Yet, we have much to do, and the boxes are taking up needed space for our busy reading/writing/math focus this month. Hence, it's time for the box circus to come down. We'll take pictures before the dismantling, and I've already promised a spring return to this exciting activity, a return supported, in part, by a dad, who works for a moving company, who is willing to donate a number of great boxes.
This event represents the push-pull between children's child-like, creative exploration, and the requirement to build strong foundation skills in reading, writing, and math in more traditional ways. Yes, we could have spent a long time researching and measuring to make the box circus just right, and then writing wonderful stories about our imaginary place. But the time and the density of standards do not permit that right now.What would be great would be a school with multiple spaces for varied learning. For example, there could be a big design space where children could work on their box creations for weeks, and even go there for recess if they choose. Then there would be spaces for quiet work and research, videotaping and filming, class share and discussion, grade-level presentations, small group intervention, and more.
I want to think about this more as I move forward, but for now we'll resort to redesigning our classroom every few months or so to represent the learning priorities of that time. That's a start.
