Caine's Arcade

Watch this and be ready to say HOLY FIRECRACKERS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faIFNkdq96U&feature=relmfu

At first sight, I was utterly dumbfounded at the brilliance of Caine's Arcade.  What an incredible story this is!  Caine is one genius of a kid!  Questions that came to my mind while watching:  How is it that this filmmaker was his first customer??  Who are the folks that walked by and didn't want to humor him and play?  Can my kids create something like this?  What can we as educators learn from Caine?    Then when I started to process it more, I came to the realization that ALL children are capable of what Caine created, that is, if we help to create structures and opportunities for kids to create!  What are those structures and how can we bring them to our classrooms PRONTO? 

What are your thoughts?

Blocks Beyond Kindergarten

Where do I even begin when it comes to the value of block building in early childhood development?  Building with blocks allows children to "learn by doing" which is a central idea expressed by educational philosopher, John Dewey.  Children who build with blocks learn about science, math, social/emotional development, and the list goes on.  The value of blocks can be seen beyond the early childhood years as well.  My first exposure to the idea of blocks being present in classrooms "beyond kindergarten" was at Teachers College, Columbia University.  A doctoral student in my department was investigating the benefit of children in upper-elementary classrooms having access to building blocks.  This was a new idea for me.  I couldn't imagine 4th graders playing with blocks in the classroom.  But when you think about it, a 4th grader is still in the "concrete-operational" stage of development according to Piaget, learning by actively engaging (manipulating testing, investigating) with their world.  Blocks are the perfect medium!
Along the same lines are other constructing materials such as Legos.  My neighbor boy (4th grader) creates unbelievable Lego ships/planes/vehicles and the thought process that goes into building these is most definitely building his spatial skills!

I've beefed up the block area in my classroom, by adding cars/trucks/people/animals.... although it's still a work in progress.  I need more blocks!  I'm hoping to apply for a grant to bring blocks to other classrooms in our school, beyond Kindergarten.  Convincing others that blocks beyond kindergarten is a good idea might be another job in itself! 
Stay tuned for more about blocks....