Thursday, November 1, 2012

October!

We started off October by continuing to talk about Fall. We made owls, fall wreaths and talked about many of the changes going on around us.
 
We turned the dramatic play area into a Fall Festival where the children played with pumpkins and gourds. The students also had leaves that they would rake up into a pile and throw in the air.




 
 
 
 
These two children are using tongs to help get the crows out of our corn during our week that we discussed the Fall harvest.

A parent took the time one day to read a story to our children about different animals who are awake during the night. She also spent time with the children making bats, owls, and spiders with the children out of different types of beans. The children really enjoyed this experience and did a great job with their animals.

During our week we talked about Harvest the students also got an opportunity to shuck corn in the classroom. After the students removed the husks they painted by rolling the corn cobs in paint and rolling it across paper.
 
 






In the middle of October we took a week to talk about fire safety with the children. We discussed different having two escape routes from your house, how to "Stop, Drop and Roll" and what firefighters do and wear.
\These two students are working in our dramatic play area which we turned into a fire station. The children had fireman helmets and a hose to help put out the flames in our classroom. The students also helped to rescue babies from the fire.

 We took advantage of the beautiful weather we had this month with the children by going outside to do some artwork. The children had the bottoms of their feet painted and walked around a big peice of paper taped to the ground. The students really enjoyed this experience and the finished product looked great!
 
During the last week of the month we took time to celebrate and look at Halloween. The students were very excited about the costumes they had chosen to wear. We made spider webs by rolling marbles covered in white paint over black paper and ghosts out of white cotton balls.
 

Friday, October 5, 2012

Fall is Here!!!


At the end of September we helped welcome Fall by doing plenty of Fall activities...


The students went on a nature walk to collect different fall leaves. The students also made observations about how the leaves were changing colors on the trees. When we came back into the classroom the students created fall wreaths using the leaves they had collected.




The students played a matching game where they had to find two leaves with similar characteristics.



We finger painted in the classroom using different fall colors.


For afternoon snack the students made apple salad. The students helped measure the apples, raisins, and cinnamon. Then we took turns mixing the ingredients all together.


Friday, September 14, 2012

When life gives you LEMONS...


...the preschoolers make lemonade!


Everyone had their own special job to do to help make the lemonade. The kids helps to juice the lemons, add water, and stir with a big spoon. At snack time we tasted the lemonade. It was soooo good...we drank it all! :)   


The children were tasting lemons.  Some said they were sweet.
Some said they were sour.  A lot of them were making funny faces after they licked them!

It was hard work trying to squeeze the juice out of the lemons, but we
 finally got a cupful for our lemonade.


We added six cups of water to the lemon juice and stirred it with a big spoon.

Ohio Pre-Kindergarten Content Standards:
  • Social Studies:  Civic Participation and Skills
    • Everyone has responsibilities in a group.
    • Relationships in families, schools and communities benefit from cooperative behaviors and problem-solving skills. 


Colors and Shapes


Learning about colors and shapes with puzzles...

Selecting the right shape to complete the bunny puzzle.

Here she is identifying the shape she was placing on the puzzle,
"This is a blue diamond."


Learning about the color BLUE and using natural brushes to make different shapes... 

We painted with natural straw brushes.
She is dabbing the paint on with her brush.

She was swirling her paint on with the straw brush.

He is pushing the straw brush down and turning it in circles.



Learning about colors and shapes with a sorting activity...

A sorting activity: they were gluing items on their paper in the appropriate squares.
Identifying the colors red, blue, yellow and green. 

Working hard on their sorting activity.
One girl even made flowers by gluing a button on top of a pipe cleaner!

Learning about colors and shapes with various manipulatives in the block center...

Building a house using magnetic shapes of various colors.

He is concentrating on putting the snap blocks together.
He kept on turning the blocks around until he discovered which two ends fit.


Ohio Pre-Kindergarten Content Standards:
  • Mathematics 
    • Identify and describe shapes. (Geometry)
    • Analyze, compare, create and compose shapes.
      • Model shapes in the world by building shapes from components and drawing shapes.
      • Compose simple shapes to form larger shapes. 
    • Measurement and Data: Classify objects into given categories; count the number of objects in each category and sort the categories by count.