Building Bridges

Some of the best moments with your child are the ones in which I can detour from "the plans" and we can just be a class together. This week included a moment just like that. As I began a round of reading assessments, the Cottontails had the opportunity to enjoy extra center time. Lucas and a few of his friends were eager to use our cubes to build a bridge that spanned across the rectangle tables over to the red table. It was a fun moment to watch as interest grew within the class and more friends joined in the process. Throughout Thursday, the Cottontails realized that the Unifex cubes weren't quite strong enough. They scrapped their Unifex bridge and tried it again with the linking cubes. Indeed, the linking cubes proved to be much stronger, but the Unifex "materials" couldn't going to go to waste. After all, they already committed to using them. So, Sayan came up with the idea to use them as guardrails to protect the cars and traffic that would use the bridge. The "problem" with the cubes wouldn't be the last problem the group would encounter. They took time to patiently try different materials to add to the design of their bridge. It was fun to watch various jobs and roles naturally developed. With Lucas as the "Senior Engineer", overseeing the overall design project, and Sayan acting as the "Constructional Engineer", Aidan became the "Marketing Executive" and "Accountant" monitoring materials they could sell to receive money to put towards their construction project. You should've seen his pile of money. Man, was he good at selling goods and gaining revenue! This project was well funded. Rayne and Vismitha became the "Urban Planners" as they gather chairs to develop a path for the bridge to take. Rosie, Stella, and Margaret enjoyed sharing the role of "Constructional Engineer" with Sayan as they worked on securing the linking cubes and building the pillars, supports, and bases of the bridge. Ginger was the "Team Motivator" providing each friend with wonderful comments and compliments. She often highlighted the fact that we are indeed engineers. She helped troubleshoot in times of confusion and was so proud to announce our class's ability to work together and persevere. By Friday afternoon my heart was beaming with pride and my smile was a mile wide. I couldn't help but close up my binder of reading assessments and join in the building fun. What a great way to end a crazy week!