Our Pre-K class at our Perrysburg (Avenue Road) location has been enjoying their latest learning journey, taking in all there is to know about structures! This discovery first began when the children expressed an interest in building and creating with blocks.

As teachers, we decided to give them challenges to see what problem-solving skills they could come up with to complete our challenge. For example, we invited the children to build a tall tower without leaning and to build a bridge with arches. The children were very curious and wanted to see pictures of what some of these structures looked like in “real life.”

We provided many different visuals and from there, we wanted to replicate some of the structures they were now investigating. They were particularly interested in the Empire State Building. As we’ve continued to learn more, we have also encouraged parents to visit some of the local prominent structures here in our Toledo community.

As we continued to explore the various properties of structures, we learned how many floors some buildings have, what they are made of, how they are constructed and so on. We even learned about building blueprints and how construction brings various structures to life.

We were elated to see how the children’s projects came together, creating art that ranged from building plans to images of some of the world’s most infamous structures, such as the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

This featured project and the learning journey that our class experienced throughout the lesson is a fantastic representation of the Reggio Emilia approach. As the children expressed interest in a particular subject, our teachers began to gather the various questions children had about structures and from there, facilitated a unique learning experience for the class. The various provocations in our learning environments challenged the children to build, explore and dream up structures they would like to see come to life.

We greatly enjoyed this project and we know this will be one that the children and the teachers remember well!