Myself, Family and Friends

 

February 2014

For the past several weeks the children in our Pre-K program have expressed an interest in their families, friends and bodies. We began the discussion by asking; how are we all alike? How are we different? They had many responses such as;

 * Some of us have brown hair, blonde hair, brown eyes, blue eyes, black eyes and green eyes.

* Some of us are bigger than our friends

* Some of us have long hair, short hair, curly hair, straight hair

We began by outlining each child’s body on a large piece of white paper, then they filled in eyes, nose, mouth, hair, clothes etc… next they laid on the carpet and we (teachers and children) used colorful tape to outline their bodies again, last they lay on the floor and we measured them again using a tape measure, and rulers and wrote out the number of inches tall they were.

The children compared each of their body’s to see how different they were; shorter, wider, etc…

For math, the children worked on a graph coloring in the numbers of inches tall they were

The second week we discussed the many members in a family, each child told about his/her family. They talked about their parents, siblings, other family members and how they are all a part of a family, big or small. They drew pictures of their families, their houses, and also painted many pictures of themselves.

 Friendship was discussed the 3rd week as Valentine’s Day approached. The children drew pictures for their friends and families, cut out hearts of many different sizes, decorated them and wrote notes on them. On Friday for Valentine ’s Day, they made their own ice cream sundaes using many different kinds of toppings, which they enjoyed!

On the 4th week we discussed lists with the children and helped them create lists of the things our bodies need to grow, such as;

Emmasofia- “eat meat, drink stuff that are liquid to keep hydrated” 

Ava- “Food; yogurt, exercise, sleep, go to doctor”

Lily- “eat lots of fruit, vegetables and water”.

Noah- “eat food, veggies, salad and carrots”

Rihanna- “water”

Misael- “water, eat food, coffee makes you grow big”

Max- “carrots”

The teachers brought in foods for tasting, fruits, nuts, grains and hummus. As the children tasted the foods, they said;

Alex- “I like the limes and lemons, I eat them at home”

D’Andre- “I don’t like this stuff, only the cracker”

Kosmo- “The almonds are salty and crunchy and the cracker too, the orange is sweet, the lemon and limes are sour.”

 

They cut out pictures of foods from magazines to create a collage of good things to eat. During outdoor play, they had races around the playground, and went for walks on the trail. We also read books on our bodies, looked at skeletons made of foam and plastic, they also traced their hands on black paper using chalk, then used glue and q-tips to outline body parts.

In small groups children examined x-rays using a projector looking at individual bones. Some of the things they observed were:

Alexa- "the skeleton is the whole body"

Ava- "bones are white and hard all the bones make up your skeleton"

Tessie-  "looked there are bones in your toes"

Alex-  "wow I did not know that the brain looked like that"

Carly- "each one of your fingers has a bone"

Dakota- "the hole there in the bone is because your knee moves" ( as she  points to the knee x-ray) 

Aliya-  "this is the bone to the head it's what makes your head hard"

Noah- "10 bones are in all of your fingers"

Max- "your chest has 20 bones wow that's a lot of bones"

Moses-  "These are teeth and eyes, eyes are circles" ( as he points to the x-ray of the skull) 

 After examining the x-rays children chose a x-ray to draw, they using white paper and permanent marker.

Many skills were observed during this study such as; gross and fine motor skills as the children ran, climbed, walked, and wrote many words. Measurement, using rulers, tape measures and other non std tools. Counting, their body parts, friends, family, creative expression as they created their cards/notes for friends/family, wrote their names on their projects. Sensory activities, tasting, playing with water/sand, outdoor walks. Language/literacy, as they described experiences and talked about their family/friends.  Comprehension of books, as we read a variety of books to them and asked open ended questions about stories read.

 

Sand Art

After observing children being so engaged in the sand table we thought it would be great to continue with sand art!  We set up different colors of sand, cardboard and glue in the studio. Right away the toddler class was fully amused in the project as they figured out how to get the sand to stick to the cardboard. The toddlers worked in many different ways to create their project, some took small amounts of sand and slowly dropped it onto their cardboard, where as others dumped the whole plate of sand and then smeared it around, some even used their mouths to manipulate the paint brush. All together this art project was GREAT FUN!!

Studying Movement through Pipes

The toddler room has been engaging in a study of movement for the past few months. One of the many ways in which they have been exploring this idea is through the use of large and clear PVC piping, while using different tools such as balls, funnels and measuring utensils.

We have observed the children using the PVC pipes in many different ways. Some of the things we have noticed is that it invites participation, at one point or another all children have engaged in the different activities. It has also helped children to make and test hypotheses of the components of slope, sand and water, such as how can they make it go through the pipe or how can they drive their car through it. We have also seen it build on their imaginary play; they bring many different objects over to play with in the sensory table.

 The sand and water provides a soothing sensory experience for many children; they just enjoy the feeling of the sand and water between their fingers.  Just like all toddler’s activities it promotes social skills. We observed many different groups of children playing with one another during these activities, using language and gestures to communicate their feeling and ideas. The last thing we have observed is because how open-ended these activities have been children have determined the direction and path of his/her play.

New Mexico Early Learning Guidelines meet:

Toddler demonstrates curiosity, persistence, imagination and problem-solving skills in his/her everyday activities

Toddler manipulates objects and uses tools

Toddler inquires about the world and experiences the properties of things

Toddler conveys a message to another person

Toddler uses social skills with other children