Building Together #4 - Grocery stores and asian markets

Working as a team

This week the children from Water Group transformed our drama area into a grocery store (an idea extended from the children when we were building Safeway in our Water Town). After setting up our store, we played a song game:
(tune: London Bridge)

Oh, we are going to the grocery store, the grocery store, the grocery store.

We are going to the grocery store

to buy some groceries. 


The children took turns being the cashier and shopper during the game.

Paying for the groceries

In addition, the children talked about how people have to work together in order to run the grocery store. They noticed how it is really convenient for shoppers to buy things because they don't have to go from store to store to get what they want. I shared with the children that not every culture has grocery stores, some have open markets where vendors gather together in a space to sell their products. I shared my experience as a child in Taiwan. Our family would shop at open markets and we would go so often that we made connections with the vendors at the market. Like my family, many people feel comfortable and at ease when going from stand to stand. At vegetable stands, the vendors would always throw in free green onions, garlics, or other kinds of spices. At meat stands, they would always give us free stock bones. Then Serena shared her experience, "One time they let me taste different kinds of meat at Stong's and we know the person working there, his name is James".

What shall I buy? 

To help the children have a better image of the open markets I showed the children video clips of open markets in Asia. The children immediately noticed the different stands and how people chatted with the vendors.

 In connection, the children will be going on a field trip to China Town to get a sense of an asian market and the China Town community.

Building Together #3 - Building a community together

Blueprint

Planning the roads

When I told the children of how Creative Minds joined the Southlands community, Leighton asked, "Well, who put the school there?" This sparked our discussion of how a community is built. Owen suggested, "Maybe someone put a school here because there wasn't one." To help the children get an idea of how a community is formed, the Water group started to build a community of their own called "Water Town".

Building the houses

Decorating the houses

First, we constructed our blue print on the smartboard. The children pretended they have just arrived in an empty town. They drew their houses and each one came up with something that they need to have. The children came up with swimming pools, doctor's office, train station, farms, a park, and Safeway. The children built and decorated their houses. Currently, the children are constructing the swimming pool and Aiden noticed that a skating rink is needed. He said it is very important to have one so Canucks can play there.

Building Together #2 - Jobs for Water Group

Children's pay envelope

To help the children understand the roles and responsibilities within a group and community, Water group came up with jobs for group time. The children will be paid after each group time with stickers for doing their jobs and when a child is not following a message, he/she gets a ticket. When someone receives a ticket he/she has to use the stickers earned to pay for the ticket. The children are very excited with this idea and they came up a list of jobs and their description. As we carried out our group time, Becky noticed that more jobs need to be added, for example, a No Touching Monitor (a person who can remind others to keep their hands to themselves).

Building Together #1 - Formative Assessment

The central idea of our new unit is the work people perform helps build community.

The lines of inquiry that define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea are:

- The jobs people do in our community support its development

- We take on roles each day and this helps us build a strong (preschool) community.

The teacher questions that will drive these inquiries:

1) What is community?

2) What are some jobs done in the community and how do they make a difference?

3) What jobs/roles do you have within our preschool community and/or home?

4) How are these jobs the same or different in other places in the world?

For our assessment activity, we read "C is for Community" and created a checklist of occupations and services that are offered in a community. Then the children went for a walk on Dunbar street to observe how our immediate community functions and at the same time, comparing it to our checklist. The children were ecstatic to find that Olivia's dad is a veterinarian at Dunbar Veterinary Hospital and he was able to give the children a tour around the facility.