A Tree House

During ESL, my group has been working with nouns.  We have identified, categorized, and now selected our favorite nouns in order to create a book. 

Previously, we have discussed and expressed our favorite people, animals, and places.  Yesterday, we began discussing our favorite things.  The students draw and explain their thinking to me, while I journal about their work. 

This has encouraged some interesting and emphatic responses.  I have received answers such as hot showers, superheroes, and candy bars. 

However, a very interesting response that has emerged (among different groups-not interacting at the same time) has been the tree house. 
Apparently this is a favorite "thing" for most of my students.  I thought this to be an unlikely response for students living in the city. 
Some assured me that they were talking about when they lived in Puerto Rico, but some insisted that they did indeed have one at their houses, here now in Buffalo. 

Their lively discussions about this topic has me thinking about a possible project and way to bring this into our curriculum. 
Another interesting aspect of this discussion, it that it came up while we were discussing our favorite 'things,' and not during our favorite 'places.'  If that is how the tree house is viewed, then we should be able to recreate this 'thing,' inside the classroom.