Or “How to Make a Lego Watermelon”

Children love to play with Legos. How can we use this interest for learning? Mrs. Drook found a way when she took a Lego Alphabet book from the shelf and placed it in her classroom “construction zone”.  Sometimes location makes all of the difference.

The children wanted to make their own Lego alphabet. They were not satisfied with the ordinary ideas in the book. “W” is not only for wagon. “W” is for watermelon, and of course we can make a watermelon from Legos. They worked together and soon had a Lego construction for almost every letter. They placed them in order and discovered that they had forgotten “Y”. No problem, “Y” is for yolk and we can make a yolk out of Legos.

When the children completed the Lego Alphabet, they wanted to do it all over again. Mrs. Drook and Mrs. Zidik supported the idea – a perfect example of collaborative curriculum.

This time the children generated the ideas among one another. Some printed the words themselves, some asked for help.

Just think of the learning that has taken place — printing, sounding out words, and team work!

Now the class is showing interest in other alphabet books. They have discovered that they can read them by themselves and to one another

It all started when Mrs. Drook placed the ABC Lego book in the construction zone – followed by a great deal of creativity and collaboration.