"My robot has no hands."
"I need more glue!"
"Here is the button that goes BEEP."
"What are you going to name your robot?"
"I'm going to call him Robot Guy."
"I need to curl this for hair."
"Here is a belly button."
"How many eyes do robots have?"
We continued our robot fun this morning. The children enjoyed working with their tools, role playing, and creating some amazing one of a kind robots! We gathered a hodgepodge of materials today and the kids went to town with glue bottles and whipped up some of the most creative robots I have ever seen. I am so proud of their final results. Such amazing creativity in these young learners. Overheard while tinkering...
"My robot has no hands." "I need more glue!" "Here is the button that goes BEEP." "What are you going to name your robot?" "I'm going to call him Robot Guy." "I need to curl this for hair." "Here is a belly button." "How many eyes do robots have?" We had a wonderful time exploring robots and tools this morning. The children were roll playing, transforming letters into robots, drilling and even got to meet a real robot! And if that wasn't enough excitement we also met a new Awesome Owl. So glad to have a new friend to share our fun with. Our snack today was a perfect fit! R2D2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and ABC pretzels. We had so much fun biting the legs and heads off our robots. And the conversation that the alphabet pretzels sparked was amazing. The children were identifying every letter they ate and trading each other for their own initials. They were even able to often tell me a word that started with the letter in hand, ex. J is for Jesus or D is for dog. For art today we painted with robot gears and worked on our scissor skills with robot themed cutting strips. And what robot day would be complete without meeting a real robot? There were so many laughs when I brought the kitty out to visit. He was a hit! I can't wait to see what they say about my robot dinosaur on Friday!
The children had their hands in a little bit of everything today. We played house, painted a snowy scene and worked with play dough. I also spend some time with each child today working on assessments for our conferences on Friday, Feb. 5. Our art time consisted of a bit of fine motor work and creative expression. Each child was first given a piece of bubble wrap. We talked about what it is used for and how much fun it is to pop the little bubbles. Of course we had to give it a try and what fun it was. We then painted the bubble wrap and used it to stamp onto a sheet of blue paper. The imprint left behind reminded us of falling snow. Then we added a polar bear to the scene and it was complete. Our fine motor development is also evident when we are working with play dough. They children are now able to utilize play dough tools such as rollers, scissors, and cookie cutters. The most exciting development I have seen is how much more effectively they are able to use their own hands! Many can now roll play dough balls, make worms, and create mini sculptures. This morning some children were cutting play dough, while others made "meatballs" or even snowmen!
We enjoyed several icy adventures this morning. We had fancy ice in the sensory tub, icy letter matching, "snowball" scooping and even painted a block of ice! Oh the fun we have in preschool! The children also got a chance to work with the pipettes again. This time we were transferring colored water onto a snowflake. Their control is improving! The most popular activity of the morning had to be painting an actual block of ice. We placed the ice on a sheet of tin foil to help reflect the light. The children used watercolor paints to create some unique although temporary works of art. I only wish they had lasted long enough for you to see and enjoy in person.
This morning was full of arctic play. We painted snowflakes, ate frozen bananas for snack, and learned about arctic animals. The children enjoyed a healthy snack of frozen bananas today. They were a huge hit! During our story time we shared a felt board story that the children thought was wonderful. I guess I left it within their reach because after lunch several children found it and had a ball reenacting it over and over. Nice to know they are listening and learning all the time. They don't miss a beat! Snowball, Snowball,
Cold and round, Under which mitten, Will you be found? We always "read" these felt stories from left to right as we read words on a page. This pre-reading activity helps train the children to know that that is how we read print. The snowball is always hidden under the last mitten but no matter how many times we share this and similar stories they are surprised by the final reveal. The children had a great time exploring all kinds of animals. We pretended to be bears in a cave, matched winter animals to their photos, explored story play with animals in the sensory tub and even had a visit from a few very interesting creatures. Our friend, Mr. John, brought several of his animals to share with us today. We met a millipede with 200 legs, a boa with no legs and a turtle with 4 legs. Our favorite was Molly, the tortoise. She is 20 years old and has 13 plates or scoots on her shell. We learned that turtles and tortoises grow with their shell and that Molly might live to be 150! Mr. John's presentation focused on numbers and how important they are to animals too! We also worked on proper scissor skills and pencil grips. We are still learning but we have come a long way from September!
We have really loved our hot cocoa roll play this week. Today we were blessed with the addition of a coffee pot, mixer, and toaster. They were an instant hit! Pretend play is such a vital part of a child's development. For some children this play is quite natural and for others it really needs to be nurtured and encouraged. Not only is roll play fun but it aids intellectual development, improves social and language skills and fosters creativity. Pretend play gives children the opportunity to explore events and scenarios they have experienced or witnessed in real life. Play is work for a preschooler! We also had a wonderful time today working with our letters. These little owls know not only their own initial but the initials of all of their classmates and are beginning to seek them out in their environmental print. This morning we each had an opportunity to create an initial collage. They worked really hard on them and they turned out beautifully. Our playdough play was also full of learning. Today the children had access to playdough scissors, knives, pizza cutters, rolling pins and cookie cutters. As exciting as these tools were they also gave the children quite the fine motor workout. Cutting the playdough with scissors was something they could not get enough of. Overall their scissor skills are improving and you can see they are not as awkward as they were just a few months ago. Rolling dough out was also a thrilling challenge. And of course as we played our conversations centered around cutting up cookies and donuts for our cocoa stand. Our roll play continued outside the traditional dramatic center. I just love their budding imaginations!
Welcome back! I sure did miss the little owls over our Christmas break but we wasted no time getting back into the swing of things this morning. We worked on some letter identification, pre-writing skills, patterning, counting and of course some more dramatic play as we turned the home center into a hot cocoa stand. We even took a little in-house field trip to the Life Skills kitchen to have a real hot cocoa tasting! YUMMY! This group of children really love to roll play. They had the best time mixing up some fun in our Hot Cocoa Stand. I had some Styrofoam coffee cups with lids, hot chocolate tins filled with brown paper scraps, white pompom marshmallows, and plenty of mugs and coffee pots. They had a great time taking each others orders, preparing drinks for anyone who asked and working at the cash register. The shop was hopping all day long! ,Overheard today... "I love hot cocoa!" "Hot cocoa for sale! Who wants some?" "I need more marshmallows." "I know marshmallows are the best!" "Can I get a coffee?" "My mommy makes me hot cocoa sometimes." "Here you go. Blow, it it's hot." "I want whipped cream on mine." "Look out, mine spilled!" After all that pretending we just had to taste test the real thing! We also had fun ringing in the new year with a fun painting activity. We each got a New Year's noise maker and after a few toots we used it as our paintbrush.
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Why Blog?Here you will find little snippets of our days together. When my children were in preschool and would come home I would always ask, "So, what did you do today?". All they ever said was, "Played." That didn't tell me much. I hope this blog will be a place to share what we have done and help you ask more directed questions of your child. You will see first hand just what we do after you kiss your little one goodbye in the morning. It will also be a great place to visit and see just how much your child has grown and learned throughout the year. Archives
March 2024
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