The children have had so much fun learning about the Arctic.  We used out bodies to understand where the Arctic is on the Earth, referencing a globe so that the children could visualize polar positions (the Arctic is their head).  As we built up the physical environment, we used various props to help the children better understand. Ice was introduced to the sensory bin along with Styrofoam pieces to represent the frozen ocean and icebergs.  As new lessons were given/animals introduced, the same toys were also introduced.  Not only was there sensory play for the children to explore but large foam pieces were also usedRead More →

This week the children have been continuing on with their exploration of holidays around the world, visiting Mexico and learning about Las Posadas! They began their lesson by looking at the globe and finding where Mexico was located in relation to the United States.  They learned that the primary language spoken in Mexico is Spanish, and they then learned some basic words in Spanish….HOLA…..AGUA…..POR FAVOR.  Each child was asked “Como estas?   Bien, asi asi or mal?”  Their responses were charted on the board. Initially the class read the story titled THE POINTSETTIA, by Tomie DePeola.  In this tale the background of Mexico is set forRead More →

How nice it is to be back from Thanksgiving break!  The children returned back to school joyful, rested and ready to work Monday’s group got right to work, focusing on letter I.  The children learned the 2 sounds letter I makes and practiced writing the letter in both upper and lower case.  Of course, as we introduced the letter sound, we put our hands in front of our mouths and on our throats, repeating the letter sounds.  Although one little smartie was sure she could feel air come out of her mouth as we chanted the long and short sound, the class agreed that theRead More →

Today we continued exploring Thanksgiving and putting a little “fun” in the mix.  While we continued discussing the history of the holiday, we also read/sang a silly book titled “THERE WAS AN OLD LADY WHO SWALLOWED A PIE.” During morning rotations, the children worked to create their personalized versions of the old lady, cutting circles to create her hair and coloring her face and clothing to mimic the illustrations in the book. After practicing the songs for tomorrow’s performance, we read/sang our way through the book itself.  Prior to reading the book, the children were given foods from the story to “feed” to a 3-dRead More →

The Thanksgiving unit has been very interesting for the children to explore.  As you may recall, last week we learned about the Native American Indians.  We learned about how the term NATIVE refers to people who originate from a particular area.  The first people who lived here are called Native Americans. The children learned about the connection the Native Americans had to the earth and the dependency they had on all aspects for survival  They learned about how they so respected the animals they hunted and that they used all parts of the animals in their daily lives.  They were impressed how they used the skins and furs for both clothing and homes, as theyRead More →

What a wonderful week the children have had so far!  Monday’s Halloween celebration began with candy math, led by our volunteer, Mr. Offerman!  He worked with small groups of children to sort and count various types of candy corn.  Once each child sorted the candy by type (bats, moons, pumpkin, etc..), they counted out how many of each they had, identified the number in writing and then either copied or traced that number.  Additionally, the children used the candy corn as a unit of measure, measuring Halloween pictures by laying pieces of candy the length or height of each pictures and again counting, identifying theRead More →

What a FFFFantastically busy week we have had, exploring the letter F and continuing on with our FFFFall unit.  As per usual, we have been placing our hand in front of our mouths and on our throats to feel if the letter sound is either AIRY or LOUD.  Super silent, the children were surprised that they could not feel even the slightest vibration on their throats when making the sound of airy Ff. As we learned about the letter, we again talked about writing strokes, moving our hands from top to bottom (lines) and then across on the top and across on the middle lines. Read More →

Today we continued on with our exploration of Harvest, focusing on corn. The sensory bin was full of dried corn for the children to weigh and pour.  There were also cobs of corn from which the children picked kernels and explored the cobs themselves.  We used those same kernels in a bevy of ways, using them for 1:1 correspondence, identifying numbers written on laminated corn cobs and counting out the correct number of kernels, estimating numbers of kernels in a jar and even planting kernels in a cup, OUTSIDE of a paper towel that was filled with dirt.  This way the children will have a chanceRead More →