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It's always interesting to see how some preK and Kindergarten (even up to 2nd grade!) classrooms have whole shelf units dedicated to a variety of building blocks and how blocks are completely absent in some classrooms. 
Do you have blocks in your classroom? What kind? 
Do your students have enough time to build to their hearts' content?
What are the standards and concepts your students engage in while using blocks?

Two resources I've found useful:

• Building Structures with Young Children by Ingrid Chalufour and Karen Worth, on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Building-Structures-Young-Children-Scientist/dp/1929610505 and at Redleaf Press: http://www.redleafpress.org/Building-Structures-with-Young-C...e-P70.aspx 


• Ramps and Pathways resources from the University of Northern Iowa, http://www.uni.edu/rampsandpathways/ 

Our kindergarten classroom does not have blocks in the traditional sense, but we do have unifix cubes. I would really like to see the earl childhood classrooms move back towards the hands-on activities that promoted fine motor skills, and coordination. Now it seems we are supposed to rely only on scissors, pencils, and glue to develop the fine motor skills of the hands.

I am a student teacher and I am currently placed in a pre-k classroom. When I first visited my cooperating teachers classroom, I was surprised to find out that she didn't have any blocks in her class. I remember asking her about it and her telling me that she doesn't like for students to believe that they go to school to play with blocks. Therefore, she never puts them out but she does have different types of manipulatives available for them.

I am a student teacher in a kindergarten classroom and my cooperating teacher has lots of hands on manipulatives for students to use during class. They really enjoy being allowed to use these and it keeps them engaged in the lesson going on. I think having these manipulatives are important for kids of such a young age because they are learning to build their hand eye coordination through by doing this.

I am a student teacher in 4th grade math and science , the classrooms do not have blocks, they do have lots of manipulative and hands on materials for math and science. I visited a Pre-K class at the same school I student teach at and they do have blocks, and they do get to play with them during centers.

I used to work in a school in which blocks were used in the classroom. In the pre-k and kindergarten classroom that I observe, I notice that the teachers let the students play with the blocks for 1 minute before going to the actual lesson. Blocks are useful for students because they are able to use the blocks to experiment and explore when doing different activities.