Learning Through Play

Center time is one of the students' favorite times of the day.  The children love this time because they get to play.  Little do they know, this play is developing many important skills related to their academic and social development.  At each center, the students are in groups of 4.  Center time is filled with social interaction so the children are practicing important social skills like sharing, taking turns, cooperating, using manners, polite conversation, and encouraging others.  They are also learning to handle and clean up classroom materials.

Currently we have five centers going.  Each center is engaging, fun, and enriching.  The Reading Garden is our classroom library.  At this center students enjoy books.  There are a variety of fiction and nonfiction books, books we have read as a class, books we have written as a class, and series books.  Students find a comfy spot and read.  They can read alone or with a friend.

At the puzzle station, students cooperate to put together puzzles.  Puzzles are great for developing spacial relationships and thinking strategies.  The difficult puzzles test perseverance. In the art center, students can create projects using different media like markers, crayons, and paint.  The imagination station is for dramatic play.  This is a great center for developing oral language and creating stories.

 Finally, we have the building center.  Students are building with blocks now.  Through play, students are developing gross and fine motor skills, experimenting with shape, and using problems solving skills.  Just last Friday, I overheard a group of kids talking about how the rhombus wouldn't balance on top but maybe a semi circle would work!  I was thrilled to hear such specific mathematical language. Click on the slideshow below to see the kids in action during center time.

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