I want to apologize for not getting these last two posts up sooner. We have had back-to-back weekends of family camping and family illness. We're all better now, so here are the last two installments. I look forward to keeping in touch with all of you over the summertime...
Our last week was a very busy one. Although we've been talking a bit about butterflies over the last months, they are such a lovely, fun creature to explore that it seemed perfect to have a butterfly week before our little ones flew off into the summer.
Some of our activities centered around butterfly art. On Tuesday, the children used glitter glue pens to decorate their butterflies; on Wednesday, they were offered more corks and paint for printing--and then folding--the painted butterflies. On Thursday, it seemed right to use up all the paint, and so V suggested cutting out flowers to decorate. She decided to print and fold, print and fold, while J and S were happy with using the corks to "paint" the flowers (less printing action, more smearing). We had some very beautiful creations emerge from this work.
While indoors, we looked at several books which document the metamorphosis of the butterfly, from egg to caterpillar, chrysalis to winged insect. Outside, we looked for caterpillars (none found) and spotted a few white cabbage butterflies in the garden. What was almost more interesting, however, was a bee tree we visited on our walk. Our neighbor's walnut tree is home to a honeybee hive and so we took a peek from a safe distance, watching as countless bees zipped in and out of the hole, noticing too that some bees hovered and waited their turn to go in as the entrance was so busy. In the backyard, we noticed the ladybug larvae hanging out in the plum tree, eating their fill of aphids. We also saw that some of the larvae were very small in comparison to the more mature larvae.
To honor our last week, we made popsicles for all the children. Tuesday was the "making popsicles" day with juice and an old-fashioned popsicle mold. The kids had loads of fun pouring the juice into the holes of the mold and putting the covers on. Wednesday and Thursday afternoons both, we enjoyed not only the popsicles outside, but also a follow-up snack of the yellow peas that we'd grown. I brought a bowl of them in for snacktime as well and they were devoured, but the kids really liked learning how to hold the vine with one hand and to pull off the pea with the other. We checked on our carrots too; they hadn't grown as much as I would have liked, so the root was still white and unrecognizable as a carrot--until they took a sniff of the root. Then we all agreed that it did, indeed, smell like a carrot. (Although no one wanted to try a taste...just didn't look quite right.)
Some other moments during our last week:
Puppy play. J had tied a string onto a car, and the 'puppies' idea from a few weeks ago was relaunched. Before it was over, S and V were busily bringing the puppies everywhere they went, tying them up before using the bathroom/washing hands or moving onto another activity. T, however, was more interested in creating a pulley with two cars, one string and using the grated sides of the milk crates in the block area to hang the string on, sliding the loose car up and down by pulling the string of the other car around the axle of the loose car, then up and down. (If it sounds complicated and thoughtful, well, it was!)
A great dramatic play story was built on the big rug. T used blocks to build quite an interesting, long low structure similar to a dock. He called this "a boat eater, where people can eat". J needed a place for cars to drive, and as T said that cars couldn't go on it, a road was built. Then small bowls were offered as boats and S filled them up with dollhouse people. It was a very busy place.
In the rice bin, T and J worked together to pour a large container of rice into another container, J held the second container close while T poured the first one out.
We played a counting game with our bears and their story mat (this has a meadow, apple tree, forest, pond and cottage illustrated on it). We started with six bears on the mat; each child could roll the dice and move that amount of bears to any places they chose on the mat, and then we counted how many bears were at each spot. This lasted for about two rounds, which was plenty of counting for the children.
V and S work, making long lines with the fruit dominos, sometimes matching them up, sometimes not. Later, S would make another line and call it a 'road'.
Working Cooperatively, once again. V and S were having some difficulty taking turns with a toy. As I was busy getting snack ready, I offered to put it up for a minute and told they could make a plan for how to use the toy and come back to find me, or that I could help them when I was finished with what I needed to do. Surprisingly, on our last day of school, the girls came up to me, so excited. "We made a plan" said V. "S will use it, and then I will." I was both proud and amazed as I watched the girls retrieve the toy and begin to carry out their agreement. What a big step!
It's been such a great session with the children, and I'm looking forward to seeing those returning faces--and a couple new ones--next fall. Have a great summer!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Holes!
Recently there’s been quite a bit of speculation as to what might be in the holes we see on our walks. Taking my cue from the children, we’ve spent our week noticing and talking about holes. At our Gathering time on Tuesday, I read from “Animals and Their Hiding Places”, a book which features great photos of animals that live in holes and other hiding places. The children immediately made the connection between a picture of a muskrat lodge and the lodge in our “Busy Beavers” book, and enjoyed seeing the photos of critters commiserating underground in their burrows and tunnels. Later, we moved to on to using hole punches, glue sticks, scissors and crayons at the large table, creating pictures to take home.
On Wednesday, we took a look at some household items that have holes as a main feature of their function. Funnels, vegetable steamers, colanders, sieves…we talked about how these holes allowed water, steam and other things to pass through. The children played with the marble run, which is all about lining up holes to make the marbles pass through the chutes in the way each child planned. Later, we put a whistling teakettle on to boil and watched the steam pass through the small holes as the kettle made a train-whistle sound. Experimentation continued during our rice play; a marble run was brought over to see if the rice would go down as easily as the marbles. J and T tried spinning some of the whirligigs to see if this would push the rice along; S and J poured rice through tubes into containers and then lifted the tubes again and again to see the rice drop out below. Many treats were made in the rice bin, including muffins and cakes, and T tried out corking a funnel and filling it with rice, then letting the rice out. Which, of course, everyone else had to try because it was so interesting!
The holes, however, were nearly upstaged by the rain. Wednesday found us standing on the porch, marveling at the sun shining through the downpour. There weren’t just puddles outdoors; we did some large-brush watercolor painting that morning, the children heaping on color after color until large pools of paint washed over their papers. S was very interested in mixing colors as much as possible, and when her paper was filled, began dumping cups of color into each other. On Thursday, S was raring to go for a walk at eleven or so, and in the midst of a rainstorm. J and I were game, so we headed out for a spectacular puddle walk, culminating at “Lake Flanders”, a huge puddle at the end of the street caused by a clogged storm drain. So we puddle-stomped back to the house, grabbed a tool to clear the drain, and returned. Once a plastic bag and some tree debris was removed, how the water roared down into the drain! S and J waded in the receding puddle until it was quite nearly gone before heading back inside. And of course, the storm drain is a hole, too, so there was a lot of peering down to see the water sliding away.
Some other moments from our week:
Playdough…again, and again. S is excited-“Look! The playdough is flat. I’m squishing it with my hands.” She flattens the dough and then rolls it out. Flattening and rolling the dough is actually a bit of a workout, given the size of the chunk and the firmness of it. T offers an imaginary treat of chocolate, syrup and pancakes, calling it a ‘bun’. J makes a pancake. S squishes her playdough again while counting to twenty, and J makes “fingerprints with my fingertips”.
Many of us were really missing V this week; she was home with a virus. Everyone was very happy to make pictures and a get-well message to send. S was especially interested in the postage stamp I popped onto the envelope.
We played our “What’s Missing Lotto” game again. I was tickled to see that some of the new words we introduced last week were recalled.
We tried out a new cooperative game, “Snail’s Pace Race”. As simple as this game is, the real challenge wasn’t taking turns, it was having our snails move just one space at a time. Once our green snail won, S made sure that all of the snails crossed the finish line before the game was put away.
Because we had just two children on Thursday, and because they both love to work in the kitchen, we made some banana bread. S liked leveling out the scoops of flour so much that she continued the ‘leveling’ during the rice play later that day.
J showed S how to make a chain of monkeys to hang from a drawer pull. (Remember the Barrel of Monkeys toy from yesteryear? It’s a pretty challenging game for a three year old!)
We had some fun ball play outdoors on our sunny Tuesday. We also enjoyed snacking on our yellow peas. And at long last, our blue-podded peas are starting to make an appearance.
I want to note that, while we have had some disappointing “June-uary” weather, I’ve been offering other gross-motor activities in lieu of the exercise we’d be getting outside. Besides the physical engagement of playdough, we’ve also been having fun with games like “Doggie Doggie, Where’s your Bone?” and learning some new songs, including the “Hokey Pokey” and other full-body moving tunes. I’m crossing my fingers for some dry skies for our last week of school. We’ll see you next Tuesday!
On Wednesday, we took a look at some household items that have holes as a main feature of their function. Funnels, vegetable steamers, colanders, sieves…we talked about how these holes allowed water, steam and other things to pass through. The children played with the marble run, which is all about lining up holes to make the marbles pass through the chutes in the way each child planned. Later, we put a whistling teakettle on to boil and watched the steam pass through the small holes as the kettle made a train-whistle sound. Experimentation continued during our rice play; a marble run was brought over to see if the rice would go down as easily as the marbles. J and T tried spinning some of the whirligigs to see if this would push the rice along; S and J poured rice through tubes into containers and then lifted the tubes again and again to see the rice drop out below. Many treats were made in the rice bin, including muffins and cakes, and T tried out corking a funnel and filling it with rice, then letting the rice out. Which, of course, everyone else had to try because it was so interesting!
The holes, however, were nearly upstaged by the rain. Wednesday found us standing on the porch, marveling at the sun shining through the downpour. There weren’t just puddles outdoors; we did some large-brush watercolor painting that morning, the children heaping on color after color until large pools of paint washed over their papers. S was very interested in mixing colors as much as possible, and when her paper was filled, began dumping cups of color into each other. On Thursday, S was raring to go for a walk at eleven or so, and in the midst of a rainstorm. J and I were game, so we headed out for a spectacular puddle walk, culminating at “Lake Flanders”, a huge puddle at the end of the street caused by a clogged storm drain. So we puddle-stomped back to the house, grabbed a tool to clear the drain, and returned. Once a plastic bag and some tree debris was removed, how the water roared down into the drain! S and J waded in the receding puddle until it was quite nearly gone before heading back inside. And of course, the storm drain is a hole, too, so there was a lot of peering down to see the water sliding away.
Some other moments from our week:
Playdough…again, and again. S is excited-“Look! The playdough is flat. I’m squishing it with my hands.” She flattens the dough and then rolls it out. Flattening and rolling the dough is actually a bit of a workout, given the size of the chunk and the firmness of it. T offers an imaginary treat of chocolate, syrup and pancakes, calling it a ‘bun’. J makes a pancake. S squishes her playdough again while counting to twenty, and J makes “fingerprints with my fingertips”.
Many of us were really missing V this week; she was home with a virus. Everyone was very happy to make pictures and a get-well message to send. S was especially interested in the postage stamp I popped onto the envelope.
We played our “What’s Missing Lotto” game again. I was tickled to see that some of the new words we introduced last week were recalled.
We tried out a new cooperative game, “Snail’s Pace Race”. As simple as this game is, the real challenge wasn’t taking turns, it was having our snails move just one space at a time. Once our green snail won, S made sure that all of the snails crossed the finish line before the game was put away.
Because we had just two children on Thursday, and because they both love to work in the kitchen, we made some banana bread. S liked leveling out the scoops of flour so much that she continued the ‘leveling’ during the rice play later that day.
J showed S how to make a chain of monkeys to hang from a drawer pull. (Remember the Barrel of Monkeys toy from yesteryear? It’s a pretty challenging game for a three year old!)
We had some fun ball play outdoors on our sunny Tuesday. We also enjoyed snacking on our yellow peas. And at long last, our blue-podded peas are starting to make an appearance.
I want to note that, while we have had some disappointing “June-uary” weather, I’ve been offering other gross-motor activities in lieu of the exercise we’d be getting outside. Besides the physical engagement of playdough, we’ve also been having fun with games like “Doggie Doggie, Where’s your Bone?” and learning some new songs, including the “Hokey Pokey” and other full-body moving tunes. I’m crossing my fingers for some dry skies for our last week of school. We’ll see you next Tuesday!
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Cuckoo!
Parent News: I'd like to remind families that the end of our session is before us; our last day will be Thursday June 17th. I can't believe this time has gone so quickly!
On Tuesday, June 8th, we will have a visitor to the school. Jane Bush will be here from 9:30-11:30 to observe and to provide me with some professional feedback at my request. Jane is a retired teacher, having taught first grade in the Portland Public School system for years. Although an observer, she will be interacting naturally with the children. My hope is to gain some constructive feedback, which is important for a teacher flying solo.
This week brought a surprise to the preschool. An old-style cuckoo clock now hangs in the hallway near the bathroom. Once the first "Cuckoo!" was heard, the children were enchanted. About five minutes after seeing the cuckoo appear, T was stopped in the doorway, staring at it. "When is it going to come?" he asked me. I replied that it would come out for one cuckoo in a half-hour, thirty minutes. "Is that long?" he asked. I replied that I didn't know, and that I would ask him his question after we saw the cuckoo and see what he thought. Thirty minutes later and he decided that yes, it was a long time.
This was a typical conversation for our group this week. There were many questions about the clock, as well as other aspects of time. We looked at an illustrated chart and discussed how our preschool day has different times for different activities (Gathering time, Snack time, Art time, Outside time); and read "Kathryn Goes to Nursery School", making connections with Kathryn's nursery school and our own. We also used the chart to assign special helper jobs to each child. These tasks are things the children generally enjoy and include: wiping the tables dry before/after meals when they are cleaned, counting out how many smocks are needed for all the children and then distributing them, gathering up the wooden-handled tools outside, or being a special helper at clean-up time by giving an extra look around and helping to see what else needs to be put away. The children have adopted the idea of having special jobs and take pride in being a special helper, even if the task is something as simple as gathering mats together after our Gathering. I remind them of the positive contribution their task gives to the group and their faces light up.
Time isn't just a number on a clock, so we also discussed the ideas of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, explaining it with concrete examples on Wednesday. "Yesterday, V did not come to school. Today, V is at school. Tomorrow, V will come to school too", following through with all the children. Using explanations like "the day before you woke up, when you went to bed last night...that was Yesterday" can help at this age. You might also hear these words in combination with other phrases like "a long time ago yesterday" and such. It may take a long time for your child to understand exactly what these words mean (J likes to say "this day" in lieu of today), because they are still so precisely in the here and now.
On Wednesday we sat down for a group game of "What's Missing Lotto". We've been playing this as a matching game for a while, and had a lot of fun identifying the missing parts. Some of the children found that their missing parts needed labels, and thus a great opportunity for vocabulary enrichment fell into our laps. Spokes, rungs, tines, spouts, and teeth were just a few of the words we discussed; there was a lot of giggling, too, especially in regard to a comb having teeth. Your child may have even shared a joke about it with you, which made all of it even funnier.
On Thursday we headed out for an exploratory walk, taking in all the blooms~ roses, hydrangeas, dandelions and peonies, lavender and spirea were all inspected with noses and fingers. We came across a backhoe/excavator and two workers staring at a hole in the sidewalk, and noticed the shape of the hole (square) and the many cones in the street. This turned into a conversation about road safety, which is an ongoing discussion from our weeks looking at car and truck books. We also found some smaller holes in a neighbor's yard. "What's down there?" I asked. S thought there might be a rabbit. Who knows?
Some other glimpses into our week together:
J and T working playdough. Lots of pretzel making, as well as a few worms.
We revisited using the stamps and ink pads. Orienting the stamps and pads were a challenge at first, and I noticed the children trying different methods of applying pressure to the stamps, with the heels of their hands, fingers on both paper and pushing the stamps, or the simple one-handed technique.
Our stampy table needed a good soap up. The cars came out to drive through the suds, then we introduced popsicle sticks to move the bubbles around and make new lines.
S, V and T throwing balls back and forth to each other, standing on the rounds (and gladly climbing down to get the ball again and again), or on their feet in the grass.
Our carrots and peas are still growing strong. Tiny little yellow peapods are developing now, and the carrot tops are getting fuller. We also planted some nasturtium seeds near the house in the backyard.
Painting this week, twice. We revisited our print painting with circular props, and offered easel time. What a variety of pictures and methods of painting!
We worked giant puzzles several times this week. This seems to be far more popular right now than using our bin for beans or rice, so we've temporarily designated the kitchen floor for this activity. S and T especially like to get right in on these puzzles.
V and S snuggling babies and carrying them into the 'house' under the kitchen table.
S and J playing dress-up kitchen play with necklaces, aprons, pasta and lot of "silly"...giggling, rolling on the floor and having fun.
V, T and S singing "Ring around the Rosie" on the rug. More giggles.
J, V and S together outdoors, using discarded grapevines to "fish" in the raingarden again; grape leaves torn up with collected flowers from our walk...all this became a soup, seasoned with sand and cooked in a flowerpot!
We'll have another great week ahead of us. See you then!
On Tuesday, June 8th, we will have a visitor to the school. Jane Bush will be here from 9:30-11:30 to observe and to provide me with some professional feedback at my request. Jane is a retired teacher, having taught first grade in the Portland Public School system for years. Although an observer, she will be interacting naturally with the children. My hope is to gain some constructive feedback, which is important for a teacher flying solo.
This week brought a surprise to the preschool. An old-style cuckoo clock now hangs in the hallway near the bathroom. Once the first "Cuckoo!" was heard, the children were enchanted. About five minutes after seeing the cuckoo appear, T was stopped in the doorway, staring at it. "When is it going to come?" he asked me. I replied that it would come out for one cuckoo in a half-hour, thirty minutes. "Is that long?" he asked. I replied that I didn't know, and that I would ask him his question after we saw the cuckoo and see what he thought. Thirty minutes later and he decided that yes, it was a long time.
This was a typical conversation for our group this week. There were many questions about the clock, as well as other aspects of time. We looked at an illustrated chart and discussed how our preschool day has different times for different activities (Gathering time, Snack time, Art time, Outside time); and read "Kathryn Goes to Nursery School", making connections with Kathryn's nursery school and our own. We also used the chart to assign special helper jobs to each child. These tasks are things the children generally enjoy and include: wiping the tables dry before/after meals when they are cleaned, counting out how many smocks are needed for all the children and then distributing them, gathering up the wooden-handled tools outside, or being a special helper at clean-up time by giving an extra look around and helping to see what else needs to be put away. The children have adopted the idea of having special jobs and take pride in being a special helper, even if the task is something as simple as gathering mats together after our Gathering. I remind them of the positive contribution their task gives to the group and their faces light up.
Time isn't just a number on a clock, so we also discussed the ideas of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, explaining it with concrete examples on Wednesday. "Yesterday, V did not come to school. Today, V is at school. Tomorrow, V will come to school too", following through with all the children. Using explanations like "the day before you woke up, when you went to bed last night...that was Yesterday" can help at this age. You might also hear these words in combination with other phrases like "a long time ago yesterday" and such. It may take a long time for your child to understand exactly what these words mean (J likes to say "this day" in lieu of today), because they are still so precisely in the here and now.
On Wednesday we sat down for a group game of "What's Missing Lotto". We've been playing this as a matching game for a while, and had a lot of fun identifying the missing parts. Some of the children found that their missing parts needed labels, and thus a great opportunity for vocabulary enrichment fell into our laps. Spokes, rungs, tines, spouts, and teeth were just a few of the words we discussed; there was a lot of giggling, too, especially in regard to a comb having teeth. Your child may have even shared a joke about it with you, which made all of it even funnier.
On Thursday we headed out for an exploratory walk, taking in all the blooms~ roses, hydrangeas, dandelions and peonies, lavender and spirea were all inspected with noses and fingers. We came across a backhoe/excavator and two workers staring at a hole in the sidewalk, and noticed the shape of the hole (square) and the many cones in the street. This turned into a conversation about road safety, which is an ongoing discussion from our weeks looking at car and truck books. We also found some smaller holes in a neighbor's yard. "What's down there?" I asked. S thought there might be a rabbit. Who knows?
Some other glimpses into our week together:
J and T working playdough. Lots of pretzel making, as well as a few worms.
We revisited using the stamps and ink pads. Orienting the stamps and pads were a challenge at first, and I noticed the children trying different methods of applying pressure to the stamps, with the heels of their hands, fingers on both paper and pushing the stamps, or the simple one-handed technique.
Our stampy table needed a good soap up. The cars came out to drive through the suds, then we introduced popsicle sticks to move the bubbles around and make new lines.
S, V and T throwing balls back and forth to each other, standing on the rounds (and gladly climbing down to get the ball again and again), or on their feet in the grass.
Our carrots and peas are still growing strong. Tiny little yellow peapods are developing now, and the carrot tops are getting fuller. We also planted some nasturtium seeds near the house in the backyard.
Painting this week, twice. We revisited our print painting with circular props, and offered easel time. What a variety of pictures and methods of painting!
We worked giant puzzles several times this week. This seems to be far more popular right now than using our bin for beans or rice, so we've temporarily designated the kitchen floor for this activity. S and T especially like to get right in on these puzzles.
V and S snuggling babies and carrying them into the 'house' under the kitchen table.
S and J playing dress-up kitchen play with necklaces, aprons, pasta and lot of "silly"...giggling, rolling on the floor and having fun.
V, T and S singing "Ring around the Rosie" on the rug. More giggles.
J, V and S together outdoors, using discarded grapevines to "fish" in the raingarden again; grape leaves torn up with collected flowers from our walk...all this became a soup, seasoned with sand and cooked in a flowerpot!
We'll have another great week ahead of us. See you then!
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