t is for transportation

Posted on March 25, 2009 by kristin

oh, how i wish model magic was more affordable! since it isn’t, our friday class was the group to sculpt transportation.

we named the colors, counted together as i cut them apart (since that couldn’t be done ahead of time in fear of it hardening), then gave each child a plate of pieces. there were toothpicks and googly eyes (so our transportation vehicles might look like the ones in richard scarry books!)

i didn’t sense frustration as i watched them sculpt, mimic each other, or go new directions.

introducing transportation by the friday class:

i wish i had recorded the names of their transportation vehicles. i know there were ships, boats, cars, trucks, vans, airplanes, rockets, trains…and some creatively named vehicles!

s + h is for sheep

Posted on March 25, 2009 by kristin

nothing like those silly sheep in a jeep to mesmerize a bunch.

we used our fists in this little chant again:

here is S (one fist)

here is H (the other fist)

pound them together (do just that!)

shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (make a long /sh/ sound)

s is for skyscraper

Posted on March 9, 2009 by kristin

masking tape strips on our unit blocks encouraged tower building. i turned one of our mirrors over to give a hard cement-colored surface.

we collected cartons and boxes for making our own skyscrapers.

it looked like christmas eve watching ms. vilia wrap all the cartons with manila paper.

then the children cut and glued windows in as straight of rows as possible .

we poked skewers in the top using tape on the end as radio antennas (and as an attempt to avoid getting eyes poked out).

we introduced the concept of a “story” being a book but also being the floor of a building or house.

this project was strips of paper (with windows pre-drawn by me and photocopied) that were glued together. preschoolers could choose to make their skyscraper have as many stories as they like. some children (like my own) stopped after the second story.

the children’s skyscrapers were correlated with their ages. i didn’t expect that. the younger ones simply stopped sooner and got back to work time (free choice time in the classroom). the pre-k kids stayed the longest.

they would run up and down the hall getting more paper strips and glue. we had to make more copies twice. they were counting their stories over and over.

i think there was succes for some in making their skyscraper taller than they are.

b is for band

Posted on March 9, 2009 by kristin

friday morning jam session using real instruments: ukulele, accordian and hands

s is for seuss

Posted on March 9, 2009 by kristin

dr. seuss that is.

his birthday was march 2…the same as a preschooler…what fun that was.

i demonstrated the play of words when only one letter changes to make new words. i try to make my teaching subtle. i want the children to feel as though they are playing. to learn writing by tracing in the sand or with paint. to learn color recognition by running around the room looking for red things. to learn number reading by watching me put the calendar card in 4 wrong ways before the correct way. but today’s learning didn’t feel much like play.

we moved to an activity that is unusual for our preschool.

worksheets.

it felt a little like “playing school.”

i appreciate the experience of explaining the steps and then sitting with a group and watch them navigate it. one step was to color every other stripe red (HARD). the other step was to follow my modeling of letter writing in front of the “at” (ALSO HARD!).

i know what a reality this will be in our public school kindergarten rooms, so i am glad to plant this seed as well.

when their writing and coloring was done, we cut a couple of rectangles off to make it a hat shape.

so we sat like a rat on a mat and cut a hat like the cat. : )

s is for sink

Posted on March 9, 2009 by kristin

we had water in the tub table this week. some days it was colored with food coloring. some days it had baby-safe soap in it. some days it was tea water (herbal tea steeped in warm water). every day we put in fresh warm water…by about 10:30 it’s cold.

the milk lids (all of them!) made an appearance again. for the record, they all float.

no matter what color they are, they float. stickers and writing on them don’t matter either.

a child led experiment was putting a few lids in an old pill bottle then adding water which made the lids float!

S week • preschool 0809 by you.

our tub table has a little curved area that acts as a “waterfall.” there are grooves along the whole table which act as “river.

we discovered that when one end of the table is lifted (and held in place with blocks), the river runs faster (and over the edge).

i quickly saw the need to collect some of the water instead of soaking the floor more.

the play moved to conversations of miles per hour and currents.

there were many pruned hands by the end of each day.

f is for friend

Posted on March 3, 2009 by kristin

one horse, four wanting a turn, clever solution…no adults needed.

preschool daze

Remembering the days of New Creation Preschool.

Monthly Archives: March 2009

t is for transportation

s + h is for sheep

s is for skyscraper

b is for band

s is for seuss

s is for sink

f is for friend

Follow “preschool daze”

s is for share:

Like this:

s is for share:

Like this:

s is for share:

Like this:

s is for share:

Like this:

s is for share:

Like this:

s is for share:

Like this:

s is for share:

Like this:

Follow “preschool daze”