Cubby
position words — over / under / inside / next-to describe where things are
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Cubby was a little gray mouse who loved to tuck himself into spots. Over things, under things, inside things, right next to things. And he had a word for every spot. "Words for where," Cubby said, "help everybody find each other."
"Watch — I'll go OVER the box," Cubby said, and hopped up on top. "Now UNDER," and he scooted beneath it. Over meant on top. Under meant below. Same box, different spot, different word.
His friend the beetle was looking for her acorn. "It's INSIDE the cup," Cubby said, pointing. She peeked in — there it was! "Inside" meant tucked within. If Cubby had said "next to," she'd have looked beside the cup instead. The right word led her right to it.
They played a game. "Put the pebble NEXT TO the leaf." Cubby set it beside. "Now put it UNDER the leaf." He slid it beneath. Each position word told him exactly where to go. Over, under, inside, next to — a whole map made of words.
At bedtime, Cubby curled up INSIDE his cozy nest, with his blanket OVER him and his favorite pebble right NEXT TO his paw. He said each word softly as he settled in.
Knowing the word for every spot made the whole world feel findable — and it made his own little nest feel exactly, snugly right.
The BlockTots ensemble
Cubby is part of BlockTots's distributed-narrative cast. Each character embodies a different curricular primitive; together they teach the full subject.
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Spindle
Mental rotation (hero) — a squirrel who turns a piece in her paws until it drops into the hole; rotating-to-fit IS mental rotation
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Fitz
Composition / decomposition — a bird who fits small shapes together to build a bigger one; composing a whole from parts IS spatial composition
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Timber
Visuo-spatial construction — a beaver who copies a shown block model, stacking to match; reproducing a build IS construction
