We had been discussion several ways in which we use transportation and since we live in Tokyo they were very common with trains.
I LOVE building and love assisting the kids with building big products. They are able to work on so many communication skills and really have to work together cooperatively. I feel it really helps prepare them for group projects.
They had been discussing trains and first built a few small models and such. It was garbage day and our school was throwing out a bunch of cardboard from a recent purchase. I grabbed it and brought it to class. The kids entered and knew what we were up to that day; we always build something fun when we get a bunch of cardboard!
We had a quick meeting about what we felt like it would be most useful for and decided a train, we came up with a plan of how it should look and what it should include.
I helped them with the cutting and hot glue but the rest was up to them. I followed their instructions and ended up working great.
It ended up being an amazing literacy lesson as well as they each ended up diving into their own independent inquiry or through a small group.
Some of the inquiries included:
- Bringing in a ticket from home and copying them (the Japanese teacher came and helped them learn some hiragana, katakana and even some kanji!)
- Creating a map of the stations, which they had created.
- Creating a communication system of walkie-talkies and phones.
- Creating a name and color for the train.
- Creating sings for where to enter and where to exit so they don't get hurt (or break the train).
- Made a list/schedule for who got to be conductor when.
- Creating a control panel for the conductor.
They LOVED the train and become the go to reading spot and really helped to drive their inquiries into the way trains are used as transportation and all the goes along with it.
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