Building Snowball

For the past several weeks the AM and PM class have been working on a collaborative group project.  The children wanted to build a snowman "as big as the ceiling".   Well, the ladder would only allow us to build the snowman safely a little over halfway to the ceiling but the children seemed happy enough with that.  The children, under Ms. Nancy's guidance, came up with a plan on how to create this giant snowman.  They wanted to make it out of boxes.  They were asked how to make the boxes tall enough, how to keep them from falling and how to cover the boxes so they looked like a snowman.  Ms. Nancy wrote down all of there answers and made a list for the children.  We then made a donation list for the parents and went to Ms. Rita, the school cook and asked her to save boxes for us.  The parents (you wonderful group of people) started bringing in toilet paper and other materials on the children's list and the building/construction on Snowball began.  This process from start to finish took about three weeks.
As you can tell the children had to work together to stack the boxes.  The needed a ladder to make the boxes taller.  Ms. Nancy took the opportunity to talk to them about Paws Laws and being safe when on a ladder, taking turns (being kind) and holding the ladder for friends (being responsible).  Each child got a turn on the ladder if they wanted it.  The children then had to make sure the boxes would not fall over.  They wanted to tape the boxes together.  They also talked about glueing the boxes but thought tape might work better.  You can also see that the boxes were stacked from biggest to smallest.  Concepts of size, number, stability (basic physics), teamwork, planning, decision making and problem solving were all part of the early stages of this project.  Interest in the early part of the project sometimes took a back seat to the newly fallen snow and for days the boxes sat alone and abandoned.  The nice thing about working with the project approach is that the children are not on a time line to finish a project and can return to it when the interest reemerges.

The next stage of the project involved covering the boxes with something to make it look like a basic snowman.  The children talked about painting the boxes.  They also talked about paper mache, but due to wheat allergies in the classroom that was not an option.  Ms. Nancy told them about using watered down glue and shredded recycled paper.  Using recycled paper was a good way to be kind to the environment and take care of the planet.  The children started with paper mache and them moved on to using toilet paper to wrap around the boxes.  They also used some leftover cotton batting we had left over from a holiday craft we did.  They were really good at wanting to use left over materials and wanted to recycle things that had been used in previous projects so they could Be Kind and Be Responsible.  We really do try to reinforce Paws Laws in all of our lesson plans and in our daily interactions with the children.  We hope you are still using the phrases Be Safe, Be Kind, and Be Responsible at home.


In previous posts you have seen that we have been reading the book Snowballs.  The children made the connection between that book and the snowman they were building.  We had been talking about the kind of art used to make the pictures in the book.  The type of art in the book is called collage (many of the children remember this and if you ask them at home they will tell you what collage is).  They wanted to use the collage technique to decorate their snowman.  They also wanted to use as many recycled items from around the classroom and from past projects as possible.  We undecorated the holiday tree and used many of those items when decorating the snowman.




The children wanted to use the book as a reference while creating their snowman.  They were referring back to the book for information.  This is exactly how research is done.  The children are developing the skills needed for researching for writing papers and reports in their elementary, secondary and collage careers.  This skill will follow them into their professional careers as well.  It was amazing to see them make this connection that they could use a book they were reading as a tool to help them create something new.  Bravo!

These two children work together to create Snowballs face.  One child added eyeglasses to the snowman because he had eyeglasses.  It was very interesting watching how the children made their decisions on how Snowball was going to be decorated, what materials were going to be used to create each feature and who was going to embellish what part of the snowman.  Sometimes two friends would want to do the same thing at the same time and we would stand back and watch them use their problem solving and social language skills to work through the problem.  Only a few times did the teachers have to step in and guide the children through a particularly difficult conversation.

The children used a variety of collage materials to create different body parts for Snowball.  Here they are using crinkle paper and plastic gloves to makes hands.

The AM class decorated on side of Snowball and the PM class decorated the opposite side of Snowball.  Here you can see the AM side of Snowball.  They said they thought their side kind of looked like Spot in the book Snowballs because Spot the Dog snowman had lots of buttons and their snowman had lots of round spots on him.

Here is the PM side of Snowball.  He has glasses and hands that can hold a cup of hot chocolate.  He is also decorated with lots of snowflakes and beads. 

The Family Fun Fair was held last weekend and the book fair was open.  The classrooms were asked to bring down a display if they had one based on a favorite book.  We were not planning on having a display but the children just happened to come up with this project on their own.  We had to find a way to get Snowball down to the book fair.  The children thought that moving him in a wagon would be the safest way to get him all the way down to the other part of the building.  They had to use teamwork to get Snowball safely through the doorways and down the ramp way to Conference Room C.  The children did a great job working together to get Snowball safely to his destination.

Here is Snowball, safely sitting outside the book fair.  There was a contest for the best display.  Families that attended the Family Fun Fair last Saturday voted and Snowball created by the AM and PM children in room 411 won.  They will have a new train table and trains to play with in their classroom next week.  they will pass it on to other classrooms when they are done playing with it, but it was a nice honor to know that their creativity, teamwork and love of reading and art helped them to create a snowman that brought happiness to all that see him (and to know that he will not melt even when the sun finally does come out!).