Treasure Blocks

Building a classroom community is an incredibly important part of building a loving, caring, and fun place to explore and learn.  To build classroom community, each child creates a "treasure block."  Families work together at home to create a treasure block.  On the treasure blocks you will find many things the student "treasure" as well as enjoys.  You will find photos of their families, pets, sports teams, favorite color, favorite foods, and much more.  In order to get to know each child a little better, each student shares their block with the class.

While they share their block, we often remind our friends that this is a time for us to learn about their new fellow friend/classmate.  We are learning to be careful listeners while learning about them and not focus on ourselves.  Also, a web/graphic organizer is made for each student.  This is a way for us to document all of their "treasures" to remember later.  It's also a great time for Miss Hannigan and I to listen and observe similarities.  For example, last year I noticed about 80% of our students enjoyed some kind of transportation, which resulted in a 5 month transportation study.  This year, Miss Hannigan and I are noticing that our students are scientists and explorers.  They enjoy exploring nature and LOVE animals - specifically ocean animals and animals found at zoos.  We gather and learn a lot about each and every student from their treasure blocks.

 Before they start sharing, we learn how to finger spell the child's name using sign language, as well as using our "magic fingers" to write the child's name in the air!

Before each child is finished, his/her classmates have the opportunity to ask questions.  Of course we had to learn the difference between a question and a statement!  

Ask your child if they can explain it to you!

 

When they are done sharing, together we use sign language to tell the student "It's nice to meet you _______." and the treasure student says "It's nice to meet you too."  

Then we begin thinking about how we can write a story about the friend we just learned so much about.  We think about all the new things we have learned and how a story can be told through pictures and labels.  Students each get a sheet of white paper, and a strip of paper with the students name on it.  They cut the letters apart and glue them back together onto their paper.  This is a great way for students to begin to look around the classroom for classroom resources.

Of course it takes some time for the children to learn about skin tone crayons and not drawing people with purple or green heads.  It also takes some children time to learn how to draw people, or other objects to help tell their story.  In the beginning we received a lot of "I can't do it." In addition to "I don't know how to draw."  Now students are learning to try their best (it doesn't have to be perfect) and to never give up.    

In addition, the children are learning how to label their illustrations to give the reader more information.  We began with labeling the child they are illustrating.  As the days go on, we begin teaching students hows to use their resources when trying to sound out objects to labeling.  Below you can see Harlan and Brennan using their name tags as an alphabet resource to objects in their illustration.

It takes a lot of time to get through every student, but it is so worth while by the end.  We learn SO much more about each child.  We learned how illustrate a story through pictures, how to label words, and even writing simple, short sentences.

Thanks for stopping by to learn more about our treasure blocks and how our friends write stories!  Stop by soon to see how we made green lemonade and our very own "Asset Builder of the Month!"

Mrs. Julie Atkin