During morning explorations, our class almost always asks to open up the big wooden blocks—an activity that has been a favorite since the very first week of school! For the first few months, the students were dedicated to building the city of Paris nearly every day. This later evolved into a French bakery. Then, in preparation for the wedding of one of our teachers, we read a book about wedding cakes, inspiring the students to transform the bakery into "Cake World."

Since its creation, Cake World has become a central part of our morning explorations, built almost daily. The students first constructed it before winter break, and on the first day back, they immediately rebuilt it together. The same thing happened after mid-winter break—on the very first day back, Cake World was rebuilt once again!

Interestingly, the students seem content to build and dismantle Cake World each day, rather than feeling the need to preserve it. This daily repetition has allowed them to refine their vision, shaping Cake World into an increasingly detailed structure. What began as a simple arrangement of blocks has grown into a fully realized bakery, complete with floors, walls, signs, piping bags they call “frosters,” a cake stand, and shelves displaying cakes topped with candles.

Through Cake World, we see how the class finds comfort in the repetitive process of building the bakery. While they have the option to use other materials or create something entirely new, they consistently return to this familiar and beloved structure. We’re curious to see how Cake World will continue to evolve. Recently, the students have introduced cardboard laptops and added an “office” section to the bakery. Will Cake World continue to be built and rebuilt, or will it transform into something completely different? We can’t wait to find out!

Here are some of our students’ thoughts on Cake World:

“It’s like Paris. They wanted to build a new thing, not the same thing every time. And we can still build new cities.” – Raphael

“It’s called Cake World Bakery because it’s a world of cakes, and it’s a bakery.” – Dylan