Bread

Today we continued our exploration into FOOD. I went upstairs to the resource room, which my son Addam is working to organize and found a few materials we can use. Like these potato heads. The kids LOVE this!

For small groups today we made Alphabet Soup. The kids stirred the " soup " and then closed their eyes and pulled out a letter and shared it with the rest of the group.

We even tried writing a few of the letters we found. This is an A. Rosanna had an A and I said " Rosanna, are you going to try to write your letter?" She said " I DID!" I thought this was MY writing and I had given her an example.

Emeri pulled out a letter and said " Look ! The letter in MY name !"

After playing with the soup I laid my notebook on the table and Daniel said " Look , they match" and laid his magnetic 5 on my 5 !

This is my new system for taking " observations" Through out the day sometimes I see things that are significant events in a child's development. I take notes on these and this helps me to assess them for further help or help in planning what I need to focus on for teaching. ( I know.. you thought I just threw things out and played all day.. right ? ) I was using a note book and then transferring the notes to a binder. I am all about minimizing the paperwork steps. So, now I have this posterboard. Randy and I keep post it notes handy. As I see something that needs to be recorded . I put the day on the note and then tag it under the child's name. This is my first day for this. I will either transcribe into the binder OR place the post it in the proper place inside the binder. Observations are very important. Sometimes I focus on specific skills. Sometimes the observations are " on the go" or random. Sometimes they are planned - for instance at the beginning of the year when we put them all in a line to see who could jump on one foot or skip.

I love Audrey's structure!

playdoh fun

After our small groups I put the " Alphabet Soup" on the table and several kids revisited it and played again.

Folder game ( matching )

Morning Message- The older children circled the first letter in their name.

We also read a book called "Wheat " and talked about how wheat grows and ends up being bread. We learned new words such as harvest and silo . One of the kids favorite songs this month is the old camp song called " McDonalds, Pizza Hut " . Do you remember this one ?

What a great day. Five years ago today I became a grandma . Can't think of a better job to have .

File Folders Going Home

Today we have explored apples more. We did a sink and float activity . Do you think an apple sinks or floats? Do you remember bobbing for apples when you were younger. I had actually thought I might do that today but since I have been thrust into the world of germphobia - I got to thinking . Would I want to grab an apple with my teeth from some water that 15 other preschoolers have had open mouths in? I think not. :)

One of the fun activities you see a picture of is the new worm manipulatives I bought the other day. Apples and worms usually go hand in hand, right? These worms can be sorted by color or size. We can talk about which ones are longer and shorter. We can put them in sequential order. We can use them for non standard measure. ( How many worms long is the table?) Most of the activities like this I just put on the table first to see what the kids will do with them. Nolan started sorting the worms by color without prompt. This is called... child centered curriculum. This is how we teach while we play. Isnt this much more fun than drawing a line from one red worm to another red worm to show we can sort?

I was so proud of Katie. The last two days she has been in our blocks area playing and showed me how two halves make a whole. That is why we have unit blocks ! It is a math activity as well as a motor skill while building. YAY Katie!

File folder games are going home today. I am going to try to do one atleast every three weeks to send home . It is yours to keep. Find a place to keep them and revisit them from time to time to reinforce skills we are learning at school. This is meant to be a FUN time of play with the parent. When the child is crying or frustrated it is no longer fun.. put it away and move along.

It has been a good day. :)