.”
Reggie found a yellow box. It had numbers on the side. The box travelled up and down the side of one building, like a lift.
https://twitter.com/NISPreKK1/status/959404869202337792
- Hannah “How did they make them?” [in Chinese] [Referring to the city]
- Lawrence and Amber “What is it? [in Chinese] [Referring to the city]
Some students noticed artwork done by yet another Grade 2 class. They were amazed at the detailed drawings of the different structures.
https://twitter.com/NISPreKK1/status/959274564629901312
The students want to know more. They decided to ask the Grade 2 class:
- Abby “How did you make it?”
- Mia “Why did you make it?”
- Franz “Why is this yellow box going up and down?”
When the students came back to the classroom they were invited to create their own structures.
Yusei built “A house.”
Reggie “I built 2 houses. Houses are built with bricks so they don’t break. Some people who are poor build the houses only with wood.” [The houses were hollow in the middle and had walls all around. The bricks for the roof were carefully placed on the side walls.]
Hannah explained in Chinese “I built line 1 and 2 of the city walls. These are the city gates where people can enter. By the time you reach the last gate you will get to the fun park. I built some part of the wall taller because if I only built short walls, then bad people will come in.”
Out in the playground, the students continued to work on different structures. The K2 students who were learning about different ‘houses’, were building an igloo with snow and ice. Another group of students were using bamboo. The students in PreK/K1 joined in to help their friends. They all worked as a team to construct the walls of the igloo.
https://twitter.com/NISPreKK1/status/959398077172826112