Santa's Workshop

We are so excited to announce that our Dramatic Play Centre has been transformed into Santa's Workshop!  

Here is how Ms. Marrella and I co-constructed this space with our students.        

Dramatic Play Centre
Pre-Transformation

We let our students know that the Dramatic Play Centre would be transformed into a new space for the month of December.  We asked our students for some input.  Once we had our idea (Santa's Workshop), we needed to create a construction sign - we didn't want anyone to get hurt now that we were in a construction zone! 

    

Santa's workshop under construction.
Boots and hats on site!

For two weeks our students were so excited to collect items for Santa's Workshop.  Once we had collected a BIG pile of stuff, we sorted it out into different piles.  

Our pile of collected items.

Our collected items sorted into different piles. 

Once we sorted through that big mountain of Christmas stuff, we made a graph.

Next, we needed to make a plan.  We talked about where the items would be placed in Santa's Workshop.  Then we created a blueprint.  

Christmas Tree, Ornaments, Presents,
Fireplace, Garland, Stockings and Wrapping Paper

Here are some pictures of the students painting the fireplace, creating a computer for Santa, and decorating the Christmas tree. 

Santa's Workshop was ready for the little elves to play in! They can now write letters, wrap presents, measure and repair toys, and use a few digital devices (Santa has now entered the 21st century with his iMac, iPad and iPhone!). 

Co-constructing this space with our students was both a lot of fun, and a true learning experience.  The learning doesn't stop here though!  Our students will have a few weeks to interact with each other and this space.  We can't wait to see them play in Santa's Workshop next week.

A very big thank you to our parent community.  We could not have created this space without your support and generous donations.  Once again, Ms. Marrella and I were touched by your generosity and enthusiasm for this project.  There is no doubt that the students will play, learn and grow together in this space.  Thank you again!   

P.S. The website on the iMac is www.google.com/earth/